Adventures Together
Storyteller: Jami Johnson, USA
What were the reasons for your travel?
I am an American, and Sam is from New Zealand. I moved to New Zealand for graduate school, and during that time we met playing soccer and began to date. When I finished my degree, I was offered a job in Paris for one year, and Sam took contract work around the UK to be near me. Since we were living apart, we often got to pick a fun place around Europe or the UK to have a date on the weekends! In September 2017, Sam planned a trip to Norway, which has always been #1 on my bucket list because it is where my ancestors are from. We took a day hike up Trolltunga, in the gorgeous fjords of Norway and at the top of the hike, he proposed! That of course led us up to our wedding day this past July. Our book includes photos from when we were both living in New Zealand, from when we visited my home in Minnesota, and from our travels during the long-distance part of our relationship. We created the book to archive the pre-marriage part of our relationship, and we used it as a guest book for our nearest and dearest to sign at our wedding.
What is your favorite image and why?
Our favorite image in the book is the spread above. We took that photo on the "tongue" of Trolltunga shortly after Sam proposed. We were in the most beautiful place we had ever seen, and we knew that we are going to spend the rest of our lives together. I remember feeling so much peace at that moment. In a cheesy way... it's almost as if we are looking into our future together from that rock.
What is your favorite story behind a single shot in the book?
This photo (above) was taken in Vancouver, BC where we both say we "knew" each other was the one. Even though this was about 2 years before we actually got married! Sam had been travelling with friends for 3 months, and I was going to be going away for work for the two months following. But, we got to see each other for a few days in between those two trips in Vancouver, and I got to meet Sam's lifelong best friend and their wife. Meeting those pivotal people in his life showed me the kind of wonderful people he surrounds himself with, and who have played a huge role forming him into the person he is today. Overall, after seeing each other after months of Skype-only dates, we were able to reaffirm that we wanted to take our relationship to the next level.
