tbashoestring

Journalist Hélène Hofman and photography-enthusiast Steve Smith met in a backpackers' hostel in Mexico back in December 2007. A week imprisoned by an all-consuming Mexican street festival laid the foundations for a relationship cemented by a love of travelling and discovering new cultures. Mexico was followed by three months travelling around Cuba, Guatemala and Nicaragua on a frugal budget that opened doors to the most welcoming family-run guesthouses, authentic local cuisines and even the occasional “fiesta privada”; the kind of experiences money can’t buy. Since then, there have been several shorter trips on the same shoestring budget, including to Lebanon, Dubai, the Indonesian island of Bali, as well as around Steve’s native Australia and back to visit Hélène’s family in rural France and Ireland. They’ve lived in Melbourne, Australia together for two years and plan to return . . . someday. Tied By a Shoestring starts in India, and documents – through Hélène’s words and Steve’s photographs – their experience of travelling the world on as a little as comfortably possible.