Meet the couple who are on a 10-year honeymoon - and live off just £7 a day, which they earn by selling steamy naked photos. Silke Muys, 31, and Kieran Shannon, 29, met in Sitges, Spain, in 2019, where they both worked as dancers.
It was love at first sight and after they got married on the Isle of Skye in August 2021, they decided to do embark on a decade-long honeymoon. The idea was to top their wedding, which involved a 300-mile trek across Scotland.
They've already travelled to Iceland, Spain, hitchhiked across the whole of Portugal, before three months in Sri Lanka, onto India, then Nepal to Thailand. They manage to do their travels on just £7 a day by staying in the cheapest option on Hostelworld and eating only street food.
This gives them leftover money from their £350-a-month income they earn from uploading nude artsy shots to Patreon every week. Subscribers can pay £6 a week for seductive shots such in breathtaking locations around the world released each week on 'Freaky Friday'. Next on their agenda is to travel from Chile to Alaska, as well as visiting Myanmar and Mongolia.
Silke said: "We get to know each other better by sharing these magical moments together on top of mountains and beneath waterfalls. Every day is an adventure.
“We lead such a beautiful life, but we try to share the hard times too because it’s not always easy. It's amazing when hotels have us to stay for free, but we love meeting new people from all over the world in hostels. We go for the cheapest place on Hostelworld and they're not always the nicest."
After meeting in Spain, they embarked on travels after just three months together. Kieran, from Gervin, Scotland, proposed to Silke on top of the Quiriang, Isle of Skye, while they were working on a shoot as models for a wedding photographer in Scotland.
After a year travelling across Asia, the couple returned to Kieran’s hometown of Gervin to get married on August 30, 2021. The couple trekked 300 miles across Scotland from Gervin to Quiraing and then embarked on their 10-year honeymoon across the world.
Kieran said: “We called it our ‘aisle’ of Skye, it was incredible. We trekked and camped for four weeks and had two weeks of Scottish sunshine then two weeks of rain.”
Silke added: “It was incredible for my family to be able to be there from Belgium, especially since we had lived through so many restrictions. My sister came all the way from Mexico and surprised me after I hadn’t seen her for three years.”
Kieran added: “We were so caught up in each other we barely noticed the people around us. We walked 500km across the isle of Skye and we thought how could we possible top that? We decided we would travel the world for 10 years for our honeymoon.”
The travelling duo started their trip on September 26, 2021, with five days in Iceland and then a month in northern Spain. They then hitchhiked across Portugal for a month and spent three months in Sri Lanka in March 2022 before the civil unrest in the country hit, where they made money working in a tuk tuk.
From Sri Lanka they went to India for a month and then on to Nepal. The travelling lifestyle isn’t always as glamorous as it seems on Instagram, as the couple recall spending 17 hours on a jam-packed train from India to Nepal.
“We couldn’t sit down for 17 hours as we were in general class and couldn’t get a sleeper," said Kieran. “It was crazy. Our feet were on top of each other, there was literally no space to move.”
In Nepal the couple spent three weeks hiking through the Himalayas and were blown away by the breathtaking mountain views. The couple are now spending six months in Thailand.
The often get put up in hotels by doing sponsored posts on Instagram but, if not, they stay in basic hostels. They are strict on themselves and budget for every aspect of their life, skipping on luxuries and gourmet meals. The couple also play music in local bars and restaurants to top up their income - Silke sings and Kieran plays the guitar.
Before meeting Silke, Kieran had never stayed in a hostel or travelled. “We are now living in our dream and want to inspire others to catch the travelling bug," he said.
Follow the couple's journey @silkyrontheroad on Instagram and Patreon.
