"Travel is like love, mostly because it’s a heightened state of awareness, in which we are mindful, receptive, undimmed by familiarity and ready to be transformed. That is why the best trips, like the best love affairs, never really end.” – Pico Iyer Munazza and Shimal Sheriff are a young married couple and the creative force behind the Instagram handle, @thesheriffs. Coming from completely different fields – with Munazza working in Marketing and Shimal in engineering – the two of them found their common interest in their love for travelling. They've travelled to nine countries together. Q: These pictures are amazing! Why haven’t you shared them on Insta yet? A: We’ve actually shared different versions of these pictures on Instagram anyway. We usually capture multiple versions or angles of the same shot. Q: How did the two of you meet? A: It is a long story that started with an Interschool Chess Championship. Q: First travel memory as a couple? A: We started travelling after marriage and the first time we travelled together was to the Maldives. We are very different from one another and have very different interests, but when it comes to travelling, we found we have similar tastes. So we started travelling more together and we found that going on these little adventures together really helped bring us closer to one another as well. Q: Best and worst travel memory? A: Best: The best memory has to be the first time we went kayaking together in Cathedral Cove, New Zealand. It was so peaceful and it’s like everything stopped in time; you could see the fish and the reef underwater and you had to synchronise and find the balance with your partner. It was also our first post on Instagram and the experience was truly one of a kind. Worst: We were a party of four and had to travel to Jalandhar for a friend’s wedding and we did an online booking. After a seven-hour long drive and late in the night, we finally reached the hotel, only to hear that there was some mishap on the app and all the rooms were booked. We couldn’t find any hotels and thought we might have to resort to sleeping in our car in the freezing cold, when we managed to get another booking sorted. The place shown was nothing like the actual place and it was incredibly bad but at least we had some shelter and warmth for the night and we exited the place as soon as the sun dawned. Q: Favourite filter on IG? A: We’re still iPhone photographers and are still experimenting with the best way to take pictures. We don’t edit our pictures through IG and instead use an app called Snapseed. Q: Must dos in Sri Lanka? A: Chilling on the top of Ella Rock, taking in the beauty of the world around you, and eating Kandos cashew nut chocolate whilst drinking the lemon plain tea made by the old ladies there. Q: Advice for other young travellers like you? A: On a technical note, you need to plan ahead. It helps reduce waste in terms of time as well as money and helps optimise and get the best out of your visit. It is also good to have a conversation with your hosts (at the accommodation you book), to learn the best way to arrive and basic tips, as well as other locals as well. A lot of people ask us how we find the time and the ability to travel like this. The simple answer to this question is “because we really, really want to”. You should have the passion to travel and when you have that, it becomes simple, because you will somehow find a way to make it happen. In our case as well, we make many choices and compromises just so that we can travel. We save a lot of money prioritising our outings, so that we can put it away to travel together later. Travelling really opens up your mind and really enriches your life. We absolutely love it and you should do it too!   By Rovina Vandersay