Cut to us, Joe and Ian, on a floating hut in Khao Sok National Park Thailand. It’s 6 am and neither of us has had coffee yet…problematic. This is where we got engaged. A remote accommodation in a remote part of a country on the other side of the world. It’s classic Joe and Ian, adventure traveling is our ethos. The more difficult a place is to get to the more enticed we’ll be to make the trek.
Two memories come to mind when thinking about our adventure-forward travel. The first, an island in Indonesia called Sumba where one day we found ourselves in a traditional village. We watched in amazement as kids kicked a ball around while we learned from the village elder all about the Marapu people. The second is of a small house situated on a Faja (a volcanic formation) nestled on an inlet on Sao Jorge Island in the Azores, Portugal… did we mention this was only accessible by ATV or an hour-long hike?!
Planes, trains, and ATVs present real logistical challenges – which is probably why our friends are hard to convince to join us on these trips. “Any place worth going to is never easy to get to” – a saying that we live by prepared us nicely for the biggest adventure yet: The Amazing Race.
We’ve both always been huge fans of The Amazing Race (and Survivor!) in addition to being avid adventure travelers. Coming off of our engagement trip to SE Asia, while watching a prior season of TAR we decided the time was now – it’s time to apply! The audition video was simple, a 4-minute self-tape introducing us as a couple to the world. In the video we showed our true authentic selves complete with bickering and jokes..and sure a little love. Less than 24 hours later we received a phone call and the crazy casting process began.
The experience was life-changing – it was unique, crazy, wild, fun, eye-opening, chaotic, educational, physically and mentally challenging, and incredible in every way. 13 teams of 2 competed in this race around the world. We expected everyone would be fierce competitors. What we didn’t anticipate was the immediate bond we would all form together over the course of the weeks that followed.
The Amazing Race is, after all, the most epic adventure traveling one can do: high-wire walking, traditional Thai sword dances, floating market madness, rickshaw racing…the list goes on! We went on the race to improve our communication skills and to make our community proud. It’s an honor to get to demonstrate our relationship so other LBGTQ people can feel seen. Representation matters and we’re proud of what we were able to show the world. The messages we’ve received since the show started airing have been nothing short of heartwarming. Well, for the most part, some of the DMs aren’t PG. But there’s a time and place for those too ;).
It’s been a WILD 6 years since our timid introduction at the gym. From our first trip together to Mexico City to our epic race around the world on CBS – we may not always know where we’re headed…but that’s never going to stop us from finding the adventure.
Season 35 of The Amazing Race is currently airing on Wednesdays at 9:30 pm on CBS, and streaming on Paramount Plus.
Joe and Ian can be found on Instagram: @joemosk & @ian_a_wanderer