Helene Sula shares her international adventures because the voice behind her eponymous weblog and social media accounts, Helene in Between. 

The Texas native finds wide-eyed awe and real delight within the sights of locales from Vietnam and the United Arab Emirates to her newly adopted dwelling in Oxford, England. She’s gained followers—566,000 Instagram followers and counting—with reels about tradition shocks she’s skilled residing overseas, not as soon as, however twice. Her love for Christmas markets is contagious, with posts that includes steamy drinks and indulgent dishes oozing with cheese including to her platform’s enchantment. 

Whereas different digital nomad social media accounts have an aspirational—and sometimes unattainable— really feel, Sula’s posts have a “you may sit with us” vibe. Now, she’s taking her viewers on one other journey together with her new e book, Two O’Clock on a Tuesday at Trevi Fountain: A Seek for an Unconventional Life Overseas, by which she encourages readers to search out their very own path to a rare life. 

Helene in Between enters the blogosphere

It began with a mountain climbing accident. In 2011, Helene Sula was attending her new husband’s work occasion at a mountain climbing gymnasium when an unsecured belay rapidly led to her hurtling off the wall and smashing her leg and ankle. A bout of pneumonia within the hospital added insult to literal damage and continued blackouts because of her sickness meant she couldn’t return to work. 

It appeared Sula may not keep away from the inheritance from her household of writers. She launched a weblog. “I used to be so bored of watching Friday Evening Lights,” she remembers. “It was simply an outlet, a spot to attach and speak about my life. It in a short time grew to become an obsession.” 

At first, her posts targeted on her each day life. She felt inspired by the connections she made with different individuals on-line, initially over their shared damaged ankles. “I had this niggling feeling like, I’m wondering if I may do that full time,” she remembers. In 2012, there have been few examples of full-time bloggers, and the trail to income felt extra like trades with different bloggers than revenue. 

The trail grew to become clearer when an entry on Belgium’s “Tomorrowland” digital dance music pageant went viral, and he or she noticed she may pivot her love of journey into the weblog. She additionally poured her experience working a day job in company social media into the eagerness challenge. 

Step by step, she landed sponsorships and created merchandise to promote, resembling an Instagram content material system. “It didn’t really feel like I used to be promoting individuals one thing. It was a manner to assist different individuals develop,” she says. She wasn’t keen to stop her day job till she was making extra on the weblog than at her job. Nonetheless, destiny intervened: She was fired the day she launched her first on-line course. 

Shifting ahead

Sula’s been a full-time content material creator, influencer and journey entrepreneur since 2015. Her content material platform was so profitable that her husband Michael was in a position to be a part of her enterprise a 12 months later. Though she says their enterprise partnership hasn’t been with out its frustrations and occasional stumbles, they’ve discovered a 50/50 partnership with Helene specializing in branding, advertising and marketing and social media, and Michael engaged on ever-important journey logistics and the enterprise facet.

The weblog’s freedom allowed the couple to embrace a digital nomad life, which has included relocating from Helene’s native Dallas to Heidelberg, Germany in 2016. (HGTV’s Home Hunters Worldwide chronicled their dwelling search.) The duo moved again to the U.S. in 2019 to journey the nation in an RV. They made the worldwide leap once more in 2023 once they relocated to Oxford, England—all with their two canines in tow.

Helene Sula expands into entrepreneurship

Though she says a robust social media presence requires no small measure of putting up with criticism each legitimate and petty, Sula believes the connections she’s made with persons are rewarding. That’s what led her and Michael to steer journeys themselves. For a few years, this was with journey information corporations that entice well-known journey hosts, like TrovaTrip and Avalon Waterways River Cruises.

A want to curate their company’ experiences pushed the Sulas to constitution two group river cruises, creating itineraries and actions that enchantment to a number of generations, together with youthful vacationers. “It’s such a good way to get from A to B with a big group of individuals, and to get them to those totally different locations and seeing as a lot as they will. It additionally has the good thing about unpacking only one time,” she says. 

Sula says whereas she acknowledged the monetary dangers, she felt the demand was there. “We’ve been going to those locations for years. We’re well-known for it with our viewers,” she says. The preliminary reserving bought out in 10 minutes, main them so as to add a second. Michael deliberate each cease and each exercise within the itinerary, which allowed the Sulas to take company to extra of their favourite locations.

Turning the weblog right into a e book 

Sula’s want to attach with extra individuals led to her aforementioned e book, Two O’Clock on a Tuesday at Trevi Fountain, accessible April 9, 2024. In contrast to the Helene in Between weblog, which frequently delivers journey information content material targeted on logistics, the memoir delves into Sula’s private story. She believes it provides classes which can be related even when individuals don’t wish to comply with in her worldwide footsteps. 

“The message that I wish to get throughout is you generally is a regular, peculiar particular person and reside a rare unconventional life,” she says. “You’ll be able to go in your goals and keep grounded. You’ll be able to transfer overseas along with your two canines and have a mortgage and a wedding and nonetheless reside a rare life.” 

Sula knew in the event that they had been to maneuver overseas and journey extra, they wanted to take action in a calculated method. The duo spent a 12 months researching, planning and prioritizing. They crafted lists of issues they wanted of their lives to really feel grounded. For instance, she knew she wanted a house base. In addition they set a restrict on the size of journeys they might take. Lastly, they knew they wished to keep up connections to household and buddies, in order that they inspired them to go to typically—regularly assembly guests in a locale apart from their dwelling base overseas. 

The e book’s title is drawn from a second when Sula acknowledged she had met her goals. That point, day and place was, “one of many first occasions I spotted that I used to be residing my dream and I didn’t even understand it. It took that second for me to go searching and understand that you understand, I’ve not needed to change every part about myself and throw away every part I knew, [but] I can do the issues that I wish to do,” she says. 

She hopes the teachings are relevant to anybody, whether or not they’re hoping to begin a enterprise, launch a brand new profession or journey the globe as she does. 

Photograph by Michael Sula.