Lifestyle Collaborators & Ambassador Partners

As content creators, we are proud to have had the opportunity to collaborate with many international and local hotels, safari lodges, and well-known brands, partake in press tours across cities around the globe, and promote local products. 

With Bernie’s background in academic writing, Petra’s translation skills, and our passion for travel and storytelling through captivating visuals, we are dedicated to creating valuable articles that reach far beyond reality. Our experience working alongside high-end entities translates into solid marketing strategies that fuse organic flair with rigorous effectiveness — an undeniable plus for any organisation looking for success on their next social media marketing campaign.

 

Some of our collaboration partners:

  • Wild Refill, a sustainable natural deodorant company in Europe
  • City of Bruges, press tour and promotion
  • Sediba Safari Lodge, Welgevonden Game Reserve
  • Singita
  • Unlimited destinations
  • Shalati Kruger
  • Mosethla Bush Camp and Eco Lodge, Madikwe Game Reserve
  • The Marine, Hermanus & The Cellars Hohenort, Constantia
  • Preskil Island Resort and Spa, Mauritius
  • Chill Pill Guest House, Mauritius
  • Aktiv Hotel & Spa Hannigalp, Switzerland
  • Zermatt Hotel Elite, Switzerland
  • Cura of Sweden
  • Four Seasons, Westcliff Hotel
  • Lamula  Lodge, Elephant Point, Kruger National Park
  • Hotel Fiorini, Lake Como, Italy
  • Abalone Hotel, Paternoster
  • Cloud9 Hotel, Tamboerskloof
  • 185 of Beach Boutique Apartments, Gordon’s Bay
  • Savenues
  • Holafly eSIM
  • Vuna Coffee Rituals, Netherlands
  • Gin & Company, White River 
  • RubyYes Clothing, Cape Town
  • SJ Collezioni, Hydepark Corner
  • Future Farm, Paddington Station PR

Please visit our Instagram page, Travelbuddies_lifestyle, to familiarise yourself with our recent collaborations and the style of content that we can create for you. In particular, visit our many highlights on our Instagram page.

An example of our blog article adverts

Vuna Coffee Rituals: Brand Ambassadors

Content creators and social media influencers understand the impact and benefits of social networking sites (SNS)perfectly. Although everyone has a different reason for using an SNS such as Facebook or Instagram, there are several motivational reasons for using these platforms. According to a research study conducted by Brandtzaeg and Heim (2009), the most important reason for using these sites are to get in contact with new people (31%), to stay in touch with friends (21%), or to socialise in general (14%).

Our Instagram page enables us to connect with the most amazing organisations and like-minded people who have a shared passion for travel and our Travel Buddies Lifestyle. During January this year, we were approached by Vuna Coffee Rituals to collaborate with them on the Instagram page, and that is how the fantastic synergy between two organisations from two diverse industries started.

Sara Morrocchi and Dennise Yeh are the influential team members behind Vuna Coffee Rituals, a speciality coffee company based in Amsterdam, to make coffee equitable and sustainable.

Our passion for people (and travel) always makes us curious to know more about the individuals behind a business venture and the reasons for their start-up. Not surprisingly, their business was partly born out of their love for GREAT coffee and partly due to the isolation of the pandemic.

Sara Morrocchitrained as a political scientist, but because of her passion for social impact, she changed her career early in her 20s to the coffee value chain management field. Since then, she has been committed to sourcing socially responsible coffee brands and ensuring a sustainable connection between the producers and the consumers of coffee. Sara is an expert in the field of coffee production and procurement. In 2015, this remarkable woman decided to apply her teaching capabilities. She launched Vuna Coffee School, a digital education platform designed for coffee producer organisations (the school operates face-to-face in Latin America, East Africa and South-East Asia). As if that is not enough to keep this entrepreneur occupied, she co-founded Vuna Coffee Rituals.

Travelbuddieslifestyle with Vuna
Sara Morrocchi

Dennise Yeh originally started her career as a journalist but soon realised her love for e-commerce and digital transformation. She developed a deep understanding of the link between digital transformation and brand exposure, enabling her to manage several leading brands. She became a subject matter expert in the field of brand management particularly in East Asia, North America and Europe. Dennise understood the importance of having a holistic view in marketing to establish and scale a digital business. She is passionate about brand design, website user experience, e-commerce operation, digital marketing, and data analytics. Interestingly, she has been involved in the brand management of various industries ranging from designer clothes to cars, interior decoration, and sneakers to where she is now specialising in coffee.

So, what do we have in common with these remarkable businesswomen? We all love the taste of speciality coffee, but…”we don’t want the trouble of brewing it”,…and that’s how the Travel Buddies Lifestyle and Vuna Coffee Rituals became a match made in heaven. We want our followers to experience the best lifestyle.

 

Travelbuddieslifestyle brand ambassador for vuna coffee rituals
Bernie enjoying Vuna Coffee Rituals in Cape Town South Africa
Travelbuddieslifestyle
We are serious coffee lovers and therefore it only makes sense that we would collaborate with the best coffee brewers in the world - Kruger National Park
Travelbuddies at Altusried
Enjoying our coffee in Altusried, Gerany

Vuna Coffee bags are so practical because they provide you with brewed coffee without using any specialised equipment. It is created for different moods (we all have those, too) with flavours such as Rise and Shine (our favourite), Fruit Splash, Tangy Pop, and Mellow Bello. The packaging is fun, the ingredients easy to understand, and the best part is that they uphold sustainable sourcing principles.

Why wait to experience the best-brewed coffee there is out there? Using the code Coffeebuddies on their website, you can get 5% off your purchase.

Brandtzaeg, P. ., & Heim, J. (2009). Why people use social networking sites. Online Communities, LNCS 5621, 143–152.

Travelbuddies lifetyle with Vuna
Dennise Yeh

CURA weighted duvets from Sweden

Travelbuddies in Germany
Bernie in Kempten, Germany trying the weighted duvets after a long-haul flight

Before CURA of Sweden approached us for a collaboration, I had never heard of a weighted duvet, let alone sleeping with one. As an avid researcher in human resources who had recently completed my PhD in employee well-being, I was more than intrigued by this phenomenon and couldn’t wait to try it out.

Sleep plays a vital role in our everyday lives. Baric et al. (2021) reported many daytime challenges because of poor sleep or lack of sleep, including “negative mood, irritability, self-injury, and aggression”.

Are you curious to know what a weighted duvet is? It is a “therapeutic blanket that includes weighted material designed to provide proprioceptive input to the body. Proprioceptive, sometimes called the ‘sixth sense’, is related to body position and movements” (Becklund et al., 2021, p. 130). The weighted duvet’s deep touch pressure stimulation provides psychological and physical benefits.

According to studies conducted by Becklund et al. (2021), deep pressure stimulation (DPS) affects one’s nervous system by increasing serotonin (the feel-good hormone) and melatonin (which helps to control your sleep cycle) while decreasing cortisol levels. This calming effect minimises stress, induces sleep, and increases well-being. Baric et al. (2021) found that weighted blankets reduce the body’s physiological arousal and anxiety levels, improving sleep quality.

The above research made a lot of sense to me. No matter how warm the temperatures are outside (or inside) or what season it might be, I always want “something” over me to fall asleep. My crazy sleeping ways always confused my husband. At last! I found a company like CURA that understood my sleeping behaviour and even backed it up with thorough research.

I agree with the findings of the weighted duvets theory. I experienced improved sleep quality and enhanced relaxation, and I woke up feeling revived the following day. At first, I found the duvet a bit unconformable to turn around because of the weight, but this was a good thing as it limited me from turning unnecessarily, often preventing me from falling into a deep sleep.

In conclusion, the duvet looks and feels luxurious. My only negative comment is that changing the cover on your own is rather challenging.

If you would like to know more about CURA’s weighted duvets, please click on the following link.

Reference list:

Baric, V. B., Skuthalla, S., Pettersson, M., Gustafsson, A., & Kjellberg, A. (2021). The effectiveness of weighted blankets on sleep and everyday activities: A retrospective follow-up study of children and adults with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and an autism spectrum disorder. Scandinavian Journal of Occupational Therapy, 1–11.

Becklund, A. L., Rapp-McCall, L., & Nudo, J. (2021). Using weighted blankets in an
inpatient mental health hospital to decrease anxiety. Journal of Integrative Medicine , 19, 129–134.

We engaged with Cura in a promotion for their weighted duvets. We created content with us using the weighted duvets in Instagram stories and posts.

Gin & Company, Casterbridge, White River, Mpumalanga

They say behind every successful woman is herself. This is precisely the case with Tanya Cruse, the founder of Gin & Co. and Safari African Gin. Tanya was raised in Skukuza in the Kruger National Park. Naturally, being an avid nature lover, she incorporated her passion for nature and conservation to create a successful business career while uplifting her community.

In 2021,  she launched Safari African Gin which distils 12 exotic botanicals (such as African Potato Bush, Portulacaria Afra, African Wild Ginger, and Marula), interestingly, some of which grow wild under the blazing African sun. 

We salute this powerful woman for the fantastic work she is doing! Moreover, we love the thought that while we are sipping on her Safari African Gin, we can delight in the knowledge that 10% of her company’s sales are donated to national parks and private game reserves to aid in funding anti-poaching and conservation projects in South Africa.

You, too, can enjoy the best of South African gin while contributing to a worthy cause.

Click on their website link (in the photo above) and receive a 5% discount on your online purchases by using our affiliation code GinBuddies in the “coupon code” field.

Travelbuddies at Gin & Company
The Best Safari gin of Gin & Company at Casterbridge in White River, South Africa
Travelbuddieslifestyle at Casterbridge
The remarkable founder of Gin & Company, Tanya Cruse
Travelbuddieslifestyle at Casterbridge
This was one of our most interesting collaborations as we learned a lot about gin and the gin distillery process.
Travelbuddieslifestyle at Kers, Switzerland
Petra negotiated a 5% discount for our followers when they buy and e-sim through our Instagram page
Travelbuddieslifestyle at Kruger National Park, South Africa
We collaborated with Stanley South Africa in a giveaway. One lucky follower received our favourite picnic flask

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The most popular weekend market in Joburg

Weekend Markets in Johannesburg

Markets are great places to spend the weekend with friends and family. Although Capetonians are bragging about having the best markets in the country, Johannesburg has its fair share of unique markets, such as the Prison Break Market in Lonehill, the Rosebank Rooftop Sunday Market, the Bryanston Organic & Natural Market, the Stables Village Centre Market in Broadacres, and the Fourways Farmers market, to name a few. 

These markets offer something for all interests, tastes, and ages. 

We featured the Prison Break Market in our article “What to do in Johannesburg over a weekend”. 

This article will focus on the Fourways Farmers Market. The prettiest market in Joburg!

The Fourways Farmers Market

What is the Fourways Farmers Market like?

The market consists of colourful tin sheds giving the market an authentic African vibe.

The Fourways Farmers Market (FFM) is undoubtedly one of the most popular weekend food and beverage markets in the city, with over 107 vendor stalls selling anything from a variety of deli products to sweets, street food, drinks, handcrafted jewellery, clothing, beauty products, and décor. 

Its is a hive of activity in a fresh countryside setting. Here you can enjoy delicious food and soak in the sunshine and countryside vibes while strolling through the unique stalls.

The market also offers vegetarian, vegan, organic, and gluten-free meals and products and Halaal meals.

The tin structured sheds at Fourways Farmers Market

Where is the Fourways Farmers Market?

In 2020, the Fourways Farmers Market moved to the Modderfontein Reserve, only 20km from Fourways and 10km from Sandton. 

The reserve is on a 265-hectare private conservation area with open grassland, several dams, and hills. Mountain bikers, walkers, trail runners, and bird watchers will particularly enjoy the beautiful scenery. 

The market is easily accessible from Marlboro Drive and the N3 highway.

What is the entrance fee at Fourways Farmers Market?

There is an entrance fee of R10 per adult. This includes the finest live entertainment in Joburg. The reserve is pet friendly. There are now two entrances to the reserve, on Arden Rd (off Ardeer Rd) in Modderfontein and at Taroko Farm Norfolk Lane, Klipfontein. There is ample free parking available.

The authentic African vibe of Fourways Farmers Market

Is there a place to sit and enjoy the food from the stalls?

With a seating capacity of 2 400 people, there is no need to scramble for a beautiful spot. They provide comfortable seating areas under the trees and large umbrellas in front of the lake. One can also sit on the green lawns in the picnic area while enjoying the best of live local music.

What are the opening hours of Fourways Farmers Market?

The market is open every Saturday and Sunday from 8:00 to 17:00. It is open for select public holidays, and any night markets are announced on their social media pages. During the week, the venue is available for private and corporate functions. The venue is an all-weather venue.

For more info, visit their website: ffmarket.co.za

The lovely shaded spots along the dam at the Fourways Farmer Market