About Us
Wanna know more about The Arners? Hi, that’s us!
Hi, we are Shannon and Gerry Arner, the couple behind Arner Adventures. We’re so happy you found us!
We’re not your average couple – we’re a minimalist couple, childfree by choice, and dedicated to sustainable traveling, living each day as an adventure.
After owning our business and working 24/7, we traded the hustle and bustle for something more meaningful. We sold our house, and most of our belongings, downsized, and moved to the coast.
Yep, just like that!
How Arner Adventures was Born
Our journey began with a wake-up call. We were knee-deep in the grind of owning our own business, working around the clock until burnout hit us like a ton of bricks. In the blink of an eye, we made the radical decision to change everything we knew about our lives.
We bid farewell to most of our possessions and said goodbye to the business world. Where did we land? The breathtaking coast of North Carolina.
When we made our big lifestyle change, everyone we knew thought that we were crazy. We decided to start a blog, this one, to document our adventure. We started writing about our living small, minimalism, and essentially just healing.
Our journey isn’t just about escaping the chaos – it’s about confronting it head-on. Grief and mental health have been integral parts of our story, shaping us into who we are today. Losing our beloved furbabies along the way has been some of the toughest terrain we’ve had to navigate.
When we moved to the coast, part of our healing process included grieving our pup Pharrell, and our cats, Kiko, and Wilson who had all passed as seniors in the recent year.
Betty White, our rescue furbaby came along for the adventure, too. In early 2024, she passed at the age of 13. To say we were/are heartbroken is an understatement.
Before “Gerry and Shannon-Minimalist Couple”
We met in 2002, had a few adventures, got married on April 30, 2005, in the Meredith College Chapel, and decided life would be one BIG adventure!
Before our lifestyle change, we lived in the Raleigh, NC, area and owned and operated a business in the pet industry. Minimalism was not even on the radar. It took the more challenging adventures of life to show us that being a minimalist couple was the path for us.
We recharge via sustainable travel and being outdoors. Plant-based dining, self-improvement, and our love of animals are just some of our passions.
Our Adventures
Through it all, we’ve discovered the power of living with intention. Embracing minimalism has freed us from the clutter of consumerism, allowing us to focus on what truly matters: experiences, connections, and making a positive impact on the world around us.
As sustainable travelers, we’re passionate about exploring the globe while leaving the lightest footprint possible. From backpacking through lush forests to volunteering in local communities, every adventure is an opportunity to learn, grow, and give back.
So, whether you’re here for travel tips, minimalism inspiration, sharing in our childfree lifestyle, or simply stumbled here, welcome to Arner Adventures. We can even help you with the decision to be a one car family. We highly recommend!
Join us as we continue to embrace life’s twists and turns, one adventure at a time.
Our Mission
We started Arner Adventures, at first, as a journal. We knew the benefits of living by the ocean and our newfound minimalist lifestyle. Living simply by the sea helped with our healing process. So, we blogged about it.
Our community grew as more people commiserated about the toll that burnout had on their own lives. Many were curious about learning how to live with less and experience more from life.
Our mission is to help people live life to the fullest rather than simply having life happen. We serve musings of our travel adventures, our wanderlust mentality, being child-free by choice, and our minimalist ideals of materially living small so that we may live and experience large. We hope to inspire others to cultivate the life that they desire, not one that they feel they are supposed to be living.
Our Vision
Our vision at Arner Adventures is to be the pioneering force that curates a thriving community of like-minded individuals, reshaping societal norms by redefining the concept of living life to the fullest.
Embracing life as a grand adventure, we aspire to inspire and empower individuals to break free from conventions, embrace their passions, and explore boundless possibilities.
Through our curated resources and unwavering commitment, we aim to lead a transformative movement that celebrates the joy of living and empowers everyone to embrace the true essence of life’s adventurous journey.
Welcome to Arner Adventures!
Anything we experience in life, good, bad, challenging, or a breeze, is an adventure. As long as we are experiencing it together, we know we will make it through any adventure.
Thanks for dropping by to learn more about The Arners. You can now just call us Shannon and Gerry.
