Vanessa Tein

Part Bold

Hello there! Growing up, Vanessa was a daredevil child with bloody knees all the time, whether from test runs of her homemade parachute (could never launch from high enough) or covertly practicing  gymnastics skills in the grocery store aisles. Her family bounced around a lot between schools and addresses, but the quasi-vagabond lifestyle taught her to relish in the everchangement of life. Throughout her life, Vanessa has defied conventions, forging her own path in life undefined by society. With a degree in Mandarin Chinese and a penchant for new cultures, Vanessa currently finds herself living the expat life in Taipei Taiwan, creepily petting strangers’ dogs, feeding her Food-FOMO anxiety (literally), and chasing after waterfalls, mountain peaks or whatever wild and beautiful moment she can find.

Albert Tein

Part Go

Albert Tein’s super power is being the lovable bald guy who knows a lot of things without being a know-it-all. Firmly rooted in the Chicago west suburbs all his life, his first move ever was when he married Vanessa in 2010. At only seventeen years old, Al and his business partners entered the food packaging industry and Teinnovations Inc was born. Fourteen years later, Albert stepped away from his career to move with Vanessa to Taiwan. He has never looked back. Through their travels, Al has learned to drive most anything with wheels, navigate any terrain, and find the silver lining under any situation. Owner of the most contagious laugh within a fifty mile radius, you can find Albert horizontally tasting all the local specialties and trying to persuade Vanessa to adopt every stray animal they come upon.

Together we make

Boldly We Go

With our powers combined, we are…. Valnesbert!
…a force to be reckoned with
(even if just because of our tongue-twister of a couple name).

When we started going on trips together, V wasn’t sure if Al would love the early morning wake ups and shady transportation choices as much as she did, but from the start he fell into a wanderlust from which he has yet to recover. Whether its to far off exotic destinations or local nameless escapades, we believe that life can always be an adventure (yes, that means even during Covid!). To us, Travel isn’t defined by airplanes and dollar signs, but by taking the time to absorb where you are and grow, letting it become part of you. This can happen anywhere as long as you have the right mindset. Seeing foreign places for ourselves has opened our eyes to food and history, it has honed our skills of working as a team, and it has rewarded our curiosity and dauntless willingness to learn new things.

Are We Always Traveling?

Sometimes when we are catching up with friends, we get asked, “Oh when did you get back?” and I look in confusion because I’m pretty sure they don’t mean from the bathroom. This is one of the drawbacks of having a blog and social media platforms like Instagram. However, it should be noted that my account is a specifically-curated series of photos from our wanderlust adventures. Wherever we travel we typically take a thousand (plus) photos and having lives outside of our trips means we end up posting photos well after we get home, over a period of time. This creates the illusion that we are constantly on another wild and beautiful escapade. We are not those people, though we do love seeing a good photo and reminiscing. So please, friends, use the internet and your social media for inspiration and wonder, but don’t compare your behind the scenes with someone else’s highlight reel. Including mine. And don’t live life just doing it for the gram, missing out on real life for the sake of an electronic one. Oftentimes, we go somewhere and don’t get that insta-shot, and that’s okay. We hope you can feel the same. “Bad” photos and “bad” days still make for good stories. In the end, remember to make memories that are uniquely your own: have an emotional response to your environment, fall in love with the food and learn something from the locals.