ABOUT Us

We love to use our personal experiences to inspire others to see what is possible for themselves and then lay out an easy pathway to do it. Whether that is in an international destination or here in Raleigh, we have a well-trained eye for finding fun and unique experiences. 

Our podcast shares our personal stories and those of other business and thought leaders of the community via our interviews. 

And on our social media, we showcase the Raleigh lifestyle via our vibrant photos and video (including drone footage)

This helps our followers feel connected to it. If we can do it, they CAN TOO! 

Craig is a licensed and insured drone pilot!

We’re also the founders of ytravelblog.com, one of the world’s largest travel blogs.

It has won multiple awards, has been recognized as top of its field by The White House, and has been featured by notable publications like Lonely Planet, Fox Business News, The Today Show, Forbes, Travel & Lesiure, Skyscanner, Expedia, Afar, CNN online, Business Insider, Pinterest and Social Media Examiner.

We started This is Raleigh during the lows of 2020 as a way to showcase the magic of this place we chose to live in., and have quickly grown it into one of the premier sites on Raleigh. Our greatest joy comes when people stop us on the street to say how much our content has helped them settle in, uncover great experiences, and love where they live.

We have appeared locally on My Carolinas CBS17 and have been featured by many local publications. Locally we have worked with brands such as Nextdoor, Kane Realty, Harris Teeter, Dreamville, BlueWater Spa, and many more.

Caroline and Craig have also worked with the biggest brands in the world including Ford, Nissan, American Express, Airbnb, TripAdvisor, Booking.com, Hilton, Ritz Carlton, Canon, Qantas and scores of international and USA tourism boards and destinations.

We’ve spent 25 years traveling through over 50 countries and have lived in 5 – Raleigh always came out on top so we found a way to live here permanently.

When we first moved to Raleigh in 2004 we instantly fell in love with the vibe, the people, and the possibilities. That forever love has now turned into our forever home and our forever mission.

As we’ve clocked up over 10 international moves between us, so we understand the challenges and stresses of any kind of relocation. Part of what we do on this site is helping support people as they settle in, readjust, and learn to love Raleigh like we do.

We do that with monthly meetups (which includes Raleigh old timers too!) and Caroline is a Licensed Realtor and referral agent.

We strive to connect those buying or selling their homes with one of our partner Real Estate agents, saving you time and stress looking for a reputable agent yourself.  (Find out more here)

Our genuine passion and love we have for sharing Raleigh is evident and contagious. This is more than just a business to us. We fought for 17 years to earn the right to live in this city when we could have lived anywhere, including across the road from the beach in Australia. People feel that from our content and so trust that we’re genuine. People also see us actually experiencing what we’re sharing so they know it’s not content created from behind a laptop. 

Because we’ve had decades of global travel experience, people trust our opinion.

Whether you plan to stay for a day, or a lifetime like us, we are building this site for you!

With savvy students, professionals and entrepreneurs making up a big part of the Raleigh community, we know that learning more about the local businesses that help create this forward thinking city is important to you – we intend to feature some of those incredible stories as well.

On this site, you can expect to find our personal tips and reviews of:

• Restaurants
• Coffee Shops
• Sports
• Breweries and Bars
• Festivals and Events
• Outdoor activities
• Family fun
• Getaways from Raleigh
• Interviews with local entrepreneurs
• Neighborhood guides
• Accommodation reviews
• Living in Raleigh

We’ll be helping people plan a trip to Raleigh, as well as helping local residents embrace the vibe and laid-back attitude of the city.

RAleigh Travel Experts

While we know Raleigh is so enticing you may never want to leave the boundaries of Wake County, we highly encourage you to do so.

To help, we’ll share loads of inspiration and tips for destinations that are located in our drive market.

What does that mean?

Usually, destinations that are less than 4-hours drive from Raleigh that you can embrace for day trips or longer getaways!

Since Raleigh is ideally located 2 hours from the coast and 4 hours from the mountains, and halfway between Orlando and New York City, that opens up a lot of options for unique and fun trips.

We’ll show you where and how!

We may even stretch those boundaries a little for those longer summer break travels. Anything further afield, you can find on our other site, yTravelBlog.com

Remember travel has been the central focus of our lives for 25 years AND we’ve been professional travel bloggers for 14 years. Rely on our well-trained eye to save you time and money planning for trips with easy-to-follow guides and itineraries to have a great time while you’re there.

We’ll keep that inspiration moving at a more rapid pace on our Instagram and Facebook accounts.

Our YouTube channel will show you Raleigh in moving focus and our podcast will share the stories of this city and beyond the Beltline.

Joining our email community, it’s the best way to ensure you don’t miss a single update. And you’ll get our free Uniquely Raleigh checklist.

About Caroline and Craig

Unconventional, passionate, addicted to travel, exploration, fun, and connection to loved ones and Mother Nature, it’s the Makepeace’s mission to inspire and empower others to travel more and create a life they love. 

And now, to love the place they call home – for us it’s Raleigh.

Many people ask us if we really do all these things they see on our Instagram channel – YEP! We sure do. We have boundless energy, but believe life is too short to waste it on things that don’t have value and enrich our lives and others.

We love using our passions and expertise to help others experience similar joy.

We are also the founders of yTravelBlog.com, one of the biggest travel blogs in the world.

For 14 years we have grown that blog to be a premier resource for global travel, with an expertise focus on Australia, USA, family travel and road trips. We traveled full time for seven years with our two daughters, Kalyra (16) and Savannah (12), and finally planted permanent roots in Raleigh in 2019 after and on again off again romance for years.

Our travel blog has given us many incredible travel experiences and opportunities around the world. And we still own and run that business and travel reguarrly both overseas, within North Carolina and across the USA.

In 2014, we were invited to The White House as a top digital travel influencer and in 2018, we were granted Green Cards for our extraordinary ability in the art of travel blogging (the legit title) and for our significant contributions to the USA tourism industry.

The dream to live permanently in Raleigh was realized.

Why Raleigh? How did we end up here?

We first moved to Raleigh in 2004. I (Caroline) was an elementary school teacher, and Craig worked in construction (previous to that he played professional Rugby League back in Sydney, Australia).

I joined a company based in Chapel Hill that recruited teachers from around the world and we were randomly placed in a school here for 4 years.

We both instantly fell in love with the lifestyle and knew it was a place we wanted to stay.

That dream took us on a 14 year journey of many struggles, failures, challenges and wins to finally get that Green Card.

Fun Fact: When I was little, I remember distinctly telling my Mum (after her 50th listen to Carolina in My Mind),

 Mum, I should live in Carolina.

Destiny created.

While we will always continue to travel, we got very tired of the full-time nomadic lifestyle and wanted to lay down our roots.

We’re Australian, and given we work online, we had multiple choices of places to live. But we chose Raleigh, where all are welcome!

The love we feel for this place is REAL!

It’s the only place that has ever felt like our soul home and we can’t wait to share it with you.

While we’re still operating our other travel blog and taking frequent domestic and international trips, we’re excited about this new, refreshing, passion project.

Bringing you the best of this City of Oaks we love so much.

The quality of life here is legit amazing. Take it from us: we’ve lived in 5 countries and traveled through over 50.

You couldn’t find a place that checks off so many boxes at once.

We love being outdoors and doing fun activities that get a little sweat up like hiking, biking, kayaking, paddle boarding and zip lining.

If there is a music concert, festival, or market on, we’re bound to be there. Or at one of the many breweries or coffee shops around the city!

We love delicious food from around the world, are coffee addicts, craft brew seekers and wine lovers.

We love living the full expression of life and Raleigh encourages only that.

Being fun loving and social and generally not interested in being too serious, we’re perfectly suited to share with you our tips, stories, and insights on all the things to see and do.

Life is too much fun for that!

It’s all about memories and moments. Nothing more, Nothing less.

You can read more about us and our travel story (25 years of nomadic travel) and travel blogging success over here.

Caroline also loves public speaking! She’s keynote some of the biggest travel conferences like TBEX and Women’s Travel Fest. She has also presented at conferences such as Problogger, New York Times Travel Show, and the Travel and Adventure Show.

And both her and Craig have presented locally at the Raleigh Chamber of Commerce, Raleigh Rotary Club, the NC Public Relation Society of America annual conference, and City Club influencer panels.

Caroline has written two ebooks, How to Create a Travel Life you Love and 12 Steps to Sacredness to help people lean into the life they really want and create epic memories. She also created a course, “6 steps to move from Blog to Business,” to help entrepreneurs make money from their love of blogging and a  6-week online program “30 days to Money Mindfulness” to help people improve their relationship with money (and create more of it!)

Craig and Caroline have created courses and webinars to help foreign teachers travel around the USA and Australians visit Idaho.

Now for some of our Raleigh faves down below.

Our Raleigh FAvorites

Caroline

• Fave coffee: Foutn Coffee in Morrisville and Heirloom in Downtown Raleigh (makes the coffee an Aussie can rave about)
• Fave place to eat: bartaco, North Hills
• Fave Bar: Willard Rooftop Lounge
• Fave brewery: Bond Brothers for best beer, and Cotton House Cary for best ambiance and setting.
• Fave neighborhood: Cary and Apex for their cute downtown and dining and brewery options.
• Fave Lake: Lake Johnson without a doubt.
• Fave College: UNC. When you have no allegiances you are free to choose the best!
• Fave getaway from Raleigh: Wrightsville Beach and Lake Lure.

Craig

• Fave coffee: Jubala. Good coffee, good food, and I enjoy soaking up the college life on Hillsborough street.
• Fave place to eat: Big Ed’s for breakfast. Any of the BBQ joints for lunch. Stanbury for dinner.
• Fave Bar: Watts & Ward, Dram & Draught, and London Bridge for English soccer.
• Fave brewery: I love the beers at Trophy and Crank Arm.
• Fave neighborhood: North Person St (food, bars, coffee, cool industrial feel). Nth Person St.
• Fave Lake: Lake Johnson. We lived on this lake when first moved here.
• Fave College: UNC. Yep, another big Tar Heels fan, sorry Wolf Packers. But I’m a sports fan regardless!
• Fave getaway from Raleigh: Wrightsville Beach (like being back home on the beaches of Oz).

You can read more favorites in our He Said. She Said post. 

Click to read more about Caroline Makepeace and Craig Makepeace