Instagram couple beg strangers for holiday cash after saying getting a job 'isn't an option'
A husband and wife Instagram couple have been slammed on social media for asking their followers to fund a trip to Africa worth around £9,000.
Catalin Onc and his wife Elena Engelhardt run the Another Beautiful Day Instagram page, which describes the couple as "lovers, travellers and dream chasers". But Onc - who lives at home with his mother - has attracted a lot of criticism online after asking his followers to fund an expensive trip from Germany to Africa so he can ride a tandem with his wife.
Credit: GoFundMe
"Starting on the 20th of July in the middle of Germany, on a tandem, me and Eli [his wife Elena] will cycle towards Africa, and hopefully beyond," Onc states in his GoFundMe plea for €10,000.
"We want to take you all on this huge adventure. A celebration of life, as we ride freely across mountains, by the sea and through metropolitans. We will show the beauty of this planet and it’s [sic] inhabitants, but also the ugliness. But we can not do this on our own. We need you!
The funds we raise will go towards the bike and gear, food and accommodation (when needed), internet and SIM cards in every country to keep you up to date, insurance, emergencies. We need funds now for preparation as well as throughout our trip."
So far, they've raised around €240 of their €10,000 target, and Onc admits it's not easy for him to ask for funds. In a follow-up Instagram post, he wrote:
"We have seen how people are around us when we have money and when we don’t. #grateful that we get to see both sides of the spectrum. I wish you all could experience this. Some people are quick to judge and speak. At this very moment we don’t have much, we are accepting money from my mother and also donations but we don’t hide that."
Here is Catalin Onc imploring his followers to go on a '30-day challenge':
But some people aren't convinced. "Your [sic] don't inspire anything but laziness and self importance. Asking people, strangers, to fund your permanent vacation is one of the most narcissistic pleas I've ever seen," wrote one person on their GoFundMe page, while Instagram user _jlucy said:
"'Make money the biggest topic' probably cause majority of us work for our own money. It’s easy to think money doesn’t matter when you acquire it without much thought or work. You guys are just fancy bums. Saying you inspire people is idiotic."
As of now, Onc is going on a 30-day "walk" where he will stay away from social media for 30 days, but hopefully by the time he returns to Instagram, his tandem bike ride will be fully paid for.
This article originally appeared on VT.co