I caught the premiere of David Gordon Green’s Manglehorn during SXSW in 2014. (I remember spending a good part of the day waiting in the long line that wrapped around the Paramount theater to get in.) Turns out that Shane and Anna were there, too — they had met two years earlier by chance on the set of the film in Austin. At the time, Shane Henderson (a video producer and photographer) was working as part of the crew and Anna Terry (Marketing Director at Ecohabitude) was earning a bit of extra cash as an extra. A fitting story for these adventurous two who never shy away from trying new things. Now that they’re four years deep into their relationship, this daring couple is about to take on their biggest enterprise to date — they’ve sold all their belongings and plan to spend the next year traveling the world together and documenting it on their blog, Restless and Roving. Action!
photographed by jessica attie
Okay, so you two met on a movie set, yes? That’s so fun. Give us your “meet cute”!
Anna: I was working for a local talent agency in Austin at the time and we were providing extras for an indie movie that was filming in town called Manglehorn [starring Al Pacino]. I technically had the day off but my boss told me that if I felt like making some more money I should put myself down as an extra as well. It was a super early call time the day of the shoot and I had just gotten my makeup done when I saw Shane. He was helping set up a craft table with some of the crew. Ten hours later (and after many attempts to catch his eye), he FINALLY came up and offered me a snack of some animal crackers. I’m not a big fan of animal crackers but I took them happily because I wanted to talk to him. And the rest is history!
Shane, is she giving us the full story? Anything edits or footnotes we need to know about?
Yeah, it sounds about right. My first thought was “I think that is one of the most beautiful women I have ever seen,” which was quickly followed up by my second thought “Too bad she is way out of my league.” She was kind enough to leave out the fact that the first thing I said to her was something along the lines of “Man, I’m sweaty.” If that’s not a killer pickup line, I don’t know what is.
That’s great.
You both grew up moving around quite a bit. Tell us where you’re from and how that plays into your relationship.
Shane: I was born in New Jersey but grew up mostly in London, and I was lucky enough to get to explore a lot of Europe during my time there. So I think a love of travel and a restlessness were instilled within me from an early age. Anna had a similar experience growing up in a military family, and I think that shared love of adventure plays an important part in our relationship.
Anna: Yes, my dad was in the military, so I’m not from anywhere really. I call Texas home since I graduated high school and college here. Growing up and moving every two years (or less) I really had to learn to adapt to my environment. But I wouldn’t have it any other way! With all these adventures I’ve met some amazing people and have experienced some wonderful things along the way. Both of us grew up traveling with our families and I think that wanderlust feeling has followed us into adulthood. It’s amazing to have a partner that has similar interests in the world as you do and can travel well with you.
Speaking of travel… you two have a big plan in the works. You’ve sold all your belongings and are going to travel the world for an entire year. Pretty bold. What inspired you to do this? Which destinations are you most excited about?
Anna: We already take a lot of trips together to different places but they always are cut short because of work or other commitments. It seemed that it was the right time to plan this year long trip before life really made it harder for us to drop everything and explore. I’m most excited about our two months in Japan! I’m ready to have my senses overloaded and to basically eat my way through the country.
Shane: We have both always wanted to take some sort of long term trip, and after talking about it hypothetically for while, we realized that there would never be a better time than now. I feel like I am excited about every single place on our list, but if I had to pick one I would say Japan, too. I spent two weeks there when I was in High School and thought it was the most beautiful, crazy, and fascinating country! I can’t wait to go back and spend a few months exploring.
Sounds like you’ve already traveled together quite a bit.
We travel very often together! Tulum, London, Reykjavik, Santiago, etc. He is the perfect travel buddy and definitely the planner between the two of us. He does his research THOROUGHLY.
So what worries you the most about the trip?
Shane: Keeping to our budget! I am weirdly into spreadsheets and budgeting and I have spent a lot of time working out estimated expenses in each country, how much we should spend on lodging vs food, what the cheapest transportation options are etc. I know that once we actually start traveling all the planning will probably go out the window haha. But I am hoping to stay relatively close to our budget so that we can make it to all the countries we want to visit before we are flat broke!
Anna, when did you know that Shane was “the one”?
Shane: I think it was the second date that I started to fall for him. We had just gotten out of a movie and were driving back and he put on the Britney Spears’ song “Lucky”. He was singing to it at the top of his lungs and really getting into it. I usually don’t ever sing in front of people but I felt so comfortable with him that I got into it too. He made me feel so at ease and from then on I could be the best version of myself around him.
And Shane, what about you?
I think it was during the first trip we took together. We were in Tulum, Mexico and we rented a moped for the day to go see the cenotes. I had never driven one before but I was feeling pretty confident that I could handle it. We pick it up at the rental place, I hop on and Anna gets on the back. I need to make a left out of the driveway onto a pretty busy street, so I am waiting for my moment. When there is finally a break in the traffic, I gun it, and we shoot out, straight across the street, and right into a ditch on the other side! We both get pretty badly bruised and scratched up, and I am thinking that Anna is going to be furious at me, or at the very least she is not ever going to want to get in a vehicle with me again haha. But she pulls the scooter up, gets right back on, and tells me ‘we’ve got cenotes to swim in, so try not to crash again”.
What’s the best relationship advice you’ve ever been given?
Anna: That you should have a partner in life that you can communicate with and trust. Encourage and support each other to find your passions in life.
Shane: Thats a tough one! My mom passed on some advice she received when she was first dating my dad. I’m probably going to butcher it, but it was something along the lines of “A couple should be like two books standing on a shelf side by side, but not like two books leaning against each other. One should not be dependent on the other to remain standing.”
Do you two have “a song”?
Shane: Not really. Although we had to listen to “Some Type Of Way” by Rich Homie Quan for like 10 hours straight when we first met, so maybe that’s our song. It would definitely make for an interesting first dance at our wedding.
Anna: Yeah, that was the song they had on repeat for 12 hours during the filming of the movie that we met on.
Go-to show to watch together?
Anna: We have a lot of shows we love to watch. Most recently we were super into Season 2 of Master of None. Especially the Italian episodes. We wanted to pick up and head to Europe immediately.
Shane: Yeah, the second season when he goes to Italy to learn to make pasta… goals!
What’s the one thing you disagree about the most often?
Shane: Although we are both pretty social, I am secretly 90 years old at heart and I am not big on drinking, going out, or staying up past midnight haha. Anna on the other hand, would stay out dancing until dawn if given the opportunity. So, occasionally we get into arguments late at night when Anna is trying to have fun and I am being a real curmudgeon.
Anna: Yeah, he wants to go to bed at 9:30. I still want to hang out with him!
What do you admire about your significant other?
Shane: I’ve always admired how easy going she is, and how she’s game to try anything. I could literally walk into the house and say “hey, there is a plumber convention going on downtown, wanna go?” And without any hesitation she would be like “Absolutely! Sounds fun!”
Anna: There are so many things. One of the most notable is that he’s so kind to his friends, family, and complete strangers. He’s also very creative and such a patient person. He inspires me to want to better myself.
For single friends still looking for the one, what advice (if any) would you give on dating in the modern world?
Shane: I was always really bad at dating, so I don’t think I’m qualified to give anyone advice. The only time I used Tinder I got too nervous to message anyone I matched with so I just ended up deleting the app.
Anna: When you least expect it, the right person will come into your life. You can’t force it. Be happy with who you are first and then that special person will just bring more joy into your life.
Follow shane and anna’s upcoming adventures on instagram here!
