By Rachel Wilson

Ryan and Laura are a semi-newlywed couple from Chicago living their dream of traveling the world. Before they set out on their journey, the two worked in the corporate world, Ryan for a mobile marketing firm and Laura for a public relations agency. After spending college semesters abroad in Europe, the couple found a love for travel. They knew their desire to travel was there to stay after their yearlong trip across South America. Ever since, they have been dedicated to exploring the world. Their last excursion was a 14-month journey across six continents.

The couple met in their early teens, got married in their twenties, and eventually became life-long travel partners. The two balance each other out, Laura being the planner and Ryan being the resourceful “MacGyver.” According to them, traveling is a necessity. It has shown them who they are, who they’re not, and who they want to become. Not content with the normal, mundane jobs and worries, they wanted to live the life they had imagined. As a result, they started their own website, roundwego.com, and took off to discover what the world really had to offer.

Ryan and Laura were kind enough to answer a few questions for The Hostel Life. This is their story.

THL: What inspired you two to leave your jobs and start traveling abroad?

L: You know, that is the number one question we got when we told people what we were doing . . . “Why?” Our response was always, “well, why not?” We believe there is a bigger world out there and we were anxious to meet it. We don’t want to be content with the two weeks of vacation a year, spending our days sitting in front of a computer screen, buying a home and mowing the lawn. We went in search of more . . . most importantly, in search of a new perspective. We realize there is so much more to the world than what we can see from here.

R: I don’t think either of us felt like we were embarking on this 14-month around the world trip to escape from the “corporate grind” or from our cubicles (although we were more than happy to do so). We had this idea of doing an extended trip abroad before we even took our previous jobs. We had lived and worked for a year in South America after college and before planting our roots—before buying a place, before kids, before truly settling down somewhere—we wanted to go out and explore more of the world.

THL: Where was your first trip abroad and why did you choose that destination?

R: The first time I left the country (save a debaucherous spring break trip to Mexico in high school) was to study abroad in Galway, Ireland, my junior year of college. I was eager and fortunate enough to study abroad, but never felt language was a strong point of mine. So I decided that drinking Guinness in Ireland would be a perfectly hospitable environment to spend a semester.

L: I’ve been hooked on language since the third grade. I remember a friend of mine taking a Spanish class when we were eight years old, and I’d make her teach me everything she learned. I jumped at the first chance I got . . . on a high school trip to Costa Rica. That led to a seven-month stint during college in Spain and then there was really no turning back. As soon as I graduated college and saved a bit of cash, I booked a one-way ticket to South America.

THL: What were some of the obstacles you faced before going on your first big trip?

R&L: Initially, we imagined all we’d have to do was pack up our belongings, throw a few things in a pack, buy a few plane tickets and voila—we’d be off. No such luck. It’s not so easy packing up your life. We spent countless weeks pondering over maps and guidebooks, but that was the fun part. Hours spent researching visas and vaccines, managing finances and insurance, setting up our taxes, narrowing down the best camera and computer options and working diligently to tighten up our to-do list; that was laborious. We dreamed about this trip for years and spent nearly an entire year planning to make it happen. The big takeaway (for the next time, we hope) is that when traveling long-term, a lot of the things we made a big deal about—getting the right clothes, the right packs, the right camera equipment—none of it really matters. You’ll end up with half of what you started with and will have collected some more important things along the way.

THL: What is it like traveling as a couple?

R&L: Awesome. We understand each other better as a result of this trip. You have to make sacrifices, protect and support one another and you’ve got to learn when to give the other person their space and independence. The reality is traveling with any one person for an extended period of time is not easy and of course there were days when we were more on par with the Costanzas than the Bradys, but we wouldn’t trade it for anything. The myriad of experiences and emotions shared together as a couple somehow connects us on a deeper level.

THL: What does the hostel life mean to you? Where was your first hostel experience? Favorite hostel?

R&L: Wow—great question with not nearly enough space to unload great and bad stories. The hostel life, I think, signifies budget travel at its best and worst parts. Hostel experiences can often make or break the way you experience a place. And many times hostels can act like a “bubble,” inoculating you from truly experiencing a place if you let it. It’s easy to get comfortable in a hostel, meet lots of new, interesting people that you can party with, only to forget there’s a city or town outside waiting to be discovered (and the reason you came here in the first place).

R: My first hostel experience was the typical American backpacking through Western Europe one summer. I first stayed in a hostel named Kabul, run by an Afghan family, in Amsterdam. It was then that I knew my life would never be the same, because this travel culture just blew my mind—staying for close to nothing in the middle of a great city and hanging out with other like-minded travelers (even if everyone viewed Americans suspiciously).

L: My first hostel experience was in Rio de Janeiro during Carnival. Everything was booked up for months in advance, leaving us with no choice but to stay in a dorm room dump. The jacked up holiday prices came with a special catch—a third bunk thrown on top of the two bunk beds. That was until our neighbors’ beds came crashing down in the middle of the night . . . I wasn’t sure I could swing this hostel life, but have certainly made strides.

As for favorite hostel? We’re going to offer a three-way tie here: The Globetrotters Inn in Dublin for its huge, comfy beds on solid, oak frames to avoid shaking when your friend stumbles home and up into his nest after a proper Irish drinking session, and great, traditional Irish breakfast. Second, This Old Place YHA Hostel in Xinping, China. It’s clean, rustic, comfortable, great open bar and lounge area and awesome location overlooking the picturesque Karst Mountains. And it couldn’t go without mentioning Wild Spirits Lodge in Nature’s Valley, South Africa. This place is incredible in every imaginable way—clean, green, way hospitable people, great food, super-rustic woodsy atmosphere and the type of place you’d like to ride out a storm in.

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THL: What are a few of your favorite travel destinations and what made them so memorable? Where is the next stop?

R&L: 1. India – Everyone should visit India once in his or her life. It’s an all-out attack on your senses. Love it or hate it, you will, but it is certainly memorable.

2. New Zealand – No place has better prioritized nature or encouraged a more sustainable way of living: clean, green, and serene.

3. Burma – The people and history are magnificent, even if the military dictatorship is not.

4. Laos – Life here is beautiful.

Next stops in no particular order are Russia, Colombia, and Japan.

THL: If you could give advice to someone interested in traveling for the first time, what would it be?

R&L: Go. Now. There are a million and one reasons why the timing isn’t right, why next year or the year after that will be better and why you should put it off. There’s always going to be a reason not to, so do it before you find out the reasons didn’t really matter in the first place. Stop making excuses. Set reasonable goals. Make it a daily priority. You are going to have to make sacrifices, but I can assure you it will be the single best decision of your life.

To explore more of Ryan and Laura’s adventures, check out their website roundwego.com