Hello everyone! So the story of how we met and how we got here (Hillary’s perspective). March 9th 2015 I started my first official job after college…and also met the love of my life, Mike, only then I didn’t know it. Mike worked for a different segment of the office, but it was a small company so we still interacted occasionally at social events. Though we barely spoke two words to each other at first, as time went on we started chatting more and more and discovered we actually have a lot in common. Our conversations flowed effortlessly and as cheesy as this is, it really did feel like we’d known each other forever.
 
On our first unofficial date, Mike took me to a sports bar to watch a hockey game…not the most appealing thing in the world for me, but hey the things you do for love right?! The moment I knew I wanted to be with him was when we were offered a free beer if we each answered a question in front of a camera- Mike was asked what his spirit animal was, and without hesitation he yelled out “Squirt from Finding Nemo!”…and that was it, just like that he got me. “What a brilliant answer”, I thought. From then on it all happened very organically- and by June we were dating. It’s now been an amazing 1.5 years.
 
In those 1.5 years we have learned to love and support each other’s passions. I learned (begrudgingly at first) to love fitness, and become interested in all the amazing things the body can do with proper nutrition and exercise. We now go to the gym together almost everyday (I like my rest days), and love to motivate each other. He learned to love food and everything related to the culinary world. Together we learn about farming, cooking, and high-end cuisine, attend wine courses, and cook as much as we can. We encourage each other to pursue our dreams, and to realize that life is too short to be anything less than happy.
 
Our goal is to inspire each other and work everyday toward making sure we wake up every morning and feel excited about what we do and how we live our lives.
 
This is why we’re here.
 
After spending several years at our jobs, we realized something was missing. Our most inspired moments were when we were traveling and immersing ourselves in different cultures- from wine tours in the Sancerre region of France, to road trips around the entire country of Iceland, to four-wheeling down a dirt road in the Colombian countryside, to traveling for a day to eat at the best restaurant in the world in Italy- we have finally begun to find ourselves by finding the world.
 
So we did what every rational beings would do when they’ve been bitten by the wanderlust bug, and we quit our jobs and booked a flight to SouthEast Asia. Ahead of us we have three months, 9 countries, and a whole new world full of endless new possibilities.
 
We hope this journey of discovery will help us become better thinkers, humanitarians, explorers and global citizens, and we’re bringing you along for the ride.
 
So, here we are…ready for Laos?