Ernestas Tyminas felt “stuck” in his role as a marketing manager at a newspaper in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
So he requested two months off to backpack through Asia, he said, landing in Beijing in January 2019.
“On the first day … I meet this one,” he said, gesturing to Darina Karpitskaya, sitting by his side.
The couple, speaking to CNBC via video from Dubai, said they met via the travel app Couchsurfing, which links solo travelers together. Karpitskaya, 31, and a flight attendant at the time, had been grounded in Beijing for two days because of mechanical problems with her return flight.
Though more solo travelers agreed to meet that day, Tyminas and Karpitskaya were the only two who showed up.
After one day together, they planned to meet again in Asia one month later.
A monthlong second date
It was in the Philippines, he said, that he decided he wasn’t going back to his old life.
After returning to Colorado, Tyminas quit his job, sold his belongings and moved to Europe, he said.
A dog in tow
Then Covid hit, and Karpitskaya accepted four months of unpaid leave from her job.
“We said: We have four months — we can go explore whatever is open,” said Tyminas.
She never returned to her job, and couple have been traveling ever since, she said.
What it costs to travel the world
The couple told CNBC they still travel modestly — no five-star hotels — and they still cook most meals at home. But they spend more on activities that they film for their YouTube channel Dream Team Travels — another “completely self-taught” venture, they said.
Hiccups on the road
A life of constant travel isn’t all fun and games, they said.
“But then … we drive somewhere else and we’re like this place is also just as good,” he said.