British couple have spent 16 years travelling the world and taken in 86 countries
- 26 days ago
A travel-mad British couple have spent 16 years travelling around the world and have visited a whopping 86 countries and six continents.
Lauren Winslow-Llewellyn, 34, and Craig Hubbard, 40, have funded all their trips themselves by picking up work in the countries they explore.
They have picked up all kinds of jobs such as sweet potato farmers and even volunteered as lumberjacks in return for accommodation.
The couple - originally from Brighton - are currently in China, a country they fell in love with when they previously visited in 2016.
Lauren said: "We’re having a fantastic time. The people are really friendly and the scenery is spectacular. It’s great to be back.
"This time we’re visiting some new areas of China that we haven’t been to before.
"We love variety. We get bored in one place so travelling fills us with joy because we’re constantly seeing and experiencing new things.
"Being out in nature is the best part for us, seeing different landscapes from the desert to the mountains and searching for different wildlife along the way.
"We also love the freedom to go where we want. If we’re enjoying an area we can stay longer or if it’s not what we expected then we can catch a bus to a new place."
The couple met in 2007 when Craig had just returned from his travels and Lauren was working as a pot wash to save money she could to go on a gap year.
The pair soon started dating and managed to club enough money together to set off on a one-way trip to Australia in the summer of 2008.
But what first started as a year and half for travel in Australia and South East Asia has turned into a 16-year-long trip around the world.
And in that time, they've ticked off far-flung countries such as Nicaragua, Mauritius and Oman.
Lauren added: "We were volunteer lumberjacks in Germany in return for food and accommodation which wasn't great.
"The hosts were unfriendly and we spent every day chain-sawing and splitting logs, often in the rain or below zero temperatures.
"We were also politely fired as sweet potato farmers in Australia.
"It only lasted a week when the boss said work had dried up but it was the start of the farming season, so I guess we just weren’t very good at it."
With working visas being generally aimed at younger people, the couple recently had to return to the UK for up to 12 months at a time to save money to travel.
Lauren says it's hard to to pick a favourite moment in particular, but she says the many nature encounters are hard to beat.
She added: "Snorkeling with sea lions in the freezing waters off the coast of Argentina where they were play-biting us was definitely a highlight.
"Our time spent in North America watching wild bears and wolves was amazing too.
"Whilst in Florida, we were snorkeling in horrible, murky water and this manatee just kept holding onto my arm.
"We think it knew I was scared in the murky water and was trying to comfort me because it wasn’t interested in Craig at all."
Like anything, the good has to come with the bad and there have been some challenges and scary moments that Lauren and Craig have had to put up with.
She said: "Travel days mixed with language barriers, unfriendly people and being hungry. That’s a bad recipe.
"I always bring snacks to avoid one of those issues but It’s also tough when you’ve had a long day travelling and check into a dirty hotel.
"If you have a few days in a row like that then it can bring down the moral quite a bit.
"We also had a few scary situations. In Utah someone threatened to slash our tyres unless we came out the car.
"In Guatemala, a guy was looking for his girlfriend and tried to kick down the hotel door next to ours as he thought she was hiding in the room.
"Luckily those bad days are few and far between and the good ones outweigh them."
After 16 years of travelling, Lauren admits that her and Craig would like to slow down and have a home they can return to.
She said: "I think we’re getting to the point where we’d like a home-base.
"We don’t know where yet but it would be nice to have some land in the wilderness somewhere to come back to and maybe do shorter trips like three months travel a year."
Lauren Winslow-Llewellyn, 34, and Craig Hubbard, 40, have funded all their trips themselves by picking up work in the countries they explore.
They have picked up all kinds of jobs such as sweet potato farmers and even volunteered as lumberjacks in return for accommodation.
The couple - originally from Brighton - are currently in China, a country they fell in love with when they previously visited in 2016.
Lauren said: "We’re having a fantastic time. The people are really friendly and the scenery is spectacular. It’s great to be back.
"This time we’re visiting some new areas of China that we haven’t been to before.
"We love variety. We get bored in one place so travelling fills us with joy because we’re constantly seeing and experiencing new things.
"Being out in nature is the best part for us, seeing different landscapes from the desert to the mountains and searching for different wildlife along the way.
"We also love the freedom to go where we want. If we’re enjoying an area we can stay longer or if it’s not what we expected then we can catch a bus to a new place."
The couple met in 2007 when Craig had just returned from his travels and Lauren was working as a pot wash to save money she could to go on a gap year.
The pair soon started dating and managed to club enough money together to set off on a one-way trip to Australia in the summer of 2008.
But what first started as a year and half for travel in Australia and South East Asia has turned into a 16-year-long trip around the world.
And in that time, they've ticked off far-flung countries such as Nicaragua, Mauritius and Oman.
Lauren added: "We were volunteer lumberjacks in Germany in return for food and accommodation which wasn't great.
"The hosts were unfriendly and we spent every day chain-sawing and splitting logs, often in the rain or below zero temperatures.
"We were also politely fired as sweet potato farmers in Australia.
"It only lasted a week when the boss said work had dried up but it was the start of the farming season, so I guess we just weren’t very good at it."
With working visas being generally aimed at younger people, the couple recently had to return to the UK for up to 12 months at a time to save money to travel.
Lauren says it's hard to to pick a favourite moment in particular, but she says the many nature encounters are hard to beat.
She added: "Snorkeling with sea lions in the freezing waters off the coast of Argentina where they were play-biting us was definitely a highlight.
"Our time spent in North America watching wild bears and wolves was amazing too.
"Whilst in Florida, we were snorkeling in horrible, murky water and this manatee just kept holding onto my arm.
"We think it knew I was scared in the murky water and was trying to comfort me because it wasn’t interested in Craig at all."
Like anything, the good has to come with the bad and there have been some challenges and scary moments that Lauren and Craig have had to put up with.
She said: "Travel days mixed with language barriers, unfriendly people and being hungry. That’s a bad recipe.
"I always bring snacks to avoid one of those issues but It’s also tough when you’ve had a long day travelling and check into a dirty hotel.
"If you have a few days in a row like that then it can bring down the moral quite a bit.
"We also had a few scary situations. In Utah someone threatened to slash our tyres unless we came out the car.
"In Guatemala, a guy was looking for his girlfriend and tried to kick down the hotel door next to ours as he thought she was hiding in the room.
"Luckily those bad days are few and far between and the good ones outweigh them."
After 16 years of travelling, Lauren admits that her and Craig would like to slow down and have a home they can return to.
She said: "I think we’re getting to the point where we’d like a home-base.
"We don’t know where yet but it would be nice to have some land in the wilderness somewhere to come back to and maybe do shorter trips like three months travel a year."