Yahoo Finance High School Sweethearts Aim to Visit Every Country in Honor of Late Dad: 'We're Not Guaranteed Tomorrow'
Hudson and Emily Crider
When Hudson and Emily Crider met, they were fifth graders on a field trip to a sewage plant. Their travels have expanded significantly since then.
The high school sweethearts from Lancaster, Penn., now married for 10 years, have set out to travel to every country in the world. And they've already checked off 112.
Their official goal? To reach all 195 around the globe by summer 2024.
The inspiration behind their unique project is deeply personal. When Hudson's dad unexpectedly died of a heart attack eight years ago, they were inspired to honor his legacy of adventure seeking.
"[His death] was just a reminder to us that we're literally not guaranteed tomorrow and to make the most of the time we have together," Hudson tells PEOPLE. "So we decided the next year that it was time to use whatever we had saved to start traveling."
Their journey began with an "old RV" they purchased on Craigslist and revamped. They managed to visit all 50 U.S. states from 2017 to 2018.
Hudson and Emily Crider
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"We are blown away and wouldn't have ever imagined that this RV trip would've turned into what it has been now," Emily says. "We don't have a home base. We've just been living out of our suitcases and our little backpacks."
From Thailand and Indonesia to England and Egypt, the couple has already covered every continent except Antarctica — and have had some wild experiences over the course of their travels.
For starters, they slept in a volcano while in Guatemala.
"Every few minutes there would be a huge eruption from the volcano and you could literally feel the ground shaking beneath us," Hudson says. "So that was definitely something we'll never forget."
They have also already checked off six of the Seven Wonders of the World; the Egyptian pyramids were a dream stop for Emily.
"I was blown away by the pyramids in Egypt. That has always been at the top of my bucket list and just to stand looking up at thousand-year-old history, I felt so small. So that was definitely one of my favorites," she says.
Hudson and Emily Crider
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Hudson's highlight? The Devil's Pool in Zambia off Victoria Falls. "It's like the big brother falls of Niagara Falls. But with the local guides there, they'll take you to the edge of the falls and there's this natural pool and they just hold you by your ankles and you lean out over the falls. It's beautiful, but terrifying at the same time," he says.
With such a lofty goal comes meticulous planning and strict budget guidelines. "We plan by area. So we've realized ever since the RV days, if you plan too far in advance, things are always changing — flights can get canceled," Hudson explains. "So we break it up into regions and usually it's 10 to maybe 15 countries in an area. And then the big flights we base off of where we're going next, based off of what is the cheapest next big flight."
On average, they spend about a week in each destination, depending on the size of the country, staying in mostly "hostels, cheap hotels or Airbnbs."
"We stay as cheaply as we can. Practically, we typically use booking.com for accommodations and Google flights and credit card points to find the cheapest flights," Emily says.
Traveling full-time isn't always the most glamorous. The pair often encounter bed bugs and say they typically run into stomach-related illnesses "twice a month." Hudson and Emily are all for getting candid about the behind-the-scenes of globe-trotting as they chronicle their tales on TikTok, covering everything from their gastrointestinal woes to budget savvy hacks.
Hudson and Emily Crider
From delectable street food to African safaris, each adventure reminds them of one unifying lesson: "One of the biggest things that we've learned is the kindness of people all around the world," Emily says, sharing one story that stuck out to them. "One of our Uber drivers in Saudi Arabia was apologizing to us for not bringing a gift to welcome us to his country with an eight-minute Uber ride. And then he saw that there was a Starbucks nearby, so he insisted on buying us coffee! He just wanted us to feel welcomed."
The long-time partners say their various trips inspire them to become better people.
"What surprised me the most is how experiencing other cultures is just a reminder that the world is so much bigger than just us. And also that it's so much smaller in that people are really similar," Emily says. "Everyone at the core has the same hopes to be loved and to find joy."
Hudson and Emily Crider
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Despite spending every second of the day together, the couple has learned quickly how to avoid too many disagreements. "Bring snacks!" Emily says, adding this is their secret to not getting too "hangry."
"Ninety percent of our arguments happen because either we're hungry or we're hurried and trying to go somewhere. So we try to avoid those as much as we can," Hudson says.
Emily adds, "We've realized that we have to make up pretty quickly and obviously we have so much fun together."
When they reach their final goal, they hope to one day settle down, but still keep their passion for travel alive.
"We definitely hope to have a family someday, and so we would love to be able to share travel with them and show our [future] kids some of our favorite places," Hudson says. "But I think travel will always be a part of us and our experience."
