Meet Ben and Sarah

Hi! We are Ben and Sarah Law and if you are looking for legal advice, you’ve come to the wrong place. We are a couple of travel enthusiasts who quit our jobs in 2016 and traveled full-time for nearly two years. Now we are back to the grind, busy reminiscing about our travels and planning our next trip. Thanks for visiting!

The Laws (of travel)

Ben is my witty and ever-entertaining husband. According to him, he is the tangy zip to my Miracle Whip. Until I convinced him to quit everything and travel full-time, he worked in the financial services industry. It was the job he landed right out of college that ultimately brought us to Chicago from Minnesota, where we were born and raised.

I am the other half of The Laws of Travel and the driving force behind our decision to quit our jobs, sell most of our stuff, and travel. Prior to our trip, I worked as a newspaper reporter in Minnesota and when I moved to Chicago I worked as a second-grade teacher.

I’ve always loved to travel and although I grew up in two small towns (400 and 2,800 people respectively) my parents always told me I was a big city girl at heart. I got the opportunity to test their theory when Ben and I got married in 2009, and I joined him in Chicago, where he had been living for a year-and-a-half. 

We met as freshmen in college at the University of Minnesota – Duluth where we lived on the same floor. During sophomore year we started dating and have been together ever since. We love exploring new places, trying new recipes and restaurants, finding new music, learning about different cultures and watching Murder She Wrote. J.B. Fletcher is our hero.

After eight years in Chicago (seven for me), and two years on the road, we now call Minneapolis, MN home. I am working as a content creator for a small marketing firm, and Ben is back in the financial services industry. And, in the hopes of being transparent, this transition back to the U.S. has been tough. Really tough.

Why Travel?

It actually started as a dream all the way back in 2010. When we got married, and I moved to Chicago, I spent several months unemployed. It turns out; late 2009/early 2010 was a terrible time to be looking for a job, especially in the newspaper industry thanks to the recession. Newspapers across the country were declaring bankruptcy and laying off hordes of seasoned reporters.

In order to keep motivated in the job hunt, I would “reward” myself for each job application by reading a travel blog post or an article about travel. It was a form of escape from the monotony of job hunting. But ultimately, it planted a seed in my mind. I wanted to be like the bloggers I read about.

However, my dreams of travel didn’t include the reality of income, debt, retirement, etc. In stepped Mr. Practical Ben, with a dream crushing a logical way of thinking which caused my dreams to come to a screetching halt. 

Fast forward several years, and we found that my far-fetched travel dreams were something we both really desired. We were working a ton of hours in jobs that we had loved but were getting harder to wake up and get out of bed for. We weren’t living, we were just surviving, and something needed to change.

The pieces started falling together in 2015, so, on our sixth wedding anniversary, (10/10/15) we booked two one-way tickets to Auckland, New Zealand for the following year. We knew we wanted more out of life, and the opportunity to learn and experience new cultures together was a dream come true. 

Why a travel website?

We started the-laws-of-travel.com for several reasons: First, as a way to keep our family and friends abreast of our travels and as a travel diary of sorts for us. Second, as a way for me to get back to writing. I worked as a newspaper reporter throughout college, and as my first profession before moving to Chicago. I loved it, I miss it, and it is nice to get back to it.

More about us:

Sarah:

• I have had two “careers” since graduation: Newspaper Reporter and Second-grade teacher.
• I put together conferences for the U.S. Department of Defense and Federal Government for a year.
• I love buying souvenirs from our trips and our life of travel is going to put a serious damper on our collection.
• My favorite place in the world is my family’s cabin on Birch Lake in Hackensack, Minnesota.

Ben:

• He has an affinity for nicknaming the people he is closest too, whether they like the nicknames or not.
• He would eat Asian cuisine for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, especially Vietnamese food and Ramen.
• He always has a book, or three, that he is reading.

The Route

We spent 23 months traveling to 24 different countries and/or territories. Asia has our hearts and most of our time was spent there, however the last few months we spent time hopping around the Middle East and Europe to visit friends we had met on the road. Get a closer look here at the places we visited.

1. New Zealand
2. Australia
3. Singapore
4. Thailand
5. Vietnam
6. Cambodia
7. Laos
8. Taiwan
9. Japan
10. Mongolia
11. Indonesia
12. Malaysia
13. Hong Kong
14. China
15. India
16. Sri Lanka
17. Kuwait
18. United Arab Emirates
19. Jordan
20. England
21. Ireland
22. Spain
23. Portugal
24. Sweden

The Favorites

We get the question “What was your favorite country, city, place, sight, etc.?” often. And, because that is an impossible question to answer, Ben and I have come up with a couple “favorites” in several categories. 

To be honest, there were only a couple places we didn’t love, (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Phnom Penh, Cambodia and much of India) so while we are only listing our top few favorites we would be happy spending loads more time in every place we visited.

 Favorite Food

• Japan
• Vietnam

Most Beautiful Landscape

• Mongolia
• New Zealand
• Sri Lanka

Friendliest People

• Cambodia
• Sri Lanka
• Taiwan