Sherwin Rebello and Divya Pai were both born in the booming metropolis of Mumbai, India. In a city of almost 12 million people, it was likely their paths would never cross—it was even less likely they would start a business together.

Rebello had started a blog called The Land Out There, and had tried to evolve it into a travel company, but it fell through. Pai became interested, and through a college professor, she met Rebello, and he began to tell her about the inspiration behind the idea. But after the first failure to launch the company, Rebello had no intention of starting a new one.

Months passed and Pai was planning a trip to Rajasthan, a state on the Western side of India. She reached out to Rebello for help planning for a certain area, and it was during that conversation that Rebello invited her to join him for a week-long trip to Hampi, in Karnataka.

“I instantly agreed, after which we directly met at the railway station, where we missed our train and thereafter changed five buses and a train ride to reach Hampi,” Pai said.

It was a life-changing trip for the both of them. They traveled and saw much more than they had expected and, in the end, came out with a new plan.

“We changed 21 buses, three jeeps, two auto rickshaws, we cycled, hitch hiked and explored places we didn’t intend on doing. We traveled to Hampi, Jog falls, Yellapur [where we found the Indo-African tribe], Muttur [the only existing Sanskrit village] and Gokarna,” she said. “On the last day at Gokarna, Sherwin asked me if I would want to partner with him and make The Land Out There into a company.”

Without thinking twice, she agreed and TLOT began to transform into the company it is now. The blog still exists and acts as a complement to the travel website, which is focused around backpacking and affordable travel experiences.

In India, the backpacking trend hasn’t quite hit as much as it has in places like Central America and Europe, but Rebello and Pai are out to change that. Their business is built on the foundation of bringing people on backpacking adventures and increasing awareness about backpacking in India.

It certainly isn’t luxury travel. Most of the time, the accommodations for the trips are in hostels, homestays, dormitories, and guest houses. Another core block to their business is the budget—all trips are 1000 Rupees a day, which comes to about $16. Everything is included except food and, of course, your airfare to India.

In addition to a lack of backpacking in India, there was also a lack of information about more remote destinations in India—there wasn’t a collective of photos and tips—this inspired TLOT to create a place that had all of the information, the photos, and the tips.

Now, the website continues to produce content that covers their expeditions in great detail, providing photos and extremely in-depth coverage of the towns. The blog acts as a travel guide to the cities it covers, noting places to stay, things to do, and cultural history of the location. As well as stories about the places they travel, they provide backpacking tips and tricks to take along the way.

They are open to travelers from all over the world, and most of the time they stick to small groups of 12 people or less, and trips can vary in length. Some will last only for a weekend, and others will be seven to 15 days. Pai and Rebello are almost constantly traveling, and they do about 60-80 trips per year. Most of their travelers are in college or are young professionals.

For them, travel is a learning experience and a chance to experience new things.

“We love travel because we never get bored of it, no matter which place we go to and how dull the place is, there’s always a unique story [that] is different from all the other places,” Pai said.

The initiative has turned their hobbies into a profession. Both of them want to travel the world, and because of the business, they have become professional travelers who actually make a living from it. For Rebello, this is his first job and he hopes it will be his last. For someone who is constantly traveling on foot and lugging a backpack across the country, it’s surprising that he calls himself a die-hard Formula One fan. Pai is a “model turned explorer,” she says. She loves photography and learning new languages. Before the two began traveling for a living, both were in school.

Rebello is a physics graduate, and Pai an information technology graduate. Their travels have obviously taken them to different places, and in the future they hope to expand TLOT to places like Vietnam, Bhutan, and Nepal.

Travel builds bridges, as made obvious by the connections and testimonials on TLOT’s website. The two are extremely passionate about it, and about providing it affordably.

“Our purpose is to give out detailed information about places and to help people travel on a budget without burning a hole in their pockets,” Pai said.

Their upcoming trips include a day hike to a waterfall in Khopoli, a place flowing with water during the monsoon season and a popular climbing spot when monsoon season is over. A weekend camping trip in September is planned through the Kaas plateau, which is filled with rolling hills covered in flowers during monsoon season. They also have a five-day trip coming up with a visit to the infamous Virupaksha Temple, among many other trips.

Their favorite places to travel in country are Parvati Valley and Spiti in Himachal Pradesh, Hampi in Karnataka, Andaman Islands, and Rajasthan.

Hampi, where it all began for them, was just another travel lesson.

“From the railway station where we met as complete strangers to the end of that one week, we had become good friends, and we believe that is what travel does to people,” Pai said.

Images courtesy The Land Out There