The DeWonder* Story

The Founding Story

DeWonder*'s two founders, Rubio and Jamie, are graduates of the University of Hong Kong who travelled often during their university years. Rubio, through a trip to North Korea, went on to work teaching English there and organised numerous international language exchanges with a local foreign languages university—he discovered that North Koreans have a remarkable head for business. Jamie, meanwhile, visited India's "Home for the Dying" to do voluntary work, easing patients' passing so they suffered less. What left the deepest impression on him, however, were the volunteers who had come from all over the world to help—they made no distinctions between people and sought no reward, wanting only to do their part for the world. These experiences inspired them to bring international knowledge and in-depth exchange to the public through travel, because this is the true meaning of travel. Later, they gave up their careers as a civil servant and a lawyer to found DeWonder Travel*. Over the years they have led tens of thousands of people to fifty countries, earning an excellent reputation and being featured by over 100 local and overseas media outlets. Although they did not come from the travel industry, the company pioneered "in-depth travel." At the same time, partnering with a television station, they became the first team to film in the remote northeastern regions of North Korea, producing the widely acclaimed in-depth travel programme "Down to Earth: North Korea," while also hosting dozens of TV and radio programmes. They are the authors of the bestseller "Fifty Trips to North Korea: Ask Me Anything," and part-time university lecturers.