how i financed all my travel

welcome to introspection ft. harsehaj! ⭐️ i’m harsehaj, a 19 y/o always up to something in social good x tech.

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onto today’s topic: how i financed all my travel 💰️ 

a lot of us often immediately turn away from the idea of traveling while young because it’s too expensive or an activity reserved solely for rich people.

i’m not rich, and i did not rely on my parents to pay for any trip i took.

i funded my entire year completely independently without relying on any of my family’s financial support (although they were more than happy to offer). i wanted a taste of my own capabilities, budgeting, and a reality check for what’s possible.

turns out, a lot is possible.

here’s how financed my travels for an entire year, and how you can too. :)

sources of funding 💸 

part of what the morehead-cain scholarship offers is a funded gap year option, where they offer up to $8k usd for meaningful travel around the world. i took on this opportunity and was able to fund the entirety of my tanzania, south korea, thailand, and vietnam trips through morehead-cain’s scholarship funding. everything, from flights and accommodations to experiences and food.

as an emergent ventures fellow, i also received a number of grants to fund my projects and flights while in san francisco, india, and japan — the leftover money from these grants helped cover the rest of my japan trip’s expenses.

i ended up actually being net-positive with my finances this year because i was simultaneously saving up the money i was earning from content creation & internships.

budgeting 📝 

a large necessity to enable travel while young is budgeting. i spent 3 of my 7 weeks in japan with free food and accommodation in return for interning at the naturalitea tea farm. i had little to no expenses for nearly half of my japan trip while experiencing the best of what japan has to offer. work stays and volunteering opportunities are a great way to explore new countries on a budget.

not only that, i knew from the start that i want to travel, not experience a luxurious vacation. i stayed in hostels, booked flights with multiple layovers, and meticulously tracked my spending. it may seem stressful and an overkill, but i stayed under budget by the end of all my travels, and it was an absolute blast.

all in all, travel isn’t just a rich people sport. there are opportunities to fund trips for yourself at all corners. entering pitch competitions for cash prizes, pursuing workaways, travel scholarships, monetized blogging, and so much more.

it’s possible. (:

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