Want to Travel 5 Countries? 200$ is all you need.
There are tons of travel blogs which are full with ‘budget travel tips’, however, not much of them are written based on real experience. But based on statistics or just an introduction of a nice app. Such as “Best day of the week to book your ticket.” or “Best airline app for backpackers”. Let’s try something different now. This is based on true story. What I have tried and proved to be working in real life.
I have travelled around 5 different countries for 108 days, nonstop. Starting from my home country Korea, I have been to Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand and Laos. Starting budget for this trip was only around USD200$ in cash.(200,000KRW for exact number). All I had was some cash and one way ticket to Taiwan. Want to know the conclusion first?
“I earned, and spent little.”
Worked at a hostel as a non-paid staff for most of my journey. So that I could have reduced a lot of money for my accommodation. In fact, I slept for free(literally free) in Taiwan and Hong Kong. Well, I did paid for first 2~3nights in both of these countries but for the rest of my nights, I didn’t. And I paid for all of my nights in Thailand and Laos, just because I had to stay for short(2weeks each) moment.
I usually had local food. You will be always able to find cheap and nice restaurants everywhere. Even in Hong Kong; not every Hong kongese are rich enough to get fancy food for every meal. Street foods are always nice. And always try to make local friends. Each one of them are better and accurate than Lonely Planet(No offences to the publisher).
What about the “Earning”part? Here it comes. In fact, this is the main point of my article. I’ll go for the conclusion first as usual.
“I made postcards and sold it.”
I did. This is what I have done to travel. It was not an improvised idea to travel longer. It was a planed and scheduled trip from the first step to practice urban surviving skills and for my career as a photographer.
I named it “45Countries Postcard trip”; A Story of an 18Year-old Photographer, Who is Making & Selling Postcards to Travel around 45 Countries. I’m no longer 18y-old since this November, however, even for me it was truly a fascinating start of my adult age. I enjoyed those days that I was punching through numerous kinds of obstacle.
An Idea to self-supply abroad by selling something was not an easy task nor a single one too. Which includes walking long distances often, eating less, going through a week without any money left. And the biggest wall to break through was “Marketing and Advertisement”. Since I have set off with such a small amount of money, I was barely satisfying my basic needs. Which prevented me from spending money and time on letting a lot of people to know about me and what I am doing now. It was a concern of both survival and growing business; actually, those two mission was too close to each other so it was hard to distinguish.
It was tough, but things were not always the same. In Taiwan, there was a major turning point for this trip. On the third week of this project, I had nothing left with me. Spent little, however, failed to sell a lot. On that day , I bought instant noodles with my last remaining cash, and gave my last coin to a street performer who seemed to have disability. The next day, with nothing left to eat, I instantly started to cry as I opened my eyes. There was a lunchbox on my bed. Which was given from the housekeeping lady whom I was working together. She prepared my lunchbox for weeks from that day. I didn’t say a word about how much I had left. I still don’t know why she shared her meal, however, that was my lifesaver.
The miracle does not end here. A Taiwanese friend who I have worked together at the hostel in Taipei, posted my story on all the famous Facebook pages and groups in Taiwan. Which worked very well. The page which I was running, “45Countries Postcard Trip” got extra 1.5k followers overnight. And got a lot of order messages and nice offers too. Such as invitation for a lecture in Schools. Each one from Jr, and Senior high and a University.
There are much more to tell. But at the same time, I don’t want to make this article go too long. I promise that I will come back with more stories. For those who want to check out for more info you can visit my Facebook Page or official webpage of this trip, 45Postcard Project. Oh, and for the last I want to apologise for any typos or grammatical issues I have made. And please let me know it, so that I can correct and improve it. It is because that I am non-native to English. I’ll work on it.
Thanks.
