How I Get Paid to Travel the World at 22? (answering your questions)

How I Get Paid to Travel the World at 22? (answering your questions)

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Good afternoon from Bohol here in the Philippines. Absolutely paradise here. Like the weather is starting to close over a little bit. The, uh, the clouds are starting to come in, but the whole, like other rest of the day, all in the morning midday, it was just absolutely so sunny, but thankfully it's a little less hot now. Uh, and I've been pondering with the, this idea of this video for a while because, uh, every, maybe couple of months or so I end up doing like a Q and a on my Instagram.

Uh, I know like a lot of people on YouTube don't follow me on Instagram, but if you are interested in that, I'll put it up on a screen now at Luke Damant. Um, but usually when I have like a layover or I'm in an airport, I just like Chuck up a few questions. People ask, ask the questions and then I give, give out the answers. I think this is a nice spot, but this video guys, it's gonna be a long one because I decided for the second time. I did a, uh, I did a, a Q and a for 50,000 subscribers, uh, like two and a half years ago or something. So decided we're gonna answer some questions here.

A lot has changed since, uh, 50 K uh, I did that video with my parents actually in Vietnam, since then my parents got divorced. Uh, they're no longer together. Um, so that, that's just a random fact, but, um, , it actually makes sense, cuz they were obviously in the video of they're no longer together. Um, but I have a couple of questions here about 60 or so literally 60 questions, uh, that people answered, answered asked. I was just thinking, is this gonna be a one take video or not? I'm not sure if I'm gonna cut it or not.

Um, we'll see what ends up being, uh, the answers that we have. So they're completely random. I screenshotted them all. Uh, and here we go. Question number one there's there's about 60 of them guys.

So we're gonna be, uh, getting in deep. This could genuinely be like an hour or two, uh, long of a video, but just quickly look at how amazing this view is, one of the most peaceful places in the world to do a Q and a from, and actually with that being said, I'm gonna take off this little foam cover so I can tell if I'm recording or not. And, uh, we'll place you guys, where will we place you grounds a bit uneven. Here we go. We'll do that.

So now we got the red flashing light to see if, uh, it's it's recording. Cuz I guarantee this camera will overheat. just cause I've been filming so much lately.

So first question. Did your parents financially support you in the start of your travels or were you always independent? Let's get a better background here. There we go. All right.

Gotta get the camera angles, right. Everybody. So did my parents financially support me, uh, or, or was I always independent? So my story basically of how I began traveling, um, I finished school high school at 18, and then I, at that time I was working at McDonald's, which is just like a basic job that was actually like really perfect for high school and stuff, because they had such flexible work hours. So was working like a couple shifts there a week. So I had a bit of money saved up, but, uh, obviously after school had all like spare time and I actually joined, um, my, my friend at the time, her. Was running a removalist company.

So basically we, uh, would go in to people's houses that were, were moving from one place to another, get all the furniture, boxes, couches beds, literally just pick it all up, put it in the truck, pack it all nicely and, uh, work, um, like move all the, the I objects over to the next house. I did that for six months after I finished school, I was working six days a week, um, like 10 to 12 hours a day. And I was not going out at all. When I would go out with friends, I'd buy like kids meals. If we were eating out, I wouldn't go out clubbing when all my friends were, uh, cuz I knew my sole purpose was I wanted to travel.

I wanted to save this money because I know if I was, I could save this money. I could spend it in parts of Asia and get like, you know, why would I spend 20, actually, not even $20. Like some of my friends were going out at that time spending like hundreds of dollars on a night out.

I'm like, it's like a week you could be in the Philippines for a week for that amount. um, depending on your budget. So I left Australia with the, the goal of, uh, like leaving with like 20,000 Australian dollars in the bank.

Um, so when I hit that, I was like, okay, that's enough for me to, uh, to travel for the next year or two, given the countries that I was gonna visit and the budget that I was sticking to. And early on, I would, um, I would like, I'd really cheap budget. I was staying in hostels.

I was eating street, food catching, local transport, obviously that was like three years ago. Now things have, uh, obviously changed just as a full-time business. I have multiple, uh, employees, so budgets have, uh, increased just as my lifestyle and needs, uh, are increasing. Um, but yeah, like my parents literally did not give me any money. They never have when I was an adult, even like after I finished school, when I was working full time, I had to pay like rent to them. I think I had to pay like $200 a week, um, for like food and, and, and rent and stuff.

Cuz I was working full time. Um, which I really like respect that from my parents, I think has a really good lesson for kids, uh, that are young and outta school to learn is the fact that you can't just, uh, freeload off your parents. You can't.

Just be living for free kind of thing. I think it's a really good habit and it builds independence. Um, and that was the last bit of that question or were you always independent? Um, because I was funding my own lifestyle of travel. They didn't ask, or they didn't have like any say or anything in that. Uh, I think that's like why I was able to do what I did because I was the one that was spending my own money funding, my own lifestyle.

That was a long answer to the first question. And we got like 60 of them. So not sure how long this video is going to be, but next question I've recently started travel vlogging, which equipment do you use for vlog currently? Uh, and for the past year I've been using the GoPro hero nine black edition.

Uh, a lot of people ask about audio. I literally just use the audio that the, the, the microphone that's inbuilt in the camera and it turns out, well, I have a tripod and I have a little foam case that kind of helps with audio wind, uh, and also kind of makes it a little bit more secret. So there's not like flashing lights and stuff. It helps. In certain countries. Um, so that's what I currently use, uh, a year ago in Kyrgyzstan when I was in Kyrgyzstan, after the first Pakistan series, my count, my GoPro, I had to GoPro seven GoPro seven is what I started with from the very beginning, used it up until Pakistan.

And after the first trip in Pakistan, it broke and I bought the nine, nine is good. And I'm gonna buy the next one that comes out soon. Will you go to Afghanistan to explore because I think some vloggers to visit Afghanistan. Yes, it is like, literally I say this about a lot of countries. That Afghanistan is number one on my countries that I wanna visit. I wanna visit so badly and I do have a contact there that I've recently, uh, gotten in contact with.

He's an Australian guy. He's, uh, I think he's my age as well, where he's actually living in Pash and he's been to Afghanistan multiple times. We've been chatting. So I think later at the end of the year, we're trying to tee up a trip, uh, in winter to get over there.

He says, everything's secure. Obviously you have to take cautions and stuff. But, uh, I think that will be one of the most amazing. Memories to create going to Afghanistan. Uh, and yeah, I'm honestly like so excited and I'm not too worried, like at all to visit, uh, especially if I have like a local person there. And, uh, I guess he's not local he's Australian.

Um, but yeah, I'm really excited to visit. And if that doesn't, that trip doesn't happen. I I'll go by myself. is traveling expensive or not. If, if not, how much money is required for a trip, please explain it briefly.

A lot of people ask me this question, how much money do I need to travel? And it literally depends. Your like your requirements, you can travel for free very easily by working for, uh, hostels for working for like cafe like restaurants or something to offer like accommodation and board. And you can just like work for five days a week, have two days off and, uh, and like have a place to stay in a city wherever you like. Like that is a very common thing. Um, maybe that's not the kind of travel you are looking for. Um, but it is a way to do it free.

There's so many opportunities online to do that. Uh, and then it really depends on your budget. Like you can stay in hostels in different parts of the world, like India, for example, there were hostels like literally $2 a night and you could eat street food for a dollar.

So you could very realistically have a budget of like 10. Per day and like live in India and travel around and, and whatnot. So it really depends on your countries.

Obviously, if you're visiting in Europe, America, et cetera, it's gonna be so expensive. Um, but like usually those countries are pretty God damn boring. um, so it, uh, it usually is better to stay in Asia, for example, where things are cheap, the culture is so rich and there's so many more exciting things, uh, to do. Why do you never include any sponsors in your YouTube videos as YouTube revenue itself is not that much.

Uh, I get a similar question to this a lot. Like YouTube revenue is actually good especially if you have, you know, I have like 800,000 subscribers, uh, online on, on, on YouTube. So they're like, you know, 800,000. That's like thousands and thousands of people, uh, watching my videos every single day.

So there are people that I know that are making like a full time income off of like 50,000, uh, subscribers. It really just depends on your niche, the amount of people that are watching your videos and stuff. Um, but like YouTube, I, it easily fund this lifestyle through and I have other, uh, income, uh, sources as well. But why do you never include any sponsors in your video? We got the boys down there. They are playing in the sun. um, the reason I don't do sponsors, I feel like a sellout, but it is something I have looked into.

I don't know, like, I love you guys and I love you so much for watching. That's why I don't do like hotel clubs, this hotel that I'm staying at here in, uh, in Bohol it's like $200 a night. I could, I could easily stay at literally any hotel I want in the world for free. If I just send an email. Uh, but I want to give an authentic and truthful, uh, experience and show it on camera.

If something's bad about the hotel, I wanna show that to you guys, cuz it's part of my experience and part of the journey that I'm going on. And if I had to, uh, because I, if, if I had a free stay somewhere and I had to kind of, they could because they had the leverage and they're expecting me to do like a good video. If something bad happened, I wouldn't be able to like share that with you guys.

And I feel like that would be dishonest. But I think like in, in the future, definitely I will look into like partnerships, like I've said multiple times, like booking.com. I've shouted you guys out so many times, give me a goddamn sponsorship or something. Uh, I'd happily partner with like Emirates or something or like companies that I genuinely believe. Like even it's so funny.

So I actually use surf shock VPN and never reached out to me asking to do like a, like, we'll pay you X amount of dollars. And I didn't even get back to 'em I just feel like a sellout kind of, when I do sponsors, even though I literally have used their product for like two years straight, another one. Uh, so the travel insurance I have is safety wing. I've had them for like a year and a half.

Never had to make a claim or anything. Um, but they reached out to me like a month or two ago saying like, what are your rates? And I didn't even respond to 'em, it's kind of like stupid. I just like the negotiation stage. I, I really don't like, but I don't know. It's just more so, like, I like the authenticity. I don't like kind of selling my soul.

I make enough money to do what I want now. And I'm kind of like happy. And I think another major aspect is like, I haven't had a boss for like two years. I've been able to do whatever I want whenever I want. But when you, uh, engage with these companies, you're required to hit deadlines.

You're required to include this into your video. Uh, kind of feels like you have a boss again. And the whole goal of my life is to be as free as possible. Have freedom, have financial freedom, have opportunities whenever I want, uh, and not be restricted to anybody else. And I kind of have like, reached that where I am now. So, you know, like, we'll, we'll see, maybe in the future, it will be something that I'm, I'm looking into.

Are you still friends with your classmates from back home or do you have new mates? So I have like one amazing best friend called Josh. Um, back in Australia, we obviously like keep in touch, but a lot of my like school friends and stuff, definitely like my school friends I've fallen apart, not fallen apart with, but just like naturally, like people go there separate ways. They don't have the same interests as me kind of thing. Um, but yeah, I do have like close friends still in Australia when I go home. I I see all them, uh, we don't really like chat online much. It's kind of just like, oh, you're here, you're here.

Um, but if I had like friends that come overseas a hundred percent would meet up with them, but like naturally you kind of go into you kind of make new friends with people that have the same interests as you. So obviously, like I have the boys like Mac and Harry and Ali and my friend Dale and Kurt and stuff. Like, we all like chat online because we all like in the same industry, we can talk about business. We can talk about travel. We can talk about like countries and stuff like that.

We all have like a similar interest. So school, the only reason you're friends with your school friends is. That for the very few is be just because you're literally forced in each other's head for till 12 years or whatever, just because of your location. But as soon as you actually go out and experience the world, you go and meet people and like them and become friends with them for the reason that you actually like enjoy their company, you have the same interest kind of thing. So I do have friends back at home.

I have one amazing best friend that I'm still in touch with, um, very frequently. Um, but yeah, I'm sort of more globalized, I guess. Now I have friends in like different countries and whatnot. Is having a strong passport, mandatory for a person who aspires to be like you guys.

It's definitely not mandatory. I have like friends that have like very poor passports, very weak passports, uh, and that are doing like perfectly. On, uh, YouTube.

It's just like gonna be more paperwork I'm so like, obviously I'm so grateful for my passport. It makes things like so easy, cuz like applying for visas and whatnot is the biggest pain in the ass ever. Um, but it's not mandatory. Like I, I have friends that are doing this with weak passports and stuff, so if they can do it, uh, and your possible it's weak, you can also do it. It's just gonna be kind of, uh, a diff obviously a different experience.

You're gonna have to go to embassies. You have to do visa registration online. Uh, a lot of the countries I visit actually like do require visas. So it's more so like Europe, for example, if you have a week passport, it will be difficult getting in there, obviously like America and stuff.

Um, I have no interest in, in visiting those places just yet. So, um, yeah, I think it's definitely not mandatory, but it does. Uh, a lot traveling is your passion, but have you ever felt tired of your passion? If so, usually because of what? Yeah there's definitely been multiple times where I'm like, fuck this shit. like, it's stressful. It's stressful.

It's lonely. Um, there's a lot of like a lot of things I could go into that are like downsides of this. There's like no routine.

It's hard to stay at the gym. You know, obviously loneliness is kind of one big thing and I'm starting to realize that the best moments I've had have been shared with other people. Um, so. I think the rest of the year, definitely more trips will be with friends and whatnot.

Um, even the Philippines here, it is like you see all these amazing places and you're just thinking like, wow, I'd love to like, share this experience with somebody. Um, so I think the, the passion for travel will always be there. I love experiencing new things. I love seeing new cultures and meeting new people and stuff that that will be the passion that will always stay with me.

Um, but yeah, it's usually just like, you know, there's tough days where there's delays and you're tired and you're sick from street food or something like that. And just like all these like different aspects all combined and you kind of like get fed up with it, but it is absolutely nothing that I, I like, I love this life is the most incredible fulfilling life. So obviously there's downsides to every career and whatnot. Um, but yeah, I absolutely love like every, every aspect of it and like the negatives, it's just part of the game. I think I'm actually crazy now. like when I have negative experiences, I actually love it.

Like when I'm in a bad, like mental space or like bad experiences happen, I'm like, you know, this is like such a low right now. And you're gonna like, get through this. You're gonna like beat this.

You're gonna smash it. Uh, and then you get through to the high and you're like, yeah, I did it. And it's just another win. So I actually kind of enjoyed like the low points, uh, knowing that I'm gonna battle through it, get through at the end and then, uh, reap victory at the top. So moving on how many, I think my answer, like five questions and I got like 60 more. How do taxes work with your business? Do you pay taxes in Australia as your base there? So I've included a few tax questions cuz I do speak openly a fair bit about taxes.

I recently, uh, incorporated my business in Dubai and got residency there. And as of 2022, I'm no longer a tax resident of Australia. So I'm not based in Australia anymore. I live in Dubai.

Um, and my company is in Dubai. I'm employed through my own company in Dubai. Uh, but yeah, I don't pay taxes to Australia anymore.

Um, well actually I, I, I pay taxes on, uh, income that is sourced from Australia. So I have rental properties in Australia, um, that are yielding me income. So I have to pay, uh, taxes on that. But my overseas income, as long as it doesn't touch an Australian bank account or it's sourced from, uh, overseas, uh, from Australia, then it's fine.

So obviously YouTube, uh, based in America, Facebook based in Ireland, I think. And then it's going into my UAE bank accounts. Uh, it's not touching anything Australian, so I don't have to report any foreign earned income and that's how it's tax free. Um, and obviously there's a lot of, so many like other rules that I have to apply by. Um, but yeah, I, I don't live in Australia anymore. I just go back every once in a while to visit friends.

Um, so yeah. How do you get over the awkwardness of vlogging in public? Love your videos, by the way, I'm actually gonna answer this. After I go for a walk, we're gonna change sceneries. I was like, you know, there's so many beautiful places that I can go let's, uh, walk up here.

we will continue the vlog as well. I think I we'll do just one big cut of this. Make it just one continued video.

I will say though, my throat after like there's a different kind of voice that I have to use when I'm like presenting versus just vlogging kind of thing. A little bit more professional. It just kind of like switches on and off, but how beautiful this is guys, the Philippines is just a hidden gem. Obviously. They've been pretty strict with COVID and stuff, and I've only recently started opening up, but I'm surprised that the lack of tourists I've seen here, I have seen very few.

It's definitely an amazing country. That deserves more, uh, more tourism, the, the friendly people here. They're absolutely incredible. So friendly. So hospitable I'm like, kind of in the middle of a video as well, filming, uh, the hotel that I'm staying at. And I was out on the beach, just vlogging and, um, like just was walking up to a couple people that were chilling in their boat on the beach and like, oh, come have a beer with us.

So pulled me a beer. We chatted with them for a bit. And that happened in Cebu as well. Like people are just so kind to, it's just like, it's the rainy season at the moment. Right? But it's actually not that bad weather. Oh, there's actually beach over there.

Let's go over to that beach. Let's uh, answer one of those questions. What one was, it are the awkwardness in vlogging. So I still in times get very awkward vlogging in public, like filming this hotel video that I would, you would've seen previously. I think, um, that was tough video to film, but once I, uh, began it, I was loving it. I was really enjoying it, but there are definitely like certain times where I'm like, Ooh, this is awkward.

I don't know what to say. You kinda have to be like switched on and make your words flow. And I think the hardest times of vlogging is when you haven't done it for a while and you try to get back into it. The first couple videos are like really slow. You kind of forget your craft, cuz at the end of the day, it is a skill when you do it for so long, you get very experienced and you're able to easily connect words and comment on things and tell an engaging story.

So, you know, when you go to a country and film a ton of videos, usually it's like really easy just cuz. You're in the flow of things you're in kind of like filming mode, but, um, yeah, like, definitely. And that was one other thing, as I mentioned before, I think the rest of this year will be a lot more trips with friends. Uh, and people that I love, uh, because filming solo versus filming with people is so different. Like filming with people is like with friends, it is so easy to make a video that is engaging.

You can just like kind of bounce questions back and forth of each other. Whereas if you, by yourself, you kind of have to, there's just a different element, a different vibe to it. Um, I've been filming for 22 minutes.

I'm worried that it's gonna cut out. So I'm gonna quickly, uh, restart. All right we are back BA BA BA just going through the jungle here? Um, but as I was saying, yeah, like filming with friends is just so much fun. You get to share the experiences. The, uh, classic movie into the wild, the final quote, there is something along the lines of, it's not happiness until it's shared.

And, uh, like I have loved my solo travel time and it has made me the person I am. It's become it's made me become so independent and whatnot. Um, but I think it is time to kind of travel a little bit more with people that I enjoy spending time with.

I'm going to Vietnam in a couple of weeks with my best friend, Josh, back in Australia. First time he'll be traveling overseas and literally like over a decade. So we're gonna have an amazing time there. I won't be filming.

I'll just be spending time with him, but wow. This is the beach that I was wanting to come to. Oh, look at these are these fruits. You are joking me.

What fruit is this that looks like the most poisonous thing on earth. I would not eat that in a thousand years. Like surely that's poisonous. Right? If you're a Filipino, let me know what this is. That looks unbelievably.

It does look. It does look, uh, juicy and delicious, but I'm not risking it. Ah, here's the perfect log for me to sit on.

Oh, look, there's more there. All right. Stop. Uh, stop being weird about fruits, Luke, are we good? Oh, you know what? I might actually turn the front screen and my GoPro has a feature where you can actually see what you're filming.

So I'm gonna turn that on. There we go. I think that's good. I can actually see myself now. This is a beautiful view.

Blue sky Palm trees. I'm looking out to the ocean. We got a good lighting from the sun. Um, ah, this is a big L I don't, oh my God. So I screenshotted all these photo, like screenshots, and then I, I uploaded them to Google drive and I wanted to like randomize them. Um, and I don't have any internet to look at the video, the photos now.

Well, I guess we'll just go back to the screenshot. So apologies if we, uh, double up on a couple. Alright. You were so young when you started, how is that financially possible? I actually answered this question. I, after school, I worked, uh, for like six months straight.

I was also doing like a lot of side hustles. There were these things in Australia called council cleanups, and I had my license at the time. So a council cleanup.

Like two times a year, people would just like Chuck all their rubbish and furniture and stuff that they didn't want in the, uh, uh, like on the side of their property. And then like every, every like six months, a big truck would just come and destroy it all and take it to the tip or whatever. But there are so many valuable things that people would actually put like in these like council cleanups that they would throw out. It's a good, old saying one man's trash is another man's treasure. But like, there were people like selling, throwing out golf clubs and stuff, and I'd go around for like the weekend, cuz everyone puts out on the weekend and then on the Monday it gets picked up.

So I'd go around all weekend, pick up things that just were the most random things. But the things that I knew that would sell I'd be at suitcases furniture, items, chairs, like just random stuff that people were just like throwing out and I'd sell them on eBay. Like Gumtree, Facebook marketplace, uh, things. Well, we lost me.

Oh wait. I'm I've still getting used to this goddamn GoPro. Let me actually, um, wait. I need to change one more setting guys. Okay.

We are back. Hopefully it doesn't cut out. Um, so yeah, I would literally be like selling these items, you know, golf clubs, like I'd drive by see a set of golf clubs and I'm like, oh my God, that's like $50 sitting there right there. I would pick it up, sell it on, uh, Facebook marketplace for $50. And I'd do that all weekend and make like a couple grand.

And there's literally like no investment whatsoever, anything, uh, that didn't sell. I would just wait until the next council clean up and then Chuck it out on my pile sort of thing. Um, so yeah, obviously like save, earn a lot of money and saved every single cent of it. I was on such a strict budget. Uh, and that's how I was able to do it at such a young age.

I think just generally, like I have like a background of like entrepreneurial, um, kind of like business, like, you know, all that kind of stuff. I was always hustling or whatnot. Uh, and that's kind of, you know, the important thing of doing it at a young age.

Which software, do you use to edit your videos? I use Adobe premier pro that's it have done since the beginning. What if we want to travel, but don't spend any money. So I saw this question at the beginning and I was immediately like, that is such a stupid question. Like you need money to travel, but then I realized like, no, you actually don't. As I was saying earlier in a video, there's so many opportunities to, uh, like work, uh, and be paid in like accommodation and board and get new experiences and stuff, staying at like hostels doing pub crawls and, and whatnot, you know, running, uh, other like tourist events. So there's so many options personally.

I haven't done any of those. Um but, uh, from my experience, you can travel on, like, if you have like a really tight budget and aren't willing for, or aren't needing anything fancy, then you can travel easily, like in parts of the world for $15 a day. So realistically with the online world, that's actually not that difficult to, uh, make online. Um, and if it's online, then you can take it anywhere you want. So, yeah. Do you get food poisoning when you go to a new place and how do you deal with it? So the two times that I've had really bad food poisoning have both been in India.

Uh, it was on the first trip in 2019. I was up in ham Al Pradesh in a little it's actually, whether Del Lama is living in, uh, Dar solar up there got really bad food poisoning there. And the other time, uh, was actually, uh, in India. So I'd done a really weird thing that I don't usually do with these videos is that I've gone from Sri Lanka to Philippines, uh, in terms of content, but between Sri Lanka and Philippines, I actually filmed a series in India.

So after this Philippine videos, you'll see the India series. And that's what I'm gonna comment on. Now. I had the worst food poisoning of my life and possibly the worst 48 hours of my life on the most recent trip to India that I haven't, uh, been to yet, uh, that I haven't posted yet.

So went into old Delhi and I've, I've gotten, so now I'm not cocky, but I've gotten so cocky with the foods that I ate. I was so willing to like try anything because I'm like, I cannot get sick. I have eaten so many things.

I drunk the water in like in every single country that I go straight from the tap. I ate street food. I eat like ice. It's so stupid. And I got cocky.

So cocky that I was drinking this ice drink in India, which is absolute. No-go like, just don't drink the water and especially ice in India. Uh, and I said, oh, if this doesn't make me sick, uh, then I'm invincible. And then 12 hours later. Your boy is literally like coming out both ends of his body, uh, for 48 hours straight. So that was horrific.

And, uh, I never fully recovered that from that, from that, after that India trip, the India trip, I was still going at like 50% still managed to get a decent series out, uh, that you guys will see after this Philippine series. Um, but like even now in this Philippine series, I'm hesitant to eat street food, uh, just cuz of the trauma I had from, uh, that. How to travel when you are a girl born, uh, born in Pakistan. Interesting question. And I can't exactly answer it cuz I don't know, but I think, um, I think the number one goal, I, I think the main issue here is probably your parents are thinking that you can't travel or not wanting you to travel the number one way to avoid. Uh, parents like that.

Thankfully, my parents were amazing and were very open, uh, to that by I know in different cultures going on a gap year and traveling is not the easiest, uh, things, but the number one way to avoid that is by being completely independent, by building a business online, earning all your money online and not letting your parents have any kind of input into your life. Because if you are living out of home, if you are earning all your money, if you're paying all your bills, uh, like your parents have no leverage or anything, uh, on you, and I'm acting as if like this is a war against your parents, but if you really wanna do something and your parents are holding you back, it's only gonna cause you to resent them later in life. When you wonder like, oh, what if I did travel? What if I did become a travel vlogger? But now I'm, uh, at university or now I have a, a job that I hate, uh, because of my parents. Like it, it comes across very arrogant and very rude, but it's really just. Making the hard times come now and proving them wrong now, versus when you're 30 and you are married with kids in a shitty job that you don't like potentially, and maybe you will like it. I don't know.

Um, but that's just like a hypothetical scenario. Uh, and it happen. It happens very like often, you know, parents force their kids into university when they are maybe like a creative person that doesn't want to go to university. They have like the artistic skills to being the best driver, uh, the best artist or something in the world. But they're being forced into, uh, university degrees.

They're being forced into jobs that they don't like, and they end up resenting their parents because they're passion. Passion is the most important thing. If you, if you're not passionate about something, then goodbye, like it's not gonna work.

If you're just in it for the money, goodbye. It's like not gonna work. Uh, people need to be passionate about the things that they love.

And so many people get forced by parents. Uh, and I understand where the parents are coming. They're doing it in a sense of love thinking that they know what's best for their children. And in some situations, the kids are just like outta their mind and not actually just don't know. And it's probably good for the guidance of the parents, but I think parents nowadays need to kind of really like understand the way that the world is moving, how things are moving online.

It's not back in the eighties or nineties when things were like, they were back then the world is rapidly moving. Um, but yeah, so this isn't specific to traveling as a girl born in Pakistan, but just like anybody, the number one thing, if you are having issues with parents, wanting not wanting you to travel is you need to be independent. You need to build a business online, you need to make money.

You know, that was the reason I was able to travel so early because I worked my ass off in Australia. I saved up around 20,000 Australian dollars. And uh, like my parents didn't have any like, uh, like they, they weren't funding my trip or anything, so they didn't have any say and I was willing to take. Thankfully, they were open with it, but I was still willing to take the risk, even if they didn't agree with it. I would've flown out, made YouTube videos, prove them wrong and I'll come back and say, Hey, look, I'm earning this amount of money.

Uh, you know, like it is a viable career and then they're gonna be proud of me or whatever. So yeah, little university rant over. Bro do you know how to cook? No, I do not.

And there's no point in, uh, me knowing cause I would much prefer just, I mean, number one, I stay in like hotels and stuff with no kitchen, no cooking things. Um, it's way easier and way cheaper for me to just order food from grab or Uber eats or something for like five, $10. Um, because you know, if you're spending like an hour of cooking and cleaning for me, at least that the opportunity. In which I could like direct that, um, that like that, that one hour of time I could be putting it into my business or doing other things, which would only way more than what it, it costs to just order food online on Uber. So it's all about opportunity costs.

And personally, I don't enjoy cooking. I much prefer to let the professionals cook and have the people deliver it to me while I continue to make YouTube videos. Cuz that is what I'm good at. what is the most important skills to learn, to be able to travel alone, uh, 100% independence, which is not something you can learn before really, but it's one thing you will learn. God damn fast if you travel alone. Because when you put in situations in different foreign countries, you don't have like, if you're in a bad situation and you need to get out or you need an issue to be resolved, you're the only one that's gonna help you.

You don't have mom, you don't have your dad, you don't have your friends there to, to help you. You have to figure it out on your own. You.

The, uh, you have to trouble fix every single scenario you are in. So, you know, you wanna go to your, your clothes are dirty and they smell like crap. You gotta go clean them. You gotta go get them washed your mommy.

Can't, uh, be cleaning your clothes when you're, I don't know, in the Philippines, if she's in Sydney, like my parents are. Um, but yeah, like independence is for sure. One of the most, the most important things to, to learn. And that is like, I think that is why travel is so beneficial because it forces independence upon you.

Uh, let me just check how much charge and everything we all right. Let me restart this clip. I'm so worried about this camera overheating, cuz it's happened a lot on this trip, so, all right. We are back. What made you choose Iraq to travel? So I'm fascinated with countries that are. Negatively stereotyped in the media have rich culture, interesting stories about them, but like mostly to that first point that have a negative reputation in the mirror, uh, in the media, just cuz I know the media nowadays, all those news shows, all that stuff is just absolute bullshit.

Uh, it's just people that are just twisting stories to, to get their way or whatever they want create propaganda about certain things. Um, so I know it's not true. Half things, you know, a lot of people like have commented on my YouTube videos in Iraq, for example saying, oh my God, I thought Iraq was such a dangerous country, but you've really shown like the truth. And that's, that is the truth with like every country is that like, there are bad people everywhere, but like 99.9% of people in the world are, uh, like kind caring, friendly.

And it's got nothing to with like the country that they're born in or that they're raised in. It's just like, that's the reality. And it's unfortunate. The Western media has. Kind of ruined the reputation of so many countries and put all this propaganda and all this stuff saying, oh, this is, this, this place is bad. Everyone here is a terrorist.

Everyone wants to bomb you or, or some, something like that. So it's sad to see, and that's why I want to go and showcase the truth just with a small camera. I don't like edit the videos.

It kind of like show the, uh, the truth behind it and just share my day to day experiences in doing so. So that's why I really wanted to travel Iraq just cuz the us just like they have with a lot of other countries, uh, completely messed them up uh, and uh, continued to do so. Uh, even after they, they left the, the country so wanted to, uh, to go there and just show everybody that Iraqi people are really kind and, and caring. And I didn't know that. And I, well, I, I knew that was the truth, but I didn't experience it firsthand until I went to Iraq obviously, cause I hadn't been there before, but I knew obviously everything that I read online, uh, was complete. Bullshit.

Of course there are dangers in going to Iraq and a lot of other countries as well, there's dangers in every country, um, that you visit. So yeah. What could be the safest business to start with low budget and less risk? Definitely, as I keep saying, like something, um, you know, there's, there's so many opportunities online, uh, during COVID I started like a, a marketing company and I'd be running, uh, like Facebook ads and do social media management for, uh, clients and stuff. So, you know, they they're like my favorite. Just anything that's scalable that doesn't really involve you.

Like, if you can hire professionals that can do the job for you and you take a cut kind of thing, um, you can get, get the clients and outsource it to your employees that do all the work. And obviously that's the only scalable way, but video editing, thumbnails, copywriting, photography, videography vlogging consulting, marketing. uh, social media management being a virtual assistant, being a script writer.

They're so like you just gotta try stuff, figure out what it is for you. I've had many failed businesses that didn't work, uh, until kind of like this one, uh, like my marketing company was okay. It, it got me by, um, but it wasn't, well, it was like a mini tornado. uh, it wasn't like until like, I didn't really start seeing like serious, serious success until I started, uh, travel vlogging kind of thing. Do you have an apartment back in your hometown? No, I do not own any property or have any property in Sydney. I'm no longer residing there.

I'm no longer, uh, staying there. I can only spend four. It's kind of, I think I'll go into this in another tax question. Um, but I can only spend 45 days a year in Australia at the moment before I'm taxed or it's kind of a weird gray area.

Um, but I have an apartment, uh, 20 minutes north of Dubai. This, uh, Emirate of sh and I also have an investment property in Perth, Western Australia. When are you getting married? the amount of questions I have of this is like ridiculous.

like, it's gotta be the number one. And I don't know what the obsession is. I'm 22 Jesus like, uh, that is just absolutely ludicrous to be thinking I'm getting married anytime soon. Uh but I don't know, I'd say like, like 28, 29 30, like there's no real rush.

Like, I, I don't really see the rushing in getting married. I want to travel and be independent. Um, but I said like the next person I do date will I expect to be my wife, obviously not immediately, but the person that I, uh, that I date next, I have the intention of, uh, of marrying. How much is your budget per month? So currently. It's kind of split into a like core business expenses and travel expenses. So like the business probably have like $2,500 a month, uh, in like staff expenses, software advertising, uh, costs, and then, uh, in travel costs, uh, recently, like things have just gotten a lot more expensive.

Like, you know, I am spending like a lot more money on accommodation and stuff. I spent any anywhere like daily, like a hundred dollars between like food accommodation, transport. And then of course, if I'm I'm fly, I'm flying. I've been flying a lot lately, like a lot, lot.

Um, so that's, that's a lot of money. Um, that's the thing like the flights is what catches you off guard when you're traveling. It's so good to go to a country for like three months and just catch local bosses and stuff. If you can, the flights are the ones that catch you off guard. So I'd say I'd spend around like four fi four to five grand a month on travel expenses, us.

Uh, and then like two to three K a month on business expenses. Uh, so around like eight, eight K a month, um, I spend, which is a God damn lot now that I think about it. Um, but, uh, initially, like I would be spending something like, like a thousand dollars, like when I was staying in hostels and India and eating street, food catching local transport was super, um, super cheap.

So I could easily spend like a thousand dollars a month. Um, and, and get by on that. What you miss the most when you were out there all alone? Probably the thought that I could be here with friends and experiencing it with them, you know, just like, as I look around now, it's like, it'll just be so fun to just be out there running along the sand, going along, swimming in water, you know, with some like really close friends that I, I love and everything. um, but I think it's all in moderation, you know, there are, there are times when you like, spend too much time with people and you're like, oh, I don't wanna spend any more time with them. Um, and then when you're solo, you're like, oh, I could really like spend time with people. So it's all about finding that balance of, you know, moderation between spending too much time with, with somebody and spending, uh, enough time by yourself.

So it's really about finding that personal balance for you. Obviously people are more extroverted or introverted. Um, it's gonna be different for everybody. Um, but it's really about, you know, learning more about yourself and figuring it out, uh, what works out for you. Let's, uh, go for a walk and we'll move down to the next spot. I don't know.

What's down there. But we will go, this GoPro battery. I put it in. I probably filmed like for 50 minutes or so.

And it's doing well. It's a, uh, what are we at? Like 30%. Pretty nice. These I've been having so many issues with, uh, batteries lately. Like it keeps overheating and stuff.

Is this a little house? That is cool. Oh, look at these big crabs. Oh my God. Look at this guys.

Hold on. What, what, what, what? Oh, these are so sharp. Where'd the crabs go? There's somewhere down there.

What is this place? Looks like an abandoned dungeon. Oh, look at that guy. He just jumped off.

What the hell is that? Is that a fish? There's a fish flopping around. Hang on. I'll walk over there. That was so fascinating.

Oh, there's somebody over there. Interesting. I do actually like this beach though. It was nice on the sand. Let's go back there. My feet.

I thought my feet were so much tougher than they were, but they're not. Weee. Oh, you, you guys can just tell how sharp these rocks are. It is horrible. There's a couple people out there getting some form of animals or fish.

The one thing about the Philippines, there's a lot of litter, like, look at this, a shoe rubbish shirts, bottles. But unfortunately that is what happens a lot. Same with like Indonesia as well.

Um, here we go. This looks like a nice place to sit. There you go. All right. Change of scenery. Let's go to the next question.

Which is so curious. Haha. What is what's on your two travel bags? How do you organize your bags? I'm gonna sit on the sand feels a lot nicer, except for when you stand on a stick, there might be a crab in there. There's a lot of crab holes.

Um, alright. So many noises and stuff. how do you organize your bags? So I have two bags originally. I used to travel with one, one bag that I just used to carry on, but I'm just traveling with a lot more stuff lately. Things that I've uh, well it's a bit windy.

I might put this foam cover on and hope. No, it is very windy. I'm gonna move back to the other log. I prefer it. It's too much wind.

I'll sit, I'll sit on the sand next to it. I don't know if I'll leave that part in. It was just me messing around with the wind and stuff, trying to figure out where the best spot was. All right. So my two bags, I have one bag. That's my red bag.

It basically has all my like clothes, laundry, um, jacket. I travel light. Like I still have a lot of stuff, but I travel light. Uh, most of it's like clothes, like five pairs of underwear, three pair of shorts, like five or six shirts, five socks. And then just like a, a waterproof jacket. I have like a first aid kit, laundry, uh, toiletry bag, um, a belt and long jeans.

That's all. Uh, but it still fills up pretty easily. And then my other bag is all my electronics and stuff. Uh, cameras hard drives. Power banks, maybe like books and pens and journals and stuff like that.

Um, so yeah, I check in the red bag with all my clothes and stuff. And then my black bag, which is all the electronic stuff I take on me with, uh, when I, when I catch flights. Does camera gear or equipment matter when starting to vlog? To some extent, yes. Uh, you obviously need a reasonable camera. Like if you have an iPhone, you can use that or you can buy a GoPro and it's perfectly fine, but you don't need any like DSLRs or big microphones or something I've used. I used like my GoPro hero seven, which I got for like 200 bucks, like ages ago for the first like 150 videos of my YouTube challenge.

Now I've been using this one for the past year and people have been saying, it's fine, how to build nice rapport with the audience if you are a new blogger or YouTuber. So I think that the number one thing nowadays is the travel industry's changed a lot in terms of content creation, 2018, 2019. It was definitely very heavily focused on like everyone's Instagram feeds were all like overly edited influencer life kind of thing. Where now it's shifted a lot to storytelling and experiences.

There are more people than ever switching from DSR to like GoPros, just cuz it's the most practical thing. And you have to actually build a relationship that people are there for you because they like your personality. Not because of the country that you are in. So a great example of this is like world nomac, my friend. So he was originally, we went to Lebanon first.

He had like 10,000 subscribers on YouTube and he was creating like travel guides, uh, for different places to, to visit in like Mexico, Dubai, Portugal. And I was like, bro, we're going to Lebanon together. We're gonna be there for a couple weeks. You need to like daily vlog because this is the exact words I said to him. You need people to watch you for you, not because of the place that you visit.

So the issue was that people that were watching his videos were. They, they were like only watching cuz they were going to Dubai and they wanted to, uh, learn about like the next, the best things to do there. Versus what he's creating now is people are there to watch him experience it and you need to create like the brand about around yourself. You need to have people wanting to view you liking your personality, wanting to meet you kind of thing.

Like it needs to like at the end of the day, like there's a fly on me at the end of the day. Like if you are trying to be a vlogger, you are a personality and you are the, the reason that that people watch. And of course like the experiences that you have. But the main reason is because people enjoy your storytelling. People enjoy your commentary.

People enjoy whatever. It's like the reason that some people are still watching this video, that's probably over an hour long and we're not even halfway through it yet. Like people just, I guess, enjoy me speaking and creating content and stuff cuz they've, uh, like watched the videos for so long. And I really appreciate that. And honestly, thank you.

If you have a, if you're still watching this, you're a legend. but, um, yeah, it's also, you know, obviously you need to be posting consistently, not just like once every month, but once every couple days or whatnot, which is hypocritical for me to say, because I missed so many uploads. Are you down to marry a Pakistani girl? I've said this from, I get asked this other question a lot. Like, are you down to marry a in uh, Indian or like Egyptian or whatever country I visited.

I don't care about nationality. Like I've said this so many times, but I care about your values, your morals, your interests, uh, your personality, obviously physical attraction needs to be there, uh, for marriage. Um, like I couldn't care less about the actual like citizenship, like as long as there is connection, like chemistry, that's really like all that matters.

It's not like if I found like the perfect girl, right. And she was Pakistan, like everything is perfect, but she had a Pakistani passport. You'd actually just be stupid to say, oh. I don't want to date you anymore, cuz you're a Pakistani or whatever.

that is just the dumbest comment I would like, like that is just stupid. uh, like I don't care about nationality or whatever care about as the things I just mentioned. Um, like connection and chemistry and values and morals and stuff like that. How do you stay motivated to vlog plus travel throughout the year? It's good question. I do enjoy this. I am very passionate about it.

I love sharing countries. I love sharing my experiences. Um, obviously at times it gets tough.

It gets tough, uh, when you're alone and, and whatnot. But I think it's like, I look back when I was younger, when I had the dream of being a YouTuber and I do anything to be a YouTuber and I, I I'm like I I've in my eyes. I've made it. I've done exactly what I want. I get to create videos for a living.

Uh, and I, I look back and I'm like, you know, anytime that I'm feeling low, I just kind of go into a moment of gratitude where I'm like, wow. Like I, I have made it, I I'm living the dream life that I wanted to, to live for so long. And that's an easy way to snap out of it. Um, but you know, of course like everyone goes through motivational days, demotivated days, uh, it, it's kinda like a big up, up swing, but you just gotta chip away out it each day. Make sure you get your work done. Um, you know, not every day is gonna be 12 hours of work.

You know, some days you do an hour of work, sometimes you film one video, you go two and a half months without vlogging. Like I did, uh, it's all just like, you know, a journey in itself. Um, but there's no like specific strategy in the way that I stay motivated. I have noticed though it hasn't happened recently cuz I've figured out the systems and stuff.

Uh, cause I have like teams that edit videos and, and whatnot. Um, but I would get burnt out so easily back in like even. Like 2021 when I was still editing my videos, uh, when I was editing my own videos, cuz it was just so much work, you'd go out and film alongside planning, travel, editing, scheduling, writing descriptions, somehow it was just too much work. So a lot of really easy ways to just like outsource everything.

Everything should be outsourceable. Um, you should be able to train or, or teach somebody that can, uh, do the job. How much do you need to have a base in Dubai? Um, so my company incorporation and residency for three years, uh, it costs 6,000 USD per year around that you can get it for cheaper depending on the company that you go through. I went with like the best company there. Uh, I'm actually incorporated in Fuji, which is a Emirate like, you know, different countries have states and areas.

Em, the Emirates are what is considered like the state. So I'm incorporated in Fuji have an apartment. in, uh, charger. I just say Dubai, cuz it's like so much easier.

People know where Dubai is. um, and that is where, when I go back to the UAE, that is where I spent my time in, in Dubai, uh, in Airbnbs and stuff. Obviously I have my apartment as well. Um, so yeah, around six grand a year, uh, for that, for the like company and the residency, and then depending on what your apartment is, How do you manage to fund these incredible trips? Is it all YouTube money or personal funds as well? Uh, so at the very beginning I was off running off of savings. Now it's, uh, through my income.

So I make money two ways, uh, like two income methods, but multiple channels, uh, Facebook and YouTube are the main, uh, income methods. I also have YouTube shorts, uh, which has been blowing up recently that pays me as well. Uh, and then through, through those methods, I'm able to, to fund this life. So basically like whenever you see like an ad on a video or whatever, like depending on your location, your age, your gender, your interests. I earn anywhere between like one fraction of as cent to a cent or something. But obviously if you times that by millions of people per month, um, which is what people view me, uh, view my videos on, on YouTube and, uh, Facebook and stuff.

Uh, it turns out to be a pretty solid income. So I don't make any money through Instagram or TikTok that I barely post on Instagram. Uh, just the odd trashy story or post or something. Um, I don't post on there cuz it doesn't make me money and the organic reach is horrible, but I do post on TikTok just cuz it's a really good way to get traffic. It's very easy to get millions of views there and naturally those people will then get, uh, you know, they're like, oh this guy's cool, let's see his YouTube or something. And then that funnels towards my YouTube, towards my Facebook page towards uh, every other social channel that I have.

So TikTok is a great way to, uh, kind of get organic traffic, uh, in that, but it doesn't pay you hardest aspect of traveling full time. Let me just actually see. Oh, my God, there are so many questions. I haven't even gone through half of these. Geez, hardest aspect of traveling full time.

Definitely the lack of routine. Let's bang out some let's bang out some really, uh, quick questions. What's your hype bro. Around six foot one. Um, I've answered that question.

Do you miss home when traveling for a long time? So I do, but not for long. Like whenever I go back to Australia, I go back for like a week and I keep it to that week, obviously, cuz I need to limit my time there due to tax reasons. But also I know if I spend a long time of the year in Australia, I would real, I, I would get sick of it. I would get bored. It's so amazing when I go back every couple of months, cuz I get to see all my friends. I get to see all the nostalgic places and whatnot and it's only for a week and then I'm off and it's just like, it's like the perfect amount of time to go back.

Experience what you want, experience the happiness, seeing all your friends and family and the places that you grew up in and then leaving and then doing it again in like, you know, six months or something. So I, you know, now it's really easy for people that I wanna meet, fly out, uh, to a place. You know, a lot of my friends are now, now traveling and s

2022-08-01 23:28

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