My Journey to 74 Countries

Hello world! I’m graduating in May! So before I leave Yale, I’m going to tell you exactly how I got myself to so many places all while getting my degree.

Disclaimers:

• This article is mega long. It is, after all, a semi-complete summary of my travel journey in the past 4 years. 

• Lots of things are Yale-specific so I'm not sure how broadly applicable this is, but I highlighted potentially-helpful things in green

• Destinations are bolded; I include territories and SARs

TLDR:

• Yale Model UN (work conferences + free trip)

• Yale Fellowships (fully-funded independent research projects)

• Intern abroad

• Volunteer with Worldpackers for free housing + meals 

• Talk to people in hostels, be social, etc... more friends = more hosts = more travel!

Pre-Uni

Before I came to Yale, I had only been to 13 countries. Most were what you'd typically expect from beginner travelers, or for family reasons.

Birth - 2022: 

• USA (I was born here)

• Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico

• China (family), Japan

• Italy, Vatican City, Spain, France, Germany, Austria, Czech (high school graduation trip) 

Freshman Year

Note: Yale has a lot of breaks! We get 5 days off for October break, 10 days for Thanksgiving, 1 month for winter, 2 weeks for spring break, and 4 months for summer. The typical college semester is 16 weeks, but Yale's is only 13. I somehow managed to max out my breaks with traveling while not skipping any classes because school is very important to me!!

Life Hack #1: The best thing I discovered at Yale were the YMUN (Yale Model United Nations) travel conferences. Essentially, you apply to be on a "Secretariat" team comprised of 12-16 undergrads that organize a Model UN conference in a foreign country for high-schoolers, and over one of Yale's many breaks, you fly to that country for 1-2 weeks (the actual conference itself is only 3 days). The rest is "vacation" / team bonding time: a reward for a conference well-planned. At first, I applied for YMUN Taiwan because I wanted the free trip, but I soon grew to love MUN. I had never done MUN before (I was a debater in high school), but to be honest, when you’re on the administrative side, it’s okay if you have no MUN experience. I became very close friends with some people on YMUNT, and continued doing other YMUN trips throughout Yale.

My freshman summer, I studied abroad in Paris. Very basic, I know. My excuse is that I'm an Art major who's learning French (which I am). But in those 3 months, I basically traveled all of Western Europe, either backpacking with my host sister or visiting other friends who were also studying abroad.

At the end of that summer, I lived in Portugal for 1 month because Google recommended it and I wasn’t ready to go home to the US yet. That August was also my first time in Africa; I visited Morocco after my Portugal trip. My summer was mostly free because I got a scholarship to study abroad, so I only had to pay for flights. 

2022-2023:

• Bermuda (short, 4-day spring break trip before Taiwan)

• Taiwan (YMUN for the rest of spring break)

• Japan (visiting my mom on her business trip), Dubai (long layover), Turkey (visiting a friend), Amsterdam, Belgium, Luxembourg, France (study abroad), UK/London, Switzerland, Greece, Portugal, Morocco

BY END OF FRESHMAN SUMMER: 25 countries

Sophomore Year

This is the year I did YMUN Korea, China, and Brazil.

Life Hack #2: Back in freshman year, I found a SUPER CHEAP flight from New York to Reykjavik through PLAY Airlines (which sadly no longer exists due to bankruptcy). They fly out of a tiny airport in Poughkeepsie, but the whole thing was like $200 round-trip if you booked early. I forgot I had booked it for October break but here I was! My parents ended up being able to join me in Iceland for fall break because my dad was on sabbatical in France.

I started my summer with YMUN China. I ended my summer with YMUN Latin America (Brazil). Essentially, I had 3 months in between to get myself from China to New Zealand (our YMUN partners booked my flight to Brazil from Auckland, very random).

Life Hack #3: I received the Leitner International Research Fellowship from Yale to do a project in Southeast Asia - mine was related to post-colonial art. So for 3 months, I solo backpacked from China to Vietnam (where my project started), and then down through all of Southeast Asia (save for Myanmar and Timor-Leste) to catch my flight to Brazil. 

Life Hack #4: That same summer, I discovered Worldpackers from my Instagram algorithm. If you’ve heard of WOOFing or WorkAway, Worldpackers is a similar platform. Basically, you pay a $50 yearly membership fee, and then you have access to all these volunteering opportunities (it’s like shopping online but for travel). You volunteer in exchange for free housing + meals + sometimes tours/laundry (depends on the Host). There’s tons of Hosts in 140+ countries, so this saved me a bunch of money throughout those 4 months. It's also cool because you get to meet other travelers, and feel safer with a local Host (especially if you're a solo female). I volunteered in Laos, Cambodia, Bali, and Australia, and stayed in the hostels or with international friends the rest of the summer. Shameless self plug: use my code CLAR22 for $10 off your membership (aka travel the world for only $40).

2023-2024:

• Iceland (October break family trip)

• Korea (YMUN Korea Thanksgiving trip)

• Colombia, Ecuador, Peru (winter break hiking with friend)

• Costa Rica, Guatemala, Belize (spring break)

• China (YMUN summer), Vietnam (research project), Laos (WP), Thailand, Cambodia (WP), Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Brunei, Indonesia (WP), Australia (WP), New Zealand, Brazil (YMUN summer)

BY END OF SOPHOMORE SUMMER: 47 countries

Junior Year

For Thanksgiving break, I met up with my parents in the Balkans, since my dad was (again) working in France (he's a professor of an exchange program). We took buses around Bosnia, Croatia, Montenegro, and Albania in about 10 days. 

That winter break was the first year I didn’t go home. For the first 2 weeks, I went to Ireland, Copenhagen, Poland, Slovakia, and Budapest to see the Christmas markets with my friend. After she left, I spent New Year’s partying with some hostel friends in Malta. I ended my trip solo in Eastern Europe. Although it was fun at first and I hit a lot of countries, I would NOT recommend traveling over the holidays. After my friend went back home, I did feel quite lonely and odd celebrating with strangers. Also, Eastern Europe in the winter is depressing. 

By now, you'll notice that I've spent almost every spring break in Latin America. The flights are cheap from JFK, and it's relatively close to the US. My spring break trips had also started expanding in size; Freshman year, it was just me and my best friend in Bermuda. Sophomore year, 5 of us went to Costa Rica. Junior year, 8 of us went to Chile. We rented 2 cars and spent a week road-tripping the Atacama Desert, which had stellar Mars-like views and stargazing! Chile was definitely my favorite Yale spring break. I was also pleasantly surprised that I planned a trip for 8 people and nobody got hurt/lost/injured/detained.

Life Hack #5: I started my summer in Saudi Arabia, through a program called Gateway KSA. It’s super underground, most people don’t know about it. It’s a 10-day fully-funded trip sponsored by the prince of Saudi Arabia that brings together students from “top universities” (there’s a dropdown list of schools on their website when you apply) to learn about Saudi Arabia. We stayed in 5-star hotels, got treated to luxurious meals, guided tours, and talked to tons of industry professionals! In total, the program accepts 12 students from around the world. Getting to know this international cohort was one of the best memories I made in Saudi... so many successful, inspiring people in one place! Applications are rolling, you kind of just have to check the website dates throughout the year. It’s under “Student Application”, you can mention me if you decide to apply. 

Life Hack #6: After Saudi, I spent the bulk of junior summer interning in Uzbekistan for 2 months, through the Thomas Barry Fellowship. I worked with the Ministry of Tourism on destination branding strategy, while staying with a host family. During that time, I traveled around the rest of Central Asia, and then ended my summer in China with family. 

Life Hack #7: On the way back, Egypt Air operates a super cheap flight from China to the US, with a layover in Cairo. If your layover is up to 96 hours, they will give you a free e-Visa, free shuttle, free hotel, and all meals paid for. I basically saw the pyramids in 24 hours and spent less than $10 on the whole shebang. Be careful though, it’s pretty dangerous to travel Egypt as a solo female, so I would not recommend doing this without a tour unless you’re very experienced in fending off scammers/hagglers. 

2024-2025:

• Bosnia, Croatia, Montenegro, Albania, North Macedonia (Thanksgiving break family trip)

• Ireland, Copenhagen, Poland, Slovakia, Budapest, Malta, Bulgaria, Serbia, Romania (winter break)

• El Salvador, Panama, Chile (spring break)

• Saudi Arabia (Gateway KSA), Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan (internship), Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, China, Egypt (layover)

BY END OF JUNIOR SUMMER: 71 countries

Senior Year

This is about where my crazy travels end. I went to Copenhagen and Sweden for October break because all Global Affairs majors go on a Yale-sponsored senior capstone field trip instead of writing a thesis paper. My class had 10 students in it - we worked with Global Fashion Agenda on mapping the circular fashion economy in the EU.

For Thanksgiving break, I went to Oman, again with my parents. My mom needed to use up her credit card points by the end of the year, and what better way to do that than a far-off family vacation? We chose Oman because it's one of few countries that neither US nor Chinese citizens need a visa for (if the trip is less than 14 days). 

This was the first spring break that I did not go to Latin America. One of my friends invited me on a Kenya safari trip with 5 other girls, and since there were so many of us, it ended up being relatively budget-friendly as far as safaris go. Awesome experience with nature and animals, but I do not recommend Kenya Airways because they lowkey lost our bags.

2025-2026:

• Copenhagen, Sweden (class field trip)

• Oman (Thanksgiving family vacation), Abu Dhabi (long layover)

• Kenya (spring break)

BY GRADUATION: 74 countries

How did I finance all of this?

You must have noticed by now that not every single trip had a generous sponsor behind it. For the trips that weren't either (a) YMUN (b) funded by a Yale fellowship (c) a paid internship (d) an academic project - which leaves not many - most of the money came from my part-time jobs.

At Yale, I worked as an advisor for the Office of Fellowships, a campus photographer for the Instagram, an illustrator, and a First-Year Counselor during senior year. In terms of non-Yale jobs, I work remotely for a travel company and I'm a freelance graphic designer on the side.

I don't actually make that much money each month, but since I don't spend on a day-to-day basis, most of my earnings go into savings and travel. I keep a strict budgeting spreadsheet, so I never ever spend more than 50% of what I earn. Also, I started investing in the S&P 500 during my junior year, which helped a ton.

What’s Next?

Short-Term: For the month of June, my boyfriend and I will be traveling throughout the Baltics and Scandinavia, spending time with his family in Sweden and celebrating Midsummer and experiencing midnight sun. I'll likely be back home for all of July, as I need to sort out some visa things and get much-needed rest.

Medium-Term: I'm moving to Paris in August! I've received (lol, yet another) fellowship, The Gordon Grand Award, to conduct independent research for 1 year. Topic has to do with tourism development, urban infrastructure, and art as cultural soft power. I actually have a lot to say about this topic, and it's all fleshed out in my project proposal, but that's a subject for later.

Long-Term: Unclear. All I know is that:

1. I’m not ready to enter the corporate 9-5 (to be honest, I don’t think I ever will be)

2. I don’t want to go to grad school yet. I would consider doing an MBA maybe when I'm 25, but I’ve been in school for 16 years of my life at this point. I also don't want to commit to grad school if I'm not 100% sure that it's what I want.

3. I definitely want to live abroad. Where? I have no clue. Maybe Paris if they'll have me.

Goals & Reflections

Contrary to my beliefs when I first started at Yale, I don't actually want to travel the world forever. Maybe I'm just getting old, but backpacking from hostel to hostel long-term is no longer appealing to me. It's fun for a week or so, but it can get quite exhausting.

I want to have my own place to call home, to decorate the walls with my art, to become familiar with little streets and corner shops of my neighborhood. I want enough space to fill with trinkets collected from around the world, and to host friends and family when they visit me.

Where this future home will be, I have no idea. My only conditions are:

1. I speak the local language. That basically narrows down my options to East Asia, France, and North America/Europe. I’m also on a Spanish-learning journey (my Duolingo streak is 500+ days), so I’d be open to Spain or Latin America. 

2. Good public transport because I hate driving

3. Diversity of scenery - I'd like to have mountains, beach, and city all within close reach

4. GOOD FOOD!!

5. Major international airport

6. (Optional) potable tap water

7. Relevant and safe

A few other miscellaneous dreams:

• Argentina - Patagonia

• Jordan - Petra

• India - Taj Mahal + Buddhism Retreat. I'm kinda scared of going to India alone though, because I've just heard too many horror stories from solo females, so if you are a local guide please help me

• Brazil - Carnival

• China - Lunar New Year + bullet train across all provinces (especially the Western region)

• Antarctica - Very expensive, a cruise is about $10K+. I'm waiting for the day they have budget flights to Antarctica because sea sickness is my worst enemy and I think the Drake Passage would genuinely kill me.

• North Korea - You can't go unless you're part of a tour group. Fun fact! Any country can get a tourist visa to North Korea EXCEPT South Korea + USA (and I'm an American citizen so this is likely a no-go for me).

• Hike the Camino from Portugal to Spain

• Mauritius - Underwater Waterfall (look it up, it's super cool)

• New Zealand - South Island road trip

• Pakistan - crossing the Karakoram Highway into China

Eventually, I would like to reach 100 countries, although I've recently been learning the art of slow travel. I started to feel burnt out from go-go-go every 2 weeks, and I want to explore a place more in-depth now that I have a good breadth of the world covered. This includes returning to countries I've already been to!

At this point, I know 100 sounds easy. But don't overestimate me! I've been to most of the "low hanging fruits" - that is, Europe and Southeast Asia - since these regions are small and easy to get around. Whatever I have remaining is generally far, expensive, and requires visas. So yes, expect the number to increase, but at an exponentially decreasing rate.

My prediction is that it will take me 10 years to reach 100.

You can see everywhere I’ve been/am definitively going on this map.

I always put my current and future travel plans in my Insta bio. 

Please keep in touch, ask where I am, come visit, invite me to visit you, whatever.

The world is big but it's not that big. You can get anywhere in ~24 hours. Let’s not be strangers!