Travel | Creativity

7 Creative Ways To Pay For Your Travels

How I financed my cross-country road trip, walking Route 66.

In case you didn’t already know, I walked more than 2,500 miles, from Chicago to Santa Monica along Route 66 when I was 62 years old. It was a six-month odyssey I entirely financed as I walked.

When I decided to undertake the momentous walk, I had no idea how I was going to pay for everything. I live in the moment most of the time, so I had no savings. I was working as a balloon twister at the time, making enough to pay for my ongoing expenses.

One reason I was going on this walk was to take my faith in God/Universe to the next level. I always believed that I am always taken care of and God doesn’t burden a soul more than it can bear.

There is an old saying, trust in God but tether your camel. I knew I had to do my part of “tethering the camel.” I only focused on what I could control 100% and released the rest to the Universe.

Knowing that people will be curious to find out what I was doing, and why, I prepared a flier to hand them. The flier provided me with more opportunities than just dispensing the information.

Creative problem solving to the rescue.

I knew I had to get creative and find multiple ways to generate needed funds. As I brainstormed, I came up with several ideas that fell under three broad categories.

Community support.

I belong to a socio-religious community that is extremely supportive of its members in need. I also have a fairly large following on Facebook. Over the years, I have also made many friends in the blogging community who exercise influence among their followers. Toastmasters International also provides a network of local clubs that I knew I might be able to tap into.

Personal and professional skills

I am a professional balloon twister and a children’s entertainer. Also, my photography and public speaking skills are at a near-professional level.

Technology

I mentioned Facebook and blogging. My phone is more than a voice communication device. It is a camera and an internet hot spot.

Seven ways to finance your travels.

Most of my ideas fell under multiple categories. I knew I could combine various categories to create means of generating needed funds. Ultimately, I came up with seven ideas I could use.

As I mentioned, I wanted to take my faith in God to a higher level. So I prayed daily for inspiration, and I asked for surprises — delightful kind. Along the journey, I found two other delightfully surprising ways that I had not counted on.

1. Community Support.

My community center had introduced morning walks to get seasoned citizens to become active and involved in taking care of their health. Every morning after prayers, a group of us would walk about an hour or so. When they found out about my plans to walk cross-country, they surprised me on the day of my departure with a Fitbit bracelet and $1700 in cash. They said the Fitbit was to make sure I was actually walking and not disappearing with the cash.

2. Patreon

My son introduced me to Patreon. It’s a wonderful way for artists to build a supportive community. I shared the link to my Patreon page on Facebook, and with several of my blogging buddies. The bloggers wrote about my plans to walk Route 66 and asked their followers to check out my Patreon page. Several people became patrons, which assured me a small monthly cash flow.

3. Informational fliers

As I mentioned before, to avoid having to explain what I was doing again and again to people along the road, which can get boring after a while, I created a flier that I could hand it to anyone curious.

The flier served another unexpected purpose. As I answered questions that I anticipated people might ask, I realized that some of them may get a little more curious and might want to follow my adventures vicariously.

Some links on the flier are no longer active. The first one pointed to my Patreon page, which I have linked above. I didn’t create many YouTube videos, and RasheedHooda.com is currently parked at GoDaddy. My Facebook and PayPal links are still active as you see them. Many people saw the flier and made cash donations, which was nice.

4. Balloon Twisting

My balloon twisting philosophy is very simple. I give away balloons, and people give away money. It has worked for me for the past twelve years. I kept my balloons with me in the buggy that carried my supplies. Whenever I had an opportunity, I would twist balloons into various shapes and give them away. That would lead to conversation, and sometimes even financial support.

My favorite incident occurred when a little wanted to twist balloons for me. Her mother asked her what it was that she twisted for me and she replied, “It’s a parrotkeet.” Pure joy!

5. Public Speaking.

As I prepared for my adventure, I shared my thoughts with my Toastmasters Club in Spring, TX. It was a ten-minute speech titled A Crazy Idea. They suggested that I should share it with other clubs in the area, which I did. That became an unexpected means of fundraising as some contributed cash while others chipped in online.

Also, as I traveled, I visited several Toastmasters clubs in the cities I passed through. I would check the Toastmasters International website, and if they had a club meeting on the day I would be arriving, I would arrange to attend the meeting. Most of the time, I had the opportunity to share my story, and I made some lifelong friends from those visits.

I also spoke and got paid for at a couple of events that the Chamber of Commerce in the area had arranged.

6. Photography

I was posting pictures of what I saw on Facebook regularly.

Many people commented and expressed interest in my work.

I sold autographed copies of the images that people were interested in.

Many people prepaid for the photos that they were interested in, and I had them printed, signed, and mailed after I finished my walk in January 2017. This is one of the most sought after photos.

That’s the statue of Glenn Frey with a guitar, under a lamppost, with a sign that says: Standin’ on a corner. Leave me a comment if you want a copy.

7. Field Agent

It’s an app I had been using for almost a year before I started my walk in July 2016.

As a Field Agent, you can sign up for jobs that take about 5 to 15 minutes to complete. Most of the work comprises walking into a place of business and conducting a survey of some sort. It could be checking on certain items and how they are displayed, or how the customer experience was. Sometimes, I get to buy food at a restaurant and write a review of it. They reimburse for the food, plus pay you for the review.

Most of the clients are national brands like Dollar General, Walmart, and Little Ceaser Pizza. As I traveled, I would check the app, and it will tell me if there is anything in the area that I can do. Jobs pay anywhere from $3 to as much as $20, and an occasional free meal.

Two Delightful Surprises

While the seven items above were what I had planned on using to generate cash flow while traveling, there were two things I didn’t expect.

There were many occasions when I received free meals at restaurants I had stopped to get a meal. Sometimes it was on the house, and other times, it was another diner who paid for my meal anonymously.

But the most unexpected thing was when people would just walk up to me, or stop their cars on the roadside and hand me money. But I suppose, with the way I looked pushing that buggy, it would be easy for someone to think of me as a homeless guy who needed help.

In the words of Harry Chapin,

“Another man might have been angry, Another man might have been hurt, But another man would’ve never… I stashed the bill in my shirt.”

Conclusion

Whether you want to travel, or you have another project you want to undertake, don’t let the thought of money or lack thereof stop you from moving forward with it.

All you need to do is have faith, get creative, and expect some surprise and delight along the way. When you boldly go where no one has gone before, the Universe tends to conspire in your favor.

As Always, thank you for reading and responding.

More about me:

Rasheed Hooda is a published author and a regular contributor to ILLUMINATION, a writers’ community on Medium where writers support each other.

He is a self-proclaimed weirdo who lives a Freedom Lifestyle and writes about related topics — Travel (a top writer), Personal Growth, Freedom, and entrepreneurship. (Get the Newsletter)

“You can let others tell you what it means to be successful, or you can decide it for yourself.”