I got introduced to Mandy by a fellow designer, Nicola Rushton – who met Mandy while hiking the amazing Camingo de Santiago. What followed was an inspiring and somewhat hap hazard conversation over Facebook about her journey so far. If you’ve ever wondered how full time travellers manage to make it work, read on.

Who are you, and what’s your current situation?

I’m Mandy Klose, a 25 year old traveller from New Zealand. After graduating at age 20 with a degree in Psychology and Crimonology – I left home and have never looked back. I’m currently travelling full time, and have been for over 4 years. I’m currently based in Austria, in a little village about 30 minutes north of the capital, Vienna.

How are your currently earning a living?

I’ve made ends meet in various ways across my journey, but at the moment I am currently earning money by teaching english in five different primary schools around the countryside. I also babysit and do private english classes for young children and adults.

What were your main motivations for travelling?

After graduating, I needed to earn some cash– so I worked for 6 months in a rest home for old people. I heard a lot of stories from the people I was looking after. Go live your life, time goes fast, do what makes you happy, follow your heart..

How did you make the jump?

On the 4th of April 2013 I left New Zealand with a one way ticket to Croatia. I had managed to organise a volunteer opportunity there to help care for orphan children and saved around $2500NZD. The opportunity was for 6 weeks, but after that I had no idea what my plan was.

Did you always intend to stay away for this long?

No, never. I had no idea what I was doing. My mum told me just recently that she was 100% sure I would be back before Christmas of the same year.

So after you finished up at Croatia, what pushed you to continue travelling? Instead of just heading back home?

I knew once I left New Zealand, I wouldn’t be back for as long as I could make it.(Couldn’t tell Mum that though). I wanted to see the world, meet people, learn stuff, do stuff, experience stuff. I have ended up in so many crazy places, doing so many crazy things.

How have you managed to keep this going – what’s your secret?

The secret is saying yes to things, and being open. The first 6 months I was just following leads from the internet and travel books. I would meet people, do things, go places and hear about cool places to volunteer. My backpack was 24kg, and I had everything I needed for any situation.

During the first few months I managed to live tightly off my savings. I was doing a lot of volunteering, wwoofing, workaway, helpx and couchsurfing. Using these things meant I could travel for much longer on a tight budget.

Give us a break down of the highlights of your journey so far.

So in October 2013, I hitchhiked from Slovenia to Austria. I ended up in the city in Vienna in the middle of the night with no idea what to do next. I had zero plans. I stayed one night in a hostel and the next morning I opened up CouchSurfing and put out a post saying “Kiwi girl is looking for friends…”

After pushing refresh every few minutes, I finally got a reply from a boy saying something like “Heyyyy Mandy! There is a party tonight in the countryside and we all gonna get craazzzy. Wanna come?”. He name was Markus and he was 18.

I tossed around the idea of replying to him for a while. It was something I’d usually ignore, but I had no other leads. I replied and said “Yeah sure” and asked for more details.

A few hours later I was drunk in the countryside hanging with Markus and his friends. I ended up staying with him for a week. During this week we did stuff you’d expect in the countryside like chopping firewood and picking pears..

“Listen to you gut. If something feels weird it probably is.”

I got to talking with one of the friends’ Mum, and I told her about my story. It turned out she was actually a principal of a small school in the countryside and she proposed the idea of me potentially teaching english in return for a place to stay, food and a bit of pocket money.She said it’d take a while to figure out– so we exchanged numbers and left the countryside and headed to England for a bit. I volunteered at some places, and worked as a bar girl at a hippy new years festival.

I then went to Belgium, joined a little commune for a bit. You know, a what’s yours is mine, what’s mine is yours kinda deal. I then stayed with a guy I met in Croatia a bit earlier and mucked around..

After doing some bits in pieces in Netherlands, I finally got a call one friday night from Vienna asking if I was still keen to take up that teaching job.

I hitchhiked back as quick as I could, and arrived on a Sunday night at the train station. She picked me up, and the next morning I was put in from of a class and told to teach English. I had absolutely no experience and just learnt as I went. I ended up staying there for a while.

How was your life during those times?

Amazing! I ended up not only teaching at her school, but a few other schools in the area. I bought myself a car, found an amazing boyfriend and made friends! I did yoga, zumba and learnt German in the afternoons. I had a real little comfortable life.

After living in her attic for 10 months, I moved into my own little flat nearby with some friends. I stayed there for another 8 months – and all of this was without a Visa or working permit!

“Be nice to people! You never know how someone might be able to help you, or how you can help them.”

Where we you off to next?

Because I didn’t have a contract with the schools, I was basically my own boss. I would work when I wanted, and pick myself up and travel whenever I liked. This gave me the freedom to take some trips– I spent a month in Uganda, I spent the summer roadtripping around Eastern Europe with my best friend, and then headed back to NZ for 6 weeks over Summer to catch up with everyone from back home. On the way back I visited Sri Lanka for a month.

In June 2015, I felt like I had stayed in Austria long enough and needed some change. In just one week, I booked a one way ticket to Portugal, broke up with my boyfriend, sold my car, got rid of most of my possessions and told the schools I wouldn’t be teaching for the summer.

I was single, carless, workless and homeless– but with my backpack and a good amount of cash saved up, I was off again.

On the 9th of August I flew to Lisbon and then walked the Camino De Santiago– a 900km trail from France to the sea on the West of Spain.

I heard you’ve been hustlin’ as well?

When I finished, I got an idea for a project I wanted to start in Uganda, so I booked flights and left two days later. Once I arrived, I invested around 2500 euros into the project with a group of local Ugandan women I had met the first time I travelled there. Using the money, we bought tonnes of materials, sewing machines and rented a small shop. The Ugandan women made many beautiful things– bags, toys, baskets. By doing this, the women now have a flourishing business that sells handmade items to tourists. This has given them a home to live, put their children into school and has given them a stable income.\ I took 32kg of the items with me and flew back to Austria. I set up a market stall over the Christmas period, and made half of my inital investment back. I used this money to fly to Greece, which then became the most traumatic time of my life..

What was going on in Greece?

I was volunteering, helping the refugees coming in from Turkey. It was a crisis. I was being handed babies on the verge of hypothermia. People were starving, freezing and had nothing. I was working non-stop for over a month. I was cooking food, handing out food, helping people from boats, handing out tea and warm clothes.. I didn’t sleep, I just collapsed from exhaustion every now and again. More boats began arriving and I couldn’t stand up. A friend told me it was time to go home. I flew back to Austria and stayed for two weeks with a doctor. I was in shock, nothing seemed normal anymore – I had to escape.

Where did you escape to?

On Valentines Day I flew to India, trying to find some kind of meaning again. I ended up staying in India for 5 months.

Started running really low on money, but randomly got offered another English teaching job– so I said yes and flew back to Austria. My flight was via Istanbul, and my flight left only 30 minutes before the Terrorist attacks happened on the 28th June.

How long did you stay in Austria this time?

Only a month – just enough to earn some money. After this I flew to Iceland to meet a girl I had met in India. We spent one month hitchhiking around, and finding free camping spots. We managed to only spend 220 euro for the month. Most of this was in fines for camping illegally.

After this I flew to Vietnam and met up with my mum! We travelled for two months around Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. She paid for everything which was amazing.

So has Austria been a hub for you?

All my stuff is here, my friends are here, I always have a place to stay, and I can pick up work when I want it here.. It’s very hard to find a native english speaker that can drive around to all the schools, so I have the freedom to choose when I want to work and when not to.

So you mentioned earlier that your secret is being open and saying yes to things. Have you always been so open, would you say you’re an extrovert?

Yes and no. I’m an only child, so growing up I always had to be open in order to find friends. I think I am pretty open in meeting people and making new friendships, but when I’m in a crowd I ten to be quite shy and hide away. I’m much better in one on one situations.

What about hitchhiking and couchsharing? Did you ever have any anxiety during those situations?

I generally have no problems with hitchhiking, especially if it’s with a male friend. I would tend to avoid doing it alone nowadays. The only worrying episode is when this guy in a truck picked me up and started getting creepy. He kept asking me why I was alone and if I had heard of what happened to girls who travel alone. I faked a story about how I had eaten some bad curry the night before and got out of there straight away.

Finally, what advice do you have for people that would like to travel the way you have?

I would like to say don’t put yourself in dangerous situations.. but I did that all the time and it got me to the place I am now somehow..

• If you’re worried about something, always check for references and meet in a public place.

• Volunteering is a perfect way to meet new people, work together and travel cheaply.

• Be nice to people! You never know how someone might be able to help you, or how you can help them.

• Don’t get too drunk or out of control in a place you don’t know your way around, or with people you don’t know well.

• Hostels are a waste of money.

• Always have a pocketknife.

• Tell people where you are and where you’re planning on going. Always have too bags, one larger one with all your stuff, and a smaller one with just the important things. Prepare yourself that at any moment you may have to leave the large one behind.

• Listen to your gut, if something feels weird it probably is.