In this first episode of the Free World Trip Series, my buddy Pim and I set out to travel to all 7 continents with no money. The first goal of the mission is to make it to our second continent. Starting in The Netherlands, we hitchhike to Switzerland and try to sell enough stroopwafels on the streets of Zurich to buy ourselves a plane ticket to our 2nd continent. Can we do it?
The adventure of travelling to all continents with no money continues. In this episode we travel across the Middle East, relying on our previously-earned waffle budget to cover our costs. It starts in Cairo, where we enjoy the city by hitchhiking some of the most unique vehicles to make our way across it. After Cairo, we'd continue to enjoy the fruits of our labour as we'd spend or budget to enjoy some of the best things this region of the world has to offer. But soon we'd realise that traveling across this region of the world in our adventurous style has some risks to it, too. And quite soon we'd be confronted by the first true villains of the Free World Trip series... Can we keep the mission alive?
In episode 3 of the Free World Trip Series my buddy Pim and I attempt to hitchhike 2.500 Km across Saudi Arabia to try to make it to Dubai. Previously on the Free World Trip Series, we started our adventure in The Netherlands. Hitchhiked to Switzerland. Sold waffles. Bought plane tickets to Egypt. Explored Egypt and Jordan. Saw the pyramids & Petra. And now, only €450 from our waffle budget remains to make it to Dubai. Ahead of us lay the 13th biggest country on earth. A country that’s 95% desert. A country where barely anyone speaks English and a country which, according to our Dutch government, wouldn’t be an entirely safe place to embark on such an adventurous quest. Can we safely hitchhike 2.500 Km to Dubai before running out of money?
In this episode we attempt to hitchhike the remaining 1.000 Km from Riyadh to Dubai, with just €25 to our name. But before hitting the road, we attended an Al-Nassr football match, the club Ronaldo plays for. And after an incredible match full of twists and turns and after attempting to get a signature from Ronaldo himself, it was time to start travelling to Dubai. Soon we’d find out that hitchhiking 1.000 Km across the Arabian desert with just €25 in our pockets was quite the challenge. To say the least. Our most challenging travel experience lay ahead. Could we conquer the obstacles and make it to Dubai before our budget runs out? Or is this the end of our Free World Trip?
In this episode we try to survive in Dubai, one of the most expensive cities on earth, without money. After having successfully made it to 3 continents, seeing world wonders & hitchhiking the Saudi desert along the way, the quest for the rest of the continents continues. This time however, our backup budget from Europe is finished. And for the first time in weeks, we're back to truly having no money. And soon we'd find out that Dubai is a much more difficult place to survive in without money than Europe. We'd once again realise the scale of the challenge we have set for ourselves. But this time, our entire 1-month mission is at stake, and at the same time, the mission seems more difficult to complete than ever. Can we raise enough money on the streets of Dubai to make it to our 4th continent? Or does our 1-month mission end here?
In this episode we travel out to a secret location in South East Asia. In the previous episode we sold waffles in Dubai to try to earn two flights to continent 4 of the trip. But halfway through that process, we decided to take a chance and spend all the money we made up until that point on two flights to a location halfway to continent 4. This was a risky bet. Neither of us had ever been there before, nor did we plan on visiting this place during this trip. Our goal was to raise money once again for two flights to continent 4. But our success depended on a lot of factors. Would there be enough English speaking people there? Would people be friendly enough? Everything was to play for once again. Does our mission end here or can we successfully cross the halfway mark of this challenge?
During our adventure around the world, one question was important to us: What do we want to do before we die? The main reason we set out on this adventure was the realisation that this life is short, and that before we know it, it could be over. We planned not to take it for granted during this trip. And so from day 1, we set out to cross off as many bucket list items as we possibly could, without money. Now that we made it to our 4th continent in just 1,5 months, we figured it was time to celebrate and enjoy ourselves for a bit. I mean, do you have any other option in Australia? Our next bucket list item was a big one: Go on the most epic 2-week road trip ever across Australia. And so, we try to sell cookies in Brisbane to rent a car. But can we make that dream come true?
In this episode we meet 2 girls from Canada and take them on a 12-day road trip across Australia! In the last episode we sold cookies on the streets of Brisbane to rent a car for two weeks. For the first time on this challenge we are now joined by others who take on the no money challenge with us. The goal for this episode is to see and experience the beauty of Australia as much as possible, all while finding free food, petrol & accommodation, for 4 people, every single day. How many bucket list items can the four of us cross off with no money?
In this episode we try to sneak into one of Australia's biggest festivals. The hunt for more bucket list items continues as we try to cross off a very special one: attending a show by Post Malone, one of our favourite artists. Together with our friend Sage, we hunt for a weak spot in the security of the festival. Can we make it onto the festival grounds unseen?
In this episode our luck runs out at last and the mission is closer to failing than ever. After having enjoyed Australia for nearly a month, it was time to continue our quest for the continents. We realised too late that the Antarctic season begins quite soon. In 2 weeks to be exact. And we didn't want to miss a day of the season, because every missed day could be the difference between making it to 7 continents, or failing the entire mission. And so, we now had 2 weeks to hitchhike to Sydney, earn €1.500, fly to North America, earn double that amount and fly to South America. And only then we could begin the impossible task of making it to Antarctica for free. Now this might have been possible with our luck so far, but our luck was bound to run out at some point. In fact, it seemed like everything was now working against us. Can we keep the mission alive, or was this a mission doomed to fail at some point?
In this episode we try to raise $4.300 in LA. In the previous episode we went $1.300 into debt for two flights to LA. We did this because we thought LA would be a much better place than Sydney to sell cookies. The Antarctic season was about to start and we didn't want to be late. And so we arrived in LA, and had to face the biggest challenge of the trip: Settle our debt of $1.300, and raise $3.000 (!!) for flights to Ushuaia, all the way in the southernmost tip of South America, from where we could try to get to Antarctica. But I wouldn't have picked any other place on earth to conquer such a challenge. We were in LA, the home of dreamers. The home of so many of my favourite artists & creators, who inspired this journey in part. And one of those, were Yes Theory, our favourite YouTubers. Can we conquer our dreams in the city where Yes Theory built their legacy, and could they maybe help us in a way? Or is this where the journey ends?
In this episode the goal is to make it to our 6th continent of the trip. After having successfully raised enough money to fly from LA to Ushuaia, we booked flights through our friend Kalle to make it there. The only condition? We'd be flying on standby. Which basically meant we wouldn't make it to Argentina until two spots opened up on our flights. And we'd soon find out that it was going to be music harder to make it to Argentina than we thought... But first, we had a few more days to enjoy LA. We attended a hip hop show of our friend Shawn, spend a day in the hills of Hollywood, and try to give back some kindness in our own way.
In this episode the goal is to conquer the final peak of this challenge: Antarctica. After having made it to 6 continents in 3 months without any money it was time for the grand finale. In this chapter we arrive in Ushuaia, the place where 80% of worldwide trips to Antarctica depart. Going to Antarctica for free was going to much harder than any challenge so far on our journey. The cheapest trip costs €5.000 on average. Per person. We had asked all the cruise companies for a free trip before, without any result. We knew nobody in Ushuaia. We weren't fit to work on a ship. We were tired after 3 months of non-stop travel. We had a limited budget to survive in Ushuaia and there were limited places for free shelter & food, and thus we were on a time limit as well. This was going to be the ultimate test to our faith in the mission. Will we make it to the white continent or is this where the mission finally ends?
In this grand finale of the free world trip series, it's truly all or nothing. After conquering 6 continents in 3 months, we arrived in Ushuaia in the last episode to try to find a way to get to Antarctica for free. After 2 weeks of hopeless attempts however, our budget had almost ran out, and our faith in the mission was at an all time low. We only had a few days left to think of a way to somehow make it to the white continent. Can we complete 7 continents with no money or does the mission end here?