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On June 4th, Rachel Kelly and Matt Saunders set off on the adventure of a lifetime: driving the Pan American Highway. The couple from a small town in Surrey, England, went to the same school but matched on Tinder during the pandemic lockdowns. On their third date, Saunders planted the idea of driving from Alaska to Argentina, and Kelly was sold. After saving £20,000 each, they flew out to Canmore, Alberta, to pick up a pop-top camper they got for £4,000. It broke down just four days into their trip. Further camper and car mishaps ensued, costing them £15,000 in repairs and replacements.
While they were stuck in a remote part of Alaska for three weeks as they waited for their camper’s engine to be fixed, the pair spent their downtime creating videos for their Instagram account @ramonthepanam. Their 250 followers became 70,000 as their Reels resonated with viewers interested in their journey. “People kept messaging us saying that they wanted to support us and see us succeed,” Kelly says, “so we thought the best way to make that happen is by setting up a crowdfund.”
She created a page on the crowdfunding platform GoFundMe with the hope of raising £5,000, enough to get back on the road. “We know there are far better causes than what we're doing,” Kelly says. “We've set this up because people were trying to give us money.”
Since they have not yet secured the full amount, Kelly and Saunders may have to truncate their trip and miss out on their top bucket list destinations: Utah, Peru, and Patagonia. “We were in such a hole that we had nothing to lose by starting the fund,” says Saunders. The couple has currently received over 45 donations, mostly from people unknown to them. “A random stranger gave us £100 just out of nothing, out of nowhere,” Kelly says.
While Kelly and Saunders found themselves stranded, not every crowdfunded trip starts with a crisis. Many campaigns are simply about enabling people to taste the world. Loved ones and even strangers are paying for would-be travelers' adventures by contributing to appeals on general crowdfunding sites like GoFundMe, Go Get Funding, and Fundrazr as well as dedicated travel crowdfunding platforms like FundMyTravel. These websites help connect people who are big on dreams but short on funds with philanthropists who believe in the right to travel. Browsing their pages reveals fundraisers for anything from birthday holidays and sabbaticals to more serious trips for life-saving surgery or evacuation from conflict zones.
People might be more accustomed to seeing requests to support creative endeavors like podcasts, films shot abroad, or travel products and businesses, but the notion of financing wanderlust itself hasn’t quite caught on to the masses. A South African startup called Trevolta tried to popularize travel crowdfunding with modest success, shutting down in 2015, within two years of launching. Its mission was to let “people, amazed friends, and generous sponsors” help you fund extraordinary trips.
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One extraordinary trip that did see the light of day thanks to crowdfunding was Thor Pedersen’s 10-year journey to visit every country in the world in one continuous trip—all without flying, becoming the first person ever to do so. The Danish national has a book about it, Once Upon a Saga, coming out next year.
His initial sponsor, Ross Energy, pulled out a few years into his journey, meaning he had to get creative. “That had me draw on my personal savings until there was nothing left, and then I took out two loans and sold some personal possessions,” Pedersen says. “Eventually, in late 2017, I looked to my followers for support through crowdfunding.”
Pedersen raised $20,752—shy of his target of $50,000, but enough for him to keep traveling the world. He mostly used Indiegogo, but people also sent donations to accounts he created on MobilePay, PayPal, and Patreon. While the money was technically “free,” Pedersen paid a high price for it. “I spent a tremendous amount of time promoting the Indiegogo campaign,” he says. “Having to ask my followers to support me felt somewhat like begging. It hurt my pride to some degree.” There was also behind-the-scenes bureaucracy. In Denmark, crowdfunders have to seek public approval from the Ministry of Justice and pay a $765 annual fee. Nevertheless, Pedersen wholeheartedly appreciates the support that helped him return to Denmark debt-free after visiting 203 countries.
Ugandan-American Jessica Nabongo was also attempting to visit every country in the world when she ran out of money. A friend suggested she crowdfund. “I didn't think people would be interested, but obviously I was wrong,” Nabongo says. Her GoFundMe raised over $16,000 from more than 200 donors, and people also sent her money via Venmo and Zelle. Nabongo was able to complete her mission the following year and became the first Black woman ever to collect every country’s passport stamp.
When deciding to crowdfund, Nabongo did not anticipate the big-heartedness of her supporters—or the cruelty she inevitably experienced from online trolls. “People are mean as hell,” she says. GoFundMe shared her campaign on its Facebook page leading to comments such as “girl, bye” and “this is not the kind of thing you ask money for.” Another commenter said, “Pay for it yourself.” Nabongo had the last laugh, though. National Geographic published her first book, The Catch Me If You Can, a collection of essays from 100 countries that captured her heart. She’s currently penning a second book. “When I wrote a book, I never could have imagined it would be part of 4,000 students’ curriculums in Detroit public schools,” Nabongo says. “If I would have seen all of that hate and shut down my campaign or stopped doing what I was doing, I wouldn't be where I am today.”
Nabongo acknowledged all her donors in her book and is grateful that GoFundMe provides a platform where anyone can be a genie granting travel wishes. “Sometimes people feel like ‘What is my $5 going to do?’ but it all adds up,” she says.
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For Tarreyn Van Slyke, monetary contributions added up to an unforgettable two-week honeymoon in Japan. Honeymoon registries appear to be one form of travel crowdfunding that’s exempt from derision and distrust, which is why the Los Angeles creative entrepreneur was comfortable setting one up. “Travel bleeds into so many other conversations about class, wealth, and education. A honeymoon is the one exception where it feels socially acceptable to ask for money,” Van Slyke says. “I feel that as an adult it's gauche to even ask for birthday presents.”
Cash gifts from loved ones meant Van Slyke and her husband Ben Morris were able to fulfill their dream of visiting Japan during the notoriously pricey cherry blossom season while staying in beautiful boutique hotels. “It was just nice to go on a honeymoon and not worry about money,” she says. The couple pulled in roughly $13,000, spent around $10,000, and they plan to use the remainder on another romantic getaway. Their digital fundraising company of choice was Honeyfund, which was itself crowdfunded. CEO Sara Margulis cofounded it in 2006 after she successfully crowdfunded her own Fiji honeymoon. The company went on to appear on Shark Tank in 2014, receiving a cash injection from Kevin O’Leary.
Having witnessed such immense generosity with her honeymoon fund, Tarreyn Van Slyke is open to chipping in to finance other people’s trips. “A trend that's starting that I think is kind of cute and fun is people writing on their car windows saying, ‘Hey, it’s my birthday’ or ‘Im getting married, on the way from LA to Vegas, Venmo me,’ and I was like, all right, I'll send you five bucks.”
For Van Slyke, travel is a nonnegotiable life requirement. She remains moved by a frank conversation with a boat captain in Copenhagen who was bewildered about people in the US having registries for honeymoons and also births. “I said, you have free education, free childcare, free health care, and free college; we get nothing, so the community has to step it up a bit.”
