Young woman travels world without money

ISTANBUL

A young woman from the northern province of Çorum, who has been traveling the world for four months without paying any bills, food, drink, or accommodation, is now in Albania, her 11th country.

Sıla Güngören, 24, set off to realize her dream after graduating from Marmara University’s Law Faculty and completing her law internship.

Güngören, who took short-term trips with cheap foreign tickets at every opportunity she found during her university education, started her “single and indefinite travel” after her internship.

Realizing that working in a company until retirement was not her ideal life, Güngören said there is still a lot to explore.

She is currently cooking for volunteers at a hostel in Tirana, Albania, and some days she even helps at the reception of the hostel.

In return, she does not pay any fees to the hostel for accommodation and food.

Noting that she did not have much savings while traveling, Güngören said, “I was aware that this money would manage me for a while, but it was not enough.”

“However, I believed that this was not an obstacle. As long as I had enthusiasm and passion, materiality was on the back burner,” she expressed.

Pointing out that many people she met during her trip shared their houses and food with her for free, Göngören said that she ate delicious meals without spending any money and stayed in houses with beautiful views.

“For instance, you have to be quite rich to have a world-renowned photographer take your picture. I owe it only to the car stopped while hitchhiking,” Güngören explained.

“Renting an oceanfront villa in the neighborhood where the king lives in Morocco will cost you quite a lot. However, how can you know that another traveler who opens his house to you will not provide this opportunity?”

Focusing on what her experiences can add to her and her life rather than the money she has, the young traveler underlined that financial problems are not an obstacle to the realization of dreams.