THIS savvy traveller has lived in Greece and Egypt for free and saved more than £6,000 – all while managing to visit 20 countries before turning 20.
Lauren Kirby, 20, fell in love with travelling after taking a sabbatical from her work in a nursery.
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After seeing an advert for a child care position on TikTok, Lauren decided to take a chance and flew to Corfu, Greece, for three months.
Travel company TUI paid for Lauren’s accommodation, flights, food and bills and paid her a minimum wage of £830 per month.
With her income, Lauren was able to save £2,500 and used it to fund travels to Portugal, Finland and Mexico.
She said: “I didn’t have to pay my bills or anything. I saved all my wages.
“I had a beach side apartment and one-and-half days off.”
She was often able to finish earlier in the afternoon so she could enjoy full evenings.
Then in February 2023, Lauren went to Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt to work and saved a whopping £3,500 there.
She had her accommodation covered again – and even her medical insurance – meaning she could use her entire savings to go travelling afterwards after enjoying the sights in Egypt.
Now the savvy spender uses her savings to travel even further, and has managed to visit 20 countries before she turned 20.
Lauren, who works part-time at nursery, and lives in Maidstone, Kent, said: “I loved it. I’d recommend it. People think travelling is expensive but it doesn’t have to be.”
She also set herself a goal of visiting 20 countries before she turned 20 – and managed to hit her goal.
So far, she’s visited: Portugal, Greece, Spain, Italy, France, Hungary, Iceland, Netherlands, Mexico, Finland, Estonia, Austria, Slovenia, Switzerland, Egypt, Ireland, Scotland, The US, Norway and Wales.
She said: “I loved Portugal and Lake Bled in Finland. Everywhere is on my to do list. I’m always on Skyscanner.”
Lauren already has trips to Bali, Los Angeles and Australia lined up and is keeping her eyes peeled for other seasonal jobs to fund her love of travelling.
Another woman shared three stunning European destinations that have offered to pay you to move there.
Switzerland, Italy and Greece all have areas that are shelling out cash to get people to move there – but the offers come with stipulations.
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