What happens when you trade plane tickets for hitchhiking and a 9-to-5 job for life on the road? For Ana Lucas, a 25-year-old from Portugal, it meant embarking on a journey across Central Asia, India, and Nepal - all on a budget of under $5 (approx. ₹500) a day to reach Australia. In an exclusive chat with hindustantimes.com, she opened up about overcoming burnout, the reason for her journey and what extensive travelling has taught her.
Why did she start travelling?
Lucas recalled that her love for travelling started when she was volunteering abroad. She simply fell in love with the freedom that comes with the idea that there are other ways to spend one's life other than the “standard way of living” most people are taught.
She told hindustantimes.com, “I kept doing more and more volunteering projects, which was a way of travelling without spending pretty much any money, and in doing so I met many inspiring travellers doing crazy things: hitchhiking, walking, cycling, etc. across borders.” Their experiences inspired Lucas even more, strengthening her resolve to live a similar life.
Why hitchhike?
Lucas explained, “So I started hitchhiking a little bit and slowly fell in love with it. I’ve wanted to go to Australia since I was around 10 years old, and a few years ago Central Asia, India and Nepal also became very desirable destinations for me, so I just thought ‘why not hitchhike through all those places instead of getting on a plane to Australia?’.”
She continued, “I was looking for an adventure that would teach me about the world and its people, allow me to explore the beautiful nature our world has to offer, and that would bring challenges I couldn’t predict beforehand but that would make me develop new skills… and that’s exactly what has been happening.”
Is travelling hard?
{{/usCountry}}She continued, “I was looking for an adventure that would teach me about the world and its people, allow me to explore the beautiful nature our world has to offer, and that would bring challenges I couldn’t predict beforehand but that would make me develop new skills… and that’s exactly what has been happening.”
Is travelling hard?
{{/usCountry}}When asked if she ever felt travelling was hard, Lucas said, “I feel like I’m managing things pretty well. In the beginning, I was travelling really fast and quickly became burned out, but over time I have learned to listen to my body signs properly and now I know when to slow down, when to find a place to volunteer and stop for a while, and when I am ready to get back on the road.”
She thinks that with her years of experience, she has also developed a good intuition that she trusts. “So I sense whether or not I am safe pretty fast and plan/act accordingly.”
Managing travel costs:
She volunteers with Worldpackers, a platform that connects travellers with hosts for skill-based lodging exchanges. Explaining how she manages to travel, Lucas said, “I do my best to spend as little money as possible. Hitchhiking, camping, cooking for myself, etc usually comes down to less than 5$/day. Then I volunteer a lot, meaning I can spend weeks or months without spending a single dollar because I exchange some sort of skill and my time for food and accommodation (and I also always get to learn more about the local culture that way).” She continued that her other source of income comes from YouTube.
“And yes, I use Couchsurfing sometimes, I camp a lot and once in a while am randomly hosted by people. Sometimes I go to hostels, always trying to find the cheapest one. And I volunteer a lot in exchange for accommodation, I think I’ve spent around 7 months of the trip volunteering.” Nearly 1.5 years into her trip sto Australia, she estimates she has spent roughly ₹2.9 lakh so far.
Exploring India:
“I was volunteering with Worldpackers in an eco-village/meditation center in Haryana, and in a college in Ludhiana Punjab, then my sister met with me and we went to Amritsar for the golden temple and the border ceremony, before going north to Kashmir and Ladakh. I spent over 1 month in Ladakh, mostly doing some long solo treks where I was carrying all my food for 9 days,” Lucas said.
She plans to visit Northeast India, then Himachal and Uttarakhand, in December this year or in January 2027. “In the summer, I’m planning to go to Goa, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, and in January 2028, I want to get on the cargo passenger ship to the Andaman Islands.”
Her message to the world:
The traveller explained that she thinks “that the world is way less scary than people think, and that getting out there and leaving your comfort zone can be extremely powerful in many different ways.”
She explained, “Travelling has helped me to trust myself, love myself, be more confident, be happier with my life, while also accepting that things don’t always go the way you wish, and that’s alright. I’ve learned to always look at things from a place of curiosity, understanding and learning, so even when everything is going wrong, I try to focus on what I can learn from that situation. I think listening to your heart and following your dreams is the real key to success and contentment.”