‘I worked 10 jobs to see the world, and now I travel for free!' — 19 y/o Singaporean student shares how Gen Zs like her can solo travel too

Independent Singapore

02-07-2025

SINGAPORE: From lugging wine trays to lugging backpacks, Jaedyn Choo's side hustle evolution is the Gen Z survival guide we didn't know we needed.
While most 19-year-olds spend their holidays bingeing on Netflix or catching up on sleep, Jaedyn was backpacking across six countries and 18 cities—on a shoestring budget and her own dime. That's right, not with her parents' money. Not with some fancy scholarship. Just elbow grease, hustle, and a lot of time in 10-hour shifts.
Her secret? Working odd jobs during her school breaks and then turning the whole experience into an income-generating content machine. From polytechnic to passport stamps
It all began with a craving—not for food or fame—but for freedom. Jaedyn wanted to just leave everything behind and see the world, but as a full-time student in Singapore with no trust fund or well-padded allowance, the only way out was to earn her own way.
'My first solo backpacking trip was to Thailand when I had just turned 19,' she says, and then, it was Bangkok. Chiang Mai. Pai. The backpacker trifecta. Photo: YT screengrab/@cnainsider
Except… she didn't go alone at first. She eased in with three other fellow free-spirited female travellers from Sweden, Romania, and the UK.
'I liked it so much! I liked being around people who shared the same mindset—to leave everything and see the world!' Jaedyn expressed her excitement.
And just like that, solo travel became her preferred lifestyle. Hustle now, wander later
However, here's the twist: Jaedyn's parents didn't approve of her lifestyle choice. Not one bit! So rather than use the allowance they gave her—what many teens would call free money—Jaedyn took the high road, or in her case, the working-class grind.
'I felt it would be disrespectful for me to use the allowance they gave me (for something they didn't support),' she says.
So, she took on ad hoc jobs. From being a wine server to taking on cleaning gigs and packing jobs, if it paid, she just took it. Photo: YT screengrab/@cnainsider
During the first half of her school holidays, Jaedyn would grind through 10-hour shifts, earning around S$12 to S$13 an hour. That's roughly S$100 to S$130 a day if she played it right—enough to save S$800 in two weeks. Photo: YT screengrab/@cnainsider
'S$800 could give me two weeks in Thailand if I were really on a budget,' she says, with the nonchalance of someone who's cracked the backpacker math code. The budget backpacking blueprint
If you want to copy Jaedyn's playbook? Here's her minimalist travel math: Flights: <S$300 (round trip)
Hostels: S$10–S$15/night (shared with up to 20 strangers, but hey—adventure!)
Meals: <S$5 per meal (hello, Thai street food!)
Fun: S$10 a day
Daily Spend: <S$50 (all in, including activities)
Checked Baggage: Nope. Saves S$60–S$70 per flight
She avoids restaurants as if they were tourist traps (which they usually are) and chooses hostels over hotels—even if it means sharing communal bathrooms and dealing with late-night snorers. Photo: YT screengrab/@cnainsider
All that budgeting paid off, literally. But what Jaedyn does when S$800 isn't enough…
'I usually spend all my money,' Jaedyn admits. 'In fact, on my first few trips, I didn't even have enough to book my return flight.'
She then had to borrow money from her sister to fly home. Hustle again. Pay her back. And repeat the cycle.
Between classes and coursework, Jaedyn squeezed in four trips in less than a year. That's more air miles than most office workers clock in a decade. From backpacker to content creator
In late 2023, something shifted. A casual phone call with a TikTok influencer friend changed everything.
'He mentioned that he was making a few hundred dollars from one video,' Jaedyn shared, and compared that with how she was working 10 hours just to earn a hundred.
It was her lightbulb moment.
Here she was, filming her own backpacking adventures anyway. So, she thought, why not monetise them, right?
'It's something I could do while overseas. It will give me a solid income, and it requires less time, so I could do it while studying… and I had no boss telling me what to do. I could post whatever I wanted.'
So she has now flipped the script. Instead of working to travel, she travels while working.
And guess what happened? Her follower count exploded! Over 20,000 people tuned in to her raw, relatable takes on budget travel and solo backpacking—something most Singaporeans can only dream about. Turning views into value
Soon, Jaedyn wasn't just inspiring wanderlust—she was inspiring action.
'So many people messaged me saying they went on their first solo trip because they saw my videos. It made me really happy. It was something Singaporeans didn't know much about,' she expressed her joy at how her lifestyle resonated with many.
Brands started to notice, too.
One video could now fetch her S$500 to S$700. She was putting in roughly 30 hours of creative work per month—and earning far more than she had ever done cleaning hotel rooms.
'Back then, I'd take like 80 hours to make $800. Now I'm spending 30 hours to earn about S$1,000–S$2,000,' she says. That's a six-time return on her time. Photo: YT screengrab/@cnainsider
And yes, she's still flying. Only now, her trips are longer, her experiences richer, and her wallet fuller. No regrets, just receipts
With more cash flow, Jaedyn now travels for up to a month at a time, upgrades her adventures, and still has enough left over to save for a rainy day.
'I feel that when I work hard for my own money, I don't ever feel guilty spending it because I worked hard with the goal of spending it on myself,' she explained.
And she doesn't sugarcoat her journey as well. Everyone around her—from relatives to friends—was against her going solo travelling, probably out of fear or concern for her safety.
'I had family members send me a chat (message) with paragraphs of prayers, thinking I was going to die there,' she laughs. 'But I knew that it was something I really wanted to do, so I did it anyway.' Side hustle, not full-time fantasy
For now, content creation is the dream job that lets Jaedyn live her dream life, but she's not banking on it forever.
'It's a good side hustle to have, but I don't think I'll ever pursue it as a full-time thing,' she says, adding that 'It fluctuates too much to give me a sense of stability. Hopefully, within the next four or five years, it can sustain, but I also know that with something like this, there's always an expiry date.'
In the meantime, she's doing what most people spend their entire lives waiting to do—travelling the world on her own terms, making money doing what she loves, and rewriting what it means to be young and financially independent in Singapore. Jaedyn's 3 golden travel rules: Work before you wander – Use school breaks strategically. Spend smart, not hard – Hostels over hotels. Street food over fine dining. Turn your story into content – If you're already living the journey, film it. Final boarding call
In a city obsessed with degrees and high-paying jobs, Jaedyn's story is a passport out of the pressure cooker. It's proof that you don't need to be rich to travel—you just need to be resourceful.
So the next time you scroll past a dreamy beach photo and think, 'That could never be me,' remember Jaedyn. It absolutely could be you—if you're willing, like Jaedyn, to work smart for it with a budget in your pocket, sleep in hostels, and chase your dreams with a camera in hand.
If you want to see how Jaedyn turned odd jobs into global adventures and did it all, watch the full CNA Insider's Money Mind episode below and get inspired to plan your very own escape next!
P.S. Like Jaedyn, Afiq Zayany, a Singaporean Grab rider, has also cracked the code to living large on a lean budget. From dodging Singapore's rental hikes to cruising across the Causeway into a golf villa with a buggy service, this Singaporean Grab rider shares how he earns six figures and lives in a RM1.4 million villa in Johor Bahru