“It is an absolute human certainty that no one can know his own beauty or perceive a sense of his own worth until it has been reflected back to him in the mirror of another loving, caring human being.” ― John Joseph Powell, The Secret of Staying in Love.
Leaping into the unknown and transforming your life is hard but one has to anyways choose one’s hard. She did not know where she was going, but she was on her way. When society expected her to grow roots, she instead grew her wings. She decided to pursue her intuition and her voice and survived every crisis by being adaptable to change.
Meet Marsha Jean, a 23-year-old girl who roamed around the 40 countries on a shoe-string budget. Born and raised in one of the most progressive Asian countries Hong Kong, she has been blazing the trail in nomadic travel blogging and photography landscape. Nevertheless, her journey was no overnight success. At the age of 18, she decided to bid adieu to her abusive home. She contemplated suicide and bought a one-way ticket to Australia with the thought to spend all the money she had before attempting suicide. Little did she know that an act of throwing herself in the real world like a kite would smash all off beam beliefs instilled by her parents and society.
She has been to the most inaccessible destinations and has stayed there for months. She began hitchhiking since she was 18 years old. She has hitchhiked all alone across Iran, Southern Europe, Thailand, Burma, Morocco, Nepal, Vietnam, Iraq (Kurdistan), the Philippines, Afghanistan, Pakistan Vietnam, Australia, and beyond.
So far, she has hitchhiked over 15,000+km. Once she began unleashing the bewitching adventures of hitchhiking, there has been no looking back. She ended up being invited as a guest by strangers to their homes. She also found tour guides who showed her destinations around without expecting anything in return. Amidst, this what she treasured most is intriguing stories that she came across, captivating cultures and compassionate people who helped her overcome her limiting beliefs.
She believes that hitchhiking is one of the most sought after ways to achieve lasting confidence, grit, and maturity and of course wit. However, on her way, she had to encounter discrimination and racial stereotyping. A firm believer of the “Travel Slow” philosophy, she does devote a considerable amount of time to discover a place to build an authentic connection with it.
Her Travel Timeline:-
When she turned 19, with no clear roadmap, she hitchhiked from Iran to France all alone.
One day she spontaneously bought a bike and embarked on a thrilling cycling journey navigating through Central Asia exploring Pakistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. During this journey, she encountered a point where she had no access to fresh water for almost 3 days.
At the age of 21, she rented a donkey and embarked on one of the most adventurous 19 days travel experience of her life navigating off the beaten Wakhan Corridor in Afghanistan with the donkey owner. Not many know that Afghanistan’s Wakhan Corridor is reckoned as the most remote destinations on earth with no accessibility to cell signal or postal service, let alone talk about the internet. This is indeed the abode of the most secluded nomadic communities.
She even stayed in the places like Kandahar and Iranian Baluchistan with locals where even governments of the majority of the nations do not encourage their citizens to travel owing to safety concerns.
One of the most celebrated moments from her travel came from her Pakistan travel where she became sort of ‘mini celebrity’ paving her way to the National Television. Even The Pakistani Air Force could not overlook her grit and invited her to be a part of their International Ski Competition (2019).
She also explored a volunteering opportunity with an NGO meant to contribute to building a school somewhere in a distant village in Nepal.
7 Weeks in Afghanistan, 6 months in Pakistan and 10 months in Australia, she met with the most mesmerizing people from all parts of the world. She worked in cafes and restaurants, private casino, scuba diving shops and even taught yoga in Sri Lanka to thrive. Interestingly, out of 900 days, she spent less than 100 days in guest houses or hostels. Remaining days, she either lived with local families or did camping. What she found truly incredible is that the countries with not so elite reputation in terms of kindliness turned out to be the countries where she encountered the most compassionate souls.
Her slow travel philosophy helps her strike a soulful lasting connection with the local culture and people. Music and Food further help her strengthen the bonds. Unfortunately, amidst a scenario where the majority of the media strive to portray the world as a hostile place, the real-life personal experiences of Marsha Jean inspires us to perceive travelling through altogether a unique fresh perspective. Her transformation from a suicidal and frightened teenager to a resilient persona is nothing short of epic inspiration. She perceives travel as a non-religious odyssey and with her grit and perseverance, she has managed to develop such life skills that cannot be acquired through any educational institution. I believe that she certainly qualifies to be a leader of any thriving organization as the raw and soulful travelling experiences of Marsha Jean speak volume of her unparalleled authenticity, sustainability and ethics.
Her Instagram account @themarshajean stands tall with staggering 12,000 followers who cannot get enough of her unsullied photography and travel skills.
Discover more about her through exploring her website and her Instagram.
https://www.instagram.com/themarshajean/
www.marshajean.com/
“Throw your dreams into space like a kite, and you do not know what it will bring back, a new life, a new friend, a new love, a new country.”
P.S:- Hitchhiking does involve risks and is even illegal in few countries. Therefore, one must do thorough research before embracing the spirit of Hitchhiking.
