The simple things you can learn from travel | Zahirah Munjit | TEDxIIUM

0:10 Sahira and I am a full-time traveler.

0:13 Some of you might have already know me as Morant.

0:19 You know, before Morantuna existed,

0:22 I used to believe that people like me weren't meant for the big world.

0:26 If I had told my younger self that I'll

0:29 be giving a TED talk for traveling the world,

0:32 her jaw would have dropped to the floor.

0:34 She'll be asking, "Girl, what do you mean?" Because in Southeast Asia,

0:40 we were raised a certain way.

0:43 We should stay close to home.

0:44 We need to follow a certain path.

0:47 And we shouldn't wander.

0:49 And I also used to think that traveling was only meant for the privileged.

0:55 So, how despite all this, a young Malaysian girl

0:59 like me ended up making traveling my full-time job?

1:04 And I will tell you, but first let me take you a little bit back to our history.

1:12 So, historically, our ancestors were called parantos.

1:17 By definition, it means people who migrated from their origin.

1:22 They crossed many oceans and they

1:25 traveled long before traveling became something

1:27 cool on socials and unlike us they were not doing it for fun.

1:33 They were doing it to find opportunities

1:36 to grow and most importantly to survive.

1:40 And maybe that spirit never left us.

1:43 Maybe it's just buried under mundant expectations like find a stable job,

1:48 settle down at this age and just don't make life complicated.

1:53 But deep down that part of us that wants to wonder is still there waiting.

2:00 So a lot of people think that my journey kicked off

2:04 because I was lucky enough to further my studies in New Zealand.

2:09 But I don't think it was luck.

2:11 I think it was because I was confident and brave enough to try a different path.

2:19 Let me tell you a little story.

2:21 So, I didn't come from a family that's well off.

2:24 We only could afford to go to vacations locally.

2:29 We didn't get fancy presents like other kids.

2:32 But one thing my parents made sure of was that we got proper education.

2:38 So, most of their savings went to us.

2:42 So after high school,

2:43 I applied for a scholarship to study adventure tourism management.

2:48 Something so oddly specific that even I thought,

2:51 hey, this kind of course exists.

2:54 But yeah, I applied, heard nothing from them.

2:57 Uh so then I moved on and accepted

3:00 an offer to further my studies in Tessle at UITM.

3:04 Although I believe that teaching is a wonderful

3:07 profession but I believe that my aspirations were elsewhere.

3:12 I accepted that cost anyway because it offers allowance [clears throat]

3:16 something I needed because I was already financially independent at 17.

3:22 I didn't have the luxury to explore my passion because I needed stability.

3:29 But miraculously one day I receive a call.

3:32 It's a scholarship and I got it and I was so

3:35 happy but my parents hesitated because it was a new program

3:39 and I was already enrolled in Tessle but me being me

3:44 the last member of the family a little bit of a rebel.

3:48 I fought for it and they eventually said yes.

3:51 And I love them so much for it,

3:53 for trusting me with that decision because that decision made

3:57 me the first person in my family to leave the country.

4:03 You see, I get asked all the time, how can I travel like you?

4:09 How can I become a travel influencer?

4:12 But here's the thing.

4:14 We all get so fixated by what we see online.

4:17 the [clears throat] mountains, the snow, the backpacks, the morant lifestyle.

4:22 But you don't see the part where I did not have any financial backup.

4:27 Back in New Zealand, I did a lot of odd jobs.

4:30 I worked as a housekeeper.

4:32 I cleaned toilets.

4:33 I folded bed sheets.

4:34 I worked on boats.

4:36 Anything I could to survive.

4:38 So that's me.

4:39 That's was me when I was working in New Zealand.

4:41 I look happy, but I was actually cleaning toilets.

4:45 [laughter] And not to everyone's surprise

4:47 here in Malaysia people often look down

4:49 on these jobs but in New Zealand everyone does it adults students travelers

4:56 and that made me realize that there are so many ways that you can

4:59 earn whilst traveling to allow you to travel for a longer period of time.

5:05 I wasn't ashamed of it because we were

5:08 all there for a reason to experience the world.

5:12 And plus those jobs taught me how to be humble,

5:15 to work hard, to earn my freedom.

5:18 So I believe there is nothing lowly about the greed

5:21 and determination it takes to build the life that you want.

5:26 However, it is no lie that we live in a society that highly values stability.

5:33 We all hold on to something which I call the five steps towards a stable life.

5:38 First you get a degree.

5:40 Next, you get a job that you may like, you may hate, it doesn't matter.

5:45 And then you get married, you settle down,

5:47 and then you repeat that cycle to your young ones.

5:50 So, yeah, it's not surprised that stepping out of it can feel wrong,

5:55 especially if you're a woman.

5:58 So, to answer your question, Zahira, how do you travel full-time?

6:03 How do you do it alone?

6:04 What is the first step?

6:07 And I wish I had the And I wish I had a fancy answer for you guys,

6:12 but really it's just this.

6:14 Start with what you have, even if it's not much.

6:17 Even if you don't know what you're doing.

6:19 So yeah, here we go.

6:21 Tips and tricks that you can use if you want to start traveling.

6:27 Let's start with the most important part.

6:29 How to travel safely and confidently.

6:33 You see, confidence doesn't magically appear.

6:35 It comes from preparation, knowing you're out,

6:39 understanding the culture, having backup plans.

6:42 When you have all this, you will have the confidence and say to yourself,

6:45 "Hey, I got this." And then awareness.

6:49 Simple yet important safety habits like sharing your location.

6:53 Use that fine mind, use that WhatsApp sharing

6:56 location and share with your friends and families.

6:59 If I don't share it, I will be giving I will be getting

7:02 a phone call from my dad [laughter] because all he

7:05 wants to know is that his daughter is safe

7:08 and trusting your instinct and avoiding deserted areas at night.

7:13 Next is community.

7:15 Your first big trip could be with student clubs.

7:18 You can join outdoor communities because you learn through people.

7:22 Whenever I travel, I've never really been scared because wherever I go,

7:27 I join a group or I'll make friends along the way through outdoor communities.

7:32 You see, travel isn't about fearless.

7:34 It's about being prepared.

7:37 Okay, moving on.

7:39 Oh, sorry.

7:40 That was the picture of me with my community.

7:43 Moving on.

7:44 How to find purpose through travel.

7:48 You hear people all the time saying, "Oh,

7:50 travel here, travel this." But what is the point?

7:53 And I think this is why because when you travel,

7:57 you will meet people who live life differently.

7:59 Some don't rush into marriage.

8:01 Some probably work seasonally.

8:03 Some probably takes gap year.

8:05 And then you'll start realizing, hey, there are so many ways to live life.

8:09 That your hometown, your parents' expectations

8:12 or your friend's opinion, it's not just that.

8:16 And from there comes new perspective because

8:20 the first time you meet someone whose values,

8:23 priorities or definition of success

8:26 completely different from yours, something shifts.

8:30 Your world expands and from that expansion comes clarity.

8:36 And I think the most important part about traveling

8:39 is that you learn who you are without the noise.

8:42 Cuz when you travel, it removes structure.

8:45 There's no noise.

8:47 No one knows you.

8:49 No one defines you.

8:50 And you get to tell yourself, hey, this is actually who I am.

8:54 And I think that is so beautiful.

8:57 Okay, moving on to the next one is what have I gained through travel?

9:04 A lot of us comes from families that don't normally allow it.

9:08 And I get it.

9:08 It's a scary world out there.

9:12 But there's a lot of beauty in it, too.

9:14 Travel has taught me boundaries.

9:16 When you travel, you learn to say no, to choose yourself, to protect yourself.

9:21 And then you get to learn about strength.

9:24 Not the I can do everything by myself,

9:27 but the quiet confidence that you can survive.

9:31 You know that moment where you make plans

9:33 in your group chat to travel somewhere and they will say, "Oh, we'll see." Well,

9:37 I don't know what they'll see, but I'm definitely saying something because if

9:41 I want to go somewhere, I will go.

9:43 Fear.

9:44 stopped being a reason for me to stay still.

9:46 When plans fell apart, I adapted.

9:49 Miss buses canceled heights because of weather.

9:52 I learned to solve problems calmly.

9:56 That version of Zah that needed constant

9:58 reassurance is now standing up for herself.

10:01 And I'm very proud of her for that.

10:05 [applause] You see, travel didn't make me fearless.

10:09 It made me brave.

10:12 And lastly, something that all of you want to know.

10:15 How can students afford and access travel?

10:18 And let me be honest with you guys,

10:20 you don't need to be rich to start traveling, but you do need a strategy.

10:24 When I was a student, I did part-time jobs,

10:28 um, housekeeping, um, cafe work, retail.

10:31 But now we live in a digital world.

10:34 There are so many ways that you can make money online.

10:37 So, utilize it.

10:39 And next is start small.

10:41 When we talk about travel,

10:42 we often think of places far away like Europe or taking a flight to New Zealand.

10:48 But even I have yet to explore Europe

10:50 because it is so expensive to travel there.

10:53 So why not start with something smaller?

10:55 Take a bus to a local town um to Parah or somewhere

10:59 like that and maybe take a flight to somewhere further which is Lancawi.

11:04 It doesn't need to be far.

11:06 Instead of spending money to go to expensive

11:08 cafes or go shopping over the weekend,

11:10 why not use that money to go on a short camping trip to pair

11:14 up and I promise you it costs way less than 100 ringgit to do that.

11:20 And lastly, something all of you need to master, which is learn smart budgeting.

11:26 Travel isn't expensive, but lifestyle is.

11:28 I understand that we now live in a world of consumerism.

11:32 Whenever we open our socials, people be buying this, people be buying that.

11:35 They travel luxuriously.

11:38 But you need to be disciplined enough

11:41 [clears throat] to travel within your means.

11:44 Host, cooking your own meals, taking public transportation because once you

11:49 cut the unnecessary, the world opens up.

11:57 Okay, the point of me talking today is not to ask

12:03 you to travel full-time or to become a travel influencer,

12:08 but I am encouraging you to imagine life beyond fear,

12:13 to stop making excuses and to step outside of your comfort zone.

12:19 When I named my platform Rental Junior, it wasn't random.

12:23 I wanted to honor that we're not doing anything wrong.

12:27 We are just continuing what our ancestors did.

12:31 Finding our purpose through curiosity,

12:33 through exploration, and through movement.

12:36 Because we are now more than parantos,

12:39 not in boats anymore, but with backpacks, cheap flights, and visas.

12:45 And that's enough.

12:48 [applause] How do I play this?

12:54 Okay.

12:56 So, Morento Duna became my way of giving back.

12:58 A way to help Malaysians see that you can travel safely and confidently.

13:03 A way to share what I wish I knew earlier.

13:06 A way to prove that people like us from small towns,

13:10 simple families, conservative backgrounds, we can all explore the world.

13:15 But before I end, I need to acknowledge this.

13:19 I wouldn't be here if my parents had not trusted

13:23 me with my decisions even when they didn't fully understand it.

13:28 And I wouldn't be here without my friends who cheer who cheered me,

13:32 who checked in on me, encouraged me,

13:35 and reminded me why I started in the first place.

13:39 Even especially on the days where I doubted myself.

13:43 And I just want to remind you gently

13:45 that your life can look however you want it to be.

13:49 You don't need to be brave all the time.

13:50 Just be brave enough to take the first step.

13:54 And from my experience, the moment you step into the unknown,

13:58 even if you're scared, that's when you start discovering who you really are.

14:04 Thank you.