How to fund a trip without having an income

My roommate from college is a fascinating creature. She topped her stream in school and pursued a B.A. degree in English and Media Studies - yet always, without fail, gets confused between 'lose' and 'loose', and 'quiet' and 'quite'. If a vendor asked her to calculate 67 + 25, she would confidently propose multiple incorrect answers until someone mercifully stopped her - yet she funded her grad trip solely by herself without having a consistent income to start from. Here's how she did it. Halfway through our second year, we decided to celebrate our graduation in Goa. We called home to let our parents know early to avoid future resistance, and good that we did since my roommate's mother informed her of a wedding in the family that was coinciding with the trip. Hours of fighting about responsibility later, aunty said, "I'm not paying for your trip. If you want to go, save the money yourself." What

This article was originally published on March 22, 2025.