26-year-old youngster travels the world for free, earns Rs 3 lakh for a single trip after discovering a new way to make money

Rhiannon Wood had a journalism career waiting for her after she graduated from the University of Birmingham in 2022. Instead, she chose to keep travelling, and that decision has now turned into a full time business that pays her to see the world. The 26 year old runs a travel focused Instagram account with about 60,000 followers, which puts her in the micro influencer category, generally defined as creators with 10,000 to 100,000 followers, according to Business Insider.

She leads paid group trips to destinations like Peru, Greece and Georgia, and earns up to roughly near Rs 3 lakh ($3,000) in commission for a single trip, according to an as told to essay she shared with Business Insider.

How did she start travelling in the first place

Wood's love for travel started during a study year in Lyon, France, where she discovered skiing in the Alps on weekend trips with friends. After graduation, that interest pulled her straight to Lake Louise in Canada, near Banff, where she picked up work at a canoe rental company, a zipline company and a ski resort just to be near the mountains.


The pay was minimum wage, and Wood told Business Insider that "the low pay got old, quick." She was already posting her travel photos on Instagram at the time, purely for fun, and slowly started wondering if those posts could become a real source of income instead of staying a hobby on the side.

How does she actually travel for free

Wood does not pay for most of her trips anymore. Travel and outdoor brands, along with group tour agencies, cover her flights, stays and activities in exchange for posting content and leading the trip for paying customers. Some agencies also offer her the tour slot itself for free instead of a cash commission, while others pay her a fee on top of covering her travel.

This model is what let her visit Peru, Scotland, Indonesia, Japan, Thailand, Greece and Georgia without personally paying for the trips. On her own personal travel, she sticks to budget stays and rarely buys new things, which keeps her overall costs low even when a trip is not sponsored.

How did her first paid trip happen

In late 2024, Wood began posting with intent instead of just documenting her days. She took social media strategy webinars and hired an Instagram coach to understand how the platform's algorithm worked before she tried to properly monetise her account.

Her effort paid off fast. Within four months, she landed her first brand deal with Mapo Tapo, an online group trip company focused on outdoor sports. She led her first paid trip to Switzerland and earned 330 pounds, close to Rs 38,000, for it. She had never led a tour before that trip, but her years of hiking, mountaineering and rock climbing experience helped her plan a smooth outdoor experience for the group.

How much does she earn now

Once the Switzerland trip went well, bigger offers followed quickly. Wood has since worked with travel and sports brands including Skyscanner, Siroko and Roamless.

Her group trips usually run for at least a week, and commission per trip depends on the size of the group and which agency she is working with. She has earned up to 3,000 dollars, or roughly Rs 2.5 lakh, from a single trip. Her Instagram reel sponsorships have also grown in value, from a few hundred dollars when she started to more than 1,000 dollars, or close to Rs 88,000, per collaboration now. She saves most of what she earns from group trips and spends her sponsorship income more freely, and currently earns in the low five figures in dollar terms overall.

Why does she refuse to hire an agent

Wood told Business Insider it is unclear whether working with an agent would have earned her more money or less, but she prefers handling negotiations, trip planning and posting entirely on her own. She said this gives her full control over how and when she interacts with her followers, which matters to her since a single bad interaction could hurt the trust she has built with her online community over the years.

Running the business alone does mean her days are packed, sending emails, negotiating deals, planning trips and posting content, both while travelling and in the gaps between trips, leaving her with very few full days off.

Wood said her life is largely lived out of a backpack, with free stays on tours, budget accommodation on personal trips and very little spending on new belongings, which has helped her manage on a smaller income than she once needed during her college years. She said sorting out visa requirements, staying safe in new countries and managing her workload without any outside help have all been part of the learning curve, but staying confident that things will work out has become central to how she runs her business today.

What is next for her

Wood is now working on launching her own travel agency, one that would let her keep exploring with her followers while earning more from each trip, building on the free travel model that got her this far.