Everything else went into a few trunks at my parents’ house, and I set out to build a life with no fixed address.

It started in Goa for two months. Then Sri Lanka. Thailand. Indonesia. Colombia. Germany. Cape Town. Japan. And SO many places in between I’ve genuinely lost count 😅

In one year alone, I slept in over 70 different Airbnbs. Over the last five years, I’ve packed and unpacked more than a THOUSAND times, and lived in over 30+ cities!! WHAT.

And listen, I loved it. Every messy, unpredictable, gloriously exhausting bit of it!!

I loved waking up not fully remembering which country I was in. I loved the airports, the new languages, the tiny cafes I’d adopt as “mine” for a few weeks before moving on. I loved that my life looked NOTHING like the one I was told I was supposed to want. It felt like a dream. Honestly, the most legendary thing I’ve ever done with my life 💛

Which is exactly why what I’m about to tell you feels so wild.

Because if you had told me five years ago that one day I’d want to stay in ONE place, that I’d want to stop living in a new country every couple of months, I would have laughed in your face.
Like, genuinely. Are you crazy? That is NOT the life I want.

And yet…..

Here I am, about to tell you something I never thought I’d say 👇🏽

Somewhere in the last year, a small voice started showing up. Every time I had to find a new flight. Every time I had to hunt for a new apartment. Every time I sat on a bed in yet another country, decoding yet another country’s visa rules.

And the voice said: this doesn’t feel fun anymore. It feels like a chore.

Which SCARED me. Because this was my whole thing. This was the life I had built my entire identity around. How do you admit you might be outgrowing the exact thing that made you YOU? 😅

For months I didn’t say it out loud. I just kept going, kept moving, kept telling myself I was tired, it was a phase, I’d feel differently next month.

But I didn’t feel differently next month. Or the one after.

And then one day I asked myself a question that changed everything:

Why am I still CLINGING to an identity I built for myself five years ago?

Not because I still wanted it. But because I was scared of who I’d be without it??

That was the moment I gave myself permission. To want something different, to not have all of it figured out, to try what this other identity could look like!

So this year, I started going through a mental checklist of where I could actually live. Feeling a few places out, looking visas up, asking myself the real question: not where looks exciting for a month, but where could I see myself living for a couple of years? Somewhere that suits my needs. Somewhere I could actually build a LIFE.

And I finally found my answer….Drum roll please 🥁

I’m MOVING to Bangkok, Thailand!!!

And this time, not for two months, but to actually LIVE. (not sure how long yet, but it’s definitely more than a year hahah!)

It’s official. I held onto this news until I knew it was really happening, until the visa came through and made it real 🇹🇭 and of course, the UNPACKED community is the first one to know!!!

Me. The girl who never unpacks. Committing to one city. It doesn’t feel REAL?!

BUTTT….wait…Does this mean you’ll stop traveling now??

Well, well, well

obviously not 😌

If anything, this is going to let me travel MORE.

Here’s what actually happened. As my creator academy grew, as my own content grew, I was suddenly settling into a brand new country AND running a full business at the same time. Slowly, the energy I used to have for actually exploring a place started to drain.

That broke my heart a little (a lot). Because traveling is the whole reason I started this life. It’s my great constant. It’s not going anywhere.

One base means I can pack a tiny bag and GO whenever I want.

Bangkok has an incredible airport, cheap short flights everywhere, and I can leave, come back, leave again, without the shenanigans of moving my whole life

But CAN I PLEASE tell you the part that’s surprised me the most?

It’s the tiny things. The stupidly ordinary things I’ve never really had in my adult life.

I greet the same building staff every morning now, and they’ve started to feel familiar. I have a park I walk to every day, ten minutes from my door, and a gym I keep going back to. Little routines that make a place feel like MINE 🥹

I have a spot in my bathroom where my toiletries just… LIVE. I’m not digging through a toiletry bag anymore. Do you understand how wild that is to me?? 😭

I can own winter clothes. WINTER CLOTHES. Because I don’t have to fit my entire life into one suitcase and carry every season of myself on my back everywhere I go anymore.

And I get to feel this giddy about all of it at 27, when so many people have had this their whole lives and I’m only discovering it now.

and honestly…THIS is what I love about life!!

That you can experiment with it, change it completely, live it in so many different ways. That excites me more than anything 💛

We are SO quick to hold people to who they used to be. We do it to ourselves even harder!!

We say things like “this is just who I am” or “this is the life I chose” and then we treat those words like a contract we’re not allowed to break. Even when we’ve genuinely outgrown them.

For a whole year, I knew I wanted something different. But I felt stuck, because changing my mind felt like betraying the person I’d promised everyone (and myself) I was.

And that’s the TRAP!!!. We think staying the same makes us reliable, consistent, trustworthy. But sometimes it just means we’re scared to admit we’ve grown. Right?

Here’s what I actually believe now: you’re allowed to change your mind. About your city, your career, your relationships, the identity you built with your own two hands. Wanting something new doesn’t erase how much you loved the old thing. It just means you’re paying attention to who you’re becoming 🩷

The one thing five years of travel taught me more than anything?

There is no single right way to live. I’ve seen SO many people, in SO many countries, building beautiful lives that look nothing like each other. So why would I trap myself in just one version of mine?

I loved being nomadic. I might love it again someday. Who knows, maybe in a few years I’ll pack that one suitcase all over again 😅 But right now, this is the life I want. And I’m letting myself want it, guilt-free.

Now, I know some of you are already wondering: Bangkok?? Out of everywhere in the world, why THERE?

I’m a mountain girl through and through 🏔️, so trust me, I’m the LAST person who thought she’d pick a big city as home. There’s a whole story behind it.

If you want me to unpack the full thing, why I chose Bangkok as my base, how I get to live here without any visa stress, what it actually costs to live here, all of it, reply BANGKOK to this email or drop a comment 👀

If enough of you are curious, that can be the next newsletter 🩷

That’s it for this week’s Unpacked… see you next Wednesday with something new to unpack 👋🏽

Lots of love & sunshine,
Aakanksha

P.S. If there’s a version of your life you’ve outgrown but feel scared to change… take this as your sign. You’re allowed 💛

I keep getting DMs asking if they can grow with a faceless account. Here’s a little truth bomb, GUYSS…

If you want to become a Travel Content Creator, talking on camera is NOT a side skill. It IS the skill. And I KNOW that’s the part that makes most people want to close this email right now hehe 😂

But here’s the thing nobody talks about!!

It’s actually been PROVEN that speaking to camera in the first four to five seconds massively increases the chance your video gets watched. People want to connect. In a world where everything we scroll is starting to feel AI generated and fake, a real face moving in a real way is what works best!! The better you get at this, the more you grow 👀

But before we get into any of that, I need you to hear one thing:

Everyone feels cringe at the start. Literally EVERYONE 😭

You feel lame, you feel awkward, you want to put the phone down forever.
Trust me, I DID TOOOO!! Here’s a screenshot of me dancing awkwardly on camera 4 years ago for this REEL 😊

Nobody is born sounding perfect on camera, all the creators you follow; started CRINGE! But now they’re minting $$$ and traveling the world, because they chose to face the discomfort and get better at this ONE SKILL!

So now are you team, minting $$$ or hiding from the camera?
I hear you screaaaaam number 1. So let’s get you started, step by step watch your confidence grow!

Practice at HOME 📱

When you’re starting out, just pick up your phone at HOME and practice. Somewhere nobody will ever see those videos. That’s literally the whole point.

Here’s a hack that works SO well: take a book you’re reading, or another creators script and add the lines from a page into a teleprompter app (edits app literally has a teleprompter built in). Now, read it out loud. As animated, exaggerated as you possibly can. You’d never post this. But it warms up the way you talk and you start discovering your natural style without any pressure 😌

The goal is simple. Get comfortable with telling a story on camera. That’s step one!!! DONE!

Move your body first 💃

Okay this is the antidote to feeling self-conscious before you film. And I mean it.

Before you record, put on your favourite song and DANCE. The mini concert you have in the shower when absolutely nobody is watching and you are completely, chaotically yourself. THAT energy on camera? Chefs kiss 🔥

I know I know, it sounds weird, but did you know there is actual SCIENCE behind it?! When you move your body, your brain releases dopamine and serotonin, the same chemicals that reduce anxiety and boost confidence. The stiff overthinking version of you literally cannot show up after you’ve danced around your room for three minutes 😭

We literally proved this inside Creator Takeoff Academy Batch 3 this weekend. Our mindset coach, ran a full session on camera fear and she started by making EVERYONE dance.

The energy shift was insane 🤯 And then she asked every single person to record a talking head reel and post it on Instagram in under FIVE MINUTES.
GUESS WHAT HAPPENED?

Now it’s your turn to hack your brain into feeling confident! Which song are you thinking of?

Okay, now that you’ve got your boost of confidence, let’s get into the practical stuff 😌

Talk to the lens, not yourself 👀

First things first: stop looking at yourself while you’re talking to the camera. Talk to the lens instead! Because the second you start watching your own face, your brain goes into full analysis mode: “Is my mouth moving weirdly? Is my hair okay? Why do I look like that?” 😭
PLUS, more importantly: it makes you look directly into the eyes of the person watching. That instantly makes your video feel more personal and connected.
These are the small things that’ll get you into the top 1% of travel creators ;)

Use your body language 🙌🏽

Okay this one is BIG and I wish someone had told me earlier.

If you’re someone who uses your hands when you talk in real life, do NOT take that away from yourself on camera. Use it. Lean into it. It’ll take your content relatability a notch higher!

Here’s the trick: imagine a box right in front of you. Keep your gestures inside that box. Natural, visible, alive.

No hands in pockets. No hands behind your back. No crossed arms. That’s closed body language and it makes you look uncomfortable or unapproachable - even when you’re not. That’s a big no no when you’re filming!

Make It Easier to Press Record 🔥

Think about going to the gym. If you lay out your clothes the night before, pack your bag and know exactly what workout you’re doing, it becomes SO much easier to actually go.
You don’t have to make a hundred decisions before you even leave the house.

Filming works exactly the same way. Before you sit down, write your hook, decide what you want to film and have your script ready.

Don’t wait until you’re in front of the camera to figure everything out.

The less you have to think about in that moment, the less overwhelmed you’ll feel.

You might feel conscious during the first video, but then you get into it. Suddenly you’re filming the second, then the third, then the fourth, back-to-back, because everything you need is already there. You’re not trying to think, create and perform all at once. You just press record 🧡

Use a Teleprompter App 📱

I usually film my videos directly in the Edits app because it has a teleprompter built in.
You can add your script, adjust the speed, change the text size and then simply read it out loud while you film. Especially when you’re starting out, this makes everything feel SO much easier. You can focus on how you’re speaking instead of panicking about forgetting what you wanted to say.

One little tip, though: read through your script two or three times before you press record. You don’t need to memorise it word for word, but you should know what’s coming next. That way, you’re not constantly staring at the screen. Look up, move your head, use your hands and speak the way you normally would.

Go try it out right now! It’s such a game changer!!!

Keep it simple!

I’m going to repeat myself here, no one is born a natural on camera. You learn with every rep!
So start small, just shoot your hook lines face to camera and then go on to slowly film full on scripts.

Every reel you post is a rep. Every time you press record, your brain learns a little more that this is survivable. And then one day it just feels normal!

One Cool Thing I Did This Week 💕

Tried paramotoring for the first time in Laos! It was INCREDIBLE, we flew through clouds, over mountains, little lagoons, truly one of the BEST flying experiences i’ve had! Now I need to try skydiving next hehe!

Now it’s your turn, share your little secret of feeling more confident on camera! Reply to this email, I read EVERY ONE OF THEM!

Hit reply. I want to know 👇🏽

That’s it for this week’s Unpacked…see you next Wednesday with something new to unpack 👋🏽

Lots of love & sunshine,
Aakanksha

P.S. Go record something today. Literally today. It doesn’t have to be good 🧡

I want to tell you about a night I spent on top of a frozen valley, sitting around a fire I built with my own hands, singing Antakshari with two men who grew up in a family of headhunters.

I know. I KNOW. That’s a sentence 😭

But stay with me, because this is the story I think about every time someone asks me why I love travel. And today of all days, it feels like the right one to tell.

Because it’s Independence Day 🇮🇳

And here’s the thing. I travel the whole world now. But India is where ALL of it started. India is the reason I’m a traveler at all.

So today I want to honor that. Let me take you back 👇🏽

Here’s something you might not know about me.

Before I ever left India, I’d already lived a dozen different lives inside it.

My dad’s in the army. So growing up, we moved every two, three years. Eight, nine, ten different schools. Over THIRTY houses. I lost count somewhere along the way 😅

And every single move felt like landing in a new country.

The food on the streets changed. The language changed. The way people spoke to each other, celebrated, argued, welcomed you in, all of it changed. One posting I’m eating one thing, next posting it’s a whole different world on my plate.

I didn’t grow up in a city. I grew up in a HUNDRED versions of India.

So when I tell you that traveling within India feels like traveling across different countries, I’m not saying it to sound poetic. I’m saying it because I lived it before I even had a passport.

And that’s the thing I owe India. It gave me my curiosity. It made me the traveler I am now, LONG before I ever boarded a flight somewhere far 🩷

But there’s one night that holds all of this for me. One story that, if you asked me to explain what travel in India actually FEELS like, I’d just tell you this instead.

So let me take you to a frozen valley 👇🏽

A few years ago, for my 23rd birthday, I went to Nagaland to trek Dzukou Valley.

If you don’t know Dzukou, let me paint it for you.

In the monsoons, it’s rolling green hills that look SO unreal you’d swear AI generated them. In the winter, the entire valley freezes over, different shades of white and green, icicles everywhere, the whole thing glittering. Two completely different worlds depending on when you go 🏔️

I went in for the frozen version.

The trek itself isn’t brutal, four, five, six hours uphill and you’re there. But what made it special wasn’t the climb. It was my guide, Vikho.

He was from the Northeast, and we spent the whole way up just TALKING. He told me about his culture, his life, the way things work up there. And somewhere on that trail, it stopped feeling like a guide and a tourist. It just felt like two people becoming friends.

This is the part of travel I love the most.

How two people from completely different lives can just collide for a day and share something real. It would never happen if we both stayed inside our little comfort zones 😌

And then we reached the top. Early, actually. With time to spare.

So I did what any normal person would do.

I decided to learn how to chop wood 😛

There were a few people up top running a little hut, chopping wood because the nights get brutally cold. So I asked if they’d teach me.

And they just… said yes.

They pulled me in, handed me the axe, and taught me how to chop wood and build a fire from scratch. My first few swings were TERRIBLE 😂 But I got there. Eventually I had a proper little pile ready for the night.

And I want you to sit with this for a second.

Almost anywhere else, there’d be a safety regulation, a liability form, a “sorry, you can’t come back here.” People wouldn’t open up their tiny space, their livelihood, their corner of the world, to a random stranger who wandered up.

But in India? People welcome you with open arms. They’re EXCITED to teach you. They let you in, literally and completely 🩷

And that openness is the whole reason the magic happens. Because when people let you in, that’s when the unexpected can actually find you.

As the sun dropped, it got colder and colder.

So we huddled around the fire we’d built. Me, Vikho, the two guys running the hut, and another girl who was also doing the trek solo. Everyone else camping up there was outside in their tents, split into their own groups. It was just us around that fire.

And that’s when the night TRULY began.

We started playing Antakshari. We sang songs. One of the guys was a genuinely horrible singer but he did NOT care, he just kept going, cracking jokes the whole time 😂 If you know people from the Northeast, you know their sense of humor is unmatched. We drank rice wine to stay warm, feeding the same fire we’d made with the same wood I’d learned to chop that afternoon.

And somewhere in the middle of it, it hit me.

I was sitting with two men who live on top of this valley almost all year round. No phone signal half the time. They have to walk hours to the nearest village just to get a bar of connection. They come from a lineage of headhunters.

And here they were. Singing Antakshari with me. Making a fire. Laughing at the same jokes.

Where does this cross-pollination happen otherwise??

Two completely different worlds, from completely different lives, that would have NEVER collided anywhere else. But India put us around the same fire 🔥

And this is what I mean when I say travel in India is different.

Everywhere else in the world, you kind of know what you’re going to get. You go to the place. You rent the bike. You hike the mountain. It’s beautiful, truly. But you know the script.

In India, there’s no script.

Someone will invite you into their home and feed you a feast. Someone will say “come, let me show you my favorite sunset spot” and next thing you know you’re meeting all their friends. The most unexpected, ridiculous, beautiful things find you here, as long as you go with the flow and let them.

Now let me tell you the OTHER side of that night 😅

Because it wasn’t all fire and songs and warmth.

When it was finally time to sleep, there was no “room.” You just lie down on a mattress on top of a stone slab. And around me? Spider webs. Things moving in the dark. Honestly one of the most unhygienic places I’ve ever slept in my life 😭

I barely slept. I spent most of the night convinced a spider was going to crawl into my mouth. You know the myth. I KNOW you know the myth. We’re all scared of the same one 😂

But here’s the thing.

That’s also travel in India.

The magic and the mess come in the same package. You don’t get to pick one. The same night that gave me the fire and the songs also gave me the spiders and the stone slab. And somehow, looking back, I wouldn’t trade a single part of it.

I woke up early the next morning, running on almost no sleep, and hiked down into the valley.

And GUYSSS.

The whole thing was frozen over. Glittering. Icicles everywhere, snow particles catching the light, this vast, silent, unreal stretch of white and green going on forever. Genuinely one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen in my life 🤍

But here’s what surprised me.

Standing there, taking it in, I realized the view wasn’t actually the thing I was feeling.

What I was feeling was everything that led up to it. The trek with Vikho. Learning to chop wood. The fire. The songs. The horrible singer. The rice wine. The spiders. The sleepless night. ALL of it was sitting inside that one moment, and THAT is what made it so grand.

The valley was just the last line of a story India had been writing all night.

And that’s the thing I keep coming back to, especially today.

I’ve now seen so much of the world. Incredible places, bucket-list places. But almost none of them have given me a NIGHT like that. Because most places give you a view. India gives you a whole story you didn’t see coming.

The destination was never the point.

It never is in India 🩷

That’s the curiosity I owe this country. The reason I fell in love with travel in the first place. And on Independence Day, with everything India has given me, that feels like the thing most worth saying out loud 🇮🇳

That’s it for this week’s Unpacked… see you next Wednesday with something new to unpack 👋🏽

Lots of love & sunshine,

Aakanksha

Last month I was three hours into a brutal trek in Peru.

No phone. No podcast. No signal for miles. Just me, my friend (who was as out of breath as I was, so neither of us was talking), and a whole lot of walking.

And somewhere on that trail, with my brain COMPLETELY empty, it happened.

Idea after idea after idea started pouring in. For content. For growing Creator Takeoff Academy. For stories I’d been trying to crack for MONTHS at my desk and couldn’t 😭

One hour on that mountain gave me MORE than eight hours at my laptop ever has.

And it made me realise something kind of embarrassing about myself.

For YEARS, I thought my problem was that I wasn’t working hard enough. That I needed to consume more, hustle more, fill every gap with something useful. Doing nothing felt like failing, like wasted time I’d have to answer for.

Turns out I had it completely backwards.

The empty space I spent my whole life running from? That’s not where my creativity goes to die. That’s where it’s actually BORN.

There. I said it.

Here’s the thing I’ve been unlearning.

I was raised to believe idle time was bad. We all kind of were, right? “Make use of your time.” “You could be doing something productive right now.” “An idle mind is the devil’s workshop.” I absorbed every bit of it.

So somewhere along the way, doing nothing started to feel wrong. And even when I wasn’t being “productive,” I still couldn’t sit with an empty mind. I’d fill it with something to consume instead, a podcast in my ears, a show in the background, a scroll. Just never, ever, nothing. (please tell me i’m not the only one!!!)

And I truly believed that was the responsible way to live. Turns out it was the exact thing secretly draining my creativity 😅

Because here’s what I’ve learned about how my brain actually works.

The single biggest creative reset in my life isn’t my laptop. It’s trekking. And I finally understand why 🏔️

When I trek? It’s just me, my legs, and my thoughts. The view is stunning, but I’m not consuming it. I’m just walking. And processing.

That’s the part we almost never do anymore. Process. We take in, take in, take in, then push out, push out, push out. But actually sitting with a thought long enough for it to turn into something? That barely happens.

A trek forces it. There’s nothing to fill the hours with except your own mind. And that’s exactly why the ideas come 🥹

I genuinely think everyone should experience a proper trek at least ONCE in their life. It’s the closest thing I’ve found to a full creative reset.

But you don’t need a mountain in Peru to get this. That’s the point.

I catch myself doing the opposite ALL the time. Waiting in a queue? Phone. Waiting for coffee? Phone. Two free minutes on the couch? Scroll, or put something on, or knock out one more little task. Without even thinking, I’d decided every idle pocket had to be either useful or entertaining.

And this newsletter is honestly as much a reminder to MYSELF as it is to you. Something I can re-read the next time I’m convinced I’ve run out of good ideas 😅

Because the pattern is SO clear to me now: I feel most stuck, most uncreative, most “I have nothing original to say”… on the exact days I’ve packed so full that my brain never once got to sit empty.

There’s a line I’ve always remembered from a famous author:

Which is LITERALLY our job as creators. We tell stories. And boredom is the doorway to them 👀

Your brain even has a setting for this. It’s called the default mode network, and it only switches on when you’re NOT focused and NOT consuming anything. Just walking, staring out a window, letting your mind drift. 🤯

That’s the exact mode where your brain connects ideas and cooks up the original stuff. They’ve even tested it: people who did boring tasks first came out MORE creative, not less.

So all that empty time I kept rushing to fill? Might’ve been the most productive thing I could do all day 😌

Here’s what I think this means for us as creators.

You have to be INTENTIONAL about protecting idle time.

It will not happen by accident, because the second you have a free moment, the instinct kicks in to fill it. So you have to actively guard the empty pockets.
Go for a walk with nothing in your ears. Go for a run. Sit on your balcony with no phone, not consuming, not creating, not being “productive.” PROMISE?

Because here’s what actually happens in that “wasted” moment: a conversation from last week turns into a story you want to tell. A podcast you listened to finally gets fully absorbed and becomes content. An idea you didn’t even know you had floats up to the surface.

That’s just how creative brains work. But only when you stop filling every second and give them the SPACE to do it.

So this week, find one idle pocket and protect it. Don’t make it productive. Don’t put anything on. Just let yourself be bored.

Your best idea is probably waiting on the other side of it 🩷

Unpacking Your Question 💌

ONE?? Just one?? Okay this is hard 😭

But honestly it has to be my wind and rain jacket. Every single time. No exceptions.

When you’re trekking, the weather changes out of nowhere. You can start the day in full sunshine and then suddenly it’s freezing cold and raining and you’re still hours away from camp. That combination is genuinely awful 😭

On the Huayhuash trek in Peru the jacket saved me so many times huhh. The wind at high altitude is no joke. It goes right through you. And if you’re wet on top of that, the rest of the day is just misery.

The one I use is this one 👀 It’s light, it actually packs down really small, and it works. I’ve taken it on so many trips now and I’d never leave without it.

If you want the full Peru packing list, everything I packed, what actually got used, and what just took up space in my bag for no reason, reply PERU below and I might just end up writing a newsletter on it soon 🥹

✨ ONE COOL THING I DID THIS WEEK

Okay this one is UNREAL 😭

In Bangkok, there’s a cinema where the seats aren’t seats… they’re actual BEDS. Full beds. You get a blanket, there’s a massager built into the bed, and you just lie down, cuddle up, and watch a movie.

I watched Spider-Man like this, wrapped in a blanket, sipping coconut water, with unlimited popcorn and drinks, and I genuinely cannot imagine watching a movie in a normal hall ever again 😂

It was like having my own private theatre. What even IS this experience?? If you’re ever in Bangkok, you HAVE to do it 🍿

Tell me, where do YOUR best ideas come to you? On a walk? In the shower? Mid-trek? Hit reply, I read every single one 👇🏽

That’s it for this week’s Unpacked… see you next Wednesday with something new to unpack 👋🏽

Lots of love & sunshine,

Aakanksha

OH MY GOD. You guys FLOODED my inbox asking for Part 2 😭 I genuinely did not expect that many “PART 2!!” replies, and it made me so happy.

Time to decode that alien lifestyle even further 👽

And honestly? My ultimate dream with this is that one day I’ll meet some of you out there, in a co-working space in Cape Town, on a trail somewhere, at a tiny café in Bangkok, and you’ll come up to me and go “I read your newsletter and it’s the reason I’m here.” That. That is the whole goal. More fellow aliens roaming the planet, living life on their own terms 🩷

Okay. Let’s lock in and go 👇🏽

🛂 How do I stay so long in so many countries, on an INDIAN passport?

This was genuinely my biggest fear when I started. Oh my god, how will I figure out visas, flights, all of it? And honestly? It’s still my biggest challenge, because let’s be real, the Indian passport isn’t the strongest 😅

But here’s the good news: even on an Indian passport, you can travel to so many countries visa-free now, and a lot of them let you extend. Indonesia, for example, you can enter on a tourist visa and keep extending it for almost a year. Easy 🌴

One big hack: get yourself a US visa. Having one opens up SO many more countries you can enter without a separate visa, and it genuinely makes your life easier as an Indian traveller 👀

The catch I mentioned in Part 1: don’t stay in one country longer than about six months, or tax gets messy. The loophole? Digital nomad visas. So many countries have introduced them now, Thailand, Spain, Portugal, Estonia, Hungary, Indonesia. These let you legally stay long-term and work remotely with zero issues. The Thailand one is a FIVE-year visa, and you pay no tax there as long as you’re not earning from a Thai company 👽

Basically: the paperwork looks scary from far away. Up close, it’s just a puzzle you learn to solve.

🪐 How I choose which planet to land on (aka picking a base)

Before I touch down anywhere, I run every place through the same checklist. Here’s what an alien actually scans for before settling on a base 👽

1. Visa 🛂 Can I legally stay around 60 to 90 days without getting into trouble? Non-negotiable. First scan, every time.

2. Wifi + a workspace 📶 Patchy wifi = mission aborted. I also need good co-working spaces nearby, somewhere I can plug in, focus, eat, and not have to rebuild my whole routine from scratch the second I land. Because every new country already takes energy to figure out. Some things HAVE to be sorted before you arrive.

3. Cost of living 💸 I’m not about to set up base in, like, Los Angeles where a coffee costs a small fortune 😭 I look at my budget first, then pick a planet that fits it.

4. Community 👽 This is a BIG one. When you’re constantly moving, making friends is hard, in a regular city, everyone already has their group and barely anyone works online. But in a digital nomad town, you’re surrounded by creators, founders, freelancers, fellow aliens who GET the lifestyle. That’s what makes it fun. And honestly? This is why I don’t just pick the prettiest dot on the map. I could go live in some gorgeous tiny Swiss town…but with no co-working spaces, no gym, no community? I’d be a very beautiful, very lonely alien 😅 Doing this collectively, with other people who live this way, is the whole magic.

5. Safety 🛡️ Huge for me as a woman. I left Delhi partly because I never felt fully safe or free there, so I’m definitely not going to move somewhere I’d feel even MORE restricted. I check this before booking a place, sometimes before even booking a single stay.

Bonus, health & gym 🏋🏽‍♀️ Every single apartment I book is within a 5-minute radius of a gym. Sounds extra, but it’s about reducing friction, the moment working out gets inconvenient, you stop. And as a nomad my health is already under pressure (new food, new water, constant movement), so staying fit is something I genuinely cannot skip.

So when I recommend places, it’s not random.

These next spots tick every single one of these boxes 👇🏽

🌍 Okay, so WHERE should you actually go?

If you’re sold on this life (or even just curious), here are the places I’d point you to first. Tried, tested, alien-approved 👽

These are the spots where the wifi works, the community exists, the cost of living makes sense, and you actually feel safe and inspired. Basically, the easiest places to land if you’re just starting out 😌

🧳 The one-suitcase life

Where do I keep all my stuff?

The answer: my entire life fits into ONE suitcase and a backpack. I know it sounds crazy, but that’s it 😭

My old clothes, shoes, souvenirs from different trips, they live in trunks at my family’s house, and I barely ever see them. A lot of it we’ve just donated or given away.

When I started travelling I went full carry-on only. Over time I’ve added a few non-negotiables: protein powder, hiking boots, one packing cube of basic winter wear (just in case I land somewhere high-altitude). And I stick to clothes that mix and match easily so I never need much.

The unexpected part? Living like this has stripped away ALL my materialism. I genuinely don’t care anymore about how many outfits or bags or shoes I have. When your whole life fits in a suitcase, you realise how little you actually need to be happy and comfortable. I only buy what’s necessary, and that’s strangely freeing 🤍

🛸 The part Instagram doesn’t show you: the honest downsides

Time to be a real alien with you, because this life is SO far from perfect, and it’s not for everyone. Two of my own best friends would never want it 😅 So here’s the other side:

Decision fatigue is real 🧠 Every couple of months: where next, which Airbnb, what visa, how do I get there? Again and again. It genuinely wears you down. Even I struggle with it.

Relationships take effort 💛 YOU’RE the one who keeps leaving, so it’s on you to make the calls and carve out time. In my first two years, my relationships all suffered because I’d get so engrossed in a new place I’d forget the people who matter most. I had to actively work on it.

Loneliness can creep in 🌍 If you don’t build community in each new place, it gets lonely fast. My fix: I always join the local Facebook groups (yes, Facebook), every nomad town has one, and go to the meetups. Making friends as an adult is hard, so you have to put yourself out there.

Discipline is a daily test 📅 When you’re surrounded by beaches and hikes and events, getting work done is HARD. You need to be more disciplined than you ever were back home, because there are way more temptations.

So yeah, as dreamy as it looks on Instagram, this life needs real discipline, mental strength, and genuine passion. Without those, it’ll burn you out. I tell you this not to scare you off, but because I’d rather be honest than sell you a fantasy 😌

And that’s the alien lifestyle, fully decoded 👽 From “wait, where do you even LIVE” to a whole two-part breakdown of how this actually works.

If this lit something up in you, if some part of you is going “maybe I could do this too”…that’s your sign. Start with one remote skill, pick a place that fits your budget, and just go. I promise it’ll change your life 🩷

That’s it for this week’s Unpacked…see you next Wednesday with something new to unpack 👋🏽

Lots of love & sunshine,

Aakanksha

P.S. If a friend keeps saying “I wish I could travel and work”…forward this to them. Consider it a recruitment flyer for planet nomad 👽

Right now I’m writing to you from my apartment in Bangkok 🥹 I’m sitting at my desk in front of this HUGE floor-to-ceiling window and I can literally see the entire city spread out in front of me. The skyline, the lights, all of it. It’s honestly insane that this is my life right now 😭

And the best part? I’m going to be here for the next FIVE months. Five!! I’ve already been exploring the city, finding my favourite coffee spots, joining run clubs, discovering parts of Bangkok that most tourists never even find. I am absolutely OBSESSED with this city and I feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface 🧡

But honestly? That’s not the point of this newsletter.

Here’s the point.

This morning someone asked me, “So where are you from?”

India, I said.

“Oh nice, but where in India do you live?”

“Well…kind of everywhere? I don’t really live in India.”

Cue the confused face 😭 “Okay so then where DO you live?”

“Hmm, sometimes Cape Town, sometimes Japan, sometimes Thailand, sometimes Europe…”

And then I get THE expression. That bewildered, slightly suspicious “wait, how does that even WORK” look 😂 I get it ALL the time.

And that’s exactly why I’m writing this. The digital nomad life, having multiple homes instead of one base, being a citizen of everywhere, gets treated like this mysterious alien concept beamed in from another planet 👽 So today, let me play the friendly alien who finally explains how it actually works.

It’s not that complicated, and not that deep. Let’s get into it 👇🏽

👽 First things first: what even IS a digital nomad?

You work from your laptop, you don’t go into an office, you don’t report to a manager in person. You’re not a plumber or a doctor who has to physically show up somewhere…you can just do it all from a screen from any location 💻

And once that’s true, a bunch of other “rules” quietly fall apart. You don’t have to live in a big city. You don’t have to stay where you’ve always lived just because…that’s where you’ve always lived 😌

Most people never stop to question this. Why DO we all agree to cram into expensive cities and sit at the same desk every day? I imagine the first ever digital nomad just looked up one day and went, “wait…why am I doing this from a grey cubicle when I could do the exact same thing overlooking a mountain in Peru?” 🏔️

There’s one less glamorous reason we keep moving though: tax. In most countries, once you stay past six months, you become a tax resident and things get complicated. So part of the nomad shuffle is wanderlust…and part of it is lovingly running from paperwork 😅

I’ve been living like this for over FIVE years now. Wild to even type out 🤯

🛸 Okay but how do you actually START?

The first step is honestly boring: get a remote job. Let me tell you mine because it might help.

I started in consulting at Bain, but joined during COVID, so it was fully remote. That was my first taste, working out of Goa, Ladakh, still doing the full corporate job, just not from a tower 👀 Then Bain started reopening offices and I had a full-body NO moment.

So I went on LinkedIn and found a job at LinkedIn itself, my number one criteria above everything was that it HAD to be fully remote. From there I worked out of Sri Lanka, Thailand, Indonesia, Germany. Then I took the bigger leap, quit, and started creating content full time. Now I’ve got multiple income streams that let me travel and work, so I never need to be in one place.

So if you’re starting: look at LinkedIn and other platforms for fully remote roles, OR build a skill you can offer remotely. My editor, graphic designer, assistant, social media manager…all remote. Nobody comes to an office, because I don’t have one 😂

💸 The real question: how much money do you need?

Quick honest breakdown:

At Bain I earned ₹65,000/month (~$730), enough to live and travel India easily. My average month was around ₹30,000. The plot twist? In a big city I’d have spent my whole salary. Being a nomad was helping me SAVE 😌

At LinkedIn I earned ₹1,20,000/month, which unlocked going international. Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam, all so affordable I saved over HALF my salary. The secret was co-living spaces: one big building, everyone working at shared desks, a kitchen, usually a gym, everyone in their own room. Costs stay stupidly low, but the best part is it feels less like an office and more like a never-ending sleepover with your friends 🥹 Thailand came to ~$600 to $700 a month.

Now, as a content creator, I earn more so my quality of life has gone up. To keep it simple: everything combined (food, rent, scooter, all of it) comes to around ₹1,00,000 to ₹1,50,000 a month. Cheaper in Asia, up to ₹2,00,000 in Cape Town. For the life and views I get? Still phenomenal 😌

In a nutshell? You just need a steady full-time salary, something landing in your account month on month. Then you simply pick destinations, in India or abroad, that match what you earn. That’s the whole game 😌

🪐 The exact jobs you can do to fund this life

Okay so “make money online” sounds vague, I know. So let me make it real. I’ve worked from over 30 countries around the world, and I’ve met digital nomads doing all SORTS of jobs. But here are the most common ones I see, the ones I know you could do too if you put your heart into it 👇🏽

Coaches of any kind. Yoga instructor, breathwork coach, fitness coach…all of it works remotely the moment you take the service online or build a course around it 🧘🏽‍♀️

Freelance & creative roles. Graphic designers, video editors, thumbnail designers. The classic nomad toolkit. I’ve literally built my whole team out of people like this.

Copywriters & ghostwriters. A big upcoming one that makes people serious money. I have a friend who ghostwrites books, newsletters, and social media for other people, all remotely ✍🏽

Social media & influencer marketing. Huge. My boyfriend and his co-founder run a social media marketing agency, fully remote. And my own brother works from Canada for an influencer marketing agency, because honestly, why would you need an office for that? 😌

Tech, coding & AI. The biggest sector of them all. And the AI space has blown this wide open, people all over the world are building AI products for companies, running AI trainings, or vibe coding their way to a living 🤖 If you’re in tech, you’re basically pre-approved for this lifestyle.

Product managers. I know SO many PMs living this way, like Shreya Mahindru, who’s built a whole life around it. It’s become one of the most nomad-friendly roles out there.

Travel businesses, content creation, online courses… the list keeps going. The point is: there are way more options than you think. You don’t need to invent something wild, you just need ONE skill you can deliver through a screen.

So if you’re sitting there thinking “but what’s MY skill?”, start there. Learn editing, design, coding, AI tools, social media, copywriting…pick one thing you can do remotely and get good at it. That ONE skill is your passport into this whole world 👽

Okay…I’m going to stop here, because this is getting LONG and I’ve still got SO much to unravel 😭

Because we haven’t even gotten to the juicy stuff yet: How I stay in so many countries on an Indian passport (visa hacks included), how my entire life fits into ONE suitcase, the 5 things I check before choosing a base, and the honest, unfiltered downsides nobody on Instagram talks about.

So here’s the deal. If this opened your mind to a different way of living, or even just made you go “wait…could I do this too?”, I want to know.

Unpacking Your Question 💌

I get asked this ALL the time 😭

I’ve personally used both of these and genuinely loved them so here you go:

Digitek DTR 550 LW Tripod lightweight, sturdy, and honestly great value for the price. Perfect if you want something that stands on its own and gives you a solid stable shot. I’ve used this one and it does the job really well without being heavy to carry around 🎒

360° Panoramic Gimbal Stabiliser this one is SO fun 👀 Anti-shake, rechargeable, and it rotates 360° which means it literally follows you around and keeps you in frame. Great for solo travel content when you have no one to film you. I’ve used this one too and loved it for walking shots especially 😌

Both are budget friendly and both are genuinely worth it 🙌🏽

One Cool Thing I Did This Week 💕

Okay so this weekend was A LOT 😭 I hosted a free live masterclass where I taught people how to become travel creators, how to post consistently, and how to start earning. AND on top of that we officially launched Creator Takeoff Academy Batch 3 🎉

The energy was honestly WILD. So many people showed up and the room just felt so alive 🥹 I love teaching live so much more than I expected to.

I got sick literally FOUR hours before the first session 🤒 I was completely freaking out. But I pushed through and I am SO glad I did. My team was incredibly supportive through all of it and I genuinely couldn’t have done it without them.

And bdw…if any of you attended it, thank you so much. It really meant everything 💛

That’s it for this week’s Unpacked…see you next Wednesday with something new to unpack 👋🏽

Lots of love & sunshine,

Aakanksha

When I first started out, I was OBSESSED with the idea of getting a brand deal. Like genuinely, embarrassingly obsessed. I’d scroll through other creators’ pages thinking “Why are brands reaching out to THEM and not ME?!”

And then one day I just decided I wasn’t going to wait anymore.

The first non-sponsored branded reel I ever made was about this product by Sirona called Pee Safe. It helps women stand and pee without touching public toilet seats. And if you’ve ever used a public toilet in India, you KNOW why this is LIFE CHANGING 😭 I made a simple reel about travel essentials for women in India and included it because I genuinely couldn’t believe more women didn’t know about it.
OMG it BLEW UP on my page.

Women were losing their minds in the comments. Saving it. Sending it to every female friend they had. Because it solved a real problem that nobody was talking about 🥹
And that’s when it hit me. That reel was doing EXACTLY what a brand would pay me to do. Natural, authentic, story-led content that made people want to buy something. I had just created my first portfolio piece without even realising it.
THAT is the shift I want to talk about today 👇🏽

Why brands aren’t reaching out (the real answer)

Okay here’s what nobody says directly 😭

When a brand scouts a creator, they don’t just look at follower count. They land on your page and they’re asking one question:

“Can this person make our product look good without it feeling like an ad?”

If your page is all beautiful travel footage with no product content, no recommendations, no “here’s something I genuinely love” anywhere on it, they have no proof. And without proof, they move on.

This isn’t about not being good enough. It’s about building a portfolio BEFORE you pitch. And most creators skip this step completely 👀

The 3 content types that build your portfolio and make brands come to YOU

1. The Travel Essential Reel 🎒

Pick something you use on every single trip and talk about it like you’re telling your best friend!!!

Nashiya Salim one of my students from Creator Takeoff Academy made a reel about Home Exchange as part of our weekly challenge. She just made content about a concept she genuinely found interesting and posted it 😌 The brand SAW it, loved it, and reached out to her for a collab. She didn’t pitch them. She didn’t email them. They came to HER because her content already proved she could make their product look good 😭

THAT is what portfolio content does. You create the proof first. The deals follow.

2. The Problem I Solved Reel 💡

“I used to panic every time I got sick abroad until I found this...”

“this is the travel mistake that cost me so much stress 😭”

You had a travel problem. Something fixed it. You talk about it honestly.

This format is GOLD for brands because it has a clear pain point, a clear solution, and a very real reason why someone would want it.

Arpita another one of my students from CTA made content about the anxiety of solo travelling without insurance, something she GENUINELY worried about and eventually solved for herself. She wasn’t pitching SafetyWing. She was just being honest about a real problem she had. SafetyWing came back with a PAID deal because her content already proved she understood the exact fear their product solves 👀

The brand didn’t need to be convinced. The content did it for them.

3. The Experience Spotlight Reel ✨

“okay this place did something I’ve NEVER seen before and I’m obsessed”

“this cafe stopped me in my tracks and here’s why”

You genuinely love an experience. You film it and talk about it the way you’d describe it to someone who’s about to visit.

Madhumitha from my CTA batch made content about an Eco Farm the way she’d tell a friend about a trip she loved. Genuine. Warm. Specific. No deal involved 😌 Just honest content about a place she actually stayed at. They came back with a PAID collaboration. Under 2,700 followers when it happened 🥹

Because the content on her page already proved she could make an experience feel real and worth visiting. No pitch required!!!

The portfolio mindset 🧠

Here’s where my brain goes a little crazy because this is SO simple but SO important 😭

Every single piece of content you post is either building your brand portfolio or it’s not.

A graphic designer doesn’t wait for a paying client before they have design work to show. A photographer doesn’t wait for a paid shoot before they build a portfolio. So why are you waiting for a brand deal before you have brand-style content on your page?!

Pick the travel products or places you GENUINELY love right now. Talk about them. Film them naturally. Post them.

When a brand lands on your page? They’ll see the proof before you even send the pitch 🙌🏽

The audit you need to do RIGHT NOW 👀

Open your Instagram. Go through your last 12 posts. Be completely honest.

If a brand landed there today, would they see even ONE piece of content that shows them what working with you could look like?

If the answer is no, that’s your one thing for this week 😌 One reel. One product or place you genuinely love. Film it naturally. Talk about it like you’re telling a friend. Post it.

That’s your first portfolio piece and it starts everything.

Unpacking Your Question 💌

OKAY I love this question so much because my answer is not what most people expect 😭

I LOVE how alive this city feels!! People think Bangkok and they think party city, and yes, that side exists. But there’s this whole OTHER side of Bangkok that most people have absolutely NO idea about 👀

I’m really into sports and fitness, and I had no idea how ACTIVE people here are. There are run clubs everywhere. Ice bath houses. Fitness meetups. People playing active games outdoors. There’s just so much happening for people who love being active, sporty, outdoors, and social all at the same time.

Honestly it’s been blowing my mind!! I feel like I’ve found my people here 🥹 My answer might completely change as I explore more of the city, but as of right now? The sports and fitness culture is what is exciting me the MOST about Bangkok 💛

One Cool Thing I Did This Week 💕

Honestly? The coolest thing I did this week was finish the full curriculum I’m teaching at the masterclass 🥹

And WOW. It took SO much effort. We poured so much value and energy into this and I am genuinely so proud of what we built. It is one of the most comprehensive things I have put together for travel creators and I cannot WAIT to teach it live 😭✨

If you’re reading this, I really really hope I’m seeing you there 🫶

[Register here 👀]

Tell me, do you have even ONE portfolio piece on your page right now? Go check and hit reply 👇🏽

That’s it for this week’s Unpacked…see you next Wednesday with something new to unpack 👋🏽

Lots of love & sunshine,

Aakanksha

Two full years.

That’s how long I sat on the idea of starting a travel page before I actually did it. Not because I didn’t have the time. Not because I didn’t have the phone or the footage or the words.

Because I genuinely believed I wasn’t interesting enough for anyone to follow. 😭

I’d scroll through travel accounts and think... she’s been to 40 countries, he has this cinematic style, she has this wild personality that just JUMPS through the screen. And then I’d look at myself. A girl from Delhi who took the metro to different neighbourhoods on weekends and thought about travel constantly but hadn’t actually done that much of it yet.

Who was I to start a page? 😭

If you’ve ever felt this, today I want to take that belief apart completely. Because it is factually, provably wrong. And I have the RECEIPTS.

The “not interesting enough” feeling is a comparison problem pretending to be self-awareness

Here’s what’s ACTUALLY happening when you feel this way:

You’re comparing your BEHIND THE SCENES to someone else’s HIGHLIGHT REEL. 👀

You’re looking at a creator with 40 countries and assuming THAT is why people follow her. But people don’t follow her because of the country count. They follow her because of how she TALKS about the places she goes. The specific observations. The honest takes. The little details that make you feel like you’re actually there.

The destination is the backdrop. The PERSON is the reason.

I know this because I’ve watched creators with 3 countries and 50K followers consistently outperform creators with 50 countries and 5K followers. The interesting thing was never the passport stamps. It was ALWAYS the perspective.

What actually makes someone worth following

People don’t follow accounts. They follow people who make them feel something 💛

Not people who have been everywhere. Not people with perfect editing. Not people who look or live a certain way.

People who make them feel:

“She gets it. She thinks exactly the way I think.”

“I learned something I didn’t know before.”

None of those require 40 countries. None of them require a professional camera. They require knowing what YOU specifically think, notice, and care about and being willing to say it 😌

3 things I actually did to find what made my perspective worth following

1. I stopped asking “what is interesting about my travels” and started asking “what do I notice that other people walk past?” 👀

When I was in Goa, everyone was posting about the beaches and the nightlife. I kept noticing the food, specifically how expensive the tourist spots were and how INCREDIBLE the local food trucks were for ₹50. That became content. Not because it was exotic. Because it was a real, specific, useful observation that thousands of people planning a Goa trip didn’t have.

What do YOU notice when you travel that others walk straight past? That answer is the beginning of your content identity 😌

2. I paid attention to what people specifically asked ME 🧠

When I came back from trips, certain people always called ME specifically. Not anyone else. For specific things. Budget breakdown. How did you find that spot. Is it actually safe to do that alone as a woman. Tell me every local food recommendation.

Those questions were a MAP. They were telling me exactly what my perspective was worth and what I knew that felt rare enough for people to seek out from me specifically.

What do your friends and family ask YOU about when it comes to travel? Write it down. That list is more valuable than any content strategy document 👀

3. I posted the thing I thought was “too obvious” to be interesting 😭

My most-watched early content wasn’t the things I thought were impressive. It was the things I almost didn’t post because I thought “everyone already knows this.”

The packing hack I’d been using for years that felt boring to me. The metro tip in Delhi. The thing about booking flights I’d figured out and assumed was common knowledge.

It was NOT common knowledge. It was only common knowledge to ME because I’d been obsessing over this stuff for years 😅

Moral: what feels “OBVIOUS” to you is often EXACTLY what your audience needs 🙌

The part I can’t give you in a newsletter

Here’s where I’m going to be honest with you.

These three things will get you thinking. But they’re still open-ended and open questions can spiral into more paralysis 😬

But what do I post exactly?

I don’t know how to write a good script.

How do I turn this into something structured enough to build a page around?

These are the questions I hear from EVERY single person who comes to me just starting out. And the answer isn’t something I can type in three bullet points. It’s something I walk through live, with examples, and with real creators working through it in real time.

I’ve built a specific exercise for exactly this, a framework that takes everything you just thought about above and turns it into a clear, specific creator identity in about 10 minutes. Every Creator Takeoff Academy student has done it. The feedback is ALWAYS the same: “I’ve been going in circles for months and it clicked in 10 minutes.” 🥹

So I’m hosting a FREE live masterclass on July 18th AND 19th (two different time slots so everyone can make it!) specifically for people who want to start or grow as a travel creator.

Where to begin, what to create first, how to do it alongside a full-time job, and how to start earning even before you have big numbers. ALL of it, live, for free 👇🏽

REGISTER HERE FOR FREE 👀

No replay. Live only. Pick your slot when you register!

One Cool Thing I Did This Week 💕

Just flew into my NEW home base…BANGKOK 🇹🇭✨

I’m SO excited to settle in, explore this city, and see what the next chapter has in store for me 😭🥹💛 EEEPS!!

Tell me, what’s the one thing that’s been stopping you from starting? Or if you’ve already started, what was the belief you had to overcome first?

Hit reply. I read all of them 👇🏽

That’s it for this week’s Unpacked…see you next Wednesday with something new to unpack 👋🏽

Lots of love & sunshine,

Aakanksha

Three countries in ONE month, honestly the most hectic stretch of the year so far ✈️

First stop was Toronto for my brother’s graduation 🎓 Getting to be there, meet his world, his people, was SO special. We see each other once, maybe twice a year now, which still feels insane considering we LITERALLY shared a bedroom our entire childhood 🙈 Then New York with my mom and brother for some proper quality family time 🗽 And right now? I’m writing this from Cusco after finishing one of the HARDEST treks of my life in Peru (altitude is NO joke 😅), on my way to see Machu Picchu! Like… one of the seven wonders of the world 🏔️

So yes, lots of adventure, lots of family time! But what made this crazier was the behind the scenes stress of hitting new targets for Creator Takeoff Academy. This is the first time I’ve travelled like THIS while running a full on business on the side. So while I’ve been making it insanely good for the coming batch, it’s also been genuinely stressful for me 😅

Here’s my June, unpacked 👇🏽

Voicemails for Isabelle

After SUCH a long time I watched a good rom com and I LOVED it 🥹 It hit all the right spots. Both leads are SO cute and it was just the lightest, coziest watch. I put it on in an Airbnb in a little mountain town right after coming back from my long trek, and honestly there’s nothing better than a movie like this after doing something really hard 🛋️

The one thing I LOVED is how wholly and completely the main character stays herself. Female characters usually end up changing themselves for the guy, and she just… doesn’t! She embraces her full crazy self and it was so refreshing to watch 💛

Simon Sinek on the Raj Samani podcast

I LOVE Simon Sinek, so this one was a 10 out of 10 for me 🙌🏽 One thing really stuck. The way he talks about competition: our whole generation constantly feels left behind because we’re comparing ourselves to people we see online. But the truth is there will ALWAYS be someone ahead of you. The reality has been this way for ages, we just SEE it now, so we’re not actually getting left behind, it just feels that way 😌

Highly recommend this one 🎧

The Wilder Way by Eva zu Beck

WOW what a read 😭 It empowered me as a woman in a way I wasn’t expecting.

Eva has been an inspiration of mine since the day I joined Instagram, one of the first few travel creators I ever followed! And her journey of self discovery, of solo travelling to the most incredible corners of the world, is just magical storytelling ✨

If you’re a woman, you NEED to read this 🙏🏽 It shows you how much of what society tells us we need (a man, a certain life, all of it) we don’t actually need at all. She found her own version of happiness, and it inspired me to keep finding mine 💛

How much we ACTUALLY need to disconnect

We live in this hyper connected world where we’re expected to be available for EVERYTHING all the time 😅 Available for our loved ones, for the news, and as a creator, for my audience too.

But on this trek I had no signal and no connection for almost EIGHT days 📵 And it genuinely rewired my brain. The ideas would not stop coming. I felt SO recharged just from not having to be reachable 🤍 I finally had the space to process a lot of emotions and think back on everything that’s happened over the last year.

It inspired me so much that I now want to keep one day a week where I FULLY disconnect. Phone completely off! If I can actually pull it off I’ll keep you guys posted once I’m in Bangkok 👀

Because the truth is, we as humans NEED this quiet. It’s what lets us show up better in our relationships, at work, and for ourselves 🙏🏽

🌅 SUNRISES

Finishing the Huayhuash trek 🥾

I completed the Huayhuash trek, one of the HARDEST treks I’ve ever done, and I’m so proud of myself for pushing through 🙌🏽 The crazy part? My period started on DAY ONE 😭 So if I didn’t already know it, I know it now: women can literally do ANYTHING!

We hit 60K on Creator Takeoff Academy 🥳

We crossed 50K on Creator Takeoff Academy this month and we’re already at 60K now! And honestly, this is NOT something I can take full credit for. This is the power of a genuinely good team who’ve shown me that teamwork really does make the dream work 🫶

New York with my mom and brother 🗽

We made it to New York and I got to make this trip happen for my family! We had our little sibling fights here and there (who doesn’t 😂) but these are the memories that matter SO much to me. Getting quality time with my mom and brother when we’re all scattered across the world, I feel like the older I get, the more I cherish it 💛

⛈️ STORMS

I had to cancel my trip to Banff 😭

This one HURT. I was supposed to go to Banff in Canada with my brother right after this, but I completely underestimated how much work I’d have right before the Creator Takeoff Academy launch. So I had to make the call to cancel. Huge lesson: do NOT plan a hectic month of travel right before launch month! 😅

It was heartbreaking, and I lost some money too (thankfully a lot was refundable, but not all of it). But I’ve learned to prioritize my mental health over a sunk cost. My brother was SO understanding about it 🥹

Learning to run a whole business while travelling 💻

Working on Creator Takeoff Academy while constantly moving was genuinely hard, especially with the time zones! And if I’m being honest, I think we prioritized wrong this time. We had so much time before the launch, but a lot of the urgent stuff piled up at the end when we should’ve tackled it earlier. I’m learning that one the hard way. But that’s entrepreneurship right? You live, you learn, and you keep moving forward 🌱

I spent an entire afternoon in a hot tub surrounded by mountains, alpacas and llamas 🦙 Like… WOW I would have NEVER imagined this to be my reality!

We stayed a night at this beautiful place called Mountain View Hotel, and there were just llamas and alpacas roaming around the area. We even got to feed them 🥹 Alpacas are truly one of the cutest animals I’ve ever seen 💛

Okay so first, full honesty: a LOT of it is genetics 😅 I’ve never really had major skin problems, so I can’t take all the credit.

But here’s what I actually do! I use a face wash with salicylic acid, wash my face properly, drink LOTS of water, and use a moisturizer every single night. And the big one, sunscreen, at least three times a day ☀️

I also try to eat clean even when I’m travelling because honestly food is the thing that makes my skin break out the most.

And just so you know, I am NOT a skincare expert! I’ve learned all of this from YouTube and Instagram myself. It’s the simple things done consistently 🙏🏽

Tell me, what was your highlight of June? 🌅

Hit reply. I read every single one 👇🏽

That’s June, wrapped 🧡

See you next Wednesday with something new to unpack 👋🏽

Lots of love & sunshine,

Aakanksha

I need to tell you something that felt embarrassing to admit for a long time.

My screen time used to be 7 to 8 hours a day.

It started sometime ago. I wasn’t feeling great, so I wasn’t going out much, and I’d just…be on my phone. And that’s such a dangerous cycle because it sucks you right in. Two hours became three. Three became four. Every free second outside of work, instead of actually interacting with the world, I’d spend scrolling 😬

And look, I was still living my life, still meeting friends, still doing my normal things. But I could feel this craving. This urge to pick up my phone for NO reason, open Instagram or Youtube, and just scroll. No reason at all. I didn’t even know why I was there…but suddenly I was just there.

If you have any kind of phone addiction, I think you know EXACTLY what I mean 😭

And that’s when I knew something wasn’t right. Because you can feel it. It was messing with my sleep. It was quietly making my conversations and relationships a little less deep. And it was stealing the happiness I used to get from normal things, because nothing could compete with that dopamine-filled world in my hand.

The moment it really hit me? I watched a reel of someone lying under their blanket at night, scrolling, talking about the harms of doom scrolling. And I saw MYSELF in them. I was like…oh my god, I don’t want to be this person 😅

So I decided to do something about it. And then I made every mistake possible trying to fix it 😂

What doesn’t work (trust me, I tried it all)

Before I get into what worked, let me save you some time. Because you’ve probably already wasted time on some of these…or you’re wasting it right now 😅 Let me buy that time back for you.

Having two phones. My first idea was a “dumb phone” with no apps at all, plus my main phone. The problem? Every time I got my hands on my main phone, I was so deprived I’d just binge social media even harder. Nights were still a disaster. It solved nothing. And now I was lugging two phones around everywhere, which is honestly just not a productive way to live 😂

Basic app limits. You know the ones built into your phone, the app blocks after an hour, then you punch in a passcode to keep going. But guess what? Our brains are just TOO good at adapting. Very quickly, “oh I just need to enter this passcode” became part of the routine. Passcode to unlock the phone, passcode to open Instagram, scroll. Didn’t help at all 😬

Deleting apps periodically. I’d delete Instagram and YouTube, get them back for a few days, delete them again. But as a content creator? That’s genuinely hard. I do need these apps. Not to check them constantly, but I need them.

And here’s the thing…social media isn’t just posting and consuming brain rot. It’s how I connect with friends, stay up to date, build real relationships. I’m not saying everyone NEEDS it, but so many of our connections live there now and we can’t really deny that. Social media has genuine benefits, it’s literally why I’m a creator in the first place. I see what it does for people 🤍

So that’s when it hit me: the thing I couldn’t strike was BALANCE. I was either going too extreme (delete everything!) or too soft (a basic app limit). I needed something in the middle. Something that built a healthier relationship with my phone, and went from there 😌

What actually worked

Break the impulse: the ScreenZen app

Here’s the thing about social media: it preys on our IMPULSE behaviour. You’re not deciding to scroll, your hand just…does it. So if you want to win, you have to break that impulse. Give yourself a beat to actually catch up with yourself.

That’s exactly what the ScreenZen app does, and I’m obsessed with it 🤍 You set a timer for how long an app takes to open, up to 30 whole seconds. And it’s SO annoying (in the best way) because nothing can override it. You press Instagram, and you wait. But those 30 seconds are weirdly reflective. They give you the space to actually ask: do I even want to scroll right now?

And mostly? The answer is no. So you just close the app 😌

It also gives you a streak, how many times you can unlock the app before it blocks you for the day, which I LOVE. It’s insanely effective, it’s completely free, and it’s called ScreenZen. Highly recommend.

Move apps off your home screen

We’re so used to our apps just being THERE. You open your phone for WhatsApp, and right next to WhatsApp is Instagram…so you open Instagram. That’s the loop you need to kill. Get those apps off your home screen so you actually have to search for them. More friction = less mindless opening. Simple, but it works 😌

Turn off your notifications

Honestly, it shocks me how few people do this. When I hear someone has WhatsApp AND Instagram notifications constantly pinging in? No. Shut them off.

Notifications create SO much distraction. You can’t do proper deep work, you can’t be fully present in a conversation, because there’s always something buzzing at you. It’s like those slightly annoying little kids going “listen, listen, listen, LISTEN” and tugging at your sleeve 😂 That’s your notifications. Make them stop.

The grayscale trick at night

Okay this one sounds weird but PLEASE try it. Switch your phone to black and white mode after a certain time at night. Our brains LOVE the colour and stimulation on our phones…a big part of that dopamine hit is actually visual. Take the colour away and it gets boring SO fast 😭 I’ve had friends go from 5 to 6 hours of daily screen time to under an hour from this one change alone.

Charge your phone OUTSIDE your bedroom

This is the one that protects your sleep and your mornings. For most people, the longest scrolling happens right before bed and right after waking up…and both wreck your sleep quality and your morning energy. The fix is stupidly simple: if your phone isn’t in your room, you can’t reach for it.

I now go the first 5 hours of my day without touching my phone. I’ll open my laptop after the first hour to work, but the phone stays away. The amount of deep, focused work I get done in those morning hours since making this change is genuinely insane 🤯

Build a dopamine menu

The reason we scroll when we’re bored or right before bed? We’re chasing a dopamine hit, and our phones are the easiest way to get it. So the fix is having other options READY to go. Make a list of things that give you that same feeling. Mine would be: Sudoku (I’m OBSESSED), reading a book, going for a walk 😌

Then keep that list somewhere accessible. So instead of reaching for my phone at night or first thing in the morning, I reach for my dopamine menu instead 🤍

The mindset shift that ties it all together

Here’s what I’ve realised: it’s SO hard to break a negative habit just by telling yourself to stop. Willpower alone doesn’t work.

The thing that actually works is breaking the pattern. You add friction so the autopilot stops (that’s your ScreenZen pause, your phone in another room, your apps off the home screen). And then you swap the reward for a healthier one (hello, dopamine menu 😌).

Because here’s the real truth: all these apps and hacks ONLY work if you genuinely believe you’re in control of your device, not the other way around.

Right now, most of us have a relationship of guilt with our phones. We scroll, we feel bad, we put it down, we pick it right back up. That cycle doesn’t break from willpower. It breaks from redesigning your environment so willpower doesn’t have to do the heavy lifting.

Unpacking Your Question 💌

SO currently i’m in PERU & let me tell you, i’m blown away by the diversity and beauty of this country! I haven’t even seen Machu Picchu yet and i’m already in loooove! Plus the warmth, the chaos, the music - it all feels so familiar to India, I feel like I’m home hehe!!! ALSO WOW it’s SO AFFORDABLE! flying here is expensive, but everything else here has been almost India/Vietnam prices, crazyyy! Will share more soon

One Cool Thing I Did This Week 💕

Spent a week exploring and eating our way through New York City before leaving for PERU!! I loved the food, hated the crowds & tolerated the concrete jungle hehe but I’m so grateful I got to create amazing memories with my family! I miss them already

Tell me…what’s your screen time right now? And what’s the one app that steals the most of it?

Hit reply. No judgment 😂 I genuinely want to know.

That’s it for this week’s Unpacked…see you next Wednesday with something new to unpack 👋🏽

Lots of love & sunshine,

Aakanksha

Confession: I HATE cities. I spent a few years in Delhi and that sealed it. I’m a mountains girl…give me nature, trees, silence 🏔️

And then there’s Tokyo.

GUYSSS. One month felt like NOTHING. It might be my favourite city in the world…and not for the reasons you’d expect. Not Shibuya Crossing. Not Shibuya Sky. Not the stuff every two-day itinerary tells you to do.

It’s the subcultures. The hidden little worlds you only find when you actually stay. Monks running bars. Mario Karts driving down the road 😭 Female wrestling matches with fighters in full anime outfits. Slurping ramen in a tiny spot where nobody talks, because that’s just the etiquette!!!!!

Every single day felt like waking up in a new place. For someone curious and a little nosy like me, my brain was lighting up constantly 😭

So when Julian and I got back, I couldn’t shut up about it. Everyone goes to Tokyo for two days, does the same five things, and misses the best parts. So I turned that little list I kept sending friends into a real guide 🤍 100+ spots I actually went to, each linked to a real video, a full Tokyo map (vegan spots included), and the itineraries I’d give my own best friends.

Not going to be salesy about it 😛 But if your brain just went “okay YES,” grab the full guide here → One Stop Tokyo Guide

First, here are 5 sneak-peek experiences from inside 👇🏽

(And if Tokyo’s on your list, save this email. Right NOW is the best time to plan…September to November is the sweet spot 😌)

🔮 1. The Bar where a celebrity magician does close-up magic at your table: Toto’s Magic Bar, Ginza

Okay, did you know Japan has a whole CULTURE of magic bars?? Because I did NOT. The concept is wild: the bartenders are magicians, and they perform tricks right in front of you all night 😳✨

And I don’t mean a pigeon popping out of a hat (okay they do that too 😂). I mean insane, complex, how-is-this-physically-possible tricks that completely scramble your brain.

One of the best places for this is Toto’s Magic Bar in Ginza. Toto is basically a celebrity magician, he’s performed in the US and all over the world, but here he is in this tiny, totally unassuming little bar that you’d walk right past from the outside.

You go in, and it’s just five or six people inside because it’s so small (you NEED a reservation). You get your drink, you sit down, and the magic begins 🤍 He makes things appear out of thin air. I’m not even going to reveal the tricks because honestly? That night almost made me believe in magic. And that’s exactly what I love about it, you sit there going “but HOW” and you genuinely cannot figure it out.

Toto himself is SO fun. You actually get to chat with him, which is rare in Japan because the language barrier is real, but he speaks English and the whole thing just feels warm and personal. Magic, good company, a good drink. 10 on 10 😭

And for someone like me who doesn’t drink? I had a mocktail and had the BEST time. Don’t let that stop you 😌

⚔️ 2. The workshop where you learn to fight like a samurai: Samurai Experience, Tokyo

Okay, you’ve probably watched some anime, or at the very least you KNOW about samurais and how iconic they are in Japan.

But did you know you can actually learn to fight like one? 😭

There’s this workshop where, in about 90 minutes, a real samurai master teaches you how to handle a sword. And it’s SO cool. They show you their own tricks first, and watching them is unreal…these are people who’ve trained for YEARS, and they’ll cut through bamboo at the speed of light right in front of you 😳

And that’s the part that got me: the discipline. The practice. The sheer commitment. It’s so core to Japan, the way they treat their art forms with this level of seriousness and respect. You feel it the second you walk in.

Then YOU get to learn the moves yourself. And honestly? This is exactly the kind of travel I love. You go to a new country and come home with an actual SKILL, not just a basic fridge magnet 😌 Like…how many people in the world can say they’ve trained as a samurai?? I think you want to be in that 1% 😛

This is just ONE workshop I’m sharing, but I’ve packed about 10 of these into the Tokyo guide that you NEED to check out 👀

🎮 3. The futuristic AI arcade hiding inside Tokyo Tower: RED° Tokyo Tower

Everyone goes to Tokyo Tower, stands outside, takes the photo, leaves. But did you know what’s INSIDE? 👀

It’s this insane futuristic arcade called RED° Tokyo Tower, and I’m telling you, you walk in and it feels like you’ve teleported to the year 2050 😭

We’re talking games powered by AI. VR headsets. Full-on immersive experiences that genuinely blow your mind. You can even play a real-life version of the Squid Game one…you know, the giant doll that whips her head around while you try to cross 😳

Honestly this was one of the most fun dates Julian and I have ever been on. I’m SO competitive, so if you’re someone who loves a bit of healthy competition and gaming, you HAVE to go. I genuinely don’t think any other place in the world has something this crazy.

You’ll lose three, four hours in there easily and have the absolute time of your life. And yes…even as a fully grown adult, it’s SO much fun 😂

🥷🏽 4. The restaurant where Ninjas serve you dinner: Ninja Tokyo

Okay FINALLY, let’s talk food 😋 And this one is honestly less about the food and more about the entire EXPERIENCE.

So picture this. You get an email with a secret location. The place isn’t really on Google Maps, so getting there genuinely feels like a little quest 😭 You find it, there’s a secret passcode, you get a key…and then a ninja appears (an actor, obviously, but SO funny) and guides you down this dramatic maze-like hallway before seating you.

Then it begins. A multi-course meal served entirely by ninjas while they do tricks. A magician comes out and performs right at your table. And every single dish is ninja-themed, black bread shaped like ninja stones, food being set ON FIRE, just chaos and magic happening while you eat 🔥

And honestly? This is Japanese dining in a nutshell to me. They do EVERYTHING to perfection. So of course if they’re going to do a themed restaurant, they’re not going to half it, you genuinely feel like you’ve been transported to an older time in Japan, sitting in a ninja village eating your dinner.

This is exactly what I mean when I say you can actually SEE Japanese philosophy at play through these experiences. A must-try 🤍

💴 5. The hack that saved me over ₹27,000: Japan’s tax refund

Okay so those are the four experiences 🤍 But I didn’t want to leave you with JUST that. I also want to put you on a way to save a LOT of money while travelling in Japan, because I see SO many people miss out on this 😭

Here’s the deal: in Japan, tourists get a full tax refund on what you buy. You just show your passport at checkout at major stores and department stores, and they take the tax off right there. No forms, no airport queues, no “claim it later” nonsense 🙌🏽

And trust me…you WILL shop in Japan. The quality is insane, the stuff is just on another level. I saved over ₹27,000 this way just on shopping 🥹🛍️

One rule though: always carry your passport when you head out. (Learned that one the hard way lol 😅)

And honestly? My Tokyo guide even includes a full shopping guide, which stores to hit for what. That’s the kind of depth I put into it. Everything you could possibly need is in there 😌

🗺️ Like I said…Tokyo isn’t a city. It’s a feeling.

And if I’ve convinced you to go (I think I have 😛), then right NOW is honestly the perfect time to start planning.

September, October, November is one of the best windows to visit, which means now is when you check flights and start mapping it out. And something I say in my guide over and over: reservations matter SO much in Japan. So many of these spots need booking in advance. Planning ahead isn’t optional there, it’s the whole game 😌

I just launched it a few weeks ago, so I’m running an early-bird discount ONLY for you guys 👇🏽

→ Get the One Stop Tokyo Guide here

And if you grab it and love it? Reply to this email and tell me what you’re most excited to experience in Tokyo 🤍

Unpacking Your Question 💌

DAMN That’s amazing!!! So glad to hear you’ve started building products!!

One test: Would I send this to my best friend going to Tokyo tomorrow?

If yes…in. If it’s “worth seeing once” or “fine”…out. I take travel SO seriously, and I would genuinely never recommend something to you that I wouldn’t recommend to my own family or friends 😌

And here’s the part I’m really proud of: I had my friend Ru, who I met in Japan and who’s been living in Tokyo for 8+ years, go through every single spot on the list. She checked each one as a LOCAL, would she actually recommend it? Is it a tourist trap? Is it worth your time? Only if it passed that test did it make the cut.

That’s the kind of honesty that goes into it. Nothing in there is filler 🤍

One Cool Thing I Did This Week 💕

Flew all the way to Toronto to celebrate my little brother…he just graduated woohooo! 🥹 Since I was a covid graduate, I could live vicariously through him 😅

Tell me…is Tokyo on your list? And if you’ve been…what was the most unexpected thing you found there?

Hit reply. I read everything 👇🏽

That’s it for this week’s Unpacked…see you next Wednesday with something new to unpack 👋🏽

Lots of love & sunshine,

Aakanksha

I had a conversation this week that took me right back FIVE years ago.

I sat down for a one-on-one call with one of my Creator Takeoff Academy students this month and as we got talking I started noticing the SAME pattern across pretty much every call I’ve done recently 👀

They work a full-time job. Maybe a hybrid setup, maybe fully in-office. They LOVE travel. They want to be travel creators. But because of work, they just can’t travel as often as they’d like.

And here’s where it gets painful: they feel like they CAN’T be consistent because they’re not traveling enough. So they default to posting trending reels they don’t actually care about. And then they convince themselves that being a successful travel content creator is just not in the cards for them because…they don’t travel enough 😬

If you just read that and went “okay but that’s literally me right now” this newsletter is for you 💛

Because here’s the thing nobody tells you: you do NOT need to travel all the time to be a travel creator. And I’m not saying that as a theory. I’m saying that because I literally lived it.

The year I “COULDN’T travel” was the year I grew the MOST

Let me take you back to 2020. You remember 2020? Peak COVID. The world was shut. I went to ONE place that whole year and that’s only because COVID dipped for a bit and I could get to Goa to work from there.

By the logic most aspiring creators have right now, I should NOT have grown that year. I should’ve stalled. Plateaued. Gotten stuck.

Instead? That was the year I grew from a few thousand followers to 20K as a travel creator 🚀

ONE destination. Twelve months. Massive growth.

So how did that happen? Because I figured out something most people miss for years 👇🏽

You are NOT a travel agent. You are a travel CONTENT CREATOR. Your page has to be a lot more about YOU than about the destinations you visit 😌

Here’s what actually works when you can’t travel

1. Make YOURSELF the content pillar, not the destination 🧠

The destinations became the BONUS. Me became the reason people stayed 🔥

You’re not a travel creator who happens to be a person. You’re a person who happens to travel. Lead with the person.

So ask yourself: what’s interesting about YOUR life right now? Are you a 9-to-5er trying to break in? A stay-at-home mom who loves to travel? A weekend warrior in a tier 2 city? Someone planning their first big solo trip in six months? THAT is content. That is a whole pillar nobody else has 👀

I’m not saying overshare your entire life. But find the parts that are interesting to you and let people see them. People follow people, not pin drops on a map!!

2. Make your own city your playground 🏙️

Travel isn’t just flights and passports. Travel includes food, experiences, and just things to DO. And no matter where you live (even if you genuinely think it’s the most boring city on earth) there are things and people worth filming.

Mundane places become INTERESTING the moment you put your lens on them 😌

The next time you have a weekend at home, don’t sit and scroll waiting for your next big trip. Go film in your own city. Find the hidden corners. THAT becomes a pillar too.

3. Use your old footage. Yes, really 📂

Okay this is the one I want you to actually internalize because experienced creators do this and beginners don’t.

You think: “I went here a year ago, I already posted about it, I can’t use this footage anymore.”

A pro creator thinks: “I have a goldmine of footage. How do I REPACKAGE it?”

And here’s the truth: on Instagram, people don’t remember what you posted a year ago. And even if a few do? They don’t care. Because A) it’s still useful to them, and B) honestly, do YOU remember the last 10 reels YOU watched? 😅

Plus your community has grown since then. There are new people who NEVER saw that content. Not reposting it is doing them a disservice.

Work smart. Not just hard 😌

The TRUTH nobody is telling you….

The reason most aspiring creators stay STUCK isn’t that they don’t travel enough. It’s that they’ve convinced themselves they need to travel more before they can grow.

So they wait.

They wait for the next big trip. They wait for the budget. They wait for the leaves to align. They wait for the “right” moment.

And in the meantime, they’re not building anything 💔

Meanwhile, people in your exact same situation, working full-time jobs, in cities they think are “boring,” with the same constraints you have, are figuring it out and growing. Not because they’re luckier than you. Because they stopped waiting and started building with what they actually have 🌱

You can do this. It’s not just possible. People are ALREADY doing it.

You just need to start.

📊 Tell me where you’re at

Unpacking Your Question 💌

Honestly? Creating without a voice 🥹

This is the one I see slow people down the most and it’s SO common in travel content specifically. You spend all your time chasing whatever audio is trending, filming the same spots everyone else is filming, copying the format that just went viral and ending up with a page that looks exactly like 400 other travel pages.

And here’s the thing about trends: they have maybe a 72-hour lifespan.

Your VOICE? That lasts forever.

The creators who grow fast early are almost always the ones who figured out what they actually think, what they actually notice, what they find interesting that other people walk straight past and then said it out loud on camera. That specificity is what makes someone hit follow.

Trends will get you views. Your voice is what gets you FOLLOWERS💛
And the skill that actually builds that voice? Storytelling. Learning how to take something you experienced and make someone else FEEL it. That’s what separates the creators people forget from the ones they come back to again and again

The good news? Storytelling is a SKILL. It’s not something you either have or you don’t. It’s something you learn, practice, and get better at every single time you hit post. Every reel you make is a rep. Every caption you write is a rep. You’re already building it 🥹

Stop asking “what’s trending right now.” Start asking “what do I actually want to say?”

✨ ONE COOL THING I DID THIS WEEK

Cooked butter chicken with my best friend hehe! 🥹 Sneha, who’s my oldest friend came to visit me at Julian’s house for a few days and we decided to cook some Indian food for everyone & it was SO wholesome 🥹.

Although I have to admit - this was made with a ready to eat masala 😅

I need to get BETTER at cooking Indian food!!!

Tell me which one of these tips you’re going to try first? 👀

Hit reply. I read every single one 👇🏽

That’s it for this week’s Unpacked…see you next Wednesday with something new to unpack 👋🏽

Lots of love & sunshine,

Aakanksha

P.S. If you have a friend who’s been stuck waiting for the “right time” to start creating, forward this to them. Sometimes we all need a little nudge 💛

I know SO many of you right now aren’t travelling abroad. Maybe you’re still saving up, maybe you’re waiting for the right time, maybe it’s just NOT the season for it. And I want to say this in the nicest way possible:

India has SO much to offer that you don’t actually need to wait!!

Here’s something most people don’t know about me…before I ever travelled outside India, I’d already lived across so many states WITHIN the country. My dad is in the army, so we moved ALMOST every two years growing up. And then the first year and a half between my job and university, I could only travel within India. So in a way, India is where my whole travel story actually began!!!!

And the thing is…nothing comes close. The culture, the food, the people, the sheer variety of landscapes within a few hours of each other. Aaaah 🩷🩷

So today I wanted to do something a little different. I usually share places I’ve already been to. But today I want to give you a sneak peek into MY BIG INDIAN BUCKET LIST…the places I’ve been saving, researching, slowly planning.

Some I’ve found through other creators. Some I found down a Reddit rabbit hole at 2am. And honestly? Maybe you’ll get there before I do…and if you do, I want you to come back and tell me everything!!!

Nothing in this newsletter is sponsored, all of them are my honest recommendations for you! 🩷 Go steal them hehe!!

🌿 My Great Indian Bucket List

1. Western Arunachal Pradesh

2. Sikkim

3. Miyar Valley Trek, Lahaul

4. Goa (but in July/August)

5. Darma Valley, Uttarakhand

How to travel these places in a way that actually helps

A few things I genuinely try to do:

Book local. Not a chain resort. A family guesthouse, a locally run operator, a homestay. The money stays in the community and your experience is almost always better for it.

Ask before you photograph. Especially in tribal areas or culturally significant places. It takes two seconds and it really matters.

Stay longer, go fewer places. One week in one region gives you more than five destinations in five days for you AND for the place you’re visiting. The environmental footprint is lower, the experience is richer, and the local economy benefits from your longer stay.

Take your trash back: Especially on mountain treks. The trails in places like Miyar Valley are beautiful precisely because they’re still clean. Keep them that way.

Unpacking Your Question 💌

HONESTLY Here’s where I’d start 🥹:

List every place you’ve been to. Don’t overthink it, just write them all down. That list is your whole content bank right there!!!

Then go find the best performing reels from those places on Instagram and YouTube Shorts. Save them as references. Now you know exactly what FORMATS and TOPICS are working for the destinations you’ve already visited.

You’ll quickly have a huge list of ideas ready…budget breakdowns, itineraries, things I wish I knew, hidden spots. All from trips you’ve actually taken😌

And finally…START thinking in SERIES. Instead of one random Mizoram reel, do Solo Backpacking in Mizoram Ep 1, Ep 2, Ep 3. People come back for the next episode. It’s honestly one of the best ways to grow right NOW 👀

You have way more to work with than you think. Start with the list and you should be good to go!🏃🏽‍♀️

One Cool Thing I Did This Week 💕

Drove down to Switzerland for a work trip, found a frozen lake in ENGELBERG, convinced Julian to jump in with me and the rest was history 😂

I LOVE how alive cold water makes me feeeel!!😭

What’s one place on YOUR India bucket list right now? The more offbeat the better.

Hit reply. I genuinely want to know 👇🏽

That’s it for this week’s Unpacked…see you next Wednesday with something new to unpack 👋🏽

Lots of love & sunshine,

Aakanksha

OKAY so May was a WHOLE different vibe.

I spent most of the month in Sulzberg, Germany 🌲 Julian’s parents live here and when I say tiny I mean 2,500 people, no train station, not even a grocery store 😭 But what it DOES have? A house literally surrounded by thousands of trees in the Black Forest. As I’m typing this I can see trees, blue sky, birds, butterflies, spring flowers blooming everywhere. OMG it’s SURREAL 🌸

If April was chaos, May was SETTLED but HECTIC 😅 Settled because I finally stayed in one place. Hectic because Peru is next month (a WHOLE month there 👀) and Creator Takeoff Academy Batch 3 launches in August. Every weekday was head-down work, every weekend was hiking in the Black Forest or cycling through the Vosges in France.

(P.S. CTA Batch 3 waitlist is open here if you’ve been thinking about it 👀)

Here’s my May, unpacked 👇🏽

The Art of Sara + a rewatch of The White Tiger 👀

The Art of Sara is a Korean thriller about a con artist with twist after twist. A little unrealistic, very Bollywood-y (but honestly…when is a Korean show NOT 😂) but it kept me HOOKED. Solid 7.5/10.

But The White Tiger is the one I NEED you to watch. I rewatched it this month and I cannot recommend it enough 😭 Every Indian needs to see this. It opens your eyes, makes you more empathetic, BOILS your blood, and makes you want to change something. Make it your weekend watch. That is your homework from me 😌

The Diary of a CEO by Steven Bartlett 🎧

I’m trying to do more audiobooks this year so I can listen while walking instead of scrolling 😅 I’ll be honest, I haven’t been great at finishing it because whenever I get free time I end up scrolling anyway. Working on that.

BUT what I love is how SIMPLY it’s written. That’s Steven’s whole philosophy: the simpler you can make something, the better it is. Big business and life ideas in a language that’s so easy to absorb. Already creating real mindset shifts for me 🧠 If you don’t know who Steven Bartlett is, Google him right now!

Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke 📚

FINISHED THIS IN TWO DAYS 😭

It’s about a tradwife influencer who wakes up in 1855 and has to ACTUALLY live the life she’s been performing online. No running water, no electricity, no way out. Super funny, super dark, and SO interesting as a reflection on content creation culture. It made me very happy to be a travel creator and not a tradwife influencer 😅 Highly recommend if you want a fast read that actually makes you think!

How important it actually is to PRIORITISE

When you treat everything as urgent, your body lives in a constant state of frenzy. And that’s genuinely the worst state to make good decisions in.

I had a one-on-one with one of my CTA students this month. She came to me overwhelmed and anxious, feeling like she was FAILING because she was trying to create content AND reach out to brands AND pitch hotels all at once, and none of it was working. And honestly? It hit me. She was doing the exact thing I do sometimes.

Here’s what shifted for me: if your priority is “post 10 pieces of content this month” then THAT is what you focus on. You don’t touch the next thing until that’s done. But when you treat everything as urgent, nothing actually gets done well and you spend the whole month in survival mode.

Every week now I open my calendar and ask: what will ACTUALLY move the needle? What can I deprioritize? It sounds simple but it changes EVERYTHING 😅

So tell me, what’s the one thing you’ve been treating as urgent that probably isn’t? 👀

Okay something NEW this roundup 👀

I’ve been thinking about how Instagram only ever shows the highlight reel. I don’t want to do that here. So from now on I’m renaming the WINS section to Sunrises + Storms because life is BOTH 😌

🌅 SUNRISES

A weekend in the Vosges with Julian’s family 🌲

We hiked in these forests in France and I have NEVER seen anything like it. Neon green, completely magical (Julian said it looked like a scene from The Hobbit, and I’ve never watched it so I’ll take his word for it 😅). We saw a stunning lake, ate good food, and just spent wholesome time with family. LOVED it.

Finally building the Tokyo guide 🗼

Julian and I FINALLY finished it and I am OBSESSED 🥹 We poured so much love into this and everyone we’ve shared it with has found it genuinely useful. Such a dream to work on something with your partner. If you’ve got a Tokyo trip coming up, grab it with 20% off using code JA20 here

WE FOUND AN APARTMENT IN BANGKOK 🥹

BIG life update: I’m going to be based in Bangkok for the next half of the year! Julian and I spent COUNTLESS hours on this hunt because we went the broker route instead of Airbnb. Painfully hard but we FINALLY found the one. Close to a huge park, a great gym, ticks every box 🙌🏽 If you’re in Bangkok, HIT REPLY! I want to do a co-working session 👀

🌧️ STORMS

SO inconsistent with working out 😬

I’ve gained some weight this month and I can see it. I fell sick from the weather change in Germany, there’s no gym in this tiny town, and my routine fell apart. But I have big goals (10K by end of July and a Hyrox after that) so I NEED to get back on it 🎽🏽

Overcommitting to back-to-back travel ✈️

Peru, then Canada, then New York. My logic was “I’m already in that part of the world, might as well.” But I didn’t schedule ANY proper downtime and now I’m anxious about fitting real work in between all the moving. Lesson learned 😅

Missed Tokyo Drift + a brand deal got postponed 😅

I couldn’t go to a cool event in Tokyo because I’d already committed to Germany. Sometimes that’s the life of a travel creator. You always have to choose, and it’s hard. AND because of PM Modi’s appeal urging Indians to pause foreign travel, a big brand deal got postponed this month. A real hit to revenue. Frustrating, but these things happen 😌

Already said a lot about this above but here’s a picture so you can SEE how magical the Vosges in France actually are. If you’re ever in this part of the world, please go. PLEASE 🌲

Priya this made me SO happy to read 🥹 honestly the best thing to hear.

And YES…more guides are coming 👀 We’re not rushing them though. The Tokyo guide took a month of actually LIVING there to build and the next one will be the same. Properly done or not at all 😌

If you haven’t grabbed it yet…One Stop Tokyo Guide is 20% off right now exclusively for my NEWSLETTER Fam 👀

Tell me what was your highlight of May? 🌅

Hit reply. I read every single one 👇🏽

That’s May, wrapped 🧡

See you next Wednesday with something new to unpack 👋🏽

Lots of love & sunshine,

Aakanksha

P.S. Bangkok friends, I mean it. Reply if you’re around. July onwards I’d love to meet some of you in person 👀

OKAY I have been getting this question a LOT and I always feel bad answering it in 3 sentences because the real answer is not short.

So today, properly. My ENTIRE system for finding local, non-touristy experiences. Before the trip AND once I’m already there 👇🏽

First, the mindset shift that changes everything

Most people start trip planning by asking: “what is there to SEE here?”

I start with: “what would I want to KNOW before coming here that nobody tells you?”

Here’s what that looks like in practice: when I went to Cape Town for the first time, instead of Googling top things to do, I searched “Cape Town things tourists do that locals hate” and “Cape Town if you live there vs if you visit.” The results completely changed my itinerary. I ended up spending a morning in Woodstock at a vegan market that opened at 7am and was almost entirely locals! 🥹🫶

That one shift from SEEING to KNOWING is what separates a trip you remember from a trip you just photographed.

BEFORE the trip 🔍

Reddit. Always, always Reddit.

Specifically the sub reddit for the city I’m visiting. I search things like “[City] underrated” or “[City] what do locals actually do” or “[City] skip this go here instead.” Real people. Real opinions. No sponsorship. No algorithm pushing the same five places.

The recommendations I’ve gotten from Reddit threads have genuinely been some of the BEST of my travel life 💌

Follow local travel creators and bloggers BEFORE you go

Follow Creators who LIVE in that city and post their actual life.

This one is SO underrated and honestly the hack I’d give everyone.

Here’s the thing…a travel creator who visits a city for a few days will always end up showing you the same spots. But a local creator who actually LIVES there? Completely different. They’re posting the most unique cafes in their neighbourhood, the sunset spots and the HIDDEN gems.

That’s the version of a city I want to find. And local creators on both IG and YouTube show it to you constantly…you just have to look for them before you go.

Atlas Obscura bookmark this right now

A database of the world’s most unusual, offbeat, genuinely interesting places. I search the destination and pick 2–3 things that make me curious.

Every single time, these end up being the best stories I bring home.

That’s actually how I found a HAIR MUSEUM in Turkey 😭 An entire museum filled with locks of hair that women sent from all over the world as tokens of love decades ago. One of the strangest, most fascinating things I’ve ever seen. I made a whole short about it and people were OBSESSED. Would never have found it otherwise. These things EXIST. Atlas Obscura finds them.

The AI prompt I use now 🧠

This is newer but it’s become part of my pre-trip research every single time:

I’m visiting [CITY] for [X] days in [season/month]. I want hidden, underrated places + experiences (not tourist highlights, not “top 10”, not Instagram-famous).

Give me 10 picks across these categories (make it balanced): food spots, neighbourhood pockets (specific streets/blocks/markets to wander), experiences (hands-on, local, or niche - not a generic museum), hikes/ sunset spots (quiet, not the main famous one), “weird/unique” things that’s specific to this city

For each pick, include:

What it is (1 line)

Why it’s underrated (what most visitors miss / why locals love it)

Best time/day to go (and any “only good if…” conditions)

Exactly what to do/order (1–2 specific recs)

Local tip (how to do it like a local / what mistake tourists make)

Vibe + cost: chill/energetic, and $ / /$

Hard filters: avoid landmarks, famous viewpoints, chain spots, anything that regularly appears on “best of” lists. If something is popular, only include it if it still feels local and explain why.

PS: If you’re a specific kind of traveler (food / history / art / nature / nightlife, etc.), add that preference to the prompt so the recommendations skew toward what you actually care about.

ON The Ground🗻

Ask your airbnb host, taxi driver or hotel receptionist …but ask it RIGHT

Not: “where should I go?”

That question gets you the same three places every tourist gets told.

Instead ask: what’s the one place or sunset spot you go to with friends when you need a break from life? That’s what gets you to the local spots.

Or: “where do YOU actually eat?”

That second question especially. People LOVE answering it when someone bothers to ask properly 😭

Free walking tour on day one

Meetup.com , Guruwalks, Airbnb experiences lists locally-run free walking tours in most cities. This is the fastest way to understand how a place is laid out and the best guides always drop recommendations for things that never make it into any guidebook.

For example: in Budapest, my walking-tour guide took me to this hidden underground bar where the walls were covered in sticky notes from people all over the world…I’m talking EVERY. SINGLE. CORNER. 📝🌍

I would’ve never found it on my own.

The HONEST thing

All of this comes down to one thing: Being willing to be a LITTLE uncomfortable.

Asking a stranger a real question. Eating at a place with no pictures on the menu. Wandering without a plan for an afternoon.

These aren’t big risks. But they feel scary to people who’ve been trained to follow a checklist and stick to what’s reviewed and rated and photographed by 50,000 people before them.

Unpacking Your Question 💌

Okay so this one is genuinely hard to explain without sounding like I’m making it up… but it’s REAL. 😳

There’s this cafe in Tokyo called Dawn Avatar Robot Cafe, where everything is run by robots the waiters, the receptionist, the baristas… ALL of it. 🤖☕️

But here’s the twist: these robots aren’t AI. Each one is being controlled remotely by a disabled person somewhere in Japan who can’t leave home.

A waiter rolled up to our table, told me their favorite food, and then said how much they LOVE getting to meet new people from all over the world every single day. And the whole time, they were at home maybe even paralyzed and that robot was their way of showing up to work, talking to strangers, and feeling part of the world again.

That’s what’s so WILD about Tokyo: tech doesn’t always replace us… sometimes it actually INCLUDES more of us. 🥹🫶🤖

Spots like this → the ones that actually stay with you are exactly what Julian and I spent a month in Tokyo finding 🗾

we wanted to make sure that when YOU go you don’t miss a single one of them!!!

And we're launching it HERE FIRST. In this newsletter. Before anyone else gets it, so far only our closest circle has used the guide & they LOVED IT!🥹

This newsletter community means everything to meeeee 🫶🏼

So here’s an exclusive discount code JA20 for our Unpacked community
→ Get the One Stop Tokyo Guide here💌

You deserve the BEST Tokyo trip and we really made this so you have it!

One Cool Thing I Did This Week 💕

Did a forest hot stone bath in Bhutan 🪨✨ WOW. This country has genuinely reset my stress levels and if you ever go, you NEED to try a hot stone bath when you’re there. I traveled with Breathe Bhutan and cannot recommend them enough! (not sponsored, just genuinely obsessed 😭)

That’s it for this week’s Unpacked…see you next Wednesday with something new to unpack 👋🏽

Lots of love & sunshine,

Aakanksha

It was past midnight. I was lying on soft grass in the wilderness, tracing constellations with my fingers. The pollution-free night skies of Himachal Pradesh are genuinely a spectacle. And that night was about to CHANGE how I see the world entirely.

Because in that moment, someone came and lay down next to me.

His name was Jonas. (No, this is not a love story 😌. Don’t get too excited.)

He was from Germany. And as we started talking and exchanging life stories, I learned that he’d been travelling all over the world, from Europe to Australia to now India. He hadn’t been back home in over TWO YEARS.

BUT here’s what really SHOCKED ME: he was 19. NINETEEN. The SAME AGE as me.

My mind started swirling 🤯 19? How did his parents allow him? How does he have the money? Is he lying? How can I do this too? Is this even possible for me?

That conversation cracked something open in me 💥. Because up until that moment, I had been living inside a script I never even chose.

Go to school. Get good grades. Pick a safe college. Land a stable job. Work hard through your 20s. Take your one or two vacations a year. Get married by 30. Repeat. 🔁

I had absorbed this blueprint so completely that I never once stopped to question it. I just assumed it was the only way. The RIGHT way.

But here was Jonas. 19. SAME age as me. Two years into building a completely different life on his own terms 🌍.

That was the moment I realized: the script isn’t a rule. It’s just the only option you can see until something, or someone, EXPOSES you to another one ✨

And that made me wonder: how many other ways of living was I completely blind to, simply because I’d never been shown they existed? 👀

What changed after that night

That one conversation, with a stranger I’d never see again, taught me the most important thing I know: exposure is everything.

This ONE conversation…one moment of exposure led me to taking these steps: I got part-time jobs at 19. I pitched hostels for stays. I built my Instagram while working full time. I would’ve done none of this, if I didn’t know that traveling as a way of life, was actually POSSIBLE! ✨

Look, the right place at the right time is REAL. But you have to put yourself there 🔥. Nobody stumbles into a life that looks different from the script. You build it…one uncomfortable room at a time 💪🏽

And this is probably the MOST important thing I will ever teach you in this newsletter: I want you to read what comes next slowly, and actually think about how you can bring this into your own life. 🧠

Four ways I actively give myself exposure

1. Travel, but actually show up in it 🌍

Going to a new country and doing a curated tour, laying on the beach all day is a HOLIDAY 🌴. TRAVEL EXPOSURE is something else entirely ✨.

It’s staying somewhere long enough to talk to the person who LIVES there. Going on an adventure where you don’t know what to expect. Eating at the place with no English on the menu. Exposing yourself to ideas, cultures COMPLETELY different from your own!

In rural Japan, I stumbled into a community tie-dye event run by a group of elderly locals, most of them in their late 90s, some over 100. Their children had long moved to cities.This was just a group of very old people showing up for each other, dyeing fabric and laughing, because they understood something I hadn’t yet: that humans fundamentally need other humans. That COMMUNITY isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s the whole point✨. I left that afternoon thinking about loneliness, aging, and what we actually owe each other in a way I never had before. And I would have never had that thought if I’d just stayed in Tokyo hotels and done the Nara deer park like everyone else. That’s what I mean by travel exposure😅.

2. Talking to strangers 👀

When I quit Bain and knew I needed a remote job, I didn’t sit behind a laptop refreshing LinkedIn 💻.

I moved to GOA the hub of remote work in India at the time and spent every lunch hour at co-working spaces talking to as many people as I could 🤝. Speed networking. They didn’t know I was doing it 😅. It led me to getting five to six opportunities in THREE WEEKS 🚀.

One of them was a LinkedIn referral from someone I met over daal and rice 🍛. That’s how I got the job.

You go to the SOURCE. You talk to the PEOPLE. The opportunity doesn’t come to you 🙅🏽‍♀️.

3. Reading things that challenge what you already believe 📚

Here’s the honest thing about how most of us consume media 👀: we pick things we already agree with. Books that confirm what we think. Podcasts that validate how we already see the world.

But REAL exposure in reading means picking up something that challenges your worldview even if it’s uncomfortable 📚.

I used to think saving money was EVERYTHING 💰 my upbringing taught me → spending = BAD, careless, how you get poor.. Saving = SAFE, becoming richer. Then I read Die With Zero which basically argues that hoarding money and waiting to spend it is its own kind of WASTE. It completely shifted how I think about money and experiences 🤯. I didn’t agree with everything. But I know MORE now. And knowing more is always better than staying comfortable in what you already believe ✨.

4. Signing up for things you’re not sure you can finish 💪🏽

The version of yourself AFTER you do the HARD thing is never the same as the version before 🔥

I once spent weeks cycling through rural parts of South Korea..roads I didn’t know, a language I don’t speak, 70km a day with two bags 🚴🏽‍♀️. I had NEVER done something like this before. I went there dreading the trip, but came back feeling CONFIDENT not just about cycling, but about my own ability to COMMIT to hard things 💪🏽. That confidence has creeped it’s way into all areas of my life, be it doing hard things at work, having tough conversations in relationships or handling challenging situations while traveling!

You can’t think your way into that feeling 🧠. You have to EARN it by doing the thing

What actually stops people

It’s not fear of failure. It’s something subtler than that.

We’re told in a hundred quiet ways that changing your mind is weakness. That if you believed something and you change it, you’re shaky, unreliable, inconsistent.

But that’s not what changing your mind after new exposure IS. That’s called growth. That’s called learning something you didn’t know before and letting it actually change you.

The problem is most of us are stuck inside the same rooms, the same feeds, the same conversations and we call it comfort. But really we’re just protecting a worldview we never chose to question.

Exposure breaks that. Deliberately.

Unpacking Your Question 💌

Here’s the thing: if someone followed you for Japan and then suddenly gets a Meghalaya reel, the unfollow isn’t because India is “less interesting” 😭 It’s the EXPECTATION GAP. They signed up for one thing and got another. That’s a content strategy problem, not a destination problem.

So no, the solution is NOT “post less India” it’s: don’t be ONLY a destination account 👀

The creators who switch places without losing people are the ones whose audience follows THEM not the country. You build that by mixing in:

Your personal story + journey 🫶🏽 Why you travel + what this life actually looks like (including the unglamorous bits). This builds REAL loyalty.

Opinion + value content 💡 Packing tips. Things I wish I knew before going to X. How I plan trips. Hot takes about travel culture. None of this is location-dependent and all of it builds a following that’s attached to YOUR brain, not your passport stamps.

The “context” reel. When you’re about to switch destinations (esp. somewhere like Northeast India that your international audience may not recognise) give them a QUICK WHY + WHAT 👀✨ A “why I’m going here + what you don’t know yet” reel keeps people CURIOUS (not confused) and pulls in a whole new audience too 💥

Posting: Also don’t do 8 Japan reels then 8 Northeast reels back-to-back 😭 Interleave + spread it out. The shift should feel gradual.

The goal is: they should NEVER feel like they’re following a place. They should feel like they’re following YOU who just happens to be somewhere interesting right now 😌

One Cool Thing I Did This Week 💕

So Jonas from the trek story, the whole reason I started this life was German. My partner, Julian is ALSO German. (Julian, not Jonas. But still full circle moment😂)

This week I flew to Germany to spend time with him and his family. And my journey there? A complete MESS. Flight delayed. Baggage came late. Missed my train entirely.

And then I ended up renting a car with two complete strangers to get to my final destination.

Turns out talking to strangers really does work out 😛 (when your gut says yes, of course!)

Tell me what’s the most unexpected thing you’ve ever learned from a stranger?

Hit reply. I genuinely want to know 👇🏽

That’s it for this week’s Unpacked…see you next Wednesday with something new to unpack 👋🏽

Lots of love & sunshine,

Aakanksha

Okay I need to get something off my chest.

Every time someone slides into my DMs saying “the travel content space is too saturated, should I even bother?” I feel this deep urge to shake them a little 😭

Because here’s the thing. I almost didn’t start because of this exact fear. I wanted to start in my second year of college. I didn’t. I waited TWO full years because I kept telling myself it was too late, too crowded, too competitive.

Two years I’ll never get back.

So today I want to flip the script on the fear that’s been stopping you because this is the EXACT fear I had. And in my opinion, it’s the exact reason why right now is the right time to start.🥳

The Big Fear: “The space is too saturated”

Let’s actually think about this for a second.

When you scroll your feed and see viral travel reel after viral travel reel that’s not proof that travel content is saturated. That’s Instagram showing you what you already like. It’s an algorithm, not a census 🫣

And secondly platforms have completely changed. Instagram, YouTube used to be audience-first platforms. They’re now discovery-first. Which means, “number of followers” don’t matter, “quality of content does”. Even a small creator with a good video can hit a million, but a big creator with a bad video won’t.🤯

So how do you actually stand out in 2026?🫣

Okay, here’s what I’d do if I was starting from absolute zero today.

1. Stop chasing trends. Build on value + your own opinion.

This is the thing I’d drill into my creator mindset from day ONE.

Trends have a 72-hour lifespan. But more importantly when you chase trends, you’re making the same reel as every other travel creator who saw the same sound. Will people follow you? Maybe. Will they REMEMBER you? Will they feel connected to you? No.

When I post something where I’m on camera, talking directly, saying something I actually believe it outperforms the aesthetic trend reel EVERY single time. Because people follow aesthetics, but they stay for personality👇🏼

2. Go series style..not random daily posting.

Forget posting every day, the algorithm no longer rewards daily posting → because it even pushes videos that are 2-3 months old, as long as it’s RELEVANT! YAY!! Which means three INTENTIONAL pieces of content per week, shot with purpose, will beat seven random posts every time 🥹

People consume content like TV now. They want the NEXT episode. They want to come back.

Series = people follow you to find out what happens next.

THAT is the actual growth mechanism.

3. Pitch smart, not scared.

Don’t wait for 10K. Don’t wait to feel ready.

Here’s what most people get wrong: they pitch based on follower count. But brands don’t just care about how many followers you have they care about engagement, niche fit, and the quality of your content.😅

I was pitching hotels and travel companies when I had 2,000 followers. Not with a big number, but with a clear value exchange → here’s my content, here’s what I can do for you, here’s my audience. The answer was sometimes NO. But sometimes it was a free stay in Udaipur. And that free stay became the content that GREW my page.😭

The earlier you start learning how to pitch, the earlier you start earning from this. Don’t save pitching for when you feel worthy. Start NOW, learn fast.

The better your content (hooks, storytelling, editing, on-camera confidence), the easier it is to justify a higher rate because brands are paying for quality, not just reach.

The only question that actually matters

You don’t need to be anywhere special. When I had no money, I’d take the metro across Delhi and film whatever I found. That was my content. Your story is basically just wherever you are right now in life, and that IS ENOUGH TO START!

The people who told me it was too late in 2020 were wrong. The people saying it now are wrong too. The market rewards motion. You don’t find your voice by waiting for the perfect moment. You find it by starting 😌

Unpacking Your Question 💌

Okay first, I love that you’re even asking this at 18.

But here’s what I’d actually tell you: before chasing travel content, first figure out if you even love traveling. And the only way to know? Go.

So here’s the plan. In college, stop waiting for your parents to fund your life. Pick up a skill, video editing, graphic design, AI tools, anything the market will pay for, do internships, earn your OWN money. Then use that money to take your first real trip. See how it feels.

And here’s the secret advantage you have right now that you will never have again: TIME. Use your summers to volunteer at hostels. Travel on a shoestring. Make content with zero pressure. The goal isn’t to go viral at 18. The goal is just to get as much experience as you can get, before you decide this career path is for you! 😊

One Cool Thing I Did This Week 💕

I just spent a week in the last Himalayan Kingdom on earth…Bhutan 🇧🇹✨

It amazed me in ways I truly didn’t expect, and I can’t wait to share more soon 🏔️💛

Tell me when did you first think about starting travel content? And what kept stopping you?

Hit reply. I’m GENUINELY asking 👇🏽

That’s it for this week’s Unpacked…see you next Wednesday with something new to unpack 👋🏽

Lots of love & sunshine,

Aakanksha

P.S. Next week I’m sharing the one thing that has opened more doors for me than any follower count ever did. It’s not what you think 👀

OKAY SO.

April was a LOT. I went from South Africa to India and then immediately had to pack up and head to my next destination. Which means this month was basically me living out of my carry-on even more than usual, eating the best home food of my life, and genuinely feeling every emotion possible 😭

But that’s what I LOVE about these roundups. They force me to actually sit with the month instead of just zooming past it.

So here’s my April, unpacked 👇🏽

🎬 WHAT I CONSUMED THIS MONTH

📺 What I Watched

Big Mistakes and honestly I really liked it.

There’s a lot of sibling fighting which I could have done without 😂 but overall it was super light, really FUNNY, and exactly what I needed. April was HECTIC with all the travel so having something easy and breezy to watch in the evenings was genuinely a gift.

🎧 What I Listened To

A podcast about vibe coding and I cannot stop thinking about it.

The whole concept is that in the AI era, there’s basically a new kind of job where almost anyone can build something from scratch with NO technical background. Zero barrier to entry. All you need is a good idea and the ability to STRUCTURE your thinking.

But the part that hit me most was this: you need to spend 80% of your time on context for AI, and only then do you get good output. The way he explained it was so simple even a complete beginner could follow it and it honestly changed how I’ve been using AI tools since.

Highly recommend if you’re CURIOUS about where AI is going 👀

📚 What I Read

Why the Poor Don’t Kill Us by Manu Joseph.

Okay. This book is not a light read. It messes with your brain a little 😅

It basically questions inequality in India, privilege, and social structures in this way that’s sharp and uncomfortable but in the BEST possible way. The kind of book that makes you sit with things you’d rather not sit with, opens your mind.

VERY, very thought-provoking and I’d recommend it to anyone who likes books that challenge how they think about the WORLD 🧠

🛠️ TOOL / HACK OF THE MONTH

Multi-city flight booking and I saved ₹50,000 doing it 👀

Okay this is one I actually teach in my travel hacking course and this hack is SUCH a lifesaver!!!

I was planning flights: Germany → Canada → New York.

When I booked them separately, it was EXPENSIVE. But when I clubbed all three legs together as a multi-city booking? The price DROPPED significantly. I ended up saving around ₹50k on this one trip alone.

🧠 SOMETHING I LEARNED THIS MONTH

For the LONGEST time I’ve said out loud, confidently “I’m not organized. I’m not structured. That’s just my personality.”

And for a while that belief kind of served me. As a creator it let me stay free-flowing and creative without putting pressure on myself.

But this month something SHIFTED. I’m leading a team now. I’m working with AI. I’m building systems. And all of that requires structure. And I realized, the way I was talking about myself was actually keeping me from becoming THAT person.

If I keep saying “I’m not structured”, I’ll literally never give myself the chance to become structured.

So I’ve been actively flipping the script and re-training my brain. I can be organized. I am becoming more structured. It might take more effort for me than it does for someone else. But that doesn’t mean it’s not me.

I think we all do this…box ourselves into personality labels and then use them as an EXCUSE to stay exactly where we are. But we’re WAY more adaptable than we give ourselves credit for 😌 So tell me what’s the script you’ve been giving yourself?

🏆 WINS

Creator Takeoff Academy hit 20K followers 🥹

We literally started it last month. I’m overjoyed by the love this page has received, my biggest goal has always been to HELP others live a life their passionate about & @creator.takeoff is helping me do that everyday!! 👀

Eating lunch with my parents 💛

This sounds so ordinary. But when you live out of a suitcase, “ordinary” family time becomes genuinely precious. Home-cooked food, long chats with my fam, walks together. It re-energized me in a way no solo adventure quite does. Some wins don’t have numbers.

✨ ONE COOL THING I DID THIS WEEK

Unpacking Your Question 💌

Honestly? Trying to do EVERYTHING myself for way too long 😮‍💨 Editing, scripting, emails, brand deals…all of it.

I was so scared to lose money that I didn’t realise: TIME = MONEY ⏳💸

The day I hired my first team member, I earned more time…which meant my output DOUBLED (and so did my income) within a few months 📈

Don’t be afraid to INVEST IN YOURSELF ✨

Before I go…

okay GUYSSSS I have something exciting for May 👀

I’m planning a special Q&A roundup edition where I pick the most interesting questions you have for me and answer them ALL in one newsletter. Travel, content creation, digital nomad life, could be something random and nosy that you’ve always wanted to ask. ALL questions welcome

Drop your questions in the comments on Substack 👇🏽

Leave a comment

But you know me…with travel season coming up and everyone probably planning trips soon, I’d rather be honest with you than just tell you what sounds good 😛

So here it is. A list of places I’ve personally been to that I think are genuinely overrated AND what I’d visit instead….👇🏽

🚨 QUICK NOTE BEFORE WE START

🇮🇳 INDIA FIRST

❌ GOKARNA → ✅ GO TO MULKI or VARKALA INSTEAD

Everyone sold this to me as a dreamy beach town. I drove all the way from Goa, super excited.

And honestly? Big disappointment.

Crowded. Dirty. Overpriced cafes. Stays that weren’t great. And I just didn’t feel that safe driving a scooty through poorly lit streets at night.

Mulki and Varkala though? THAT is the beach town vibe I was looking for. Hilly cafes, good surfing, beautiful views. Way more my speed 🌊

❌ MANALI → ✅ GO TO NAGGAR or JIBHI INSTEAD

I know. I know 😂

Manali is fine as a digital nomad spot to meet people and make friends. But as a nature destination? I’d rather skip it.

Too crowded. And the nature you actually want is elsewhere anyway.

Naggar and Jibhi are stunning. Lots of beautiful treks…quieter, more peaceful, still have cute cafes but you actually feel like you’re IN the mountains. That’s what I go to the mountains FOR 🏔️ If you’re going to Tirthan, I’d recommend staying at The Bluesheep Hostel!!

❌ KASOL → ✅ GO TO KALGA or PULGA INSTEAD

One of my least favourite places honestly 😬

Dirty trails. Loud cafes. Crowds everywhere. Not the vibe at all when you’re going to the mountains for peace.

Kalga and Pulga are everything Kasol WISHES it was. You literally have to hike up to get there…no cars allowed. Little bakeries, cute hostels, waterfalls, sunsets. THAT is the mountain town experience 🌄

🌍 INTERNATIONALLY

❌ BALI → ✅ GO TO LOMBOK or SULAWESI INSTEAD

Bali was one of my first trips after quitting my job. I was SO excited.

And I left feeling… underwhelmed.

It’s basically a big city on an island now. Traffic everywhere. Lost a lot of its local culture. Feels a bit fake honestly.

Lombok is everything Bali used to be…peaceful, less crowded, still beautiful. Sulawesi is also high on my list for the nature alone 🌿

❌ ICELAND’S RING ROAD → ✅ GO TO THE NATIONAL PARK HIKES INSTEAD

Iceland is stunning. But the famous ring road trip everyone does?

It felt like a zoo for natural wonders to me 😅

Drive. Stop. Take pictures. Move on. Repeat. With hundreds of other tourists doing the exact same thing.

What I actually LOVED was hiking through Landmannalaugar and Thakgil. Driving through roads that barely exist. THAT felt like an adventure.

❌ PARIS → ✅ GO TO LUCERNE or LONDON INSTEAD

Don’t come for me 😂

Paris isn’t bad…the Eiffel Tower really is beautiful. But between the movies, the shows, the Bollywood songs, we’ve been sold a version of Paris that doesn’t quite exist anymore.

It’s expensive. Not the cleanest. Not SUPER SAFE. And you spend the whole trip feeling like it should feel more magical than it does.

Lucerne though? A river flowing through the city, mountains all around, way less crowded, and genuinely stunning. No hype tax to pay 😌

Travel is personal. What bores me might be exactly what you need. But at least now you’re going in with eyes open 👀

Right, now over to you….time to UNPACK this week’s question 👇🏽

Okay I LOVE this question because I’ve genuinely struggled with this myself 😭

When I went to Paris, Bali, Switzerland… I remember thinking “what am I even going to film that hasn’t already been done a million times?”

And honestly? That feeling is the wrong starting point. Here’s what actually works 👇🎽

This is the biggest mindset shift.

The Eiffel Tower has been filmed from every angle imaginable. But “here’s what nobody tells you about visiting the Eiffel Tower as an Indian traveller” is a completely different video.

Start asking:

• what confused you, shocked you, or cost you more than expected

• what you would do differently next time

• what you wish someone told you before you went

Your experience is the content. The destination is just the backdrop 😌

Instead of “things to do in Bangkok”, try:

• “3 things to do in Bangkok if you have less than 48 hours”

• “Bangkok for people who hate tourist traps”

• “Bangkok solo travel…what I’d skip and what I’d do again”

Narrowing the lens makes your content more specific, not less interesting. The more specific you are, the more the right person feels like you’re speaking directly to them 😌

Bottom line? The destination doesn’t need to be unique. YOU need to be present in it. Bring yourself, your lens, your honest opinion and there will ALWAYS be an angle nobody else has filmed 😌

One Cool Thing I Did This Week 🌍

This week I woke up at 4:30am for a SUNRISE KAYAKING tour 🛶🌅 and we even spotted dolphins 🐬 They didn’t come close to us, but the view was INCREDIBLE. Watching the sunrise from the water felt truly MAGICAL ✨.

If you’re in CAPE TOWN, this is a MUST DO ✅

That’s it for this week’s Unpacked…see you next Wednesday with something new to unpack 👋🏽

“How do you stay fit while traveling?? How does your health not just… fall apart??”

And I’m going to be really honest with you.

It’s not easy. It took me YEARS to figure this out.

And if you’re struggling with it too, that’s not a willpower problem. That’s a structure problem. The goals are fine. The systems around them aren’t. 😌

But first….a real moment. 👇🏽

The trip that made me wake up.

There was a point where I was sick EVERY. SINGLE. MONTH.

Exhausted. Catching every flu going around. And I kept blaming the travel…the jet lag, the street food, the constant moving around.

But honestly? It was me. I had zero routine around my health and I was paying for it.

I’d have to skip hikes because I had NO energy. Miss activities because my body just couldn’t keep up. And that’s when it hit me!!!

You can’t travel hard if you’re not taking care of your body. That’s just the TRUTH. 🏔️

So I started building some structure. And everything changed.

First, the one thing that changed my mindset.

💡 “Stop treating every trip like a break from being healthy.”

When you travel five days a year…sure, eat everything, no guilt at all.

But when travel IS your life? You can’t treat every trip like a cheat week. That’s just your life with no structure 😂

Wherever I am is my normal life now. So I build routines around it.

Things I actually do 👇🏽

🥤 THE PROTEIN POWDER TRICK

I carry it everywhere. Before a big food day, I have a shake first. It fills me up, so I’m not eating everything in sight just because it smells amazing - which in Southeast Asia is a VERY real problem 😭

🗺️ FIND THE GYM BEFORE YOU BOOK YOUR AIRBNB

Not after. BEFORE.

Open Google Maps. Find a gym you like. Find one or two healthy eating spots nearby. THEN look for a place to stay around that area. Your gym = your landmark.

If your gym is far away, you’re not going. Just be honest with yourself 😛

🥊 TRY LOCAL WORKOUT CLASSES

Thailand → Muay Thai. Colombia → Salsa. Kerala → Kalaripayattu.

Some of my favourite travel memories have come from doing such activities! It’s a great way to understand the culture and LEARN a new skill!! Genuinely can’t beat it.

🏃🏽‍♀️ WHEN NOTHING WORKS … JUST RUN

You always have your legs and your shoes. That’s all you really need.

Early morning runs are one of my favourite ways to see a new city. Nobody’s awake yet, it’s quiet, and you find spots you’d never find otherwise. I’m obsessed 🌅

📅 PLAN ACTIVE DAYS AROUND BIG FOOD DAYS

Big food tour on Wednesday? Don’t plan another heavy eating day Thursday. Plan a hike, a bike ride, a long walk, anything that gets you moving.

A little movement every day beats one random gym session a week. Always.

The accountability HACK that actually worked for me. 👯‍♀️

I have a Whatsapp group with 5 friends who are also committed to staying healthy!

Our rule: if anyone moves their body less than five days out of seven…they buy everyone lunch hehe.

Sounds small. But it’s painful enough to actually work 😂

Find YOUR version of this.

And look, I’m not perfect at this either. There are still trips where I slip up, eat everything in sight and don’t move for days 😂 But the difference now is I have something to come back to. A structure that pulls me back.

Poll Time 📊

Unpacking Your Question 💌

Yes. ALL the time, if I’m being real 😅 The hardest part is the GUILT.

You’re in a beautiful place and still feel empty. Then you feel bad for feeling that way. What helps is giving yourself permission to just LIVE ❤️ No filming plan. No pressure. A hike 🥾 A good book 📖 A game of padel 🎾 just for fun.

Last year I went to London for a week and filmed almost nothing. No content. No value to deliver. Just me spending time with my best friend. That gave me more energy than any “reset routine.”

We all need moments like that. REAL life, not just creator life ✨

One Cool Thing I Did This Week 💕

This week I did a sauna + ice bath meditation and it was SO cool 😮‍💨 We sat in the sauna with beautiful meditative music, did breathwork, then jumped into the ice bath. Honestly, growing up in India we don’t get much sauna culture, but I’m OBSESSED with how calm it makes you feel and how AMAZING you sleep after. Highly recommend trying it if you’re in Europe or if visiting Cape Town, go to
SAUNA HAUS 🔥🧊

That’s all from me this week!

See you next Wednesday, same place, something new to UNPACK 👋🏽