“There Isn’t Anyone Like Me”
On working full-time, studying law, and travelling to 13 countries in between.
Here’s how.
The contradiction isn’t that she travels while working full-time and studying for a master’s – plenty of people attempt that. The contradiction is that she’s actually pulling it off while paying her own tuition. By day, documents and overtime. By night, law textbooks and a sewing machine. Weekends split between assignments and researching the next trip. She lives at home, which helps, but the mechanics are unglamorous: Vinted sales, installment payments, booking six months out, saying yes even when the bank account says absolutely not.
Travel, for her, isn’t escapism in the Instagram sense…. It’s relief from a specific kind of exhaustion that comes with being 25 in 2025 – the constant low-level interrogation about life milestones that feel increasingly impossible to reach. “When you’re not on holiday, everyone’s asking: how’s your career, how’s work, how’s dating, are you saving for a house. When you’re on holiday, the only thing you have to think about is where you’re eating for dinner and what outfit you’re wearing.”
It’s a familiar tension for this generation: work harder than the one before, earn less in real terms, and still field questions about why you haven’t bought property yet. The avocado toast discourse has aged into something more pointed – a blame game that ignores stagnant wages, soaring living costs, and the reality that even living at home and doing everything “right” doesn’t guarantee the traditional markers of adulthood will arrive on schedule.
Kaneesha is fortunate to live at home, she knows this. But she’s not coasting. She works full-time, studies part-time, does overtime when it’s available, sells clothes between trips, picks up styling projects through her network, and pays for holidays in installments months in advance. She avoids Klarna culture (where she can) – the endless debt cycle that makes spending feel consequence-free until it isn’t. Instead, she stretches what she has in every direction possible: time, money, skills, opportunity.
The question isn’t whether she should be traveling. It’s what happens when you’re told to delay joy indefinitely while saving for a future that feels more theoretical than tangible. For now, Morocco feels more urgent than a mortgage. The riad with fresh bread every morning, the markets, the soul of a place – these are things she can actually access. So she does.
For a little while, the questions go quiet and all that matters is where you’ll have dinner tonight. That quiet is a way of living she refuses to postpone. She’s 25, studying a master’s in law, working full-time, and has been to 13 countries since graduation. Not because she’s figured out balance – she hasn’t – but because she’s decided waiting isn’t an option.
How do you define balance?
I don’t know why you’re asking me this question.
Fair enough. Why do you travel so much?
To run away from my life responsibilities.
What life responsibilities?
The ones piling up. Life things. When you’re not on holiday, everyone’s asking: how’s your career, how’s work, how’s dating, are you saving for a house. When you’re on holiday, you don’t have to think about any of that. The only thing you have to think about is where you’re eating for dinner and what outfit you’re wearing. That’s just such a great way of living.
So you’re prioritising travel over the traditional milestones – marriage, house, career advancement?
They’re not even on the checklist. For me, a lot of that stuff doesn’t seem appealing right now, but travel does. I want to do this while I’m young. No one asks you annoying life questions when you’re on holiday.
What does it actually take to make this work – full-time paralegal, master’s in law, 13 countries since graduation?
A lot of overtime. I sell old clothes before trips – before Bali I did a whole wardrobe clear-out and made like £180 on Vinted. I book 6-7+ months in advance and pay in instalments through Love Holidays, On the Beach, Voyage Prive. Right now I’m going to Jamaica next year. We booked in October for May, so by the time the trip comes, the payments are finished.
I’m also very lucky that I still live at home. I help out where I can, but I’m paying my own way through my master’s tuition, so that takes a chunk. I don’t drive, so no road tax or petrol. That’s a big part of how I can make the travel work.
Are you disciplined about saving?
No. I am, but I’m not. I say yes so quickly. I’m not the type to look at my bank account and think, oh no, I should say no. If you’re going to ask me to go on holiday, I’m going to say yes. I don’t care if in my bank account in that moment I might genuinely just have £50 – I will actually make it work.
The only time I say no is if life circumstances actually say no. Like my cousin wanted to go to Qatar in December, but I had Bali booked, so I knew it wasn’t feasible.
You’ve been to Malta three times. Why keep going back?
The first time was after graduation. My girls and I needed a trip to celebrate. Malta was cheap – we paid maybe £500-£800 each including the hotel. It was my first holiday with friends, and it was perfect.
Then DLT Malta happened there, and we’d already been once so we felt safe going back just as girls. The vibe was good. It’s affordable, it’s hot, and we knew the island already.
The third time, another group of friends had booked it and invited me. At that point I was like, why not? I like the vibe in Malta. I didn’t know that would be the last time I’d be going for DLT.
What makes a trip memorable for you?
Culture. I love trying to immerse myself in the culture as much as I can. Even if you’re going somewhere modern, I love having cultural experiences.
Morocco was sensational because even in the touristy places, you felt genuinely immersed in the culture. You’d leave your riad and step straight into the rhythm of daily life. It wasn’t a place where visitors and locals moved in separate worlds. You walked the same streets, heard the same sounds, watched people go about their day. Restaurants sat beside the man selling bread each morning, someone was making fresh khobz a few steps away, and every building carried its own character. Morocco felt warm.
Dubai was my least favorite because there’s no soul. It’s a good place, you’re gonna have the best time, but there’s no heart in Dubai. I felt like I was in a PlayStation. I felt like I was just in London. It’s all buildings and roads and there’s nothing that makes you feel like, oh, this is their culture. It just felt like: shop, drink, enjoy, look pretty.
You went to Zimbabwe for your dad’s 60th birthday. What was that like?
Amazing. The family hadn’t been on holiday together since 2017. Being able to see my parents relaxed was everything. Any time they go to Zimbabwe normally, it’s to deal with family, so they don’t get to relax. But because the kids were there, they made an effort to push things aside and just be like, okay, we’re on holiday as a family.
It was really nice to see them make that effort. They were giving us suggestions for shows we should watch, things to do. We did trips to Botswana while we were there. It was giving them a different kind of trip as well. We’re hoping to plan more trips like that in the future – maybe Tanzania next.
What’s your funniest travel moment?
Mexico. We had a driver who was really helpful, but one day he couldn’t take us to dinner so he connected us with another woman. There were seven of us, and she picked us up in a normal white car. We got to the restaurant, had dinner, and when we were leaving, her kid popped out of the trunk.
All the girls were like, “Ah!” And she was like, “Yeah, he was waiting the whole time.” We were all like, you could have had him sit in the front, it’s fine. She said she had no babysitter. The kid was probably like 11 or 12 max. He just popped out of the trunk and we were like, what the heck. And where we went was far, you know.
Also in Mexico, having five or six-year-olds asking you if you want cocaine on the beach while the police walk behind you with guns was quite funny. We were like, hmm, no thank you. Mexico was a dream though.
What role do you play when planning trips with friends?
I wouldn’t be the first to suggest it as much, though I am these days because I’m always telling them, guys, let’s just go on holiday, I want to get away. But they always tell me no, which is peak.
When we do plan a holiday, I end up planning activities, restaurants, where we can go out to eat. I help with the fashion side too – what people want to wear, what vibe we’re going for. I’m definitely a planner when it comes to holidays.
Ever missed a flight yourself?
Never. People who miss flights regularly are irresponsible and clearly don’t value their money.
Window or aisle?
Window.
One small habit that changed your life?
My electric blanket. I’m in love with her.
Are you an early bird or night owl?
Night owl. Have you seen me when I go out?
Party holiday, mindful holiday, or rest and relaxation?
You can do all in one.
What’s the weirdest thing you’ve eaten abroad?
Ostrich. Tasted like beef with an identity crisis.
What’s your current obsession?
Buying a car… even though I haven’t passed my driving test yet.
Random talent?
I can play two songs on the keyboard. And I randomly decided to start sewing one day and now I’m kind of good at it.
Top designers you’d splurge on?
Hanifa. Every time she drops something, she doesn’t miss.
What fictional character are you like the most?
There isn’t anyone like me.
If you won £500 million tomorrow, what would you do?
I’m off. I’d set something up for myself – my fashion brand. But I’m off from work.
What’s next?
Kaneesha doesn’t have it all figured out. She can’t define balance yet, but she’s making it work – not because she’s disciplined in any traditional sense, but because when she says she’ll do something, she does it. The master’s gets finished. The overtime gets done. The trip gets booked. And the questions about mortgages and marriage can wait. There’s dinner to think about, an outfit to plan, and a life to live now rather than later.
