Choosing a One-Way Ticket Over a Master’s Degree + Lessons From 6 Years of Evolving Travel with Dianni Hall

·1 hr 11 min

1. Zero To Travel Podcast centers this episode on Diani Hall’s one-way ticket to India and the way travel changed over six years. 2. Jason Moore hosts, Diani Hall is the guest, and her website WhileShe'sAway.com and her podcast are mentioned as part of her work. 3. The episode asks what travel looks like when it evolves from solo backpacking into a lifestyle shaped by work, community, and a home base. 4. Diani says her first major trip was a solo flight from New York to India, and she chose the south of India for a calmer start. 5. She traces her travel impulse back to a mission trip to Honduras at 14, when she went nine days without contacting family. 6. That Honduras trip led her to study abroad, the Peace Corps, and eventually to saving money for a bigger trip after college. 7. She was admitted to Rutgers for a master’s in social work, then decided about two months before starting that she would not enroll. 8. The trip that replaced graduate school began as a possible South America plan with a partner, but she went alone when the savings were not there. 9. A Workaway placement in India turned into a broader route through Thailand, Vietnam, and Laos during a four-month trip. 10. She describes that decision as a pivot that changed the whole trajectory of her life. 11. Diani explains that she had been raised “super Christian,” attended private school, and later moved toward spirituality as she explored queerness. 12. She says she now thinks of spirituality as connecting to a higher power, the universe, and herself rather than only organized religion. 13. At an ashram in India, she spent four weeks volunteering with other women, waking at 4 or 5 a.m. for meditation and yoga. 14. A shaman from Brazil taught mindfulness there, and the daily structure included grounding exercises and beach walks. 15. She says she went in with the intention to be “meet me where I’m at,” and the trip gave her the mindfulness work she needed. 16. Looking back, she says she wishes she had taken the phone-free environment more seriously instead of focusing on what she was missing. 17. Her later nomadic period began more accidentally, then became more structured through an English teaching assistant program in Spain. 18. She says the Spain program lasted six to eight months, included about 10 to 12 hours of classroom work a week, and paid about 700 euros a month. 19. The interview is conversational and reflective, with Jason Moore asking follow-up questions about anxiety, family, and solo travel. 20. Listeners who like solo travel, long-term travel planning, and travel-through-work stories will get the most from it, while people wanting destination tips may skip it.

As heard by us

A calm argument for travel that fits real life instead of chasing someone else's version.

Zero To Travel Podcast treats Diani Hall's story as a simple reminder that travel does not have one right shape. She chose a one-way ticket to India at 22 instead of a master's degree, then spent six years on the road across 30-plus countries.

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Why you'd press play

For when a one-way ticket to India feels braver than a master's degree.

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