Out of mere curiosity to experience what she couldn’t imagine, Petrina flew to Stockholm on a whim. Her intention was to see how long she could survive in Europe with only $200. (It finished after 3 months.) Despite being entirely broke, she decided to attempt hitchhiking all the way back to Kuala Lumpur. Sleeping at petrol stations, digging through trash for food, escaping from indecent drivers, all became a norm. But she did it. The kindness of strangers kept her going. She crossed from Europe into Asia, even passing through the Balochistan terrorist zone at the border of Iran and Pakistan. 13 months and 22 countries later… Petrina was home.

Now she’s back to being a freelance scriptwriter and has no exact travel plans yet. A different continent next, for sure. But planning isn’t her thing. And that’s why she freelances. So when the urge to leave hits, she’s gone.

Speaker for:
HITCHHIKING FROM SWEDEN TO MALAYSIA: OF MONEY, MEN, AND MISCONCEPTIONS

Travelling across continents to get home after having run out of money left her completely vulnerable, which opened the floodgates to all kinds of situations. People’s intentions and her own emotions were constantly at opposing ends of the spectrum. From heart-warming to heart-wrenching, blissful to fearful… This is Petrina’s story of how she learnt that the world isn’t all that scary, even though she literally almost died at the end.