Maliha Fairooz said her first memory of traveling was from Bangladesh to London when she was 4 years old.
“Most youngsters, after they’re on an airplane, they’re crying and throwing tantrums,” she said. “But not me — I used to be so excited. I remember flying through the clouds, looking down on the sky and pondering ‘I’m principally a bird.'”
She’s just as excited to travel now, she said.
Fairooz has traveled to 102 countries and is greater than halfway toward her goal of visiting every country on the earth.
But the explanation she won a NomadMania Award in October is that she’s made it this far with a Bangladeshi passport, ranked the eighth worst passport globally within the Henley Passport Index.
The Bangladeshi passport only allows visa-free entry to 40 countries. Compared, Singaporeans, who hold the highest passport within the rating, can enter 193 countries with out a visa.
Fairooz has traveled to 102 countries and goals to go to almost as many more.
Maliha Fairooz
That makes traveling much harder, with more red tape to administer, she said.
For instance, before Fairooz could apply for a visa to go to Kyrgyzstan, she needed an official a call for participation from a travel agency within the country. To get the letter, she had to purchase a travel package with a Bangladeshi travel agent first.
Then she waited five to 6 weeks for her visa to be approved, she said.
At 16, Fairooz left Bangladesh together with her mother and lived in various parts of the world, including East Africa and the UK. She now resides in Berlin and works for a human rights and democracy non-governmental organization.
Traveling as a girl of color
For her, a serious challenge she faces while traveling is the stereotype that Bangladeshis are illegal immigrants, she said, stating that countries with stronger passports are inclined to be wealthier, which adds to the mindset that those travelers are explorers and adventurers.
There are also many challenges that solo female travelers endure, Fairooz said, but it surely gets even worse when one’s nationality is added to it.
Fairooz won a NomadMania Award in October for being so well traveled despite having a passport that opens few doors.
Maliha Fairooz
“I’m extremely privileged — when it comes to class, education and financially,” she said. “Despite all this stuff, people still see me as a number or a statistic.”
Fairooz said one in every of her most traumatic experiences while traveling was being detained in an airport within the African country of Cape Verde.
Despite the fact that she had the required visas and paperwork to enter, she said officials didn’t let her enter after they saw her passport. In accordance with her account of the incident, the authorities threatened to deport her to Senegal, where she had come from, though she not had a visa to return.
CNBC reached out to Cape Verde’s tourism authorities but didn’t receive a response.
“The rationale they gave me was that no person would travel there for just three or 4 days, though they are only a small island,” she said.
Maliha Fairooz in Ghana.
Maliha Fairooz
Fairooz said she was detained for 17 hours. Officials finally let her go after her mother, who works for the United Nations, contacted the U.N. office there, she said.
“They gave me a extremely difficult time,” she added. “I used to be extremely traumatized.”
The anxiety and feeling of being trapped in a cell was a horrifying experience, Fairooz said, adding that she’s now afraid at any time when she goes to an airport.
Still price it?
Nonetheless, bad experiences have not stopped her from traveling.
Fairooz said she believes her positive experiences outweigh the negative.
“There’s just a lot beauty and kindness and generosity on this world, and I feel so privileged to have been capable of connect with so many individuals from so many places,” she said.
Maliha Fairooz in Slovenia.
Maliha Fairooz
“I travel when nothing’s happening in life to make something occur in life, and I travel to disconnect from the world,” Fairooz added.
Some people get monetary savings to purchase a house or a automobile, but not her.
“I receives a commission higher working as an expat than I can be if I lived in Bangladesh,” she said. “So whatever money I make, I spend just about all of it on travel. And it’s the most effective.”
Her advice for many who need to travel the world? Start somewhere.
“The daunting thing we do to ourselves is to set this goal, and from the start this goal is such a terrifying thing,” Fairooz said. “But start somewhere small — travel inside your country alone, travel to nearby countries, and then you definately will slowly construct up the courage to do more.”
“Surround yourself with individuals who care about you and who also imagine in your goal,” she added. “That shall be what keeps you going as well.”
