Selling dreams, making memories

Want to run a marathon across the Great Wall of China, spend your wedding anniversary under the Tuscan sun or shoot a documentary on the French Alps but lack the resources to do so?
Don't worry, all you have to do is just spread the word and ask for the money. As crowdfunded travel finds its way to India, people are breaking the stereotype of being a stingy country and loosening their purse strings to fund dreams.
It is how an avid cyclist from Jaipur, a tea stall owner from Kochi and a group of creative professionals discovered that strangers can sometimes can be more helpful than friends. While more people have tried crowdfunding to give a fillip to social causes or make a film, the practice of funding a travel venture by raising money online is a newer concept which is fast gaining ground.
When 22-year-old Chirag Singal from Jaipur set out on a cycle touring through India, Bhutan, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, and was stuck at the Myanmar border with immigration work and a three digit bank account, all he needed was a smartphone to start a campaign asking for funds on the fundraising platform Ketto.
"I had budgeted Rs 90,000 for the trip but ran out of money in four months," says Singal. During his seven-month trip, which ended this May , he kept uploading pictures whenever he had access to the internet, which he feels helped when he started the campaign as people connected with his journey ."I started the campaign for Rs 1,00,000 and provided the details of how the funds would be used. I managed to collect 40% of the funds in less than 24 hours. Apart from batch mates and anonymous donors, cyclists throughout India contributed a lot," says Singal. The shared experience through Facebook posts and photographs was his tribute to his supporters.
A similar campaign helped Vijayan, 67, a tea stall owner in Kerala, travel to the US with his wife Mohana. The couple had travelled to 16 countries in seven years by saving, borrowing and mortgaging property to fund their trips. Eager to visit the US, Vijayan had booked air tickets with his savings and was planning to a take a loan for the other expenses. A news website `The News Minute', which wanted to do their bit for the adventurous duo, started a crowdfunding campaign on Ketto."When it was launched, I was sceptical as I did not want to be obligated to anyone. I later agreed after people showed tremendous support," says Vijayan, whose campaign got support from the likes of Amitabh Bachchan and Anupam Kher. It raised Rs 2.5 lakh, which Vijayan used to book a package tour to five cities in the US.
What works on a crowdfunding platform is hard to tell, says Ketto co-founder Varun Sheth, which hosts around one travel campaign every 10 days. "In a crowdfunded campaign the reason for asking money is most important. Ventures which are involved with a social cause and personal moving stories get a lot of support," he says.
Platforms like Kickstarter, Indiegogo, Wishberry and Ketto have different funding rules. "In some websites, only if the complete amount is raised, it can be claimed. Others, like ours, allow for flexible funding, which lets people keep the sum they have raised," says Sheth.
The trend of professional, incentivised campaigns is mostly seen in the US and Europe, so when four friends from Chennai decided to take this route, it was unheard of in their circle. They planned to take a motorbike trip through Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand in 30 days, documenting the culture, lifestyle and music from an Indian perspective.
"It's an experience that we are looking for. The four of us have a unique set of skills which could be used to turn our travel experience into products which would be appealing to our contributors," says Ravi kiran Vissa, a professional photographer, whose casual conversation with singer Tapass Naresh helped kick off the venture. Their collaboration with filmmaker Nishanth Pio and writer Arjun Kamath helped them bring in people who could document the whole experience.
Their campaign `Send It Sideways' on Indiegogo, which has ended, is as professional as it gets with a personalised logo and a stylish video using clips of their past travels. They also promise gifts for the backers, such as a photobook, documentary, travelogue and music album that they would create during the trip.
As their goal amount of $14,500 could not be reached they have postponed the trip and are in talks with corporates to raise the rest of the money. For now, they will be off to the Himalayan climes working towards the same project. "We do not want to let down the people who have supported us just to travel vicariously. With their consent we have are now working for the same project in India," says Kamath, who says a more focused pitch of a travel series could have worked for them.