This Cardiff third year funded her travels around Europe through busking

Flo Pugh is in her third year studying Music at Cardiff Uni. She’s also a trained singer and an amazing saxophone player. This summer, she decided she would combine her love of busking and travelling, so she packed her suitcase and set off around Europe.

She left in July, and managed to make her way through the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Germany and the Netherlands before returning last week.

The 20-year-old tells us she’s been busking for a while, and she first decided to embark on the trip as she realised she makes much more money in 90 minutes of busking than she would in an entire day of working as a waitress.

“I absolutely love travelling, and one day it just kind of clicked that if I brought my sax with me around Europe, theoretically I should be able to fund everything as I go, meaning I wouldn’t have to save much before leaving”, she said.

Over the duration of her trip, Flo made around £880, which was all of her spending money for the weeks she was away. She’d already saved up enough money to cover six weeks of hostel accommodation before leaving. She added: “Last summer I worked a 9-5 job in a kids club and was only making £350 a month, so it’s awesome to think I made all that money on-the-go, doing something I love.”

A 90-minute set she did in Slovenia ended with her making €153, but she usually made less than this. “On average, I normally made about 60 euros in 90 minutes”.

Flo continued: “It was much easier than I thought it would be. Some places were more successful than others, as some places there were rules and regulations as to where you could play, but most the time I would just set up wherever I wanted and would just hope I didn’t get moved along, which most of the time I didn’t.”

Doing this again is definitely on the cards for Flo, but she says she would do a few things differently. “I would 100 per cent do it again, just with a much lighter amplifier and a more organised suitcase”.

She is hoping to do a tour of New Zealand and Australia once she has completed her music degree, but she is planning on performing in restaurants for free food and in hostels for free accommodation, so that pretty much all of her expenses are covered by busking.

Read more about Flo’s busking journey on her blog.