LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) A single mom who used to work in Hollywood left it all behind to travel the world with her 11-year-old son and she says she is doing it without a family fortune, sponsorships or becoming an Instagram influencer.

Crissy Whalin says she had been working in radio and entertainment for 20 years when she was fired five years ago.

For those of you in Hollywood, your job is not always the cure, she said with a laugh from her rented flat in Paris.

At that crossroads, she had a decision to make with her son, and the desire to travel kept coming up. Whalin says she crunched the numbers and decided she and her son Zephyr could do it with her savings of $20,000.

Over the past 18 months, the mother-and-son duo have traveled to 95 cities in 39 countries. Theyve been to every continent except Antarctica.

I just wanted to show that you could do this with a small budget, and what would be the benefits and the rewards that you would find in your life by doing this, if this is something youve always wanted to do, she said.

But how can one trot the globe without a huge monetary cushion? Whalin says they wash their clothes in sinks and cook their own food. They spend about $25 to $85 a night for accommodations, which goes far in some places, but sometimes means a humble place to sleep in others.

The benefit in having no money is that you end up having to live a little bit more local and you end up getting more connected to the local cities that you visit because youre not staying in a resort or an all-inclusive, Whalin said.

Her son continues to take sixth grade classes online, while she earns money with two different companies, booking guests and consulting.

Im showing my son the world, not showing him an extended holiday, she says.

Whalin documents her and Zephyrs adventures on her Instagram account.

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Single Mom Leaves LA Behind To Trot The World With 11-Year-Old Son - CBS Los Angeles