These Two Women Will Tattoo Your Message on Their Foreheads to Fund Their Travels

Oh, the gimmicks people come up with in order to travel. We’ve seen Ramon Stoppelenburg, the LetMeStayForADay guy. And John Freyer, the guy who sold all his possessions on eBay and then hit the road to visit them in their new locations. Now there’s Liah Hansen and Chloe Britzius, two seniors at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who will temporarily tattoo your message on their foreheads to fund a journey this summer.

According to their Web site You Tattoo Us!, they’re selling their combined forehead space in day-long increments at prices ranging from $80 to a whopping $180,000, and they’ll let you pick when and where in the world they’ll sport your temporary tat. The pair will also donate 10 percent of the money they raise to charity.

It’s an inventive plan, but also a bit outrageous. I wanted to know more, so I asked Hansen a few questions via e-mail.

World Hum: Of all the ways to raise money for travel, you and Chloe chose to rent your foreheads as ad space. Why?

Hansen: Why not? We wanted to come up with a clever idea to raise travel funds and this was the one we decided on. We had also thought about doing volunteer work and getting sponsored for it, or being international personal shoppers. We decided to do You Tattoo Us! because it seemed like it would be the most fun.

What’s been the reaction?

Our friends and family are really, really supportive! The press has also been very kind to us. We are currently in discussions with several companies about buying tattoos. It is a fairly new idea, and I think it will take some time for companies to wrap their heads around it…he he (pun intended).

You’re going to some great lengths to travel. You must love it.

Oh yes! We are both nuts about traveling! My first time out of the country was when I was 14 and my mother and I went to London and Norway for a couple weeks. I also went on a five week trip to Costa Rica to work on my Spanish several years ago. I’ve also been all around the U.S. Some of my U.S. favorites were a volunteer trip I took to Cumberland Island off the coast of Georgia, and a backpacking trip to Colorado where we climbed a 14,000-foot mountain.

Chloe went backpacking around Europe for several months after graduating high school and has also been to Nicaragua, Canada and Spain.

Where are you planning to go this time around?

We haven’t determined an exact itinerary, but we think we will start out with a road trip to California, where we will wander for awhile before selling my car and heading to South America. From there we will head to Asia, Africa and Europe. Then back to New York.

Walking around with a tattoo on your forehead might be a great icebreaker. Then again, it could be kind of weird walking into, say, the Louvre. How do you think you’ll be received around the world?

We have worn them around Madison a bit, just to test how it would feel, and people are mostly just curious! They feel more comfortable coming up to us and starting a conversation than if we weren’t wearing them.

We both are very respectful of other cultures and do not want to offend anyone. That is why we have chosen to wear them only in the U.S., Europe and Japan. We feel that people in these developed nations will be better able to understand.

As for the Louvre…hmmm I don’t know, I think I would be OK with going into the Louvre with a forehead tattoo. I think I would do a bit of research on it before giving a resounding yes. I know that French culture is more formal than in the U.S., but I think they would be accepting. It isn’t much different than wearing a shirt with a logo on it really, except it gets more attention since not everyone does it.

Thanks, Liah. Best of luck.

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