“I wrote a song and shot a video for this guy whose wife is pregnant and they’re having their first child,” Cornfield said. “He wanted me to write the ballad of them. So I did. And he gave me $120 for it.”

In the end there were no silly hairstyles or tattoos, but Cornfield did receive a fair amount of donations and managed to collect a little more than $300 to help continue his travels across Europe. The only reason he came back was to attend his brother’s wedding.

“I tried to convince him to push it back another year, but he’s Christian and was abstaining from sex until marriage,” Cornfield said. “So I understand his hurry.”

One of the contributors was former American Idol finalist Rachel Zevita, who met Cornfield previously while traveling through Israel. She purchased a Skype date with Cornfield, hoping to catch up with an old friend and possibly work on music together.

“My first thought when I saw the video was ‘Oh my god, I miss Tyler so much!’” Zevita said. “This is the free spirited, hilarious, talented person who I fell in love with on a soulful level. He’s one of those people who is so talented that he makes you feel bad about yourself.”

Zevita, who is currently in Los Angeles working on her music career, credits part of that to Cornfield.

“Seeing Tyler just travel through Europe just by the seat of his pants inspired me to get off my butt in New York and pursue my dream,” Zevita said. “So in his own way, without even really realizing it, he kind of inspired me to get the ball rolling on my career.”

Another donor was long time friend Christian Bannister. For his donation Bannister received a unique and personal postcard made by Cornfield on one of his train rides through Warsaw.

Bannister said that Cornfield has a long history of thinking outside the box when it comes to earning money.

“If he wanted to he could have sold something on eBay and gave something away, like material possessions, but instead he wanted to find a more creative and enticing way of earning money,” Bannister said. “It’s kind of what he does.”

These days, Tyler is completing his final semester at SF State and working as a resident assistant in University Park North. He sings and plays guitar in his six person band, Wes Leslie and his Deadly Medley, and plans to stick around San Francisco if they do well. If not, he wants to move to Berlin after graduating.

He’s also busy dreaming up his next adventure.

“I’m thinking of taking a solo road trip through the South,” Cornfield said with that same smile. “I’ve never been there before.”