I spent a lot of time learning programming while traveling (though not under the same circumstances as this girl)--I did contract programming work while traveling indefinitely, often learning as I go. You manage to find ways to balance, especially since (in my case) if I didn't work, I wouldn't have any money to eat or sleep.

The nice thing about it is that if you end up somewhere boring for a time, it's almost a blessing, since you can focus more on programming and save the exploration time for a better location.