On January 28, Norwegian Ayla Vinje Fagerland set off on a three-month worldwide travel taking her to nine countries on four continents. When Europeans travel, they don’t mess around.
And they start young. Ayla was only 19 when she began. Perhaps for this reason, her mom accompanied her to the first country on the tour. (Or maybe her mom just wanted the excuse to travel Italy.)
This will be the first of several posts chronicling Ayla’s journey. (And if all this is sounding familiar, it’s because two months ago we first published an excerpt from Ayla’s trip.)
Through word, photo, and a series of videos she is creating, Ayla now begins to share her entire journey. She does so today by introducing herself, her trip, and then taking us to Italy…
The Departure
I kind of grew up traveling. Mostly to the US, but also because of the karate club I belonged to. I always got this restless feeling when I was in Norway for too long. So my parents weren’t surprised when I told them about this trip at all.
I guess it all started because I was too young to apply to the school I wanted to go to. So I decided to do something crazy in my “unvoluntary gap year.” I had wanted to do an organized tour with a company but ended up just wanting to do it alone.
My friends, colleagues, and family thought I was kind of crazy, but mom and dad and my closest friends weren’t worried at all. I wasn’t really scared at all to be honest, just exited. The only thing was leaving my boyfriend. That was tough. He actually had to convince me to do it at one point! I’m glad he did!
Packing was absolutely crazy. I had absolutely no idea what to pack for every environment this world has to offer! My whole room was filled with clothes and stuff!
Here were all the places I’d be going:
1. Italy with my mom
2. Malta
3. Egypt, where I stayed with my father’s friend
4. Tanzania, where I helped (well, at least tried not to break anything) out at a local school
5. China
6. South Korea
7. USA, spending at least four weeks here, traveling and meeting up with all my friends and relatives!
8. Bahamas
9. Cuba was my last stop!
So on January 28, my mom and I set off from Karmøy, Norway to Napoli, Italy. (Maybe you call it Naples in English? Whatever. The city. In Italy. Like the scary one with amazing pizza! I’ll explain the “scary” later.)
When we arrived, we got into the cab that we had ordered (I learned to always always always book transfer from the airport), and it took us to our stunning hotel. )
We had arrived!
And then we set out to explore Italy…
Next week, Ayla shows us Italy.
Until then, please enjoy Ayla’s video #1–a video preview of her entire trip:
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Ayla is a 20-year-old Norwegian who loves to learn new things and study new cultures. She’s Christian, and in her more normal life (when not eating donkey sandwiches in China and taking trains across Italy), she does dancing and karate. For any questions for Ayla or about travels, please comment below.
And if you’d like to share your story on The Periphery, please email me at Brandon@ThePeriphery.com. We’d love to hear all about your adventure.
