Mission: On A World Journey to Dreams – Part 1

What was your first trip when you first hit the road all by yourself? What inspired you?

I went on my first solo trip a month after my 18th birthday. It was to Lake Balaton in Hungary. I went to an animal shelter through the Workaway organisation volunteer exchange and stayed there for one week. My dreams have always been the source of my inspiration. Dreams of our crazy world, about which there’s still a lot we don’t know, of people who think differently than we do, of wonders that still wait to be discovered. My whole room was and still is very, very crammed with pictures of the world and as soon as I turned 18 and got my last certificate, I packed my things.

What are the places you’ve visited so far?

I did a few family trips across Europe when I was little; Hungary, Italy, Croatia, Austria, France, Spain, Albania, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Greece, Belgium. Twice, the four of us in the family went on road trip across the Former Yugoslavia, and we also went camping at the Croatian seaside almost every year. I’ve barely begun travelling by myself. I spent a week in Hungary, ten days in Canary Islands, five weeks in Norway, and a week on the island of Hvar right after that, though I also often go to Germany.

How do you choose your destinations?

I’m a naturalist, an artist, and I like nature and animals. I’m a bit crazy and often tend to set impossible goals for myself. I always look for the most unusual and atypical type of travel or destination, a place no one has visited yet. I picked the first destination because of the animal shelter that received high praise and because I only had to cross one border. The next one I picked because it was exotic, and the plane tickets were cheap. And I chose the third one because I’ve always dreamt of walking the steps no one else has, capturing the moments no one has seen yet, and discovering things no one has known existed. I have never thought about booking with a travel agency or choosing the paths most popular with travellers. If I’m original and unique, then the same should apply to my travels. I wanted to go on a long backpacking trip, such as the Camino de Santiago, but more than 300,000 people walk that path each year. So, I decided to tackle the St. Olav’s Way in Norway, which is traversed by approximately 1,000 people per year. Eventually I wound up in Lofoten with no specific hiking trails, and I never met a single soul on the only road leading through the islands who would be backpacking and camping outdoors every day like I did.

What other places would you like to visit, and which ones are you planning on visiting in the near future?

Ah, that’s an easy question. I want to travel the whole world! I was even thinking about cycling from Estonia through Russia and all the way to northern Finland, but that’s still just an idea. I do handle cold better than others, though, as I like it way better than the scorching heat (though that doesn’t mean I’ll never go to Africa). Next year, when I finish secondary school, I would really like to go, well, I’m actually planning on going on a 13- to 15-month trip to Australia, New Zealand, Finland, Norway (again), Iceland, Greenland, national parks in America, the Philippines or Hawaii, Canada, and Alaska... And I was so fascinated by northern Norway, it was like no other destination before. That’s why I’ll definitely keep the northern waters in mind. Each continent is so very different that I would like to visit all seven of them, but I’m especially fond of the North due to its rough wildness that can already be difficult to find elsewhere. I don’t want to be one of those typical tourists who simply visit something and then move on to the next location, nor do I have enough money to travel like that all year round. I would like to find a job for a few months, maybe even a sponsor for a certain country or certain type of travel, and someone for my personal projects, like a photographer, an explorer, an environmentalist, a cameraman or an artist who would be my mentor. I would most likely combine all this by also volunteering at Workaway.

Do you plan your trips, accommodation and sightseeing? Or do you just make it all up as you go along?

Oh, I really suck at planning! My mum always freaks out when I start packing day ahead and am still looking for things an hour before departure. My whole family is shaking their heads, wondering how I’m going to manage to carry out my whole-year trip that involves very extensive organisation. At least I’ve already planned flights and buses, as I usually buy plane and bus tickets in advance. And if I’m going to stay in an area where wild camping isn’t allowed, I try to search for hostels and things I would maybe like to see. But I’m really bad at this, so I prefer to just wing it and try my luck. It just so happened, by sheer coincidence, that I had the most wonderful experience in Norway.

Do you travel by air, public transport, on foot, or do you hitch-hike?

Actually, all of the above; I travel short distances by bus, and the long ones by air. I really walk a lot, but I’ve only tried to hitch-hike once. I’m the type of person who doesn’t find any place “too far”, so I’d rather walk 25km on foot than wait for a bus. I would also like to try to travel by canoe and by bicycle, and I’ll probably get a chance to try that out next year. The car is still not an option, as I haven’t got my driving licence, but I do want to live in a van or an off-road vehicle and use it to travel the world at some point in the future.

What do you prefer, spending time outdoors or visiting cities and going to museums? What sights do you like to see?

Outdoors, without a second thought. I really don’t like cities. The bigger they are, the more trapped I feel in them. I don’t like crowds; even when I take the bus in the bitter winter weather, when I can’t use my bicycle, I get claustrophobic. I need air, nature, trees, grass, animals, and freedom. The Alaskan wilderness is definitely ten places higher on my bucket list than Hawaii. I also don’t like sights; there are already thousands of pictures and blogs about them, so you don’t really experience that special feeling when you visit the place. Not to mention the ubiquitous crowds of tourists. However, if I do happen to visit a sight or two, it’s usually an art museum or a natural monument.

Do you save money for your trips? Does this present a huge expense, or do you manage money more carefully?

It’s always good to know what you want to see and then to pursue your aim with patience. I’ve been saving up since I was nine, and I’ve also been saving all the money I got for my birthday or Christmas as well as my scholarship for the last three years. I always found it pointless to spend money on new clothes, make-up, coffee or other type of drink, compared to buying a plane ticket, which is a bit more expensive, and consequently gaining an experience that’s a hundred times more valuable. I only wore one pair of trousers in Norway every day for five weeks. Even when I travel, I don’t stay at a hotel but rather at a hostel or in a tent, if possible. I always cook my own food and wash my clothes in a stream or a sink. But I do stick to the advice my parents gave me, which is that taking travelling to the extreme isn’t really enjoyable and that I shouldn’t always worry too much about money and should rather buy myself something special instead, something that would mean a lot to me.

Do you also travel during school term or just during school holidays?

Well, until I finish school, I’m only travelling during holidays. Unfortunately, all holidays are way too short, if you ask me. I can’t wait to finally finish my last year at secondary school and then focus on my world travel challenges. This year, I decided to go on a 13- to 15-month trip, so basically a yearlong trip, mostly outside Europe.

Ela doesn’t wait for the right moment to set out for an adventure. She knows that moment will never come. On her journey to dreams, she follows her heart around the world. You can read more about her future travels, breaking a fever in Hungary, and her favourite destination in our next issue.