@Mikel TnT We can check this out! https://www.brilliant-uganda.com/mountains-of-the-moon

Last year I went to Norway again, as I went and did a south to north trip in 2023. Meeting up with my friends Sunniva and Fredrik that live up north(near Evenskjer) and being able to stay at their place for a while. I wanted to go back because I had barely any time during my 2023 trip to go out and properly hike up mountains. One of the days, Sunniva needed to go to her parents for her dads birthday party. So we went for a "quick" drive over. So a short 3 hours later we arrive there. I think it was around 13:00. Roughly 1 hour later more people arrived and the language for conversation switched to Norse(for obvious reasons). An hour later Fredrik was also a bit done with the party and we decided to hike up the nearest mountain called Fløya. Going up to Djevilporten. Originally this was a fully unpaved path, but a lot of tourists come there now, so Norway has asked Sherpa's from Nepal to make some Sherpa stairs(Called the Djeveltrappa here). Fortunately it is still incomplete right now, as it made the hike a lot easier. It still took us quite a while to get up there and longer then Fredrik thought it would take. He blamed his lack of stamina, though I have to admit, we had a pretty good pace going. Still only took about half the predicted time. And their are loads of small places to take a break. There are many beautiful places overlooking Svolvær, the local town. After you get to the top of Djeveltrappa, you get to a flat area, from where you can decide to go to 3 different places. We chose to go towards Djevelporten. Which is a couple hundred meters straight up, after walking across a marsh, again with partial stairs. This part however is incredibly steep. I'd love to add a picture to show exactly how steep it was, but its simply not visible on the pictures I took. So to get to Djevelporten we had go up another 200 meters, while the path is maybe 2m wide. I had figured this to be a major issue for my fear of heights. It never bothered me until we actually got to Djevelporten, which is this big rock suspended between 2 mountainsides, above a rather several hundred meter high canyon.

🧗It may not come of a surprise for those who know me that I like hanging from a cliff 😅 What makes this anecdote different is that, this time, to get that epic photo, I had an unexpected hidden tax for my vanity: getting my sleeping bag nibbled by a goat! Last july, after experiencing the san fermines in full length for 11 days, I needed a break from the hyper crowded streets of Pamplona 🎊 and all the high emotions that come from running from bulls 🏃‍♂️ 🐂 a few times and live to tell the story. So I took a weekend off to do something less intense, like standing on a ledge somewhere in the mountains... You know... something... chill 😜 I ended up hiking to this beautiful place you see on the picture. Upon my arrival I saw this goat 🐐 and snapped a picture of it 📸 all while thinking 💭 "I definitely want a picture sitting there" Little did I know I was taking a picture of the future culprit 😈 Goats do eat everything. I was alone and and didn't have a tripod (it had been stomped and broke days before 😔) So I had to get creative. I placed my backpack 🎒 in the floor to the appropriate height for a good frame and put my sleeping bag on top of it to support and hold my phone in the right position 🖼️ then I went to sit face the abyss and use the Bluetooth remote to get some shoots. ⏱️ In a matter of seconds sneaky goat that had been lurking nearby 🥷, reappeared and took interest on my belongings and decided it wanted a taste of my gear. 👅 I was relatively far I try to use the only rock I could find next to me to deter it, 🪨 but apparently my sleep system was delicious and the animal didn't not budge at all, 🎯 despite a surprising good throw. 🤨 Then I rushed as quickly as I could, ⚡ considering that I couldn't just be careless about my footing or I would fall off to the precipice ⚠️ By the time I got to chase the glutton away, the damage was done. 😬 There were two big holes on it. 🕳️Fortunately, the sleeping bag is synthetic and not down, so no bigger feathery mess at least. 👍

Russian tundra. Mid-summer feels like late autumn, it rains almost every day. But I am there to explore this misty place that people like to talk about in legends. There is a stone in before the entrance to the pass - I stop to talk with local ''spirits'' asking them to allow to walk in there safely. The plan is to walk for 5 days, the terrain is brutal - bogs that could be dangerous, small paths in the dense forest. The energy around the place is weird. Everyone can feel it - travellers respect these places as many people have died doing this pass or got lost out of the blue. The walk is around the lake. What can go wrong? You don't need navigation to walk around the lake. But it's not an easy place. The nature behind the Arctic Circle is simply treacherous. The area has only one connection through the mountain pass - to the small village that is engaged in the extraction of useful metals, and everything else in the area is an endless expanse that stretches for thousands of kilometres to the North Pole without a single settlement. Feels eerie. I walk for 4 days, and slept for 4 nights. Almost always in small rain. Crossing river at some point where I had to almost swim and dry my clothes in the water around 5 degrees. On my last day I met two guys who had been sitting in a tent in one spot for 3 days and did not want to move anywhere in this weather. But I wanted to get out. It seemed to be the easiest part of the hike and I've been there before. That day I wanted to go to the pass that leads back to the village, the path should have been visible, but because of the rain that went into the lake, everything was flooded and the paths turned into rivers. And I lost my way. I walked ankle deep in the water, trying to remember landmarks, the water was freezing cold. It started to rain. I walked for several hours, completely frozen and weak, and at some point I realised I was walking in the wrong direction. It was snowing. That was the first time I realised the fragility of man in the face of nature, when I felt a quiet panic and when I really was not just scared, but felt an incredible depth of helplessness. There was silence all around, just the water flowing soullessly over the stones, and my head was exploding with tension.

Since I was a kid, I’d dreamed of going to Australia, but money and health always got in the way. At the start of 2024, I decided this was the year. My health was in a good place, and I didn’t want to risk waiting in case things took a turn. Two weeks later, I was on my first long-haul flight, heading off on my biggest solo adventure yet. I spent my time in Perth and a tiny island called Malloy Island, soaking in the beauty of Australia while unknowingly ticking off multiple bucket list goals: ✅ Leave Europe for the first time – Straight to Australia! ✅ Fly a plane – Yes, really. More on that below. 😅 ✅ Swim and stroke stingrays – Majestic, slightly terrifying, 10/10 would do again. ✅ Catch a fish – Or six. Who knew I had hidden fishing skills? 🎣 The most unexpected? Flying a plane. A casual suggestion from my friend: “Wanna fly my plane at sunset?” Me: ”…Obviously, yes.” Now, this wasn’t just any plane. It was one he had repaired after it had broken (which, in hindsight, I probably should have questioned more). So there I was, in a tiny, slightly sketchy flying tin can, soaring over the Australian coastline at sunset. Absolutely breathtaking. Absolutely terrifying. And in that moment, I realised… I really don’t enjoy being in control of an aircraft. 🚀😂 But I came back from that trip proud, not just for the things I did, but for proving to myself that I can travel the world now. No more waiting, no more “one day.” I’m healthy enough to go after it, and that’s exactly what I plan to do. 💫 Would you ever fly a tiny plane like that, or is that a hard pass for you? 👀✈️