My worst travel moments of 2019

2019 was another great travel year for me, taking me to many beautiful new destinations and back to some of my favourites. But travelling all over the world also comes with its challenges and hardships.

My aim with this blog is to give a real insight into life on the road, which – despite what Instagram may give you an impression of – is not always a bed of roses. In 2016, I lost my luggage in Jakarta and was woken up by two earthquakes in Fukuoka. In 2017, I thought I was about to get kidnapped in Iran and slept in an airport toilet in Luxembourg. And in 2018, I had a rabies scare, missed a flight to Cusco and got food poisoning in Lima. 2019 also had its fair share of mishaps. Brace yourself – here are my worst travel experiences of 2019:

Leaving Nuuk after five months

Life had never been better than during my five months in Nuuk. I was on a constant adventure, living with four wonderful girls, making new friends, exploring a beautiful city every day, hiking in the mountains, attending interesting courses at the university, and just in general having so much fun. For Christmas and New Years, I even had my family over so I could share my love for Nuuk with them!

Needless to say, I felt terrible when I had to leave my new community and place of my heart behind. My five-month stay in Nuuk came to an end on February 4th, and although I was very excited to go home to see my family (and kittie!), I’m so bad at goodbyes that I cried all the way to Reykjavík, my first stop. I’ve never been good with goodbyes, but this one was one of the hardest yet. And it didn’t help when four friends showed up unannounced at the airport to say goodbye. Oh, the tears!

Read more: Goodbye Greenland: Leaving Nuuk after five wonderful months

The camping fail on Nólsoy

During my last week on Nólsoy in the Faroe Islands in May, I set out for a camping adventure at Borðan at the southernmost point on the island. But I hadn’t quite prepared myself well enough. I hadn’t brought a sleeping mat or a sleeping bag to the island, so instead, I opted for a blanket and hoped it would keep me warm during the night.

The 6 km hiking trip to the lighthouse at Borðan (+ a 3 km detour to another lighthouse) had gone well, apart from my leg getting overstrained. But just minutes after I’d laid down in my tent, covered by just a blanket, I started to freeze, and I realized that I couldn’t stay there all night. I had to hike back to the village of Nólsoy where I had a warm and comfortable bed.

Hiking back at night would’ve been a fun adventure, had it not been for my overstrained leg, caused by too many days spent on the sofa writing my thesis. Halfway through my hike home, my left leg also gave way, so I had to drag myself along on two overstrained legs.

The hike home took forever. I started at midnight and took so many breaks along the way to rest my legs that it took me 4 hours and 15 minutes (instead of the usual 2,5 hours…). On the positive side, it was quite an adventure to hike in the middle of the night, and it was also a beautiful clear night. But nothing has ever felt better than when I finally saw the lights of the tiny village. I made it!

Read more: Hiking in the night: A camping misadventure at Borđan

The Russian visa ordeal

Applying for visas is always a nuisance, and the Russian one is notorious for being especially difficult to get. I’d already gotten a transit visa to Russia in 2018, which wasn’t too much of a hassle, but this summer, I needed to get a humanitarian visa as I was travelling to the forest steppe near Chelyabinsk to join an archaeological excavation for five weeks.

The invitation letter from the university took ages to come, and when it finally did, I was on the Faroe Islands. I’d hoped to have the visa sorted before travelling there, but instead, I had to cut my planned two-month stay short, so I went back to Denmark after just six weeks. I then had just over two weeks to get everything sorted before flying off to Russia at the end of May.

I travelled to Copenhagen to apply for my visa, and decided (luckily!) to pay extra for an express visa. There are so many details that have to be perfect on the application and so many documents to provide, and I made a few mistakes, meaning that I had to go to a printing service to reprint everything twice, before I could finally hand in my application and passport.

But this ordeal was nothing compared to what awaited me. When I returned to Copenhagen on the agreed date, just a week before my departure to Russia, I was hoping for a quick pickup of my passport and visa. But nope…. When I arrived at the visa application centre, it was packed. I stood in line for ages and saw person after person being rejected. Their passports hadn’t arrived yet. Even though they were there on the agreed pickup date. A poor lady who should’ve been travelling that same night was also rejected, so I really feared that the same would happen to me. Shortly before my turn, the lady behind the counter said that all visas applied for after the 13th weren’t even started on yet, and wouldn’t be ready until Thursday the following week. I applied on the 14th and was leaving three days earlier, on the Monday…

I was so close to just crying and giving up, but then decided to give it a go anyways. The lady told me that there was no way my visa would be ready, but when she flicked through the pile, I saw my face and screamed “that’s me, that’s me!” while jumping up and down! I must’ve looked like a real idiot, but who cares, because I GOT MY VISA, and could fly off to Russia for new adventures!

Almost getting pickpocketed in Barcelona

I was in transit in Barcelona, on my way from Nice to Málaga, when two young boys approached me. I was in a park with no one else around, but when they first asked to drink the rest of my orange juice, I thought nothing of it. It was a hot summer day, after all. But moments later, they tried to open my food and obviously trick me into stealing my bag. But I had a firm grip on it and was quick to get away.

Minutes later, I saw them again across the park, stealing from a sleeping guy. Another guy shouted at them to stop, but they just ran off.

I’m not a huge fan of Barcelona to begin with (the most overrated city in the world if you ask me), and this definitely didn’t help to change my mind.

Severe travel burnout

Travel burnout doesn’t just happen to those that spend months on end on the road – it can also happen during short trips.

It happened to me this summer during my month-long journey around Southern Europe. I had planned a tight itinerary, going through nine countries and territories in four weeks. By the time I got to Melilla, just a week in, I was already exhausted. I decided then that I would cut Morocco from my plans and take it slower through the rest of my destinations.

This decision helped tremendously, but even with five extra days to spend in the remaining destinations, I was constantly on the go. The busy schedule mixed with writing my BA thesis on the go had me constantly exhausted. I’ve never felt such exhaustion from a trip before, and I’ve also never been so excited for a trip to be over when that time finally came.

I learned a lot from this trip, mainly to take it slower when I travel, even if there’s a lot I want to see in a short amount of time.

A bad hostel experience in Madrid

One of my last destinations on my Southern Europe trip was Madrid, a city I’d wanted to explore for as long as I can remember. Unfortunately, I had a bad experience at a hostel there.

When I first checked in, I was alone with three guys in my dorm, who kept talking about me in Spanish (I took Spanish for five years and although it’s ages ago, I could understand some of it). One of the guys kept staring at me intensely, which obviously made me feel very uncomfortable. I requested to change rooms, but unfortunately, the hostel was full. Thankfully, another girl checked into our room later, which made me feel safer.

But at 5.30 AM, I woke up to the sound of two of the guys talking loudly across the room to each other. So incredibly rude. I had to ask them TWICE to kindly be quiet. Those guys made me feel so uncomfortable that I slept with all of my belongings on me as I didn’t feel that they would be safe in a locker…

Getting my bag stolen in Bilbao

It was my last day in Bilbao, and my second last day on the trip through Southern Europe. I had originally planned on going to San Sebastian, but I liked Bilbao so much that I decided to stay there for an extra day instead. My plan was to go to a park to eat my breakfast and then head into the mountains for some hiking.

Well.. I never got that far. I was sitting on a bench in a park in the city center, my two bags on either side of me, casually eating my breakfast while surfing the internet when a guy sitting on a bench behind me started talking to me. I had noticed that two guys were coming up near me from the other side, so I pulled my bags closer to me, thinking nothing more of it. I didn’t understand what the guy had said to me, and when I looked back at the bag to my left, it was gone. It had everything important inside it; my passport, driver’s licence, medical cards, credit card, all of my cash, my train ticket, everything. I suddenly understood what the guy had been doing – he had been distracting me, and the two other guys had run off with my bag. I quickly grabbed my camera and shoved it into my backpack, and then started running while frantically screaming for others to help me.

A man walking five dogs pointed in one direction and ran with me. The thought hit me that he was also part of the thief team, but I had to trust him. It turned out that he was right, because I suddenly saw the two guys quite a way ahead of me and shouted even louder at people to please help. Another guy joined the hunt and we ran until we couldn’t run anymore. According to some witnesses, the two guys had disappeared into a parking lot, but in the mean time, the second guy had called the police who came in a flash. They told me to stay put while they searched the area for the two men and my stolen bag.

Reality hadn’t hit, adrenaline was pumping through my body, and I couldn’t think straight. I started thinking about all the stuff I’d need to replace. My passport, my credit cards, my driver’s license. The bag also contained my house keys and a medical card with my address which made me scared that they would come to Denmark and break into the house. I was worried about how I would get home with no passport. I’d also lost my train ticket to Madrid, where I was about to fly home from two days later. The bag also contained a picture of my newborn niece, and it made me sick to my stomach to think that those thieves would have that picture. But the worst thing was the fear of identity theft. I couldn’t stand the thought of living my life in fear of someone stealing my identity. I started sobbing and I couldn’t stop, but one of the guys had stayed behind and tried to calm me down.

We waited for what seemed like forever, but in reality I think it was only about 20 minutes. Two of the policemen came back with nothing. They stayed with me and the other guy left after I’d said a million thanks to him. He was such a darling for being there for me! The policemen tried to calm me down, and I heard them talking to other policemen on the phone. I felt sure that the thieves would’ve escaped by now, either by car, metro or taxi. All hope really seemed lost for me, but they said there was still a chance. I had to believe them.

Some moments later, two other policemen appeared, one carrying a red backpack. I felt completely disheartened as mine was a black shoulder bag. One of the policemen pulled out a cap from the backpack, and then there it was – he pulled my bag out too! I ACTUALLY GOT IT BACK – and EVERYTHING was still in there!! I was so relieved that I started crying even more and hugged the four policemen and thanked them so much for helping me. “It’s just our job”, one of the guys said. I guess it is, but if this had happened in a larger city where petty crime is more common, such as Madrid or Barcelona, I wouldn’t have gotten the help I did. I was so thankful that the four of them took time to help me with my missing bag.

The thieves had obviously put my bag into the (probably stolen) backpack and then thrown it away when they heard the police. Thank goodness they were cowards.

After thanking the policemen a million times, I was driven to the police station where I had to file a report. I had a sore throat from all the shouting, and I still felt like crying even though I had my bag back. I couldn’t believe I’d been such an idiot for leaving my bag beside me – and also to be carrying everything in the same bag! I’m usually very cautious about my belongings and I keep everything on my person, but Bilbao felt so safe and I was in a park full of other people that I didn’t in any way imagine something like that happening. Looking back, I realize now how stupid I was for getting distracted by the guy, who held my attention for way too long by speaking gibberish. I’d never in my life had anything stolen before despite having travelled in over 70 countries. For it to happen in Bilbao was unbelieveable, but I can’t express the gratefulness I felt towards the guys who helped and the incredible policemen of Bilbao.

One good thing came from this experience: I’ve learned my lesson. I will NEVER leave my bag unattended again. It will be on my person forever and always when I travel.

The death of my feet during a trek to Kapisillit

On day one of a four-day trek to Kapisillit in Greenland in September, it rained all day, drenching me and my two friends from top to toe. Sleeping in cold and damp shelters with no trees around to make a fire, the chances of getting dry were slim, and thus, we had to live with wet feet for the remaining days of our trek.

At first, it wasn’t too bad. I was slower than the two guys I was with, but I could keep up. But during day three, my feet got incredibly painful and they only got worse the more I trekked. Day three consisted of mostly beaches with sharp rocks and dense short forests with high roots, a combination that completely killed my feet and twisted my ankles on multiple occasions. I got blisters all over my feet, and my wet shoes only made it worse. It made it almost unbearable to walk, and on day four, I was walking at snail’s pace, basically dragging myself along. Thankfully, the terrain in the beginning of the day was a lot easier than the day before, but the last stretch involved more rocky beaches and dense vegetation. It got to the point where I almost couldn’t walk anymore, and I had to support myself to the guys to conquer the last stretch to the village. It was hands-down the most painful thing I experienced in 2019 – maybe even in my life.

In the days following the trek, my feet were incredibly itchy as they regenerated themselves. It definitely ruined my plans of more hiking around Nuuk, but it had been worth it for the incredible adventure that trekking to Kapisillit was.

Read more: Into the Greenlandic wilderness: A four-day trek to Kapisillit

The break-in at the museum in Tasiilaq

I was two weeks in on an internship at the local museum in Tasiilaq in East Greenland that I was doing this autumn, when a terrible sight met me.

The museum director was out of town, so I went to work alone that day. I was expecting a quiet day at the office, but it became the opposite as the museum got broken into the night before. I saw some artifacts lying around outside the building and got suspicious, and then I saw that a window was broken. I didn’t open the door as I was scared that the intruders would still be in there, so I just called the police. They came straight away and opened the door to a terrible scene. The majority of the showcases were smashed, and several artifacts had been ruined. There was shattered glass all over the floor, and the office had been torn apart. It was a horrifying sight. I can’t believe anyone would break into anywhere, let alone a museum with irreplaceable artifacts.

Thankfully, the intruders have since been caught and the museum will open up again for the summer season.

Losing Ayla and Qimo

The worst thing that happened to me in 2019 also happened in Tasiilaq. I had met and fallen in love with two puppies, Ayla and Qimo, a pair of siblings belonging to my friend Daniel. Ayla was quite a bit smaller than Qimo, and it was unlikely that she could be used as a sled dog, so I had considered adopting her if it was in any way possible. I was so in love with them both.

I visited them every day and spent hours cuddling and feeding them so I was devastated when I learned that Qimo was sick. November 5th turned out to be the worst day of 2019 as Qimo died from his illness and I found Ayla dead a few meters from him, bitten to death by a loose dog. I cried so much as I held them in my arms and laid them by their poor mother, who had now lost all six of her puppies.

Losing them felt like losing two beloved pets who I’d had for years. I loved them so much, and I still do. I still think of them once in a while, and although I am thankful to have met them, it’s still incredibly painful. I will forever love and miss them.

2019 had its mishaps and challenges, and one very sad day, but overall, it was a good year. Now that you’ve read through my worst travel moments of 2019, why not have a look at the list of my BEST travel moments of 2019? Those are, after all, the moments that I will remember and cherish forever.