One of my most memorable experiences while traveling has to be backpacking at Jotunheimen National Park in Norway during the summer of 2023. Hiking has always been a passion of mine. According to my parents, my first (somewhat) coherent sentence was, “I want to go outside.” Norway had been on my bucket list for years. This was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience. The first thing I did on this trip was explore the city of Oslo. I remember stepping into the Norwegian Museum of Cultural History, and it was akin to stepping back in time. I then took a bus to the beautiful city of Bergen, where I tried all types of seafood at the Fish Market. They had all kinds of strange meals, including whales, sharks, and even urchins. Crazy! Hiking around the city of Bergen was something out of this world. The entire town stands in a fjord, and I can confidently say that Norwegian fjords are some of the most beautiful scenery in the world.
The highlight was, of course, backpacking Jotunheimen. I trekked kilometer after kilometer for a week, staying in random DNT (Norwegian Trekking Association) cabins along the way. My DNT membership was extremely cheap, $60 in total! I was provided with access to every DNT trail across the nation of Norway. The mountains, the valleys, and the endless fields of flowers were all unbelievable. I believe it was so memorable because I was able to experience all of this at the relatively young age of 18. The experience marked a turning point in my life. The raw essence of the world, Earth itself, adds a unique and human character to all of its witnesses. Before people even defined beauty, before anything materialistic or even humanistic, all we had were our magnificent landscapes shaped across eons. The Earth is fucking awesome.