Jonas (35) travels to West Africa by bus and train

Jonas Ali Ghanizadeh (35) will travel 7,500 kilometers from Trondheim to Gambia in West Africa – just by train and bus.

“I alternate between thinking this is fun and wondering, ‘What am I doing?’” he says.

Intense trip

Jonas started the journey from Trondheim on 7 May. When Turdby spoke to him on the phone on Tuesday morning, he had just arrived in Madrid.

The alarm has been ringing between 04.00 and 06.00 AM for the past few days.

– Of course he's tired. You have to wake up early to cover long distances in one day.

It is now the most comfortable part of the journey, with the most modern trains in Europe. It will get worse.

Vera and Marie from Trondheim traveled all over Europe – absolutely free

Random destination

Statistics from Eurostat It shows that each Norwegian on average will travel abroad twice as much as the average European citizen in 2022, but only One in ten Norwegians We are ready to reduce the number of flights to protect the climate.

At his home in Trondheim, Jonas works, among other things, as a politician in the field of the Millennium Development Goals.

-I'm concerned about the environment, but the fact that I don't travel by plane is mostly because I like to travel by public transportation. “I see the journey as the experience itself,” he says.

It is truly a coincidence that the final destination on the trip is Gambia.

– I mainly wanted to see how far it was possible to travel on public transportation before it became too difficult. After Gambia, I knew it would be difficult, and then I would have to go home in June to work anyway. He reiterates that the journey is the experience.

Gustave Fitzoe at a star-studded party in New York

Hard trip

Jonas has to change transportation in several countries on his way to Gambia.

The trip so far includes eleven countries: Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Belgium, France, Spain, Morocco, Mauritania, Senegal and Gambia.

– In Europe, most buses arrive on time, but there are likely to be more challenges the further south you get. In many countries, they barely speak English and have hopeless public transportation systems, so it can be exciting.

Further south, many tiring bus journeys await. One of them lasts 21 hours.

You've been celebrating for thirteen days straight: – It's a great atmosphere

Keep it cheap

Jonas expects to spend about a month on the trip. He booked a plane ticket back to Norway at the beginning of June. If everything goes according to plan, he does it.

In total, he has a budget of NOK 25,000 for the trip.

– But to be honest, I don't have a complete overview at the moment of how much it will cost. Unexpected costs are likely to arise. I have a buffer in case this happens.

Little with him

The backpack is packed as lightly as possible. There, there are only the essentials such as a change of clothes, thin fleece, training clothes, a toiletry bag and first aid kit.

-I also have a fair number of power banks, because there are a lot of people who find it interesting to follow them. I update social media during the trip.

His videos about the trip have already received hundreds of thousands of views on Tiktok.

An unusual move brought Anita several job offers: – I don't know if this has been done before

– Scary sometimes

Personally, the feeling of completion of the phase of living in hostels and inns.

-So I go to hotels most often. Not the most expensive then. As long as it's clean, I'm happy.

-Is it scary to travel alone to many unknown countries?

– Yes, sometimes, but many have made this journey before me. I'm not the first in the world. The most important thing is to behave respectfully in the country you are visiting and not do stupid things, then it will be fine, says Jonas.

-I think the biggest challenge will be traveling and staying in countries where they don't speak much English. It can be interesting to negotiate taxi prices!

-We don't wait for phone calls about parties. We create our own