From bomb shelters to beach views to a bungled kidnapping attempt, Arjun Malaviya’s year-long, record-breaking journey was far from the average teenager’s gap year.
The 19-year-old student become the youngest person in history to visit 100 countries solo – and the youngest to visit every country in Oceania.
Over 13 months, Arjun, who studies engineering at the University of California in Santa Barbara, travelled from Afghanistan to Papua New Guinea, Colombia to Iceland – all on a budget of just $22,500 (£16,686).
Academically advanced, the young adventurer finished high school at 16 with two years of college credits.
Instead of heading straight to university, he spent two years working full-time as an administrative assistant and part-time tennis coach – saving every cent for his epic journey with no assistance from his parents.
He left on his 17th birthday, planning a route that gradually increased in difficulty – starting with Southeast Asia, then Europe, the Pacific, South America, and finally the Middle East.
He planned every aspect meticulously: eating cheap local food, booking trains, buses and budget flights, and sometimes spending no more than three to four days in each country.
Tiny nations such as San Marino, Nauru, and Liechtenstein were done in a matter of hours, while larger and more complex destinations, like Iran, Colombia or Switzerland needed a week to navigate.
Arjun Malaviya, a 19-year-old student from California, become the youngest person in history to visit 100 countries solo – and the youngest to visit every country in Oceania (Arjun in Damascus, Syria)
He left on his 17th birthday, planning a route that gradually increased in difficulty – starting with Southeast Asia , then Europe, the Pacific, South America, and finally the Middle East (pictured: Arjun at the Christ Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
The teenager insisted he didn’t waste time partying or sitting by idly, adding: ‘I was roughing it out, sleeping in airports, sleeping on couches, waking up with crabs on my bed, like all sorts of random stuff.
‘But I was also very disciplined about my time. I did not ever stay out at night or anything. It was mostly just exploring from like 5am to 10pm every day, solely just sightseeing.’
Some of Arjun’s experiences were unforgettable during the trip – for better or worse.
Among his favourite destinations were Iceland and Bolivia, which he praised for their staggering natural beauty, along with Syria, Papua New Guinea, Madagascar and Palau.
He also spoke highly of Middle Eastern nations such as Afghanistan and Iran for their contrast to how they’re portrayed in Western media.
He said: ‘They’re so different from what I see on a day to day basis that it was just like jaw dropping to me. Afghanistan, of course, daily life is just so different and just fascinating.’
While he refused to outright name his least-favourite destinations, Arjun hinted at heavily touristed hotspots in Europe and Southeast Asia.
He explained: ‘When I went, for example, to a supermarket in Thailand, if you didn’t tell me that I was in Thailand and just stuck me in that supermarket, I could have thought it was in my own hometown, because everything was American.’
Arjun with the local kids from a village he stayed in during his time visiting Papua New Guinea
Arjun at Palau’s Milky Way lagoon – the country in the Pacific Ocean remains one of his favourite places
But Arjun’s journey wasn’t all roses – in Moldova, while travelling near the Ukrainian border in 2023, he was forced to evacuate to a bomb shelter after an airstrike alarm was triggered. He described the ordeal as ‘worrying’ at the time.
In Venezuela, while waiting for a flight to Colombia, he was detained at the airport for two hours by authorities who believed he was a runaway American minor – or as Arjun put it: ‘fleeing parental control.’
With no Wi-Fi and limited Spanish, he used Google translate to talk his way out and convince them to review CCTV footage to prove he had entered the country solo.
But perhaps the most harrowing experience came in a Southeast Asian country where he was nearly kidnapped by locals who had offered him a ride to a village.
He declined to name the country as his ordeal with a select number of residents was not how he wanted the entire population to be depicted.
After inviting him to dine at a resident’s house and refusing to let him leave, he was held at gunpoint and coerced into paying a $50 ‘ransom’ – a small amount by Western standards but a significant sum in the local economy.
Arjun explained: ‘We visit some pagodas, and we see the pythons, and we visit the supermarket and stuff. We start going down into this village, and I get [to the uncle’s house], and then they start pressing me for money.
‘We sit down for snack, straights, they don’t let me leave. And then I think they had some family friends who were in the local enforcement with the guns.
Nauru is the ‘least-visited country on earth’ – here is Arjun with some of the local children.
‘Eventually, I gave them $50, which doesn’t seem like much but over there that’s a lot of money, and then I was able to finally leave.
‘I just ran straight across to the dock, paid a guy to take me across the river and ran back. That was scary.’
To avoid drawing attention in high-risk areas, as he noted there were risks of ‘being trafficked’ as a 17-year-old solo traveller at the time, Arjun joked he tried to grow a stubble and ‘tone down’ his American identity.
With 100 countries now ticked off, Arjun isn’t slowing down just yet.
In a few weeks, he plans to visit Russia and Belarus as he hopes to become the second youngest person to visit every country in Europe.
The Russia-Ukraine war isn’t warding him off either, as he explained: ‘Russia and Belarus are my last two in Europe. I just want to get it done. With Russia, I’ve always been fascinated by their history and culture and music. I think it’s a beautiful country.’
In a few weeks, Arjun plans to visit Russia and Belarus as he hopes to become the second-youngest person to visit every country in Europe (pictured: a village in Myanmar)
With his eyes set on another rarely-accomplished feat – visiting all 195 UN-recognised nations – he also shared his plan to tour Africa some point, adding: ‘Next for me would be to just get go through Africa.
‘That’s a big goal of mine, to just see all that beautiful culture that’s inside of Africa, because I’ve barely been – especially in Sub-Saharan Africa, Kenya, Rwanda and Congo.
His final word of advice for those who are planning a similar challenge? He said: ‘There’s going to be situations you didn’t expect. But instead of getting flustered or razzled, the biggest thing is to just feel comfortable with yourself no matter what.
‘Just go and travel. It teaches you so much. I’ve learned so many life skills by doing it. Like I demonstrated, the amount I spent traveling for 13 months to see 100 countries is less than how much it would have been to rent out a one bedroom apartment in my town for twelve months.’
This article was originally published by a www.dailymail.co.uk . Read the Original article here. .