I spent 3 incredible weeks living off-grid in a remote eco-village in Georgia, washing my clothes by hand and bathing in a freezing river. But while I was finding peace in the mountains, my mind was racing—I had to find a way to cross the Russian border to continue my hitchhiking journey to Australia without flying.
Thi video is full of emotions, perfectly describing what these overland adventures as a solo female traveler feel like:
I take you inside the daily life of an eco-community and the stressful 3-day mission in Tbilisi to secure a visa and a ride through 700km of Russian territory. between the sense of community and the political tension of the city, this was one of the most challenging chapters of my solo travel journey.
If you love adventure travel, solo journeys, overland travel and off-grid living, you’ll likely enjoy this video too! 😊
If you want to find volunteering opportunities like this eco-village, I highly recommend using Worldpackers (use code SUSTAINABLE10 for $10 off 🫶). You can find projects in many other areas beyond sustainability, such as teaching, hostels, working with NGOs, and more:
👉 https://tinyurl.com/WP-Sustainable10
📍 My journey so far since I left Portugal
🌍 Watch the journey from the beginning (Season 1 – Europe)
https://tinyurl.com/Season1-Europe
🌍 Continue the journey across West Asia (Season 2)
https://tinyurl.com/Season2-West-Asia
🎥 The moment I learned to trust my gut even more
Episodes
0:00 Intro
0:28 Eco-village Georgia
1:18 The big obstacle: Crossing the Caspian Sea
2:22 Hitchhiking alone again (Overcoming fear)
3:08 Day 1 at the visa center: Feeling Hopeful
4:28 How we live at an Eco-Village
6:41 Day 2 Visa Center: Rejection & The overlander community
9:05 Day 3: The last chance, All or nothing
10:28 Hitchhiking back with a friend
11:43 An unexpected stay with a local community
12:15 Georgia’s geopolitical context
14:51 2-Day Hike in the Caucasus mountains
17:18 Saying goodbye to the community
18:12 Next: Crossing the Russian Border
🧭 About this journey
• Route: Portugal → Australia (overland)
• Travel style: hitchhiking, camping, couchsurfing
• Themes: borders & bureaucracy, solo female travel, safety & resilience, female solidarity, community and healing
#solotravel #georgia #offgrid #hitchhiking #russia
#travelvlog #portugalaustralia
20 Comments
If you want to find volunteering opportunities like this, I highly recommend using Worldpackers (use code SUSTAINABLE10 for $10 off 🫶). You can find projects in many other settings beyond eco-villages, such as teaching, hostels, NGO’s, working with animals, etc:
👉 https://tinyurl.com/WP-Sustainable10
Btw, what do you think about the video style? I am trying to not spend so much time talking about the hitchhiking itself (getting to the place, finding cardboard, waiting, showing every single ride, etc). I think I will rather start focusing the video on the things that have more content, and just show you very briefly the hitchhiking/finding places to sleep process.
So each video has a lot more value and is less boring I guess.
And since you always ask: I’m back in China right now. Doing a visa run before returning to Vietnam, but I will take a few weeks to explore Yunnan. I don’t have my computer with me to explore more freely, so the next video will take some time
Thank you for being here once again🫶
Wow, that was an interesting episode. So glad you met with new good-vibed people and had a good time at the eco village. You look so different. More relaxed and happy and, dare I say it, well rested.
Well done on persisting at the visa office. The French couple looks like a good team. Hope you are doing well in the present, wherever you are, and I will be waiting for a next video with new adventures.
I was just thinking about how you were doing, and then bam! turns out i missed your last upload so now i get to watch two in a row yay c:
ooo nice editing this time around!
Safest route could be Iran
Such a well made video and such an underrated channel. Personally I find your trip very inspiring. Loved seeing your experience volunteering at the eco village! For someone like me who's looking to try volunteering abroad it is very valuable 😊
While the hitchhiking process is interesting to see, I think focusing more on the content and experience of your travels like you did here was a refreshing take. Of course you don't always have that option when you're mostly on the road. But I love how you always include the conversations you have with the driver.
Keep it up!
What an incredible adventure!! Well done girl xx
Why would you apply for a transit visa when you could get evisa for 40 dollars?
Great editing, and a very inspiring video! It makes me feel emotions that I even forgot could be felt during the school year at a Uni. Thank you for making me look forward to the summer!!!
Nice work!
It was lovely to see your life in the eco-village! Perseverance paid off in getting round the Caspian Sea!
Never heard about the overlander community before watching this video and it's so weird to think that you did your first more-than-one-day hike some months after the beginning of your journey considering what you told us you did in Central Asia in that Short (so sorry for the vagueposting, it's just out of respect to people who don't want spoilers). I guess there's a first time for everything, right? Like my first time hitchhiking which is going to happen… Tomorrow. Yeah, I'm finally doing it too!!! 🎉 thank you so much for being an inspiration, Ana 😊 this video came out just in time to send me the last bit of energy needed to make Turin-Amsterdam in one week doable for someone who has hardly ever seen a highroad 👍 can't wait to see what will happen! Stay safe out there and may your rides be smooth 💪
We love Quentin 🥰🥰🥰
I think this was one of the best videos so far, the editing was really good + it had a very happy and hopeful feeling
Although I also find the ‘heavy’ and serious episodes very interesting and engaging, this video was just very pleasant overall
I’m super excited to see the rest of the journey!
(Also loved the podcast you did!)
Boa sorte e boas energias!
That eco village looked peaceful 🙂
I think your video is very nice but too short. For example, I would like to see longer videos of your nature walks, camping, etc. I want to do that too 🙂 I even considered traveling from Turkey-Russia to Mongolia, but I heard from you that train tickets to Russia are expensive. Maybe I should spend a little more time in Türkiye 🙂 The Lycian Way, the Church of the Virgin Mary in Ephesus, etc. 🙂
What an amazing experience – seeing the real world there! Good luck on your next segment!
12:42 — in 2008 Ukraine strongly supported Georgia. It officially condemned Russia’s aggression, provided humanitarian aid, restricted the movements of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, and Yushchenko himself flew to Tbilisi with other European leaders to attend a massive solidarity rally.
This guy is either misinformed or repeating a Russian narrative. Or maybe translation isn't right
Love 💕 from Bangladesh 🇧🇩🇵🇸🇮🇷😊😊
Nice channel ! As for Russia, I highly recommend it even though I don’t know the Caucasus, but rather the northern parts. These are other peoples of the Caucasus as well, but with interesting cultures. For me, it’s the most beautiful country in Europe, clearly the most beautiful Slavic country. And regarding your map, I actually feel much more in Europe in Irkutsk than in some Western European cities. So Russia as part of Eastern Europe in the strict sense, along with Ukraine and Belarus, being in blue—makes perfect sense, though that’s just a detail. In any case, it’s a great discovery channel.