LetterHe has simple advice for every American who is thinking of traveling to Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Iran or Venezuela – “don’t travel”.
But our teenager Arjon Malavia (@Arjunmalaviya17) Leaked to Independent During a Globetrotting epic adventure, these countries gained “the most amazing experiences” that he taught English in Iraq, ate tea with the Taliban, and is the youngest solitary confinement to visit 100 countries.
His goal was not to break records.
Arjon, now 19, was removed from his home in West Lake, California, on his 17th anniversary of his birth in July 2023 with the aim of “seeing the world alone, before the age of 20”.
“The biggest thing was to explore in different cultures, see different people, learn about the world and develop my personal skills,” he said.
Arjon provided the trip as an administrative assistant and a tennis lesson to local teenagers, and saved $ 22,500, enough for 118 countries over 13 months. And his parents supported his programs, who saw him visiting different regions and examining the most of the countries.
“So my last region in the Great Middle East was countries such as Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and Syria,” Arjon said. Independencet. “I felt at that point, I had to use the first 10 months for those last three months so that I could not only survive but appreciate those places.”
These are undoubtedly challenging areas for every traveler, but what was in the store for Arjon was a series of unforgettable experiences, including friendly chats with Taliban members in Afghanistan, a country that proved to be significantly simple.
“Everything was very simple for Afghanistan. For my trip in June 2024, I received a visitor visa for 15 minutes at the Afghan Embassy in Peshawar, Pakistan, because the visa must be from the Taliban -controlled embassy.”
“When they saw that I was an American, I had to meet a Taliban official, asking me why I was going. I told him to discover culture and see nature, and he said” good “and allowed me.”
However, Arjon insisted that his goal was not to communicate with a terrorist organization.
“I want to be clear. When I went, the goal was not to meet the Taliban,” he said. “I acknowledge them as a terrorist group. I do not support what they do at all. I think morally, they are bad people.
“But I realized that the more extremist people in the Taliban are higher, and that many Afghans in the Taliban are just one day like a police officer for an American or British.
“So they don’t have crazy views. They have wives and daughters and want to study.
“When I talked to them, they said they were doing it for financial purposes because there are no other opportunities.”
While the US government warns that Americans are at risk of “wrong arrest and kidnapping” in Afghanistan, Arjon found that those who met there were interested in finding out how his life in the US is hostage.
“They were curious when they saw me. They said,” Hi, you seemed different. We see that you are talking English. What is your daily life? Why did you come to meet you? “
Arjon also noted that visiting Afghanistan is more or less impossible and does not meet the Taliban.
“They are everywhere. There are at least four of them in each block. You can’t run away from them.”
Chat with them and accepting their tea offers was not out of security, and as Arjon explained, “he did not intend to take advantage of these opportunities to protest what they are doing ethically.”
“I just went with the flow because of the lack of a better phrase for my own security, because I didn’t know what happened if I said,” the 19 -year -old said. “But certainly, my main mission was to interact with ordinary people, locals.”
Afghanistan was not the only country to describe it as “seven amazing days” since it has a rocky relationship with the United States and remembers its trip to Iraq. He explored Saddam Hussein’s palace, ate “very fresh and cheap food” and “went around Baghdad at three in the morning without insecure.”
Meanwhile, Venezuela was a “extraordinary experience”, though Arjon remembers that he was scared at the airport, where he was arrested by security officials who thought “escapes parents’ control”.
“This is the reason they gave me,” said Arjon.
Fear from outside and out of the house that Arjun experienced on November 22, 2023, when he traveled a daily trip from Moldova to Ukraine, where he had to seek refuge in a Russian missile attack.
The reckless teenager booked a four morning bus to Ukraine, Ukraine and was told to load a program that tells you the nearest bomb shelters.
The alarm came when he came into the sound and spent four to five hours at Odessa’s Opera House, but then “saw for the rest of the day.”
His father said, “It was only time on his trips that we had to talk to him and remind him that he had the calculated risks.”
If you feel distinguished that Arjun always looks on the bright side of life, you will be perfectly right.
He even enjoyed sleeping on the floor of a hut in a new Papua Ginest fishing village that had book on Facebook and revealed that “with two crabs on the bed” in Tonga – “Lovely experience, no problem.”
“I was sleeping at Australian airports for a few nights because the hotels were much higher than my budget. I saw going to the airport and sleeping in the terminal. Some things were interesting,” the teenager said.
When I pushed Arjon in the name of “low -welcome” countries, he would not be drawn and claims that “if it seemed to be a place that would not be welcomed, it was because people didn’t know me.”
“There was no single country to feel that they were just staring at me, where I felt like a foreign person,” he said.
Arjon admitted that there is disappointment.
“I was disappointed with some very touristy because I didn’t see them interesting,” Arjon recalls. “Singapore, Colombia, Thailand … when I went to the grocery store it was every American brand. I felt like I was in the US”
In the United States, Arjon stated that Odyssey had changed his view of life and inspired him to motivate others to pursue his stairs.
“After visiting 118 countries, I realized that people are like different. They can be Islam, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, Christian … They want to meet new people, to have conversations, to grow as a person. So it really changed my vision. “
Arjon’s message to anyone who is interested in exploring, but the nervous sense of the outlook is that they will benefit from doing so for years.
The traveler believes that his global roaming helped him “feel comfortable”, helped his negotiation skills (for example in Venezuela) and his positioning awareness.
“Traveling helps you live a healthier and targeted life,” he said. “It is like investing in something to make a better return.” “You spend a little time traveling and exploring, developing these skills, and this will help you get more targets throughout your life.”
And what is the next for Arjon? This will be a visit to Russia.
