I had one of the best days in Somaliland climbing mountains, seeing tons of camels roaming around and enjoying amazing Somali food, but to be honest the next day was one of the worst in my life.

Perfect First Days In Somaliland

A perfect day in Somaliland was coming to an end, which I had spend with local friends, whom I got in contact with through my phone which is 80% the way I get in contact with people. We went out on a roof top restaurant in the evening with views over Hargeisa and I ate camel for the first time in my life, which wasn’t as good as crocodile to be fair, but indeed good! A day with so many cool experiences and memories never to forget. We agreed to do some cool stuff the next day and would just text each other about meeting up somewhere in the city, using Whatsapp as I always use when I’m traveling, so I was really excited.. Everything was just fine..

Worst Day Ever Incoming

I went to bed in my fairly small $6 luxury penthouse suite in Hirad Hotel, Hargeisa in Somaliland thinking, “what an incredible day it has been..” What I didn’t know was the next day was going to be the worst day I can remember in a long time!

My Phone Was DONE

I woke up super early next day around 5 am and wanted to check my phone (IPhone X), and when I checked for a few seconds the Apps started to close down and my IPhone completely shut down within seconds. Damn, what was that?! I was in tears, how could I get in contact with Lianura and my friends here in Somaliland, how could I plan the rest of my Somalia and Eritrea trip (had around a week left) and how about my videos and pictures? I knew it was a while a go I did a back-up – and yes, I did lose a lot of files after having trying 24 hours to bring back my phone to life without any success at all! All I could see was a Apple-Logo shining bright on the screen. I was completely devastated and the next days all I could think about was, “why didn’t I back-up my phone properly?!” But lucky for me still have evidence from each country I’ve been to, but would honestly rather lose all of my stuff instead of videos/pictures from traveling. Remember to back-up your phone really often guys – I learned it the hard way!

Losing My Phone Was An EYE-OPENER

It was really tough to see my phone die, especially when you’re in Somalia and Eritrea and can’t contact your family for a week! What were they thinking, would they start an investigation, because they couldn’t get in contact with me? How could I now plan anything moving from Somalia to Eritrea, all the thoughts were running through my head.. Even all the important documents is on my phone, but now there was no other way than finding a way in these tough regions! I guess most people couldn’t do a week without their phone, I had to do a week without mine in Somalia and Eritrea and to be fair it was an eye-opener for me.

Lesson Learned

No one spoke English of the persons I met in Somalia and Eritrea (after I left Lionora and her friends), but I had to be much more social and was 110% in the moment, which was actually beautiful to experience in a World where the phone takes away a lot of our time unfortunately. I think I learned a lesson from this experience, maybe it was destiny, a sign from above, even though I don’t believe much in stuff like that..

Be Grateful Always

I was really sad about what happened with my phone, but I started to put things into perspective. How many people can’t see, how many people can’t walk, how many people have bad health, and I’m healthy and complaining about not having my phone? Come on, man.. Move on Gustav, you’re wrong, make this possible without your phone.. And I did!

We Grow From The Bad Days And Experiences

We grow from the challenges we face. We grow from the bad days and experiences, because that’s when we learn to appreciate things and that’s when we learn how to live with gratitude. You can’t have sunshine without a little rain, and even though you might be really sad right now about something, time will with guarantee heal you and you just have to move on and be grateful for what you have and enjoy the journey. Don’t let anything stop you from reaching your goals.

Somalia and Eritrea, thanks for this adventure!

Gustav

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