Boundary Walking/Travel as Transformation

Two transnational hiking trails in the Balkans, and how crossing borders on foot became a powerful metaphor for crossing boundaries within myself

Background Premise

In the fall of 2021, I hiked the 10 Day Peaks of the Balkans solo (through Albania, Kosovo, and Montenegro. In preparation for what would be my first official assignment as a travel photographer - scouting the newest distance trekking route in Europe: High Scardus Trail (20 days through Kosovo, North Macedonia, and Albania). This project was just named “Best European Project” by the British Guild of Travel Writers, the award presented to Trail Angels, the Austrian sustainable tourism consultant working on the project.

While continually crossing mountain passes that divided the bounds of these nations, a song continued to come to mind, and with that the idea of border crossing being more about pushing oneself to one’s limits, where you truly can determine what you are capable of. A line from a Paul Bowles novel came to mind as well: “At the same time, he was vaguely aware of having arrived at the edge of a new period in his existence, an unexplored territory of himself through which he was going to have to pass”

I had the realization that travel doesn’t necessarily change who you are as a person, it just strips you down, removes the outer layers to show you who you have always been/what you are truly capable of. And so because of this solo journey between the borders of these small, unspoiled countries, I came to find a focus for my travel writing: seeking transformation / walking the boundaries of what you are capable of.