I crowdsourced travel tips for my 3-month European vacation. I ended up on a stranger’s boat shrimping in Norway’s fjords.

• Gabriel Escobar backpacked across 13 countries in Europe after graduating from college.
• The 22-year-old decided what to do in Europe based on suggestions from people on the internet.
• His wildest “side quest” was a shrimping adventure with strangers in Norway.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Gabriel Escobar, a 22-year-old actor and social media content creator. It has been edited for length and clarity.

This summer, I traveled to 13 countries in Europe. Eight were planned, and five were not.

I graduated from college in May. I didn’t know where I wanted to go, what job I wanted, or where I wanted to live, so I figured I’d go see a bunch of places. That sparked the whole backpacking idea.

I bought a flight to Copenhagen and scheduled my return flight for three months later — the maximum time I could stay in the Schengen zone without a visa.

Three days before my flight, I was sitting in a coffee shop. I took out a piece of paper, scrawled a haphazard map of Europe on the back, and made a rough calendar.

That’s how I figured out the first month of my trip.

Shrimping on a stranger’s boat in Norway’s Fjords

On this trip, I want to do something different and create a community of people that I could ask for recommendations.

So for each place I went to, I would post on my Instagram and TikTok, asking people for tips on where to go.

Right off the bat, crowdsourcing my itinerary gave me so many new ideas. It also led to most of the coolest things that I did on my trip, which I would have never known about otherwise.

One of my craziest adventures — that I now call my “side quests” on social media — happened during my last few days in Oslo.

I received a direct message from a shrimp company, Færder Sjømat, asking if I wanted to join them on a shrimp boat.

And I replied, saying, “Hey, I would love to do this.”

The night before the shrimping trip, I slept below deck on the boat in a little bunk. And at 3:30 a.m., when it was still pitch black, we set off.

We drove up the fjord for about two hours to the fishing spot, and then, by 6 a.m., we set sail on the trawler for the day.

Behind the boat, a big net scooped shrimp as we sailed. The crew dragged the net up when it was full.

While waiting, I spent a lot of time talking to the father-daughter duo who ran the business, and they told me about their jobs and their lives.

After the net was pulled up, they put me to work. I helped sort the 275 pounds of shrimp and separate them from squids, little fish, and everything else that got pulled up.

The shrimp are cooked on board. We then took a big bowl and sat on the front of the boat, where I was introduced to some traditional Norwegian summer food — toast with mayonnaise, shrimp, and lemon.

It was just me and the two of them on the little boat, so it felt really personal. This was a once-in-a-lifetime moment, and it has become one of my favorite adventures.

Other side quests

Another wild one was when I went on tour with Stavangerkameratene, a Norwegian band, out to the middle of Norway. I spent a full 24 hours with the band and hung out with them backstage.

All of my side quests have turned out amazing, but there have been some times when even I have felt a little bit nervous.

Once, I was on a farm, and this woman and her husband approached me, asking if I wanted to see their horses.

During that side quest, it occurred to me that getting into a car with two complete strangers might not be the best idea.

Some things they don’t tell you about solo traveling

One thing people don’t tell you about solo traveling is how lonely it can be. The loneliness was exhausting, sometimes, because I’d try to find things to fill my schedule, mostly because I didn’t have anyone with me to spend time with.

Sometimes, I would sit on the steps of a building in whatever city I was in because I didn’t want to go back to my hostel room with 10 strangers in it.

Another challenge is that when you’re traveling by yourself, you’re fully in charge of taking care of yourself. At some points during the trip, I felt sleep-deprived, sick, and hungry.

So my advice is — if you’re traveling solo, slow down, and learn how to take care of yourself and your health on the road.