Emily and Natael began their journey on the 16th of July from Chambery by crossing the border with Italy by foot…
We only knew that we wanted to go to Slovenia and that we had to be in Venezia on a certain date to meet Emily teacher, but after we want there we spent all of our money, so we had to reorganize the rest of the trip!
We stopped in Milan to sleep in a friend’s house, then lake Garda, Molveno (close to Trento), Venezia (where we lost our money) and then straight to Slovenia, that we enjoyed because it was tourists free and cheap. We then crossed Salzburg, Augsburg, Munich, we went back to France, and then to Swizerland, we did the beautiful Bernina express and then finally to Milan, were we stayed in a horrible 4 star hotel. Then we went back to France.
N: We got the best food in Slovenia thanks to the recommendation of another Yoalin traveller.
E: Agree!
N: While regarding the best thing is probably the Bernina express, the symbol of what Yoalin is.
E: For me it was the first night in the mountains in front of the Mont Blanche.
N: The best place was also in Slovenia, Tolmin, because it was disconnected from everything else and preserved from overtourism.
E: It felt like we were back at home, it wasn’t touristy, we were able to relax a bit
E: Yoalin is getting out of you comfort zone but right next door.
N: It’s a very cheap way to do things that otherwise would be too expensive (travelling by train is really cool when it’s cheap!)
Yoalin has motivated me to travel more environmentally friendly.
N: I’m currently working for youth involvement in political decisions. I’m coordinating youth activities within EUSALP, especially the project youth.shaping.eusalp, launched by the Tyrolian presidency. That’s where I met Luisa, that pitched about AlpTick for the pitch you project competition.
E: Yoalin made me know the Cipra Youth Council, of which I’m currently a member. Within the CYC I’m working on “AlpTick”, a project that aims at making travelling easier in the Alps for young people.
N: I want to give a large community of young people the opportunity to express their voice. I think that the youth is the future, but we’re just university students without big budgets, so we need more chances to participate directly. I think that we are good enough to make a change.
E: My volunteer work to encourage people to travel locally and to discover their region. What I really want is to push the stakeholders to allow not just 100 people, as it is in Yoaling, but all the young people, to have that chance of travelling by train. I really want to show stakeholders how important it is. Since we don’t have the last word on this, we have to convince them to make this possible.
N: And that’s my role in EUSALP, I try to convince the institutions to give the youth the opportunity to have the last word on relevant matters.
