Hi, I’m Anne. A Norwegian travel writer and photographer with a love for meaningful journeys, UNESCO World Heritage Sites and thoughtful travel experiences.

Like many of my readers, I don’t travel full-time. I balance my travels with an ordinary work life, everyday responsibilities and limited vacation time. That’s exactly why I care so much about making each trip count.

Welcome to my travel blog!

Travel for Curious People With Real Lives

Through Heritage Wanderlust, I share practical itineraries, travel guides and personal stories from destinations across Europe, Asia and beyond. My focus is on independent travel, authentic experiences and places that combine culture, history, nature and a strong sense of place.

This blog is for curious travellers who want more than rushed bucket lists and picture-perfect highlights. Whether you’re planning a solo trip, a cultural getaway or simply looking for inspiration for your next adventure, I hope my experiences can help you travel a little slower, deeper and with more confidence.

I believe travel can create curiosity, understanding and meaningful memories, but also that it should feel realistic and accessible for people with ordinary lives, responsibilities and limited time off. Rather than rushing through as many destinations as possible, I prefer thoughtful itineraries that leave room for both experiences and slower moments.

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What you can expect to find:

Heritage Wanderlust is built around independent travel, honest experiences and a deep appreciation for culture, history and nature. These are the topics you will come across the most.

World Heritage

I started collecting UNESCO World Heritage Sites as a teen and for more than two decades, this project has given me so many fantastic experiences.

Some times, UNESCO sites are the main reason I visit a destination, like Urnes Stave Church in Norway, other times they are a pleasant surprise. With this blog, I hope to share my passion for interesting and beautiful heritage around the world, and hopefully make it easier for you to experience too.

I’m fully aware that there are more great heritage out there, than those enscribed on UNESCO’s list, both tangible and intangible, and I’m interested in and writing about all of it.

Itineraries & Travel Tips

To me, planning is a huge part of the overall travel experience. Making travel routes and itineraries have become one of my specialities. My key to an epic trip is to combine bucket list attractions with unique and lesser visited places. Add opportunities to meet local people, and you’ll have a trip you will remember for life.

On Heritage Wanderlust, you will find tips for both solo travel and travelling in smaller groups. Being a (social) introvert myself, I also share my advice on how to survive travelling with others. A good example is this two week-long road trip through Central Europe.

Travel mistakes are made, also by me. And off course I share these in order for you to avoid them!

Responsible Travel

Sustainability and responsible tourism lie close to my heart and keeps a natural part in my travel planning. I even completed a masters degree in Responsible Tourism Managment back in the day.

Tourism to me is all about making better places for people to live in, and better places for people to visit. In that order.

On Heritage Wanderlust I also want to show how you easily can contribute to making the world a better place to live, bot for people and animals – even when flying. To start, check out these 11 tips to being a more responsible traveller.

One person can’t change the whole world, but even just making one person’s day a bit better counts.

Road Trips & Van Life

When travelling solo, I often get around using public transportation. Like my overnight journey on the Lotus Train in Vietnam. But road trips are my all-time favourite way of exploring.

The freedom of stopping wherever you want has been imprinted in me since I was a child. I was only 2 years old the first time my parents brought me along on a road trip from Voss to Italy!

For year, my partner and I travelled extensively in Norway and Sweden with motorhome and camper van. Norway and van life are a perfect match, and you can find plenty of tips on scenic roads to drive, unique places to see, and where to camp. However, the right to roam comes with responsibilities, and you can learn more about how to be a responsible camper here.

Outdoor Adventures

One of the major perks (or the perk) of growing up and living in Western Norway is having the spectacular landscape of both fjord and mountains literally outside your door. Skiing and hiking in the mountains has been part of my life since I could walk, and you will find tips for great outdoor adventures both in Voss and beyond in my channels. Like these 6 scenic hikes in Lofoten!

Solo Travel

My first real solo adventure went to Edinburgh in 2009. The second to the Gambia in 2010. And since I’ve had at least one trip alone every year. Because, why wait for someone else to join?

To me, solo travel isn’t just about not having someone to go with. Even now, having been in a relationship for more than 12 years, it’s one of my favourite ways to travel. It’s always been a way to charge my batteries and a chance to follow my own interest. I can spend as much time as I want exploring places I want to see. Eat whatever I want, whenever I want. Get up early without worrying about disturbing anyone. And it gives me time for reflection.

Travelling solo also makes it so much easier to meet and connect with other people!

Hence, I will off course share my tips, tricks and experiences of travelling solo as a mid-life woman.

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My Story

Do you want to get me better? Then this section is for you. How did I, a rural girl from a small, mountainous village in Norway end up with a constant itch to travel?

From a Norwegian Farm to NYC

Growing up in the small, rural village Myrkdalen, before it turned into a mountain resort, I longed for cities, culture and warm weather. Still at primary school, «Out of Africa» became my favourite movie, and after a visit to the ethnographic museum in Bergen I was determined to become an anthropologist.

University and studies took me away from Voss for almost 10 years; I jumped on all chances I could get to roam. I studied social anthropology in India, art management in New York City, executed field work in the Gambia and Turkey and completed my MSc in Responsible Tourism Management in the UK.

Now, I’m 40+ and still jump at every chance I get to travel.

Heredity or Environment?

I grew up in a family that valued travelling and culture. Instead of packaged holidays in Spain every summer, we packed the car and drove. To destinations like Denmark, Germany and Italy. I was two years old the first time we drove to Italy. Quite ambitious by my parents, considering I suffered from motion sickness on every car trip. They knew, off course, that the autobahn is nothing like western Norwegian winding roads.

These holidays thought me that the road is the goal. We did not drive to get to a destination, we drove to experience as much as possible along the way.

My family also had places nearby that we could use for excursions; in the mountains surrounding Myrkdalen without running water and electricity, on an island outside Bergen, and my favourite; the apartment in my grandparents’ house in Bergen. Even though I loved going further afield, I always enjoyed these small breaks from everyday life that these places gave me in their different ways.

What’s next?

Honestly? Probably another itinerary. I have too many open tabs and a forever growing list of paces I want to visit (and return to).

While Heritage Wanderlust started as a place to document my travels, it’s slowly become something more. A space for thoughtfuul travel stories, practical guides and reflections on how to explore the world side-by-side with ordinary life and responsibilities at home.

There are still countless places I want to explore in the years to come, and I’m looking forward to sharing my best tips with you along the way.

– Anne –