Zilla van den Born is a 25-year-old artist from Amsterdam and she pulled off the ultimate fake vacation last year. It started with a Facebook post announcing she was headed to East Asia for two months.
Zilla van den Born / Rex/REX USA
After her Facebook update she spent 42 days hidden away in her house photoshopping pictures of her traveling around.
REX USA/Zilla van den Born / Rex
REX USA/Zilla van den Born / Rex
"The inspiration for this project came from combining my two passions together: photo manipulation and traveling," van den Born told BuzzFeed. "I wanted to prove how easily reality gets distorted."
Zilla van den Born / Rex/REX USA
She said that her biggest concern was whether or not to tell her mom about her secret project. She ultimately decided to not tell a soul about what she was up to.
Zilla van den Born / Rex/REX USA
Zilla van den Born / Rex/REX USA
When van den Born had to leave the house, she did so in a disguise so no one would realize she was still in town.
After more than a month of disguises and deception, van den Born sent her friends and family videos revealing how she faked the whole thing.
"If I had the chance to do it again, I don’t think I would do it again," van den Born said. "I really underestimated the impact of the project on myself and the people around me!"
So van den Born decided the whole thing might have been a bad idea.
Zilla van den Born / Rex/REX USA
