with Danilo and Nevena @ Belgrade, Serbia, September 19, 2021
with Danilo and Nevena It was already a coincidence when we crossed paths in Plovdiv, Bulgaria two years ago. And what are the odds that I was sighted on the street in their home country? This has to be called pure luck! Meeting people again is a special experience for me, and it is even more so if it is where they grew up. Thanks to some knowledge I’ve already gained about the country, I am happy that I could understand them better, and it’s also...
Tetovo reminded me how I want to travel @Tetovo, North Macedonia, September 12, 2021
Tetovo reminded me how I want to travel Tetovo is a city in the northwestern part of North Macedonia, and it’s about 45 minutes of driving to get there from the capital city, Skopje. As much as I enjoyed the wide variety of things that Skopje offered, I got the impression that things were quite centralized around the capital, and I began feeling that I was probably missing out on other types of life scenes of the country. Tetovo is a rather small city, with an...
Statues and beliefs @ Skopje, North Macedonia, September 10, 2021
Statues and beliefs I admit that I was pleasantly surprised when I walked into the main square for the first time in Skopje, the capital of North Macedonia. The size of the statue of Alexander the Great (or the Macedonian Alexander, as some call it) was far bigger than what I had imagined. And the sizes and details of other neighboring statues were equally impressive. It was the type of thing that one could only properly feel in the place, not via looking at photos. Of...
The last chapter begins @Thessaloniki, Greece, September 7, 2021
The last chapter begins Last year in March, I stopped traveling by land and left my car in Thessaloniki, and turned myself into a backpacker. The plan then was to continue traveling through Central Asia and Eastern Russia, which was going to be the last chapter of the trip, but what happened afterward is an unprecedented time that we’ve all experienced. One and a half years later, I now stand again in front of my mobile home, surprisingly in great shape. How many nights did I...
Alone Together @ Cappadocia, Turkey, January 18-20, 2020
Alone Together When you are alone, you can be with yourself more closely than ever. The near-complete silence in remote sites is fitting for those reunions. This is one of such memories captured in the vast Cappadocia area. @ Cappadocia, Turkey, January 18-20, 2020
Listening to FUTURE THINKERS @ Plovdiv, Bulgaria, June 11, 2019
Listening to FUTURE THINKERS One of the exciting perks of traveling around the world is, in theory, you can choose to visit anyone who lives close to your itineraries. While visiting Bulgaria, I had the pleasure to visit the producers of FUTURE THINKERS PODCAST, a podcast about evolving technology, society, and consciousness (https://futurethinkers.org). As much as I enjoy listening to their episodes, it was a memorable experience to listen to their stories about how they came up with the idea and the joy and struggles along...
Historical heritage and the disconnect @ Acropolis of Athens, Greece, February 27, 2020
Historical heritage and the disconnect Acropolis of Athens is an ancient Greek settlement sitting on top of a rocky hill in Athens. ‘Acro’ means the ‘highest point’ and ‘polis’ means ‘city’. And although ‘acropolis’ is a generic term, ‘the Acropolis’ usually refers to the one in Athens, which has been an important historical site throughout multiple major civilizations. Located on a rock that rises around 150 meters, the site is seen anywhere in the surrounding neighborhoods, and conversely, you can have sweeping views of the central...
An early return home @ Inchon, South Korea, March 16, 2020
An early return home A good part of planning this travel had begun with imagination. When I imagined myself traveling for years, something felt very right about it. So I began to come up with plans to make the imagination a reality. Likewise, I have been imagining on the roads what the last moment of this travel will be like, and that imagined feeling of the final moment has been guiding me through the latter part of this journey. Yet that imagination did not survive until...

