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countries
glimpses of elsewhere
(words & photos)
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countries
Strap into your chair, destination elsewhere. This journey will take you places and leave you with stories, for a place is only ever as one thing or another as your experience there. Well, my experience in this case. The little coincidences and grand people I met along the way ultimately wrote these plots and memories while I coauthored. That’s why I can’t claim to paint any accurate, exhaustive or conclusive portraits of countries and cultures. Just my subjective, impressionist bits and pieces, exploring places and people, traversing narratives and notions and traveling trains of thought inside one strolling mind. Come with, won’t you?
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latest places / stories
countries | Europe | Montenegro
Kotor / Cruise out of Control: Consumerism on Vacation,
Ethics Left at Home
the ugly dynamics of a journey sold as destination
Of course, like with all needless and senseless consumption, the cheap cruise tickets came at a price. I had met those who pay it. explore
countries | South America | Bolivia
Uyuni / Traversing the Zig-Zag Road between Pain and Pleasure
why well-being is underrated – putting happiness and suffering in perspective
With all the pain I had ever felt in the past for now, all the pleasure was ahead. explore
countries | North America | USA
New York / Dream Arrival: Jamming Untamed Imagination into Tight Realities
a story of a dream coming truer and a city that was smaller the second time around
...there was certainly something endearing in that city coming down to earth from its pedestal... explore
countries | South(east) Asia | Nepal
Himalayas / Hiking Alone, Astray & Everestless
when you set out to see Everest, but Everest doesn’t care
And after a while, seeing or not seeing Everest became a mere matter of perspective. explore
countries | Europe | Greece
Athens / The Rise and Fall of Empires
Who’s next?
Former empires might have traded their swords for pencils, yet the battlefields remain and the war for growth and power goes on. explore
countries | Central & West Asia | Kazakhstan
Astana (Nur-Sultan) / The Surreal Deal
arbitrary travel moments you never could have imagined
In a way, I’m sleeping the dreamy sleep of extraordinary travel routine. But every now and then, I wake to the almost absurd reality of a situation I never could have imagined and the vastly arbitrary nature of these instances bestows a surreal feel upon me. explore
countries | Europe | Albania
Tirana / How Little Can You Learn About a Country in One Day?
passing through Albania in 24h
...this is pretty much where the flying visit reaches its maximum altitude of inflight insights, falling short of the point where travel peaks in my opinion: when it opens up a more intimate angle on a foreign culture and the people who live it through their habits, everyday rituals, and mannerisms. explore
countries | Central America | Cuba
Havana / On the Cusp between Eras
sung patriotism & whispered criticism: torn in a changing nation
Transformation is a blurry wave, unlike the crisp ripple of a sudden revolutionary fist. explore
countries | Africa | Rwanda
Kibuye / Living with Explosive Likelihoods
when home is where disaster lurks
And those who live there, live lives, not odds. They are accustomed to the normality of any given day that isn’t the one when disaster strikes. explore
countries | North America | Canada
Port Rexton / Only Passing Through: Unsung Towns of Unknown Dreams
the welcome delusion of scratching a place's surface without digging deeper
For it is in the unknown where imagination lives and in the foreigner’s head any town can tell any story. explore
countries | South America | Colombia
Cartagena / Police Negotiations
haggling over fines for non-existent crimes & how to break the corruption cycle
But one needed to keep in mind that these were still cops, no matter how corrupt. It felt like our bargaining power matched theirs, but at the end of the day they were in charge and would decide over our fate that night: jail or no jail. explore
countries | South(east) Asia | Indonesia
Jakarta / Beautifully Ugly
inner beauty & authentic travel - less pretty cities well worth the visit
