Go everywhere, but get back to your home (Svuda podji, svojoj kući dodji)

As the number of my travels went up over time, I've started to become aware that all of those journeys, especially the long ones, are bordered by two very intense feelings of joy. One is when I start my travel and the second one is when I need to come back home.

When I’m leaving on a trip, it is linked with excitement about a new destination, new lands that I will visit and new experiences that I will gain. When I’m coming back, it is because of my returning home and reuniting with my family and friends again.

And every time I clearly felt one of these two joys, I wondered if I could compare them, which one was stronger or rather which of them made me happier. I have never managed to find the answer because it is the same type of feeling alright, but very distinct in its essence and therefore quite incomparable to anything else.

It seems I have always been attracted to faraway places. The desire to travel was the main reason why I chose what I wanted to study. When I was 13 or 14, I got this clear wish in my mind to travel and see the world, and then also in my mind I associated this with the English language. From that time on, the education I pursued was focused on studying English and I have to say that I was truly lucky in my life for I’ve managed to fulfil one of my childhood dreams. I travel. I travel often. I go on short and close trips, but I also go on long and distant journeys. And here the same happens like in the case of the joys from the beginning of this text – the destination and length of time needn’t necessarily and automatically mean stronger and more beautiful impressions and experiences. The diversity of cultures certainly has its weight, but the essence is that we ourselves process everything in front and around us, and it is very much true what the proverb “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder” says. The same thing, the same place, the same time, the same encounters – all of this will be quite different in the experience and memories of different people.

On this site I will present my experiences and my memories followed by photos and videos predominantly taken by me. In the past I used to organize gatherings at my home for different groups of friends and acquaintances in order to show them photos and tell them about my respective travels. Here, the thing is a bit reverse, more stories and fewer photos, but since my friends enjoyed these travel evenings and looked forward to them, I hope others will, too.

And let me go back to the Serbian proverb “Svuda podji, svojoj kući dodji” (Go everywhere, but get back to your home). So, I love to travel, but I also love to be at home. For me, it is not enough that “All that’s mine I carry with me” (since I’m throwing proverbs around – Omnia mea mecum porto). I have a physical need to go back to my home, to share my experiences with people around me, to let it all settle, and then I’m ready for new endeavours. I always have at least a dozen ideas for travels. Which one is going to be next I don’t know until I start with concrete preparations.

And this, writing a blog and telling about my experiences and adventures, is quite a different kind of travel. A journey into the sphere of internet exposure (here I have to express my gratitude to Nikola, my relative, for his great support and assistance), a journey into my memories incited by photos and videos, as well as a journey into the sphere of writing and conveying my impressions. And, since all of this together constitutes quite a new journey, I intensely rejoice in it.