JUST MY IMAGINATION

24 February 2023. I'm sitting in my living room, looking at my laptop. ChatGPT is open on the screen,  and the question that has been asked is ‘How to cope with the anxiety of traveling alone?’ I was so scared that I was kind of hoping that artificial intelligence would help me. I wish I could tell the girl from two weeks ago that flying overseas by herself will be the best decision and that she’s about to see a tremendously beautiful country. When I get bored, I look for a conference around the world. This was just one of those days, and I saw that there was a conference in Thailand to which I could contribute. The deadline for the abstract was three days away. I texted a few of my friends, hoping that someone else also would come to the conference. Because what the hell I was going to do at the other end of the world all by myself? Some of my friends were interested, and some of them were not. But in the end, no one managed to actually make it.  At first, I was really up...

I don’t know how much I will be able to express my feelings in words, because it was not only the best trip I have ever had but also the first overseas solo trip that I had. So, it is especially sentimental for me. With its delicious food, delightful weather, and everything unknown, it felt like both a holiday and an adventure. So here we go. Food As my close circle would know, it is pretty hard to make me happy in terms of food. I don’t like different cuisines except for Greek, Mediterranean, or Middle Eastern which are all very close to Turkish cuisine. And I have a few things that I like about Asian cuisine but in general, I am picky. However, Thailand was like heaven for me in terms of non-spicy and vegetarian food and heavenly delicious tropical fruits. Honestly, I’m never going to forget the taste of mangoes and bananas there. I also managed to try a few other fruits that I hadn’t tried before, like jackfruit, dragon fruit, and durian and loved them all. In Pattaya, I found...