JUST MY IMAGINATION

2023 has been one of my favourite years. But as I always say, my best year is yet to come. This year, I have travelled a lot. Visited 11 countries and many more cities. Solo travelled a few times and absolutely adored it. Reached the final year of my Ph.D. and managed to squeeze in a few more conferences. Gained even more responsibilities in my role at work and felt respected and appreciated. Started writing my book, my autobiography. It was supposed to be my 30th birthday present to myself. Not sure if I will be able to finish it on time, though. Life moves very quickly, and a lot of things happen all the time. And somehow, I am always on the move. One of my resolutions for the new year is gotta be stay home more. I never thought I would say this, but I am tired of traveling. The next big thing on the agenda is to get the damn Ph.D. done. Met a lot of people on the way- got new friends and lost some. Because that's life. Done some video shooting...

Two hours before checkout. Enough time to have one last coffee and pack up. This is the end of my Balkan tour. I explored five countries and over ten cities, opting for a guided tour this time, as a change, and this gave me the chance to compare traveling with a tour and solo. As you can imagine, solo travel beats traveling with a tour. However, there are certain benefits of traveling with a group and an experienced tour guide when it comes to the Balkans. First of all, group travel allows you to cover more countries in a limited time. Originally, I planned this trip for just Albania with my sister. Then decided to extend our journey to Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro since we’re going to that part of the world anyway. But ended up seeing Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Albania, Montenegro, and Macedonia. There was no way I could’ve seen this many countries in such a short time and actually understood where we are and what is the history behind them. Also with the tour, we mana...