To date, I have visited 101 sovereign country and several remote territories.
I know, I know – it is quite a modest achievement. It is important to remember though that I have never taken a proper gap year, never quit my job to travel for extended periods and had only done limited travel before I turned 23. Nearly all my travels have been during holidays while I remained employed, full-time, in London’s financial sector.
I have been enamoured with numerous countries and territories over the years, and always have a new favourite. Currently, my favourite places to visit include Afghanistan, Chile, Greenland, Myanmar (Burma), Faroe Islands, Greece, Georgia and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. I have also visited India on many occasions and explored Norway in depth, enjoying every experience tremendously.
Embracing Chile at Mirador de las Torres, Patagonia
Where it all began
My story began back in 2006 when I… didn’t sell any of my possessions, didn’t quit my job and didn’t depart on a one-way ticket to discover the world. Instead, I carefully packed the modest possessions I had, took a one-way flight from Riga to London (ok, the one-way bit was actually true), found a tiny flat in Zone 3 and started my first ever full-time job. Working in the banking sector in London was a long-term dream of mine and being hired, right after finishing my studies, was my biggest achievement in life at the time. I arrived in London, all rosy-eyed and endlessly excited about the smallest things. My love affair with London was about to start.
As excited as I was making life happen in the big city, my (admittedly fancy) investment banking job got on my nerves soon enough. I was at work pretty much all the time, returning home only to change clothes and take short naps. I didn’t have time for basic things in life, let alone my actual hobbies.
My biggest disappointment was the lack of travel. The reason I came to London was to explore the frontiers unknown, not labour incessantly on dull presentations into the night in front of my computer.
Lazing in the sun in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan much, much later in my life
My biggest disappointment was the lack of travel. The reason I came to London was to explore the frontiers unknown, not labour incessantly on dull presentations into the night in front of my computer.
I have described some of my shenanigans as an investment banker in this blog (read the Monkey Business series here), but trust me: they were even worse in real life.
First introduction to travel
I did have a certain holiday allowance though and took my first holiday after about a year in the job. At a ripe age of 23, I knew close to nothing about travel and had no idea where people went on holiday. Logically, I flew to Singapore (I heard it was safe and predictable) and somehow, at a surprise even to myself, ended up embarking on a 2-week rail journey all the way to Bangkok, with stops in Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Krabi and Koh Samui on the way.
The trip was a disaster in many ways: it was my first long-haul leisure trip and I misplanned and mismanaged almost everything. I got blisters from wearing flipflops for the first time in my life and collapsed in the middle of a busy street in Kuala Lumpur, unable to walk for the next few days. I got sunburnt to the flesh because I didn’t know I was supposed to use sunscreen (I was a Latvian on my first sunny holiday, people). I got taken off a train at the Thai border for not having arranged a visa and had my credit card blocked just when I was about to pay for my visa-on-arrival at another border crossing later in the day. I rushed my trip insanely and spent only one night each in the amazing, well-deserving locations of Penang and Koh Samui.
By the time I visited Nicaragua in 2017, I had luckily learned to use sunscreen
In a nutshell, my first ever holiday was a disaster that left me aching, exhausted and (very literally) scarred for life. I will be writing about it in detail at some point, hopefully helping some equally naïve travel beginners along the way.
But the said trip did teach me one thing: I absolutely loved the freedom of travel. Even with burnt shoulders and aching feet, being free to explore new territories made me feel (perhaps in a pathetic way) like a deep sea discoverer back in the days when travel wasn’t easily accessible to many. I may have been in touristy, well-explored locations, but it was all incredibly new to me.
How it all changed one day
After returning to London, I sustained my long nights in the office with dreams of future holidays. Within a year, I had added Turkey, Morocco and Jordan to my list of visited destinations. I was absolutely gobsmacked by the bustling Istanbul, mesmerised by the sunsets over the Moroccan medinas and amazed by the surreal ancient city of Petra.
Unfortunately, by then I had earned a reputation, among my colleagues, of someone who prioritised free time over work (the horror!). In investment banking, this was unheard of and completely unacceptable, especially for a junior analyst that I was. Combining work and travel also became impossible in the six months before summer 2008 – the amount of work was too large for me even to take a weekend off.
Scarring that North Korean kid for life, no doubt
This all led to one inevitable outcome. While plotting my exit, I was lucky enough to be made redundant in mid-2008 (read about that very day here). It came as a huge relief: I was simply too squeezed out by all the work and could not have continued for much longer. I had started making plans to leave anyway, and the redundancy package came as a nice surprise.
Instead of looking for a new job immediately, I got rid of most of my stuff, loaded the rest into a friend’s van and flew to Greece for the summer. Almost as soon as I arrived, I ended up getting together with a friend of a friend – a very nice Greek gentleman – and ended up staying for eight months. During those fantastic eight months I explored many hidden corners of Greece and (finally) got some rest after my inhumane existence back in London. I have loved Greece so much ever since that I have learned to speak Greek fluently. The country remains my cultural haven, sunny refuge and, arguably, a favourite place for a relaxing holiday.
I got so inspired by Greece during my career break that I had my wedding photos taken there years later
Unfortunately, as much as I loved Greece’s food and beaches, I quite disliked Athens and could not see myself living there. Some aspects of Greek life annoyed me beyond words (read about them here – remembering this was written in jest!). And, to top it all, I had realised that the Greek gentleman in question was not going to become the love of my life. I had to make a move.
And back to London I went…
I started looking for a job back in London and came face to face with the looming financial crisis of 2009. But I was lucky, and, after several destructive interviews (read about my worst one here), I was offered a dream job at a large international bank in London. It was a massive change from before: my hours were normal, I no longer had to work on weekends, and – most importantly – nobody interfered with my holidays (read here about my first impressions in this job).
Fast forward almost a decade, and I am still working for the very same bank. I have always maxed out my holiday allowance and have visited countless places since I returned to London (I try to explain here how I travel so much while working full time). I got married in the Falkland Islands to a wonderful Englishman (read about that experience here). I camped under the milky way in the Namibian desert. I took a helicopter ride over Greenland’s glaciers. I rode a dog sled in Svalbard. I hiked the vast beauties of Patagonia. I left no stone unturned in the fantastically welcoming Turkmenistan, despite the country’s stern reputation. I visited Afghanistan, North Korea, Bhutan, Iran and Iraqi Kurdistan, hailing every country as my favourite travel experience ever.
I have truly had a wonderful life since I started my current job. And I am not finished yet! In 2018 and into 2019, I visited Sudan, Afghanistan (twice!), Tajikistan, Pakistan, the Greek island of Anafi, Libya and many others. I do not usually have time to cover all destinations I visit in this blog (to be fair, sometimes I just crave an easy weekend break without scouting for writing material), but I do my best to write about my most memorable trips. Stay tuned for the rest of 2019, when I have trips planned to the depths of Russia, Algeria, Bangladesh and more Greek islands.
I got married in the Falkland Islands… in that very windbreaker!
I hope I will encourage many of you to take that first step towards a serious travel experience, hopefully to become a regular traveller in due course. I find nothing in life as fulfilling as travel and hope to inspire many to lose the fear of the unknown and explore the world.
I hope I will encourage many of you to take that first step towards a serious travel experience, hopefully to become a regular traveller in due course.
I also hope to show that it is not necessary to quit one’s job to travel actively and regularly. Granted, I am incredibly privileged to have a job with a decent salary, a generous holiday allowance and only limited pressure to leave it unused. Sometimes, however, it is mere excuses that hold us back from travelling, even for a weekend away – and it is important to overcome those to make our lives just that much more fulfilling. Even venturing away for a weekend in a well-known location can be enough to recharge batteries and learn something entirely new.
So stay along for the ride! Here are some links to help you navigate my page better:
- ANNUAL NEWSLETTERS: I have been publishing recaps of the years gone by for over a decade, of course focusing on travel.
- ABOUT ME: From my travel style to random details of my life, get to know me better!
- TRAVEL TALES: From getting drunk in Iran to spending a day traversing the Balkans by rail, these are the more unusual stories from my travels.
- RELATIONSHIPS: I am happily married now, but, believe it or not, this blog used to focus as much on the relationship side of things as travel!
- INVESTMENT BANKING: I started my career as a miserable investment banker. My posts about the everyday reality of investment banking were fairly popular in their time.
- EUROVISION: How many of you have heard of Eurovision? I am, unashamedly, a massive fan and write a humorous review of every year’s event.
You can find some of my favourite posts here:
- Travelling to Afghanistan: An unlikely holiday destination: I describe my experience visiting Afghanistan as a tourist in what is easily my most popular post these days.
- Travelling to Uzbekistan: Reliving my mother’s memories: Remembering four truly special people I met in Uzbekistan.
- When I was drunk in Iran and almost missed my flight: Because I absolutely couldn’t visit Iran without getting wasted.
- Visiting Awaza: Turkmenistan’s surreal Caspian resort: What happens when a dictator decides to repeat Dubai’s success.
- Iraqi Kurdistan: Why it was so special: How I fell madly in love with the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
- Falkland Islands: Remote archipelago in South Atlantic: The place on the other end of the world where I got married.
- Trip to Syria: 10 days of uncertainty: I was very lucky to make it to Syria before the war started… but only just before.
- Vietnam by rail: Hanoi to Danang in 19 hours: How I embarked on a very long train journey bang on New Year’s Eve.
- Belgrade to Bar by rail: Another unforgettable train ride full of stunning views and eccentric encounters.
- Visiting the Faroe Islands: Europe’s best-kept secret: The post that went viral back in the days when travelling to the Faroe Islands wasn’t trendy.
Want to know more? Feel free to refer to my FAQs for more information about me and ANJCI ALL OVER. And do get in touch with any travel questions – I will do my best to respond!
