Kuwait Airport in Ramadan We arrived in Kuwait close to sahur and quickly got our visas at the airport. Once we entered the main hall, we realized how heavy the rain was—it was even leaking through the ceiling. We hoped to go outside in the morning, but things didn’t go as planned. After sahur, all…
When I was getting ready to take a long leave from work and start my journey, I focused on my main route: India-Sri Lanka-Thailand. I wanted to be in India for the Holi festival and in Thailand for the Songkran festival. After contacting the Indian consulate in Turkey, I found out that since I lived…
After a few intense weeks, I’ve experienced some quite emotional moments. My friends, who kept extending their stay in Chiang Mai by changing their plans multiple times, have now started leaving one by one. Amidst the declarations of “this is our last drink, our last meal, our last dance,” I had to bid farewell to…
You know those moments when you wish time would stand still? Since coming to Thailand, I’ve experienced that feeling so many times. Whether it was during long evening walks smelling the flowers Merve loved, being stranded somewhere in a monsoon rain, or riding through the city on a motor taxi I hailed during the evening…
In the late 90s, there was a TV show called “Cheers” that I used to watch every evening after school. It was about a small bar in Boston where Sam, who had quit football, decided to become a bar owner, and Diane, who loved philosophy and literature, learned to be a waitress. The regulars all…
As always, with the arrival of December, social media is flooded with flashy photos of Christmas markets. The reality of my day, however, is sitting by a warm stove, holding a cup of masala tea, and wistfully looking at these photos of a trip that won’t happen this year. In normal times, besides spontaneous trips,…
I wish I could write these lines to you from a time when concepts like Corona, testing, quarantine, and social distancing were not part of our lives. Maybe while sipping an ice-cold beer in Prague or taking a coffee break at the first café I saw after getting off a local bus in Thailand… Now,…
Have you ever had a place close to you, always on your list of places to see, but you never visited for years? I’m talking about natural wonders, museums, or tourist spots in your own city. Those places you think you can visit anytime because they’re so close, so you always prioritize places farther away….