About Me
"Yellow Brick Road"
Sofia, Bulgaria
Hello!
I am an occasional traveler, a private writer, and an introvert.
Travel has always been a passion for me, but it is something that I cannot do steadily because I am trying to maintain a healthy balance amongst my different roles as a wife, a mom, and a full-time employee. I travel with my family during school breaks, and I travel by myself when I feel the need for some personal time.
I am intrinsically an anthropological traveler. I care a lot about the essence of any place I visit. I research on its history, culture, traditions, way of life, cuisine, and even urban legends before I even get there. When I arrive, I keep an open mind, observe with genuine interest, soak in the atmosphere, and fully immerse in every experience the place has to offer. I also make a conscious effort to connect with locals and learn about their day-to-day lives. This way, even for a limited time, I could veer away from being a passive tourist, merely watching scenes from a distance, and put myself in the shoes of someone whose lived experience is rooted in the place that I am visiting.
Writing is another passion for me, albeit an on-and-off one due to life’s demands. It is my preferred medium for expressing my thoughts, feelings, impressions, and musings.
I have been told by people I know that I am a good storyteller. They say I can connect the dots easily and capture the minutest details and nuances in what transpires around me. This translates to being able to provide accurate descriptions, complete accounts, and in-depth analyses of moments and events. But I put great value in my personal space, so my natural inclination is to just keep these to myself or share only with a small circle of likeminded individuals.
I think this is an inherent trait of my personality type. I am an extreme introvert (an INFJ, which is a rare personality type according to the Myers–Briggs test). INFJs are known to be intuitive, insightful, and emphatic. However, we are also reclusive, elusive, and very private. It is not typical of us to open up to people so easily, for doing so involves receiving some attention that we normally avoid.
Thus, I ask you to indulge me as I share this journal anonymously and stay behind the shadows of my stories and photos. Maybe one day, I'll peek from behind the curtains, but for now, I choose to remain invisible, and I hope you understand. After all, this will be about my experiences and lessons learned, and not about me.
Amos Rex Art Museum
Helsinki, Finland
About This Website
ATLAS AND ANTHOLOGY is a travel journal – a collection of personal stories and a record of journeys taken, depicted through a compilation of maps. This is my very own repository of memories, impressions, thoughts, feelings, and musings from my brief wanderings through the years.
Thus, you will find this website quite personal and introspective, a diary of sorts that focuses on my travel experiences.
It is not designed to feature a destination per se, nor to promote a personal brand or highlight personalities. It is not intended to market and advertise people, products, or services. It is not meant to indulge the expectations of a particular audience.
My intent is to simply reach out to likeminded people who share the same passion for travel and could relate with my experiences. I hope to get acquainted with fellow travelers or would-be-travelers who are as interested as I am about the places that I had visited and have the desire to dig deeper, not so much into their history alone (there are far more informative and credible sources for this), but on the connections that a traveler like me has made with the places I had been to and the people I had met along the journey.
Maybe my stories could pique someone's interest, enough to inspire him to go out and explore. Maybe my research could add to someone's knowledge about a favourite place. Maybe some of my musings could prompt someone to also ponder and analyze. Maybe my small discoveries could inspire someone to investigate more. Maybe my humble recommendations could help someone plan his future travel. Maybe my mistakes could teach one a few lessons or serve as precautions for his future adventures. Maybe my realizations could touch someone in one way or another, or even spark something dormant in him. Or...at the very least, maybe I could provide someone with a little bit of entertainment. The possibilities are endless...but I won't know unless I try. Behind the shadows of my stories, I hope to, at the very least, give a humble contribution.
And above all, I am doing this because I enjoy writing. I also believe that putting down my travel memories in prose is the best token from my trips. Some people buy souvenirs to display in their homes. Others take Instagram-worthy pictures of themselves at the “must-see” spots or while doing the “must-do” activities. I don’t really do those. When I travel, I don't shop (except for a magnet per destination and small, easy-to-pack homecoming presents for family). When I take pictures, I capture images of places and objects that will help me remember my trip, but always with me behind the shot (except for a few family pictures at key tourist spots when I am with my hubby and son). What’s important for me is the memory of the experience, not the proof that I was there or that I had done something. Hence, I normally keep the photos “neutral,” but I document the details of my travels in writing.
For me, stories are the best souvenirs and the best memory keepers. I do not get attached to objects and material things, In fact, bringing home physical mementos is just a burden for me. They just end up buried in a stack of boxes in the basement or tucked away in a dusty corner of a display cabinet, often ignored, and soon forgotten. The stories whence they came from are never told and the details of their acquisitions are never shared, which is a pity.
Travel stories, on the other hand, when properly recorded, can stand the test of time and can be shared in many different ways and at many different times. And this is what I am attempting to do on this website.
