Travel Tips and Tricks

Since eternity, I’ve had an indomitable spirit to witness the footprints on the sands of time, a burning desire to collect pebbles of stories from the vast ocean of truth surrounding us. Stories of glorious civilizations, mighty empires, and great wars. Tales of unshaken faith, unflinching courage, and undaunted valor. Legends of eternal wait of the enchanting mermaid, sorcerous creation of the imposing cave temple, and divine miracles in the misty island church. Stories entwined with every step taken to climb the endless snowy mountain, stories of the carefree dance in the rain after days of scorching sun, stories of lying on the grass next to each other under a star-studded sky, and all those seemingly insignificant stories of the half knitted fading memories of days gone by. One day when we turn back, we see it is only the stories that remain, even long after we’re gone.

But footprints on the sands of time can neither be made nor witnessed by sitting down. That’s why many years ago, I picked up my camera on a chilly, foggy winter morning and stepped outside the warm, cozy room to experience the miracles of creation. From that day to this, we’ve traveled across the globe by car, train, plane, boat, cruise, and whatnot. Along this journey, life gave us several opportunities to gape at the miracles of creation. But it simultaneously taught us numerous lessons that we could have never learnt sitting within our room's comforts. We got attacked by masked men in the Netherlands; got chased by armed robbers in Italy; got our passports stolen in Germany; got sent back to Croatia from Montenegro in a police car due to missing documents; got hit by a car in a remote village in Romania and spent the whole afternoon explaining the Dutch insurance process in sign language to Romanian police; fought with border police of Bosnia and Herzegovina for an hour at 1 AM for not letting us cross the border due to supposedly insufficient car documents; got car chased by Bosnian police at 3 AM for over speeding in a remote village in Bosnia; remained stranded overnight by the side of a pitch-dark highway with family in a broken car waiting to be towed by the notoriously lazy Italian roadside assistance amidst hailstorms and wildfires; climbed spine-chilling near-vertical 40 degrees inclination (yes, you read that right!) at 2 AM on extremely narrow mirror to mirror Sicilian countryside gravel road with car tyres scidding and engine giving up, and several other sh*t hits the fan moments. But these moments collectively form experiences which is the way life teaches you things. As it’s said, hindsight makes you wiser!

So today, having created a treasured chest of lifetime memories, alongside having my travel photographs and articles published in several renowned international magazines, journals, newspapers, and websites, I can safely proclaim that all of this was totally worth it. So through this series of articles, I intend to share our stories, experiences, and learnings in the field of travel over the years with our fellow photography and travel enthusiasts. I hope they help you plan your future travels!