We are Victor and Julia, and we've been getting lost in foreign countries since 2003. We spend all of our vacation days, long holidays, and an occasional Wednesday wandering the world.
Victor
Hi there!
My name is Victor.
I was born in Belarus and spent my early childhood in the Soviet Union. As a child in a highly “closed” country, I couldn’t imagine that one day I would travel the world and visit 50+ countries. The world atlas that my parents bought for my sixth birthday was my most treasured and favorite toy, and probably the reason why I’m still hooked on discovering this beautiful planet.
In 2003, I moved to the United States and settled in Chicago. That same year, I met Julia, with whom I’ve happily traveled the world ever since and run this indie travel blog.
In my travels, I love big cities because they are loaded with culture and history, but I also enjoy getting off the grid, whether that’s overnight camping on top of a volcano in El Salvador, hiking Norway’s fjords, or off-roading in an Omani desert. As an animal and nature person, I travel to hug dogs and trees around the world. As an avid soccer fan, I try to attend matches of the most beautiful game in every country I visit.
I love planning trips, creating travel itineraries, and heavily researching each destination. Wherever I go, I try to live like a local, and that often includes learning local customs, reading local newspapers, and if the stay is long enough, you can even find me learning the local language or the words of that country’s national anthem.
Outside of travel and blog writing, my interests include visiting art museums, learning Spanish, gardening, exploring coffee joints around Chicago, and cheering on all Chicago sports teams.
Julia
Hello!
I'm Julia, the other half of this travel blog. I was born in Ukraine and emigrated to the U.S. when I was twelve. My family traveled from Ukraine to Vienna and then to Italy before finally making our way to Chicago. This was my first taste of travel. I remember walking the streets of Rome, mesmerized by the beauty around me and awed by the realization that I was walking in the footsteps of Roman emperors from my history textbooks. That a place from a book could be real, that I could see it and experience it for myself, felt like a revelation.
Since then, I've traveled all around the world, and I'm still no less excited to keep exploring. For the last twenty years, almost every long weekend and every day off work has been spent away from home, crisscrossing oceans and continents. I like cities, and I like wilderness, preferably on the same trip. I'll spend a morning in a museum and an afternoon hiking to a viewpoint. I'll eat anything put in front of me, especially if it looks strange.
At home, I like to stay busy with my hobbies - swimming, taking nature walks, making pottery at the local ceramics studio, cooking, and hanging out with our two cats. I bring all these interests with me when I travel, which is why there are so many posts about hiking, swimming, food, and pottery in different countries, and why I photograph every cat we encounter.
My dream is not to visit every country in the world. I want to explore the countries we do have the privilege of visiting as thoroughly as I can, learn the history, understand the culture, talk to the people, and walk the trails. And, of course, eat all of the food.
Meet Our Team
Every long weekend and every day of PTO, we have to make the choice between staying at home with two cats or hitting the road with a backpack. It's not an easy choice, but a clear one - after all, this is a travel blog, not a cat blog.
Cat
Milo is 13 years old and was found as a kitten in a supermarket parking lot, hiding under the hood of a random car. His interests include meowing pitifully next to his food dish, wrestling with Lucky, and spinning around in chairs.
Cat
Lucky is 13 years old and was adopted from an animal shelter when he was around 2 years old. Lucky enjoys meowing pitifully when being picked up, showing his love by scratching your face when you sleep and grooming Milo.
Backpack
Small backpack for one-week trips and larger backpack for two-week trips. Backpacks enjoy being full of dirty laundry, thrown in the back of minibusses, dragged along dusty roads, and being squeezed into overhead bins.