Growing up in the Soviet Union, I kept telling myself that one day soon I would leave and go and see the world. When the day came, the plan was hardly a plan. I went to the airport with some money and one rule: take whichever international flight left that day and fitted my budget. It was Turkey.
Once I had proved to myself that I could survive, I found work with a destination management company and rose into its leadership. That let me choose where to work and live, and the countries that followed came from that choice, each one making me better at my trade.
My boss had one piece of advice: “Don’t buy decorations or anything homely while you’re working a destination. It will only make leaving harder.” I did exactly the opposite. I lived a local life, in full, and none of these places was an extended stay. Each was home, for a chapter of my life.
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Russia
Made in the USSR. I still love the food, but I left no castle behind.
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Türkiye
Four years: my first home away from home, and the most delicious one.
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Greece
Six months on Crete, young and working hard to prove myself, in awe of how Cretans love to enjoy life.
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Egypt
Sinai, where I left my job for love and a new life. Four years, and neither lasted; my love for the place did.
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Thailand
My old company took me back, a rung lower. Eighteen easy-going months in Pattaya and Bangkok put me back together.
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Indonesia
Bali, where I worked for a little over a year and fell in love with myself again.
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Dominican Republic
My home for almost a decade. I came for work, met my future husband and stayed on.
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Luxembourg now
My home now. Emotions still in progress…