06 August 2017

To my readers... 💓

When I first started this blog I never thought about who would read it, I never thought anyone would read it 😅 let alone it would lead to writing a personal column for Croatian online news portal...but it did.


Some situations in the last few months, actually, ever since I moved back home made me realize there were more than a handful of readers who followed me around the world through  my stories, more than I imagined. People who I knew nothing about started to get a name and a face. Well, some of them. 😋

Back then, writing in my own language made it so much more easier for Croatians (mostly girls) to contact me and ask questions, to ask for advice or to simply read about certain experiences and travel around through someone else's words and photos. 
When you come from a small country like Croatia where 'everyone knows everyone' it's most likely you'll have mutual friends with the person who contacted you or you'll end up having mutual friends eventually. Small country = big expat community, where everyone knows everyone, literally. 



That's how I got to know a lot of men and women, girls and boys who live(d) abroad who sent me those kind of messages. Nice and friendly, whether to just to say hi,  to share their experience or to just say I know how you feel, I've been there... At the time it meant a lot, more than you can imagine.

Some of the girls who contacted me with questions about the cabin crew job, application process or life in Dubai and everything else that followed, I got a chance to meet in all sorts of crazy coincidental situations! 😊

I was happy whenever I could've helped with any kind of advice, suggestion, piece of information cause I knew how it felt not knowing anyone and not having anyone to ask for that kind of help. And trust me, you have a gazillion questions and need just one person to make you feel more comfortable, to calm you down, to tell you it's not that hard, before you pack your bags, leave home and start that crazy expat (cabin crew) life. 
Even today, almost two years after I quit the job I'm getting the same messages with the same questions, and I still feel more than happy to reply.

Some of my readers I met on board... Croatian passenger on a flight to Kabul, Afghanistan I operated on recognized me and came to say hi after which my colleagues thought I was someone famous back in my country hahahaha! 😂 
I still owe her a drink 😄. 


As the time goes by, especially now when I don't write as often and since I stopped writing for Index.hr it's even more heart warming to hear that some person, there in the world, someone who I never knew existed, still reads and follows what I write or post about. It's so incredible to hear my friends meeting someone who 'knows' me just because that someone read something I once wrote. 😌
It's kinda weird for my father to call me from his business trip to tell me someone asked if he's related to me 'cause everyone in that company loved my stories.
For a nice pizza delivery girl who brought me pizza yesterday to tell me she recognized me from the pictures and ask if that's really me, to give me goosebumps and make me feel so happy (not only because she brought pizza ☝😂) by wishing me as many more travel miles as the wordy ones... 
It makes my heart grow! 💗


Sending you love!
XOXO



09 July 2017

365 days later... :)

Hi there everyone,

it's been a year since I moved back home, back to my beautiful Zagreb... ♡


Wasn't as hard as many thought it would be! I heard so many opinions about everything, how I won't be able  to find a job, how I should forget about traveling once I get back, how crazy I am to even consider going back to Croatia, how I haven't thought it through or how I'll miss my old life for sure. What to say, I proved them all wrong! 😜

People who never left Croatia told me not to come back, but they couldn't have known how it felt to want to come back, the ones who left told me to think it through carefully but they supported me, the ones who left and came back understood me best. At the end it's all personal, subjective decision that varies from one person to another...


My decision to return to Croatia wasn't impulsive, hasn't been based only on emotions and it wasn't stupid (yeah, I heard that as well), not at all. I knew what I was doing, I thought it through so many times, gave myself time to process, I put everything on the paper, all the pros and cons, talked about it with family and friends a lot, calculated my financials and did all the homework before making this decision. The one that was best for me, knowing I can always move again, change my plans along the way, cause I am capable and not afraid of doing it.




Coming back is not a final, it's not my last stop and I never said it was forever. On the contrary, I still feel restless, I still have this wish to discover, explore and challenge myself, but for now is what I need. If the opportunity falls in my lap to go somewhere new again I'd take it, I'm open to everything, but I'm not desperately looking for one, not yet at least.

Summer of 2016 was my summer off, after which I applied for A job, and got that one, after a few months I applied for another ONE, and got that one too... Maybe I was just lucky but it wasn't hard to find one, like everyone predicted it'd be. It's a 9-5 office job and I like it! The job itself and the fact it's a 'steady, boring, same-people-every-day, office job'. 😃
I like the fact I have a schedule, to know when it's time to eat, sleep, work, work out, and I haven't been sick all the time! Plus plus plus. 😁
Who knows what will happen when my feet become itchy again...but I do enjoy this for now. 😊



Yes, I do miss certain things from my expat life. I miss the food, oh halloumi cheese, hummus, tabbouleh, dumplings, tropical fruits... I miss my friends and our days off, nights out, driving around on a scooter, my little students, living with my best friend. I miss Mc'Donalds delivery and sunny warm weather all year long. 😋 But do I miss the job? Would I go back to it? No. Not for one second I considered that option. I had a great time working as cabin crew, then it stopped being so great and that's why I left. As simple as that. Also Tainan, moving there I accomplished what I needed and wanted and when I felt it was time, I left. And it all felt sooo good! So no, I wouldn't go back to cabin crew life in Dubai if I had a chance to do so once again. 😉


The last thing that was pissing me off (pardon my French) was everyone telling me how I can forget about my far away travels, maybe once a year they said, maybe.
But once again - everyone is different. My priorities are not same as yours, my way of handling my salary is not the same as yours, what's important to me doesn't have to be important to you...so YES, I STILL TRAVEL! ☝✈



Not on daily basis, not with a discounted standby tickets, and not with a salary I used to have, but I do travel every few months, on my terms, the way I like to, with the people I choose to.
In the last year I've visited Dubai in November (yes, again, I know), Czech republic in January, Bali in March and now it's time for summer in Croatia! Don't think that's bad, not at all, considering plans for  the rest of the year and for the year 2018 are all in place already. 😄😎💪



I'm not saying and I wasn't going to say it was easy to come back, but it wasn't so hard either. Of course there are moments when I still feel like I don't belong here completely, I'm still finding myself lost in a way, Things have changed, little stuff you don't fully see while you're away, relationships changed, not for worse or better, they just did, some people left your life and some new came along.
I changed and only now and here I see how and in what ways. Other things stayed the same. Certain expectations got higher, there's a lot of explaining and adjusting, realizing all of the above and accepting it because YOU are the one who left, YOU are the one who came back and most definitely YOU are the one who has to adopt to everything, once again...



Moving back was as challenging as it was moving away, however I wouldn't change one thing, not one decision, not a day in my life, if I could. 💗

XOXO! 😘