The Truth is in the Road

I did not have any expectations of the city. I compiled a list of twenty-something items to see and experience, and tossed away the attempts to imagine how those items might manifest itself in reality. Until the very morning of the departure, I held on to the bliss of denial, and it didn't dawn on me that I was going to a different country until I was on the way to the airport.  When you have no expectations, the reality surpasses the highest of them. When you are not looking for anyone particular, you encounter the people you’ve been awaiting for years. When you let the road guide you, it brings you to the most wonderful destinations. Our road brought us to Istanbul. Istanbul welcomed us with innumerable tulips and a gorgeous sunset. It charmed us tirelessly, and we fell in for this charm without resistance. It gave us a cozy little apartment to stay overnight and countless sights to explore during the day. It woke us up at dawn with overlapping ...

I hate packing. I spend hours trying to choose the things that will keep me warm/cool, comfortable and beautiful, all at once. I compile an excellent, all-encompassing packing list, and later discover that my suitcase can fit only two thirds of the capacity of a paper sheet. Finally, when the bag is packed and zipped up, I find out that somehow those five-dresses-three-pairs-of-shoes-and-four-scarves way good 40 pounds, and oops! – it's too late to grow my biceps.  Packing can be a nuisance – and yet, I secretly love it. I indulge into this process like one indulges into listening to a sugary song of the favorite boy band from the early teenage times. I might cry over the laws of physics when I realize I'm not able to fit in the fourth, absolutely essential pair of shoes. I can feel uncomfortable about the thought that I might not have a chance to nicely arrange everything in my closet and instead will have to memorize the exact location of every skirt in my bag. I might...