Travel Journal

🇦🇿

Azerbaijan

2024

What I learned

• -A country can bridge two continents culturally, not just geographically.
• -Modern skylines and old town streets can sit side by side without clashing.
• -Hospitality here is generous by default, not an exception.

🇸🇦

Saudi Arabia

2025

What I learned

• -A country can rewrite its own story faster than outside perception catches up.
• -Tradition and rapid modernization aren't opposites, they're a design constraint.
• -Scale changes how you think about infrastructure and hospitality.

🇦🇪

Dubai

2025

What I learned

• -Ambition can be a city's entire personality.
• -Diversity at this density forces a different kind of design thinking.
• -Built from almost nothing, fast, is its own case study.

🇬🇧

United Kingdom

Home now · 2025 - present

What I learned

• -It's Chewsday, innit: settling in is half learning the slang and half saying "cheers" to everything.
• -London: a city this dense can still feel walkable if the transit is right.
• -The Lake District: silence and green space recharge you faster than any city break.
• -Old infrastructure, maintained well, ages into character instead of decay.
• -Weather forces you to plan less and adapt more.
• -Queueing culture says a lot about how a society handles shared resources.

🇹🇷

Turkey

Patika.dev scholarship · 2025

What I learned

• -From London to Istanbul for Stellar Hack Pera, on a fully funded scholarship from Patika.dev and the Stellar Development Foundation.
• -48 intense hours building and prototyping with Web3 tools.
• -Collaborating with talented developers from around the world is the fastest way to level up.
• -Istanbul's culture, history, and food are worth every break between build sessions.
• -Came home inspired, connected, and more motivated than ever to keep building.

🇳🇱

Amsterdam

2025

What I learned

• -A city built around bikes and canals is a lesson in prioritizing people over cars.
• -Flat, direct communication isn't rudeness, it's efficiency.
• -Small, well-planned spaces can outperform sprawling ones.

🇮🇹

Italy

2026

What I learned

• -Slowing down for a meal is productive, not wasted time.
• -Old systems can still outperform new ones when the craft is right.
• -Beauty in everyday objects raises the bar for your own work.

🇨🇭

Switzerland

2026

What I learned

• -Precision as a national trait shows up in trains as much as watches.
• -Expensive doesn't always mean inefficient, sometimes it funds the efficiency.
• -Mountains reset your sense of scale fast.

🇪🇸

Spain

2026

What I learned

• -A late schedule isn't disorganization, it's a different rhythm entirely.
• -Architecture can carry a city's identity across centuries without feeling dated.
• -Community happens in the street, not just indoors.

🇵🇰

Pakistan

Where it all started · Roots

What I learned

• -Hospitality as a default setting shapes how you treat every guest afterward.
• -Resourcefulness isn't a backup plan here, it's the first instinct.
• -Family and community networks solve problems no system officially accounts for.

1 / 10 · swipe to explore

Photos via Wikimedia Commons: Azerbaijan, Avisadehh (CC0) · Saudi Arabia, B.alotaby (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Dubai, Tim Reckmann (CC BY 2.0) · United Kingdom, Bjørn Erik Pedersen (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Turkey, SegLig (CC BY 4.0) · Amsterdam, Basile Morin (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Italy, kallerna (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Switzerland, VasuVR (CC BY 4.0) · Spain, Jebulon (CC0) · Pakistan, M. Ali Alam (CC BY-SA 4.0).