ABOUT NATALY & THIS BLOG

Having visited more than 60 countries, diving deep into the culture and experiences of them, I wish to be your travel guide whenever you want to discover happiness and great adventures wherever you travel.

My idea was to do more than a normal travel blog with my recommendations for local experiences, food, accommodation, sights, etc. I also want to provide deeper insights into the country and its culture. In particular, I want to share what makes a country’s inhabitants happy, and what you can learn yourself and take away with you when you leave.

The idea to start this blog came to me in 2018 when I spent a lot of time in Denmark – one of the happiest countries in the world. I became very interested in the happiness concept per se, particularly in the idea that happiness is actually something that comes from outside factors as opposed to all these “happiness is all in your head” ideas from self-help books (most of which I find very annoying and repetitive).

Having visited more than 60 countries myself, sometimes I just fell in love with a country and could even imagine living there, and sometimes it was just the opposite.
What I also realised was that each country has its own happiness-concept that you can learn from and take with you, making your everyday life happier, wherever you reside.
So whether you want to know more about the hygge concept of Denmark, spirituality and fairy tales of Bhutan, or the art of enjoying the present moment and doing nothing (Dolce far niente) as in Italy etc., I will be your guide to great experiences and happiness wherever you travel…
and I hope it will make you a little bit happier in your everyday life 🙂

ABOUT ME AT GLANCE:

My name is Nataly, I live in Switzerland but I truly consider myself a global citizen.
I travel for over half the year and I have visited more than 60 countries on almost all the continents. What’s more, I truly experience each country: its nature, food, culture and people.

Ever since my childhood, I have always loved to travel. Born in Ukraine, I spent the early years of my life in Germany. Then, between the ages of 10-13, I travelled extensively alone in the former Soviet Union countries to attend classical dance competitions.
Later, I travelled for my modelling career, and in the role of co-founder of an NGO (“Planet XXI”) promoting cultural exchange between Eastern and Western Europe.
After moving to Switzerland at 19, I continued to travel to even more exotic locations, including Spitzbergen, Bhutan, Alaska, Nepal, the Galapagos Islands and many more.

I like to live life to the full and totally agree with Anthony Hopkins:
“None of us are getting out of here alive. So please stop treating yourself like an afterthought. Eat the delicious food. Walk in the sunshine. Jump in the ocean. Say the truth that you’re carrying in your heart like hidden treasure. Be silly. Be kind. Be weird. There is no time for anything else”.
I follow this to the best of my ability and I will share it with you on this blog, in the hope that it will be meaningful to you too.

Unlike many people today, I am not travelling just to capture “the perfect Instagram photo”. I don’t want to just document my life, I want to live it! I like to travel earnestly, learning about a country, its traditions and its people.
I am always interested in experiencing the unique things that are significant to that country. I have done bear watching in Alaska, painting in Rome, cross-country skiing in Lapland, hiking in Nepal, meditation on retreat in India, a photography course in London and even shark diving in South Africa. In pursuing these unique experiences, I found that each country has some unique happiness secrets that one can learn and bring home.

This is how the idea for this blog was born: to go beyond the normal travel advice and focus on activities and learning, to see what unique travel experiences you can uncover in each country. I want to find what secrets a country has to teach to make my day-to-day life (and yours!) happier and richer.

Through this blog I invite you to join me on this journey. I look forward to having you as my travel companion.