Every journey is an 'hour of life'

Introduce yourself in a few words..

Pepi Dimitrova, founder and owner of the communication agency pr2, specialized in building image and maintaining media relations. I have been consulting in the corporate world for 20 years, I am an advisor to public figures and institutions, a political analyst. I am a passionate preacher of practical leadership and outdoor activities.

What does traveling the world mean to you?

The only way to ventilate, to feel my mind free and to empirically discover that each of us is a speck of a huge whole. In fact, traveling is my method of positioning myself correctly in time and space.

How many different countries have you seen so far? Share an interesting story or highlights from your travels?

I haven't counted them for a long time. My first trip abroad was in January 2007, when Bulgaria joined the EU and we could travel in Europe with cheap plane tickets and an ID card. I started traveling late, so I had a lot to catch up on. My childhood dream was to visit Tanzania. I was truly happy the moment I stepped on the beach in Africa. A few years later, we visited Tasmania, in Australia, and I remember exclaiming: “Is it possible that the universe got confused? Did I dream of Tanzania, and it was Tasmania?!”

Do you like to repeat destinations? Give examples and motivation 'for' or 'against'?

In recent years, a large percentage of the more interesting destinations we visit are because of and together with our son. So it happens that I return even to places where I wouldn't for another reason. For example, to London or New York. My personal preferences lean towards unfamiliar, hidden, and quieter places. I regularly return to the mountain villages of the Dolomites and the Alps, to Tuscany, to Boston. I plan to return to Iceland, but with a camper. And in Tasmania as well on wheels.

What was your first trip that truly changed you as a professional and can be said to have changed your thinking?

My profession is creative, so it is very difficult for me to separate my professional self from my personal self. It may be a cliché, but every journey is an “hour of life”. It teaches me to think beyond the boundaries and limitations of “here and now”. In the infinity of the different, where the butterfly effect is an axiom.

What do you learn about yourself and your professional skills when you are in a new cultural environment?

As a political analyst and consultant, I think much more about social processes, I take the opportunity to talk to locals about their attitudes, stories, and relationships with power. I remember one May 1st in Istanbul, where there are traditionally riots, the city is blocked, how I talked in the taxi with the driver about Erdogan. People and their stories are a treasure. In my work, information is the main capital, and I can accumulate this wealth at airports, on islands, and in the center of dusty megacities. I like them less and less.

Have you met people or ideas during your travels that have influenced your career path?

Yes, I think that right after one trip I decided to study political science. I wanted to scientifically understand why people are often unhappier than their rulers. When I discovered more about hedonic adaptation, I realized that it would have been more correct to study psychology, but that's another question. Life always has a plan for us, greater than ourselves. And the picture of this is revealed to us more clearly from above.

Do you think that traveling helps you expand your professional network? How?

I have heard that there is such an approach to traveling, but I have never experienced it personally.

What skills do you develop the most when you travel, and how do they reflect on your work?

I think I still carry that journalistic curiosity about the world within me. I am just curious, and that is enough.

Is there a city or country that has inspired you to start a new business or project?

You know, a visit to Warsaw inspired me for a project that unfortunately still sits on the shelf. I hope this is a reason to revive it, because I still believe in it. And no one has beaten me to it.

When you are in an unfamiliar country, do you feel more motivated or more distracted? Why?

I feel myself. Sofia and Bulgaria are small, we get to know each other too easily, and this creates self-censorship of our public behavior. In the unknown, I can be myself. This is the freedom to be, but also the freedom not to think about who you are.

Are there destinations that act as a 'restart' for your creativity and ambition?

Every flight to Sofia is a time when I write down my ideas for the coming months. Ideas for change.

How do you manage the balance between work and pleasure when you travel?

I don't manage it because I don't believe in balance. Just as I don't believe that stress is bad. A person is an extremely adaptive being. What questions I have solved from hotel rooms, even from a tent. I have discussed important decisions at the level of deputy prime minister from some rocks at 3000 meters with poor reception. In fact, that required balance - it's not easy to talk on the phone while hanging on a rock.

How have travels changed the way you perceive the value of money?

Fundamentally. I realized that if they are an end in themselves, money is a burden, if they are a means, they are joy. The joy of being where you want, with those who excite you, in relationships that you consciously choose.

Do you travel to find new ways to make money?

I have never done that. Maybe because I am naturally curious, not greedy.

What lessons about financial independence have you learned from different economies and cultures?

I haven't. I actually don't believe that there is financial independence. As children, we used to say: “Well, my father is not a king.” But as I grew up, I realized that it was missing even then. We have a king who was a prime minister and didn't seem financially independent to me at all. I don't believe in that.

Do you think it's better to spend on experiences rather than material possessions?

It's better not to have to choose. The universe is not on a budget; there is enough for each of us as much as we are willing to take and for what we are ready to pay the price. At this stage of my life, I do not choose between experiences and possessions. My heavy choice is another: the time dedicated to the people I work with for their success and the time I invest in preparing for my next goal, whether it be a peak or a triathlon.

How do you see the future of digital nomadic life?

It seems extremely bright to me. The most important thing is to be aware and to appreciate this opportunity. We by birth, not by merit, belong to a very small percentage of the Earth's population that has the right to choose what to work on, where, with whom, and how. The most important lesson of my travels - “Don't take yourself too seriously! Being born a smart girl in a normal family in Europe is not something you have achieved. It is given.” I have seen with my own eyes that millions of people around the world have been given a very different fate. That is why I have long reduced my claims at the expense of authenticity.

Are there specific countries that are more favorable for work and investment?

The world is big and there are opportunities everywhere. I feel the maxim “a stone weighs in its place” as very much mine. And I don't feel other places as “more favorable”. But my daughter already lives and works in Germany. Everything is subjective in human life.

If you could choose one place in the world to develop your next big idea, where would it be and why?

Bulgaria. My next idea will be developed here.

What are the destinations you would definitely recommend to be visited and why?

Tasmania, where there are billions of stars in the sky. Iceland, where they make the tastiest bread in the world. I would like to mention Iran, for which I have many “whys”, but perhaps at this moment it is dangerous and I do not recommend anyone to go there. 

What is the career advice you would give based on what you have seen around the world?

Free yourself from illusions and corporate mantras. Every beginning is filled with hope, and every affirmation is heavy, and many times you will want to give up. Remember “hedonic adaptation” - people very quickly and easily become dissatisfied, and that is harmful.