112 is not enough: the thirst for new worlds is stronger than the list of destinations

Introduce yourself in a few words..

Magdalena Gigova. Journalist by profession, adventurer by spirit. In two words: polished aunt with a fatal weakness for travel and animals. You know the saying by Confucius, "If you find a profession you love, you will never work a day in your life." In this sense, I am a great lucky one. I host a travel show on BNR,  on Radio Sofia every Saturday at 1 PM I tell the love stories of famous Bulgarians, and for the agency "Blitz" I make a podcast on health topics. Plus writing for various publications like Voyage, Premium Lifestyle, the newspapers Nad 55 and Doctor and my own website www.dromomania.bg   

For you, the journey around the world is?

Co-experience, curiosity, purpose and... the forgotten Bulgarian word - srbel.

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

So far, the countries are 112. (Like the emergency number). I am answering questions in the middle of the desert in Namibia and I hope the internet in the lodge is sufficient for me to send the text. The countries are extremely insufficient, according to my greedy nature for new experiences. But the number is not what matters. I do not travel to put a "checkmark" on the map, but to learn something new, to meet interesting people, to immerse myself in the respective culture, history, cuisine, lifestyle. During my stay, I want to become "local," not a tourist with a guidebook in hand, who only sees what is marked.

Stories – a little later.

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

There is no place I would not go to again, because it would be interesting for me to see the change. Well, maybe Bhutan. The land of the happiest people seemed frozen to me. It feels like it’s for one time in a lifetime. But who knows?

In the supposedly "boring" Switzerland, I have been 11 times and it has always been endlessly entertaining for me. I have been to India 12 times, but it is a universe that no one can fully know, even if they live there. And my seven wanderings in Thailand are just a good start. And in my three visits to China, each time it seemed like they had changed the country, so it’s time for a new journey. There is no useless knowledge and unnecessary experience. That’s why, no matter how "the same" Europe is for me, I always enjoy finding a place where I haven’t been. And there are quite a few. 

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

As you can guess, before November 10, 1989, I could only travel to "permitted" socialist countries. I listened with hope to my grandmother's stories, who would say how she decided in the morning that she needed a new dress or wanted to see an exhibition she read about in the newspaper and would catch the train to Paris. For this reason, I missed the Soviet Union. It seemed to me a constant that I could always go to.

My mother acted nobly and married in Bavaria. More precisely in Bayreuth, at the Wagner Festival. And in 1986, I found myself in the western part of Germany, brought to an aesthetic shock by the sparkling white houses, bright red roofs,  the neatly arranged gardens and the extremely friendly "cold" Germans. I even ended up in the Festspielhaus for "Tannhäuser," directed by Daniel Barenboim. An experience that always seemed to me as likely as getting a liter of diamonds. And it happened! And it seemed to give me wings.

My first trip in 1990 was to the United States, but it didn’t change me.  No matter how interesting it was, it felt like I was prepared by the movies we watched on pirated videotapes with the voice of Vasil Kozhuharov, who translated all the roles. I had a 6-month visa, but I hurried back to vote in the first democratic elections. But my first trip to China in 1993 showed me that there is a world so different from ours in terms of mentality, psyche, structure, history, and culture that it unleashed in me an insatiable desire for knowledge in that direction.  Maybe that’s why Asia is my favorite destination and excluding a few countries ending in "jan" and "stan," from that continent I am left with only Laos, North Korea, and Iraq. But I am fundamentally ready to set off anywhere at any time.

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

I realized that if you don’t approach people with prejudice and bias, carry a smile,  good mood and don’t try to change them, there’s no way they won’t respond to you with the same. That’s why I feel good in any cultural environment. When I was in Iran, for example, I had prepared with head coverings, a black abaya down to  the ankles, and the hosts smiled that I was dressed much more strictly according to the rules than they were. It’s good for a person to go prepared, but it’s not mandatory to stay within the limits of what has been read and learned. But to be open, well-meaning, and (I repeat) curious. This is the driving force of a journalist.

Sometimes, however, I think that precisely because I quickly create lasting friendships, I will never be truly "good" in the profession. Because I wouldn’t step over someone’s corpse (not literally) for a front-page article. Even if I learn a sensational news story, if I have been asked not to report it, I tend to keep quiet in the name of good tone or ethics.

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

In professional terms, my greatest journalistic luck is the presence at the meetings of the now-closed foundation of Petar Stoyanov "Center for Global Dialogue and Cooperation" in Vienna. There, the world elite gathered and one could freely talk to anyone. For example, when I asked Cherie Blair, the wife of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and one of the most respected lawyers on the Island,  for an interview for the newspaper "Trud," where I worked for over 20 years, she smiled and said, "Of course," even though she had never heard of that publication. When ten years later she came to Bulgaria for a women’s forum, I showed her our photos together and we talked briefly again.

Of course, there could be no talk of an interview with Bill Clinton (the PR behind him is like a fortress wall), but to listen to his speeches, to receive from his hands his book Giving with a signature is truly an amazing chance. There I also made several materials with Klaus Meine from "Scorpions," with Rick Yune, who played the villain Zhao in the James Bond film "Tomorrow Never Dies." With General Wesley Clark, the Supreme Commander of NATO forces in Europe, we even became friends. I talked with the recently departed Felix Baumgartner, who jumped from 33 km in the stratosphere, with world chess champion Anatoly Karpov... Unforgettable meetings!

I am endlessly grateful to the Parpulovi family for choosing me to accompany them to their meeting with Prince Charles (today's British king) on his estate in Wales. Their carpet factory in the town of Kostandovo has been weaving for the English royal family for years.

Well, sometimes such high-profile contacts help on a practical level. During one of my trips to India, I was invited to a tourism fair in the state of Madhya Pradesh. I had a document that the organizers would cover my entire stay in the city of Bhopal, but the man behind the counter at the airport kept repeating like a parrot that if I didn’t show him a document for a reserved hotel, he wouldn’t let me through. The line behind me was growing dangerously. I admit, if it’s not about work, I don’t always react quickly and adequately. But this time I received enlightenment "from above." I remembered that I had a photo on my phone with Shri Narendra Modi, the current Prime Minister of India. During one of my visits to Gujarat, where he was the Chief Minister, I did a short interview and we took a picture for memory. I dug out the photo, the stubborn official stood up straight and like in a parade, I entered India.

Why am I telling you these stories? Because it becomes clear that the higher the position of a person, the more down-to-earth, understanding, and open they are. If you approach with tact and respect.

Do you think your travels help you expand your professional network? How?

^{You never know where luck will meet you. I often mention this word, but in journalism, besides skills and preparation, it plays a big role. For example, in India, I met Filipino colleagues and when I wrote to them that I would fly to Manila, they made me such a program for places that I would never have seen if I had organized my trip myself and invaluable meetings with people. Open-mindedness also plays an important role. Traveling by train from Kogala to Pinnawala in Sri Lanka, I struck up a conversation with a random person.  He, of course, asked me about my profession, about the purpose of the trip, and when I told him I was going to see an elephant sanctuary, immediately he countered that it was impossible for me to be 30 km from the most revered temples of Buddha in the city of Kandy and not see them. I justified myself with a lack of time. "As soon as you finish with the elephants, text me, take the intercity bus, I will wait for you at the stop, I will take you to the temples with my motorcycle, and then to the station". Every normal woman would think that she would be abducted by an older man for white slavery, but I trusted him and I do not regret it. We still write to each other sometimes. Every trip enriches not only the soul, knowledge, but also the mailing list. Quite often we exchange advice with traveling writers we have been somewhere in the world and, even though we haven’t seen each other for a long time, we remain friends, connected by a common passion for travel.}

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

Observational skills. The ability to catch the moment without hesitation. Ease of communication. Adaptability to all conditions (I have slept in the most expensive hotel in Europe and in a tent in the Kutch desert and felt equally good). The conviction that preparation is the most profitable improvisation. Everything listed is equally valid for both work and life because for me they are one and the same.

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

With my hand on my heart, I admit that I am not cut out for business. I quickly create friendships, and I don’t take money from friends, so I would go bankrupt in a matter of days. But I do get inspiration for professional projects in  abundance.  A long time ago, after a trip to Burma, I jokingly made a blog http://magdalenagigova.blogspot.com  and started publishing travelogues, interviews, and essays, without any idea of promotion. However, when Fox TV invited me to go to Athens to interview Stana Katic (famous from "Castle" and "Forgotten"), they were more impressed that my blog had 60 thousand reads, rather than the now non-existent newspaper "Press." Since that moment, the visits have swollen to over 820 thousand, and I, to be honest, am not doing anything for it. It seems the blog has taken on a life of its own. On my site www.dromomania.bg I am currently paying more attention. The idea for it also came  while traveling  - in Brussels.

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

In an unfamiliar country, I switch to "wandering and roaming" mode. I am unstoppable. Not without reason is the slogan of my show on BNR "Crazy for tying up when it comes to traveling."  I just want to immerse myself, to see, to feel, to smell, to touch, to chew... Not without reason do my friends call me "food sapper." I have tried all sorts of things in all kinds of settings – from a ballroom to a ring under a hut, from fried scorpion to soup with volcanic rock.

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

I’m not sure that I am ambitious. The desire to be good at what I do comes more from a striving for balance, rather than for victory and dominance at any cost. If I paraphrase an old Japanese saying, "I want to be happy, not right."  Otherwise, every challenge is a prompt for creativity - I prefer the Bulgarian word for creativity. If something intrigues me so much that I want not just to describe it, but to dig deeper, to research and not stop telling, it means it has pressed my restart button. And the continent doesn’t matter at all. Only the impulse.   

How do you balance work and pleasure when you travel?

We have already clarified that for me work is pleasure and it never weighs on me. Of course, when you host a show or have an agreement to submit a text, you arrange your priorities so that you finish everything, leaving impeccable necessary for the time, while you are not there. And when I travel, views, meetings, people, places are imprinted on the hard drive in my head, which I will later recreate with the pleasure of experiencing the memory.  

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

It may sound funny, but I calculate everything in travels. And if some lady tells me she bought a dress for I don’t know how many thousands, the thought flashes in my head, "Wow, how many plane tickets is that?" I have long realized that there is no point in investing in bricks and tin, only in knowledge and memories. They are the true wealth.

Do you travel to find new ways to earn money?

I would like to, but I have no talent for that. I have already admitted to myself that I am amputated when it comes to business skills.

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

Old Bulgarians have a saying, "White money for black days." The same is repeated by the Jews with some modification. The subtext is that when you have some security for the future, you do your work more carefully and do not make mistakes out of haste, impatience, or need.  

According to Vas, is it better to spend on experiences rather than on material possessions?

I have already answered this question.  

How do you see the future of digital nomadic life?

I hope more and more people choose this way of life because it broadens horizons. I am very happy for the young people who, without any prejudices, catch a plane and with only the essentials on their backs go to the ends of the earth, work from the jungle or from some beach, change countries and continents, create friendships, fall in love... I love to quote Mark Twain, "Travel is fatal to narrow-mindedness and prejudice".

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

I could hardly do my job anywhere else because no matter how well I master the language, there will always be pitfalls to trip over. I always think that a person changes countries for economic or career reasons. Well, it could also be emotional – if they have fallen in love. At the moment, Bulgaria is something like the tax paradise of Europe. I am left with that impression when communicating with Italian friends who drive cars with our plates and have registered companies here. Only for financial reasons. Quite a few Belgians are also "relocating" their companies.   Some believe that Costa Rica is a wonderful place to live because nature is generous, there is no army, teachers outnumber police officers, and education and medical care are free, but the locals probably wouldn’t agree. It turned out that in Namibia, the healthcare is also covered by the state and if you need treatment abroad, the authorities make a decision within a week or two, but no one has rushed to emigrate.

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

I recall the saying, "A stone weighs where it belongs".

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

I can only share the places I love to return to. Not to recommend, since as many people, so many tastes.  Kerala is one of my favorite places. It and Goa are the smooth way to perceive India if you approach it with hygienic and aesthetic doubts. In  the southernmost state everything is sparkling green, the water is abundant, and the ocean is warm  and gentle. Kerala is the cradle of Ayurveda. The place was discovered by Vasco da Gama (his house still stands in Kochi). The Portuguese, Dutch, French, English have “settled” here, there was a large Jewish colony, and everyone lived in peace and love. In the Catholic temples, services are held in Hindi or in the local language, which sounds like the chirping of birds. The Portuguese left Goa in the 1960s crying, after they taught the locals to make excellent port. There used to be a saying, “If you have seen Old Goa, there is no need to go to Lisbon.” In both places, time flows smoothly and sweetly like molasses, people are kind and smiling, tolerant and  open. When I go there, I am overwhelmed by a feeling of freedom and security! Surely in a previous reincarnation, I was Indian. Thailand is my other favorite direction, due to the countless variety of relief, colors, shapes, history, cuisine, contrast between megacities and fishing villages, between mountain ranges and silk beaches.    

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

Ambition is a valuable driving force, but it is destructive if it is at any cost. And it is not backed by qualities.