Wanderlust Awaits: Join Us on Our Journey
We met when Rıza came to Poland for Erasmus. We had great luck – Rıza landed in the capital, Warsaw, Aleksandra’s hometown, and was spending there only a few days, before heading to Lublin, where his university was located… Kismet! – Turks would say, meaning that our paths were destined to cross.
The first timid messages turned into intercity travel (oh, those hours on trains!), and when the COVID pandemic came, we moved in together in Warsaw, from where Rıza continued his studies remotely, and Aleksandra continued her work.
“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”
Travel brings people closer
It was the same in our case! Our first longer trip together was to the Baltic countries at the end of 2019. We spent New Year’s Eve in Vilnius, dancing to electrifying Balkan music. We moved across the region with long-distance night buses, stayed in cheap hostels, caught free walking tours, and warmed our frozen hands in the warmth of not-yet-closed Chrismas markets… And we believed we were like two puzzles that fit together.
Goodbyes are always difficult.
This was also the case in our case when Rıza’s Erasmus ended after a year. We didn’t want to become Erasmus sweethearts who say goodbye forever at this moment. We decided on a long-distance relationship, having no clear idea of what to do next, but knowing that we wanted to be together.
Aleksandra kept finishing her work as quickly as possible every quarter to take a few days off and fly to Turkey regularly. We traveled around Antalya, visiting the ruins of ancient cities, swimming in the sea, eating incredibly delicious food… And again saying “see you soon!”. Between these short but beautiful visits, we spent hours on video calls, watching movies together, discussing and sharing our everyday lives.
We knew we had to change something.
We want to be in the same place – and Aleksandra had to move to Ireland for her job. During the next visit THIS happened! Rıza knelt down and asked me to marry him – the answer could not be other than “yes!” For the next few weeks, we collected documents, prepared a dress, a suit, a photographer, all this madness… And two months later we said “yes” again, this time at the registry office in Antalya.
Our honeymoon was equally beautiful and intense – we visited the south-eastern region of Turkey on the border with Syria and Iraq. This place is the cradle of human civilization, it is where Mesopotamia was located. And since we both love history, we couldn’t have made a better choice!
The Next Chapter
After several months of dealing with the immigration office, interspersed with Aleksandra’s longer stay in Turkey, we were ready to bring Riza to Ireland! Since then, we have been building our nest and everyday life in Dublin. From here we travel closer (across Ireland and Europe) and further (including Indonesia). Thank you for wanting to accompany us on this journey by watching our adventures!