January Monthly Challenge

“The Road is Life” | 2023: A Year in Photos

January Monthly Challenge for in Living Color

“You go away for a long time and return a different person-you never come all the way back.” — Paul Theroux, “Dark Star Safari”

2023 was quite the ride — 10 months of it was spent traveling, between freelance assignments and various writing and photography workshops.

It got overwhelming at times, with the ever-present traveler’s companions that are food poisoning, bed bugs, anxiety, and loneliness — but I was able to achieve some notable firsts in a lot of areas of my life.

Thank you to JoAnn Ryan for the prompt to share a year in pictures!

Where it Started

January-India (Delhi/NCR, Rajasthan, Maharashtra)

I had spent the final two months of 2022 living in New Delhi, my longest stay in a city up until that point. I had just finished a two-week photography assignment in Ladakh, India, and was working on publishing the photos and the story in travel magazines (It was during this period that I discovered Medium and started writing here). Nearing a state of burnout, and unable to tolerate the air pollution any longer, I moved out of my apartment and took a 19-hour train journey South to ring in the new year with warmth and newfound friends in an unexpected place: Pune. Shortly after the new year began, I would slowly wind my way back to Delhi, a month to kill in the South before my first big projects of 2023.

On my meandering bus journey back to the North in January, I stumbled upon the absolutely beautiful city of Nashik, a destination of pilgrims. It was here that I discovered one of my favorite Indian dishes, a spicy soup called Misal Pav.

After Nashik, I visited American friends living in Jodhpur and toured some of the fortresses of Rajasthan, including Chittorgarh, pictured below.

Into the Wild: February-Northeast India (Nagaland, Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh)

February saw me traveling on assignment again — into the wild Northeast of India, which felt like another country entirely. Here I would be capturing documentary footage of an Indian company I had connected with while photographing out in Ladakh the year before. I spent a few weeks traveling isolated areas of India that see almost no tourists (and require special permits for entry, which my friends conveniently handled for me), and stayed with a local woman in Tura, Meghalaya, and her two sons, who treated me like absolute royalty.

March-Nepal

In March, I was able to return to Nepal for my third visit — again due to documentary work, shooting a short film for my Indian clients there in a remote village, but I was mostly based out of a hotel in Kathmandu. (It would be the first, and to this point, also last, documentary that I would produce independently from start to finish).

It was great to return to Nepal after the last dramatic visit I wrote about recently, but I was soon hit with my first bout of food poisoning there, which had never happened to me on my first two visits. I spent a week recovering from the bouts of diarrhea, and missed out on celebrating the colorful, Hindu Holi festival during this time.

It was in March that my photo story from Ladakh, India which I spent all autumn working on would get published in an Australian Travel E-Mag, called “Get Lost!”

April-Nepal

Fresh off of the assignment, and with some funds to carry me forward another couple of months, I made a long-awaited return to the Himalayas, and journeyed to the doorstep of Tibet-The Langtang Valley, with a Dutch friend I had met during a Vipassana meditation retreat on my last trip to Nepal.

May-Austrian Alps and the High Life

After my second appearance in NatGeo was published in May, I finally left Asia after a whopping 8 consecutive months spent between India and Nepal. I flew directly to Austria, where I visited clients based in the Alps, and had the most wonderful time touring their national parks with friends I had met (and photographed for) on travels across the world.

My first home in Europe ended up being with two of Vienna’s most famous architects (whom I had met on the photo assignment in India) — they let me have their multi-million-euro flat all to myself in a luxury highrise that had the most stunning views of the Viennese skyline. I went from staying at budget hotels and guesthouse in Nepal and India to essentially a 29th-floor penthouse, overnight. It just goes to show the kinds of serendipitous encounters travel opens up for you, at all walks of life.

June-Prishtina, Kosovo

My next assignment would bring me back to the Balkans, where I based myself for the next two months. I was sharing an apartment in Prishtina with expat friends, where I was only paying about $150 per month in rent (this after leaving the high life in Vienna). It was my third visit to Kosovo, and I was reunited with several friends, as well as the film camera I left behind there.

It felt so refreshing to be shooting film again.

July-North Macedonia

The assignment in Kosovo led me back to The High Scardus Trail (my second visit to the transnational trekking route), and concluded in early July at the lovely, old lake town of Ohrid, in North Macedonia. Here I stayed for an extra week near the lake and wrote about a unique character, a philosopher shepherd I had met on the mountain slopes near Magaro Peak.

August — Vienna and Paris

In August, I returned to Vienna, and within hours became the snack of bed bugs at the nice little hostel I had booked (I rarely stay at hostels, and I thought I would be unlikely to experience this in Vienna, but you’d be surprised how well the little suckers can travel).

I had also been bitten in India the previous October, so I was used to this scenario (in a full year of travel, it’s bound to happen once at least).

I was meeting friends in Vienna before heading to Paris for a travel memoir writing workshop led by Rolf Potts, which was incredibly eye-opening and transformative and was my last commitment before heading home for a short visit after being gone for a full 12 months.

September — Prishtina

After a quick visit home, I returned to Kosovo for a month-long film photography workshop. During this visit, I unexpectedly had to return home yet again for a death in the family. It meant I would cross the Atlantic three times in a little over a month. But I was able to return home in time for my uncle’s funeral, and then back to Kosovo in time to finish the workshop and participate in my first photography exhibition.

October- Sofia and London

After that exhibition in Prishtina, I returned to Sofia to visit a friend there, before heading to London for a street photography masterclass.

London was cold and rainy, and I felt isolated and lonely as I walked the shimmering streets. I was realizing that I had reached that state of travel burnout yet again, and so I began considering returning early, vs going through with my plans to return to Paris before flying home in November to prepare for my first solo photography exhibition.

November — Paris

After visiting friends in the Netherlands and Luxembourg, I resolved to continue with my plans to return to Paris for my second visit of 2023. I crashed at the home of a Parisian friend who was traveling in Turkey, and so I had the coziest little studio apartment to myself, free of charge.

My goal for revisiting Paris was to attend Paris Photo — one of the world’s most esteemed fine art photography fairs. There is something so uplifting and nostalgic about Paris, something that stimulates creativity and emotion. I think I look back on this month with the most longing and nostalgia: shortened, overcast days when I would attend the exhibits during the afternoon and return home after a nice meal out to write and to prepare for my first photo exhibition that I would open at home in December. The ultimate homecoming from almost three years of travel.

December — Home

In December, I opened my first photography exhibition in my hometown, but also could finally unpack my bags and decompress for a longer stay. My past visits had been in and out, but I was looking forward to really reconnecting with my loved ones, celebrating the holidays, and reaching a new milestone as a travel photographer.

From starting the year in India, and ending it at home, I can’t believe what all had come to pass in between. It felt like a year of life that contained a decade. And I’m still at home writing this, having just extended my next departure indefinitely.

After so much travel and experience in the past two years, I realize that at the 32, I have traveled more than most people will in their entire lives. Instead of jumping back out right away in 2024, I am focusing on recentering myself here back home, reflecting on all that has come to pass, and trusting that I’m right where I need to be.

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