Hello everyone! My name is Maret. I initially started this travel blog so my friends and family could easily keep up with me, especially if anything happened. When I started traveling to more remote — and sometimes politically a bit unstable — places, like in 2012 when I went to Iraq during a rare six-month period of calm, or later in 2022 when I visited Syria in the middle of the pandemic, while the country was still under President Bashar al-Assad, I didn’t even dare to tell my family right away where I was going. Back then, it felt safer to let them follow my journey through the blog. But along the way, I discovered something incredible — the world is so much friendlier and more welcoming than I ever imagined. What I thought might be dangerous turned out to be a wonderful adventure!

I wish I had some more information before I started traveling. There are tons of resources online, but sometimes I still felt a bit lost — especially in places where specific practical details were hard to find. For example, I could rarely find any clear information about post offices or how postal systems actually worked in different countries — or at least not all in one place. And since post offices are places we always make a point to visit during our travels, I decided to start writing with that as a connecting thread. So, since September 2024, my posts have often shared a common theme: post offices — but always with a personal and local touch.

We’re both big fans and members of Postcrossing, too. But I also try to go on a hike or find local group dance classes – they’re such a great way to meet new people and experience the culture without that typical “for tourists” feel. Of course, we always try to check out the well-known local sights, too, but it’s the everyday details and hidden gems that really make a trip memorable for me.

Part of my blog is written in Estonian, but if you don’t (yet) speak it, translation tools are pretty good these days and shouldn’t lose too much in translation.

If you’re interested in a particular country and have questions, feel free to ask! I’m always happy to share my knowledge and experiences.

Don’t want to make a WordPress account but want to contact me? Just write an email to nexttrip123@gmail.com