I have always loved telling about my travels to acquaintances, friends and relatives. Doing that makes me experience my emotions all over again, get excited, having the desire to go back to these places again! It’s always nice to see people who listen with interest and pay attention to my words.

At the beginning of the last year, a very good friend of mine, also called Ivan, bought a bar. He regularly organized various events in the bar – literature reading, photo exhibitions, comedy evenings and so on. One day he asked me, “Vanka, why don’t we have an event where you can tell the clients about one of your travels?” and I said, “Okay, Vanka! Let’s do an event about Thailand!”. At the moment I agreed, I just didn’t know what I was doing.

Anyhow, we agreed on the date on which the event would have taken place and started spreading the news about it in social media. All of my friends showed great interest in the event and kept asking questions about what was I going to talk about, why me and etc. but in short they just asked me to remind them shortly before the event so that they could come and listen to my telling.

And so with each passing day, in addition to the constantly increasing interest, the adrenaline and excitement in me was raising so much that at one point I thought about whether I would cope with it and whether or not to give up! Because it’s one thing to tell 3-4 friends about a trip or two, but it’s completely different to speak in front of a large audience of people, some of whom I will not know and most importantly to make sure that the whole audience pays attention for at least an hour .

So, one day I sat down and started picking up photos from my travels to Thailand, so that I could show them during my speech and compose what my words for it prior to the event itself. I admit, it was hellishly difficult for me, but step by step the concept of what to talk about started to become clearer and clearer up to the point where I had gathered additional information and I chose the photos to show.

And so the long-awaited day finally came! I admit that I did not sleep the night before out of excitement and emotion. Throughout the day, a lot of friends called me to see if the event was still about to go and when to come, how to find the bar and questions about the event itself. Honestly, all this attention was quite pleasant and I liked it, but with each passing minute the anxiety and the stage fever grew. At that point I just wished that the event had been already over and it was the following day. But alas – I had to wait a while!

I arrived at the scene about an hour and a half earlier to prepare myself and the field. The tables were rearranged, the white wall was put on which to project, we tested the equipment and the microphone, people started coming and we were ready to start.

And was I ready to start?

Well I was of course! My friend Vankata introduced me to the audience and handed me the microphone. Upon saying my first words, it was as if someone had squeezed my throat, my mouth was completely dry and my legs were shaking. So many pairs of eyes were staring at me, and I had to concentrate on both the pictures on the wall, my story in order not to forget something important, and on the reactions of the audience. I admit that the first few minutes I was standing still and petrified, but as I noticed that people were interested and they started asking questions, telling jokes I got relaxed. For about an hour I talked about Thailand – about food, about the beaches, the entertainment and nightlife, about tigers and last but not least the incredible emotions I felt there there with my friends. I was extremely happy that my best friends with whom I went to Thailand, were able to come to this event, too. Telling about the trip, it felt as if was experiencing it again with them! I was extremely pleased and delighted that over 40 people came – my friends, colleagues, even my classmates, some of them I had not seen for a long time, as well as people I do not know and found out about the event from the site of the bar where and the posts on social media.

Without exaggeration, the bar was full and crowded! It was an unforgettable evening for me! An evening in which I once again experienced an incredible trip to Thailand, , an evening in which I had fun and aroused people’s interest in my story about it. Through my stories and photos, I have always tried to encourage people to travel, have fun , visit new places and rediscover themselves around the world while doing so!

And I was most happy a few months later when I saw pictures of my friends at the places talked about that night!

This post is also available in: Български (Bulgarian)