Polina's journal

My 2024 review: a big adventure

Jan 2025

I think this was the best year of my life.

Even though it started at a very low point.

January

At the start of the year I was living in Bali. My life looked great on the outside, but I wasn’t happy. I was lost, confused, and leaning towards depression.

Bali is a great place, a magical island. I love it for its wild nature and adventures.

I met some amazing people there and built great friendships that will last for a lifetime.

Bali

But as much as I loved Bali, I never really fit in. I learned that I am not a tech entrepreneur, I am not a surfer, I am definitely not an influencer, and I really don’t enjoy lying by a pool or sitting in cafes and restaurants.

I also realized that a lot of my friendships and connections were very superficial.

At the time, I didn’t have anywhere else to go, or any other life to go back to.

So I started 2024 feeling lost and confused - a running theme for several years now. In fact, soon after the year started, I had a little mental breakdown and knew I needed to change things.

February, March, April, May

I decided to look for things that felt meaningful and brought me happiness - real happiness, not just for instagram.

One such thing is mountains. I love spending time in the mountains. I feel a strong connection with them, anywhere in the world, but especially in Europe.

So I decided to spend the entire summer 2024 in the mountains.

I felt a need to reconnect with my home, Bulgaria, which has a lot of beautiful mountains. In fact, I grew up in them, which is the reason why I feel that connection with mountains. I decided to spend a month there.


But I also wanted to focus on building new connections with new people.

So I also decided to spend a month in a coliving, somewhere in the mountains.

It felt uncomfortable - what if I don’t like the people that I have to spend a month with?

But on the other hand, I told myself, I would be in the mountains, so I could always hike or spend time in nature by myself.

Plus, being in the mountains should attract people similar to me!

I did my research and one coliving stood out - a chalet in a small village in the Swiss Alps. What place could be better??

So, I booked a month in Alpiness - from 16 July to 16 August 2024.

That was still months away. I continued living my life in Bali.


Canggu - the town where I lived - was becoming busier and was losing all of its nature. New villas being built all the time, new restaurants and bars. I really didn’t feel good there.

Every morning I would drive to small local villages and spend my days there, working from quiet cafes. On the weekends I escaped to remote parts of the island, somewhere in the jungle or by the big volcano, and stayed there. It was beautiful and so relaxed, but I was alone.

Munduk

I kept focusing on myself and things that actually made me happy. Exercise, running, cooking my own food, spending time in nature, in quiet and peaceful places. Drawing, painting, photography and making art. Sleeping early, waking up early.


I stopped going to the coworking space. I admitted to myself that I was going there only to make friends and keep my connection to these friends. But I really didn’t like being there. I hate the feeling of being in an office. I hate spending too much time sitting in front of a screen.

I had to admit to myself that my friendships were held together by things I disliked. I kept doing these things to keep the friendships alive. But was that worth it? How valuable were those friendships if they were based on something I dislike?

I stopped joining other things that I didn’t enjoy. Like dressing up and going out. I like to do this once in a while, but not all the time. I find it pretty boring. Again, I just did this to build friendships with others who enjoyed it.

Many of my friendships started fading out. And that was ok. I spend April and May mostly alone.

I decided it was time for me to leave Bali for a while and try other things.


I had accepted Bali as my “home” as I really didn’t have another place in the world to call home.

Bulgaria wasn’t home - I left 15 years ago. Barcelona wasn’t home - I had nothing left there and no desire to go back.

But now it felt that Bali also wasn’t home. It was an eerie feeling. Disconnect, like floating all alone in an ocean. I had to look for another place.

At the end of May, I gave away most of my clothes&belongings, and packed the rest into a few bags that I left with a friend.

In June, I left Bali. My intention was to travel for 6 months and live out of a backpack.

My plan was to go to the mountains, then South America, Peru and Brazil, and see where life takes me from there…

June, July, August

My first stop was Bulgaria. It always feel great coming back here in summer. Strawberries in my mom’s garden, beautiful green forest near our house. Hiking every morning before work.

As I arrived in Bulgaria, old friends reached out and we reconnected after years of not being in touch. It was so good to spend time with them again. A great start to this new journey.

Vitosha

Vitosha

I spent a couple of weeks in Bansko. I love going there but I like to stay away from the nomad crowd, just hiking in the mountains on my own.

Well this time I met the nomads. I was going for cold dips in the river, in a popular spot, and every time I went there I met other cold dippers. I started talking to them and ended up being invited to hang out in their coliving and play games, later I joined them at the hot springs as well.

One of those nomads was a Slovenian girl that came to Bulgaria on her motorbike. I loved that. It put a seed in my mind: I wanted to buy a car and travel across Europe with it.

(I actually had that idea 2 years ago, but it got pushed to the backlog.)

Bansko

And I did some beautiul hikes of course!

Pirin

Soon my time in Bulgaria was over, and it was time for my first coliving experience.

On July 16, I flew to Geneva, Switzerland, took a train and then a bus to Les Hauderes, a small village in the Alps.

To say I was amazed is a massive understatement. This was one of the most beautiful places I had seen in my life. I instantly connected with everyone in the house. People loved the mountains just as much as me - if not more - there were hikes and adventures happening every day.

Alpiness

Then next month felt like a year, in the best way possible. I went on countless hikes, started climbing, and made A LOT of amazing new friendships.

Alpiness

On August 16 it was time to leave. I was crying on the bus. But I already had my next booking for November and December.


After Alpiness, I spent two weeks in Cloud Citadel, another coliving in the French Alps. I met lovely people and went on beautiful hikes.

Briancon Via Ferrata

I also did my first via ferrata!

Briancon Via Ferrata

Then I spent a few days in Chamonix and in Paris (where I met up with a friend from Alpiness!) before going back to Bulgaria.

September & October

I cancelled my plans for South America. I went back to Bulgaria at the end of August, and immediately signed up for driving lessons.

I also started looking for cars to buy, and within a week I found a great deal, so I bought it.

My first car. The biggest purchase I’ve made so far in my life.

I spent one month taking intense driving lessons, every day.

I passed my driving exam at the end of October.

Two days after getting my driving license, I drove from Bulgaria to Switzerland.

Route map

This was one of the scariest and most rewarding things I’ve done.

I took my mom with me. She hadn’t left Bulgaria for years. Two of her friends also came with another car.

It took us 3 days. We stopped in Zagreb, Ljubljana, and Milano. Driving through the autumn forests of Slovenia was probably my favourite part.

We separated in Siwtzerland and my mom continued her roadtrip across Europe, while I drove to Les Hauderes.

On October 30th, I pulled up to Alpiness in my new car!

November & December

What followed was the most amazing 2 months of the year. During my stay, the landscape changed from fiery orange autumn colors to 1m of snow on Christmas. There was lots of climbing, hiking, homemade dinners (including an amazing Thanksgiving), game nights, but most of all: so many amazing friendships and connections!

At the end of the year, I did one final thing for 2024: I learned to ski! In fact I became a little bit obsessed with it and skied every day for 2 or 3 weeks.

Alpiness winter

Les Hauderes in winter

End of 2024

For the first time in years, I’m not feeling lost and confused. In fact, I have a pretty clear direction. I finally found the places where I belong :)

I have some pretty big plans for 2025 - in fact, I literally can’t fit everything in one year and it’s already spilling over into 2026! And I am so excited for it.