What is About!The moment? Inspiration, delight, sudden inspiration. This feeling most often overtakes us during travel, when routine gives way to novelty and everything is perceived more acutely. No wonder Oh!Moments are the basis of the new philosophy of the Island. At the end of 2024, the editorial staff of the blog asked the service staff to share such inspiring travel stories.
Unusual acquaintances (hello, Ryan Gosling!)
Nadia, service support specialist: “Pleasant warm meetings and acquaintances are certainly waiting for you on every trip. At Istanbul airport, you can stumble upon Ryan Gosling (albeit only on an advertising billboard), and in the middle of a street cafe in Batumi, you cross paths with a friend you haven’t seen in five years. A new friend is waiting for you in every city!”
Polina, hotelier support specialist: “I love it when non-committal conversations start with passengers and they tell where they are going and why. Sometimes such dialogues develop into fascinating and lengthy conversations. I like to immerse myself, albeit briefly, in the lives of random people.”
Dizzying… business trips
Mikhail, Product Director:”In 2024, I suddenly realized that the most productive and emotionally cool time of the year is when I have regular business trips, conferences, and other trips. Yes, I am constantly exhausted, there is not a single free place in the calendar, many of my usual foundations are breaking. But at the same time, I am as happy and energetic as possible, I find new meanings, motivation, and meet interesting people. Travel, friends!”
Why are we traveling?
Personal development through meeting new people and communicating in foreign languages is just one of the reasons why many of us cannot live without traveling. Together with psychologists from the Zigmund service.Online, we have figured out the reasons that push people to hit the road again and again.
Inspiring places (and capybaras!)
Sofia, booking manager: “In 2024, I found a real pearl, and it is located in the Kaliningrad region. The beach in the city of Yantarny in the cold season is majestic gray waves, white sand, and complete serenity. Here you want to let go of everything that has settled heavily inside and breathe in the salty sea air.”
Adelina, Sales specialist: “This year I visited the Bozzhyra tract in Kazakhstan. I’ve visited 20 countries in my life, and it was only in this place that I realized what it means to take your breath away. There, for the first time, I felt how big the world was, and I got the feeling that you were alone on the whole Earth. It’s indescribable.”
Alexandra, Head of the Pre-Check service: “Capybaras! Imagine, you can not only feed them, but also pet them. These cool guys live in Pattaya’s Khao Kheo Zoo. This is not the first time my family and I have been to Thailand, but we only recently learned that there is a separate area with capybaras and you can get there. It’s not every day, but it’s real. Unforgettable emotions and impressions are guaranteed, I recommend it to all lovers of these unusual animals!”
Dmitry, Business Development Manager: “My Oh!A moment of happiness in Bali! Imagine a sunny day. You’re riding a bike under palm trees, surrounded by endless greenery. But the most important thing is the inhabitants of the island. The locals I passed waved and smiled at me, which made me feel genuinely warm and wanted to smile as well. At that moment, it wasn’t a bike under me, but something with wings!”
Non-standard ways to travel (Camino de Santiago — weak?)
Elya, project manager: “My Oh!The moment is the realization that traveling becomes even more vivid if you step away from the standard routes a little more boldly. For example, in the fall, I realized that the best way to experience a city is to explore it by bike. In Antalya, I took a bike for the whole day and drove to the Duden waterfalls. It was an amazing route at 26kilometers across the city.”
Varvara, Senior Project Manager: “My Oh!The highlight of this year was the passage of the way of St. James in Spain (Camino de Santiago), which I didn’t know much about until recently, if not for the story of a former colleague. It was very interesting to observe the reactions of my body, my thoughts, realizing how vast and majestic the nature of our planet is. There were a lot of new things during the 260 kilometers of walking, every day felt like a test, but what a pleasant feeling it is to look back and remember what I was capable of!”
10 signs that it’s time to go on vacation
New Year’s holidays have an unpleasant habit of ending, so it’s important that a long-awaited vacation looms ahead. In order not to miss the moment when it’s definitely worth putting off work for a couple of weeks and waving to distant lands (or to a neighboring city) — here are 10 signs that it’s time to go on vacation.
Sudden epiphanies (for example, on a plane…)
Ekaterina, head of the content department: “By the age of 30, I realized that the window seat on the plane is still a little overrated. In January 2024, I flew on vacation and missed the online check-in for the flight — I had to sit at the aisle, although, of course, I would like to look at the starry sky. But in the end, I had a great night’s sleep, stretching my legs out into this very aisle (it was a fairly long night flight), I didn’t worry myself and didn’t bother the neighbors when I had to get up and walk. In general, babble!
I remembered this Oh-so-wonderful moment and my wonderful state of health after the flight and decided to consciously take a seat at the aisle on the next long flight. And what happened this time? I liked everything again! So I recommend giving it a try, especially if you’re flying at night, when you can’t see anything through the window anyway. Well, if we talk about harmful air travel, in our country!The blog has a funny article on this topic.”
Captivating Europe (fiddle playing)
Julia, Senior Travel Manager: “In 2024, I discovered that it was not necessary to have a Schengen visa to travel across Europe. In Montenegro, on the border with Albania, there is a stunningly beautiful place that is in no way inferior to the Dolomites. And even wins! It is called the Gribae Valley and is located in the Prokletije National Park. You do not need a visa to Montenegro, the entrance to the national park is several times cheaper than in the Dolomites, you can walk everywhere, not just along the paths. Be sure to bring a sandwich and a thermos of tea! It’s the most pleasant feeling to climb to the top of a mountain and have a picnic there!
I had a second Oh!Moment: driving through 5 countries in 1 day is easy if you know how. Here’s the recipe: leave Milan early in the morning, taking with you a fragrant coffee and a bun. You drive through Lake Como and find yourself in Switzerland with its incredible landscapes and green slopes. Then you are greeted by a tiny and charming Liechtenstein. A little more — and the misty coniferous forests of the Austrian mountain slopes appear before my eyes, and then the plains of Germany with colorful sown fields.”
Leonid, Head of performance Marketing: “Oh!The moment of 2024 was connected with a trip to Vienna. There I had the complete feeling that I got into a time machine and was transported back centuries to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Fresh pastries, monumental imperial buildings, violin sounds, antique exhibits in museums — it was so different from what I was used to seeing that it seemed like I had entered a parallel universe.”
Alexey, Head of CRM in Ostrovka: “Traveling by car always gives you many times more impressions than any other means of transport. This year I flew from Moscow to Budapest and not only enjoyed the baptismal fonts in the famous Gellert thermal baths, but also the incredible nature of Croatia, tried windsurfing in the Adriatic Sea on the island of Peljesac and skydived in the town of Sin. All thanks to the rented car!”
A scientific approach to vacation (and we can do it!)
Sergey, Director of Brand Marketing: “My Oh!The moment was connected with the fact that for the first time I tried to come to a vacation destination one day before it started. The bottom line is that you check into a hotel in advance, for example, late on Thursday evening, and work remotely on Friday. This way you can get used to a new place faster and start relaxing on Saturday morning.
I also realized the value of early planning, because I always booked spontaneously and at the last moment, which often led to disappointment. And before my last vacation, I spent a lot of time searching and understanding what I really want, planning dates and activities. As a result, I got my best vacation ever!”
Catch your Oh! moments – and may there be as many of them as possible in 2025. Happy New year!
Cover photo: Peter Conlan/unsplash.com
