Traveler Interviews March 2020 Guest: Esra Uğurlu

Esra Uğurlu is a traveler who travels to different countries in Asia, America and Africa per woman and dusts the world. I do not meet Esra, Aydan AdjustersIt started with the saying of "There is a girl traveling in Vietnam, she is traveling very well". So I started following Esra on Instagram and as I followed I fell in love with the way she travels and conveys her travels. When we got the chance to meet face to face, I fell in love with her character. Esra is a modest, sincere, smiling, soft-spoken woman.

Come on, let's get to know Esra together...

If you want to follow Esra, her instagram account @esrauurlu

First, can you briefly tell us about yourself, who is Esra Uğurlu, what does she do? How did this love of traveling begin?

During my university years, I started to travel by making domestic trips. It was very exciting to see with my own eyes the places where I have seen the pictures and watched the images since my childhood. At that time, I traveled to many places, mostly Eastern and Southeastern Anatolian cities.

The jobs I worked after graduation mostly required me to work on public holidays, and this arrangement prevented me from making travel plans. Short-term close routes such as Europe did not interest me at all. The places I wanted to see were more exotic and mystical countries. On the one hand, I had the idea that traveling abroad was expensive and unsafe. For this reason, I could not go abroad until the age of 28.

When I started traveling abroad on my annual leaves, I realized that traveling was not as scary and expensive as I thought. A few years later, I decided that my annual leave alone was not enough for me and resigned and started traveling with my savings. I have set foot on 5 continents. I traveled to Asia, Africa, North and South America for months. I gained unique experiences. 

Now, I am freelancing, and I continue to make long and short trips in the gaps between my periodic jobs.

What does traveling mean to you? What is wandering, escaping, going away, seeing new places, meeting new people, novelty, getting out of routine? What is the motivation that drives you?

I am not someone who places such mystical meanings on travel. trip for me; It is very important because it offers experiences that I can never get anywhere else. Seeing new places, getting to know a new culture, watching people's daily lives, enjoying different foods, getting to know different music, getting my ear accustomed to a language that is completely foreign to me, making friends at the other end of the world, increasing my knowledge and manners, giving myself a brand new perspective. …

Travel connects me to life, excites me and makes me feel alive. 

Last year, you bought a last-minute ticket to Mexico and toured South America for months. Tell me a little, how are these last minute plans 🙂

Actually, it all started when I saw a ticket campaign on your Instagram stories 🙂 When I was wondering whether to Asia or Africa, I found myself in North America when I found a very economical ticket to Mexico.

Although it is a production that loves to make plans and programs, I have never bought a ticket months before in my life. Unfortunately, one of the disadvantages of my jobs is that my gaps or permissions are usually revealed at the last moment. On my second trip to Hong Kong, I bought a ticket 3 hours in advance and on my way to Tanzania 3 days before I left. Therefore, buying a Mexico ticket 15 days in advance and embarking on a 7-month adventure was exactly what I was going to do 🙂

Since I travel mostly to visa-free countries, I no longer need a serious preparation process. Pack your bag, get your passport, get out. If there is something you forgot, you will pick it up from where you go 🙂

Among the places you have been to so far, what are the places that impressed you the most, what is your favorite place/s? Why? I may know someone.

For those who know me, it is not difficult to guess the place that most impressed me 🙂 It is not easy to choose a few spots among so many places, but I will write the first ones that come to my mind:

Fuego Volcano / Guatemala

Not knowing whether you will succeed or not, you are climbing a 4000m extinct volcano with all your might. In front of you is a volcano that scattering lava at regular intervals, making funny sounds in every eruption and shaking the ground you are in. So much so that you wake up from your sleep with the intensity of the explosion. When you wake up to the explosion and open the zipper of your tent, you see the volcano in front of you spewing crimson lava in the pitch dark. An unforgettable experience for those who witness such a unique natural phenomenon for the first time. Of course it was for me too. 

Safari in Tanzania, Kenya and South Africa

Witnessing wildlife on the African plains is a completely different feeling. Seeing the cheetah, the fastest running animal in the world, chasing after its prey on the plains where you climb at sunrise in the morning, encountering the lion family that is about to finish the zebra they hunt, watching the thousands of migrating wildebeests, passing in front of your vehicle all of a sudden is a wonderful experience.

Bagan Temples Community / Myanmar 

The sunrise I watched among thousands of historical temples in Bagan. The sun rising through the temples and the mists and dozens of balloons rising to the sky simultaneously…

Baobab Road / Madagascar

Walking in the shadow of the baobabs on the dusty road made up of 30-meter giant and unique baobabs and the red sun setting between the baobabs… The most beautiful sunset of my life.

Jardin / Colombia

It was established in a valley among lush green mountains; it is a town like something out of a fairy tale book, surrounded by coffee gardens, farms, waterfalls and walking routes. Here, people ride horses, pull their horses in front of one of the bars in the square and place their orders while on their horses. Everyone is sitting on the chairs in the square. She sings songs and dances. If I were to build a town in my dreams, I guess I wouldn't even be able to think of this much 🙂

You traveled alone for a long time, first in the Far East and then in South America. What are the pros and cons of traveling alone?

Traveling alone has both pros and cons. 

solo travel; It's not a choice for me most of the time, it's a necessity. Reasons such as the fact that I could not find anyone in my close circle who found the countries I wanted to visit interesting, did not have time problems on long-term trips, and would accept to travel with a tight budget and inconvenience, pushed me to travel alone.

Cons of Traveling Solo

Cons; not having someone to consult with you, lack of someone you can share the beauties you see, having to make all the decisions yourself, having to sleep in crowded hostel rooms, having to travel more openly because there is no one to watch you…

In unfavorable situations, you have to find the solution yourself. You should weigh the options in your mind and choose the most correct and optimum alternative.

Oh, there is also the subject of photography 🙂 “Who is taking your photos, Esraaan?” 🙂 When traveling in unsafe countries, tripods or selfie sticks become useless. You may experience anxiety about extending your camera or phone to someone you don't know. The photos taken by other people are also mostly deplorable. I've had a lot of nervous breakdowns about this.

Pros of Traveling Solo

to travel alone prosas for what; 

• the freedom to make your own decisions,
• to be alone with yourself and find the time to digest what you see,
• your costs are less (this may be a case of mine),
• the opportunity to meet and socialize with more people,
• foreign language development,
• being more beneficial to your personal development…

Where did you make your first trip abroad? What would you do differently if you went to the same place today?

I made my first international trip to Morocco 9 years ago. This choice was a complete challenge for his first abroad experience. I had planned the entire trip myself and made the trip as a backpacker.

I never thought about what I would do differently if I went to the same place today. This is a very good question. Now that I think about it, there would be nothing I would have done differently. It was a very determined, planned and enjoyable trip. When I think about it alone, I didn't know exactly where to eat at that time. I used to eat at tourist restaurants from time to time. I used to buy food from vendors on the street, but I was obsessed with hygiene. Now, after seeing so many places, I can say that street food is very clean :))

What has been the most interesting thing that has happened to you on your travels so far? Maybe you can tell us a few stories. 

Where do I start:

July 2014, Serengeti / Tanzania 

We were on safari in the Serengeti. The overnight stay would be in a tent camp inside the national park. After we ate our dinner in a closed, makeshift building, we asked the officer for the portable stools on which we sat at dinner, to sit in front of the tents; but we were shocked by the answer from the attendant: “Don't try to sit in front of your tent! Either sit inside this structure or in your tent. At night, lions and buffaloes may come to the camp.”

We said, "Is he kidding," and headed for the showers. When we got out of the shower, we couldn't see anything with our headlamps, which we kept in the dark. Except for the pair of twinkling eyes that belong to at least 7-8 hyenas!

We immediately went to our tents and fell asleep with the tiredness of the day. Later in the night we awoke to some interesting sounds. The hyena team were screaming around our tents, and they were hitting our tents while they were running. Psychologically, everyone had a pee, but no one could get out of their tent 🙂

August 2015, El Nido / Philippines

We settled into a lovely hotel in El Nido as a door customer. Since there is a hot water problem in this area, we specifically asked if there was hot water while examining the room, and we got a positive response; but in the evening, while taking a shower, we noticed that the water did not get hot.

The next morning, we again asked the mother of the family who runs the hotel if their hotel had hot water. The woman's answer was again positive; but when we said that there is no hot water in the room, the woman showed the thermos: “I will bring you the hot water whenever you want, you can drink your tea and coffee!” When we got the answer, we walked away without looking back 🙂

April 2016, Morondava / Madagascar

I was staying in a super cheap bungalow with ocean view. The owner of the bungalows July was a very sweet Malagasy. She prepared me a nice breakfast, she. He brought Citronella tea as a drink in a jar. I liked it so much, I wanted another one. Minutes passed, the tea did not come. "Did you forget?" I called. "No!" he said, “I haven't forgotten. I'm bringing it right now!” Minutes have passed since this conversation, my tea arrived 45 minutes later. “This is Africa,” I said, “Okay.”

Not wanting to chase after lunch in the afternoon, I took the packet of noodles out of my bag. I went to the kitchen and asked Judy for boiling water. “Okay, you go. I'll bring it soon." said. “If you're busy, I'll boil the water. Is there a kettle, where will we heat the water?” I asked. The woman showed me the stove, neither electric nor gas! The stove is charcoal! We barbecue to heat water, even to cook all kinds of food! I was very upset at that moment for my behavior that morning. What comfort I expected in one of the poorest countries in the world...

March 2018, Luang Namtha / Laos

I had hiked in the jungle for 3 days in Laos. This walk; it aimed to grasp survival skills as well as being in touch with nature. We used to cook our meals with plants we collected from the forest, in pots we made from bamboo we cut ourselves over the fire, eat our meals by hand, sleep in a tattered mosquito net with sleeping bags and tents, despite the animals walking around at night, we used to climb mountains and go downhill for hours in places where no one had walked before. In the meantime, we were trying to find the team again by leaving each other under the supervision of our guide.

Our guide Diem was one of the locals living in one of the villages that did not even have electricity. He could only speak the local language and knew the way very well. With his tiny size, he was cutting the branches in front of us with the help of the machete in his hand, and notching the ground with a machete so that we wouldn't slip while going uphill.

We arrived at the place where we were going to sleep for the night long before it got dark. We made mats, tables, seats, plates, glasses, kettles, pots and even candlesticks from bamboos we cut from the forest. 

We made a tablecloth with banana leaves. After dark, while we were having our nice dinner, rustles started to come from all around. Diem threw a few stones left and right and left us. When he came back to us, I thought I would fall and faint; because he held dead frogs in one hand and a huge dead mouse in the other. A big smile on your face too!!! I woke up in the morning when I heard rustling around. Does the mosquito net protect at all? Diem, too, awoke and started the fire. I said Esra, don't be afraid, no living thing here can do anything to you when there is a man who catches and eats a mouse 🙂

July 2018, Nairobi / Kenya

As soon as we got off the plane, we called an Uber and set off. As we were about to come to the end of our journey, a few men in traffic approached our vehicle and showed us something to the driver of our vehicle. The men didn't look sinister at all. 

I thought we would be hijacked. Those were the scariest moments of my life. Our driver instantly stepped on the gas and got away from the men, but we were constantly stuck in traffic. It was only a matter of time before the men caught up with us; because when I looked out the back window I could see them running towards us. Then we honked among the other vehicles. We crashed into dozens of cars. I was like in the action scene of a movie. When we finally arrived at the police station, I couldn't hold my foot. The driver said the men were an anti-Uber group and would have smashed the car if we hadn't escaped. Guys who wanted to smash an Uber car wouldn't have let their Uber customers go, I guess.

One of the most asked questions is, where does the water of the mill come from to travel so much?

Of course, than working 🙂 I wish there was an easier way, but if you are not already rich; It is not possible to travel without working, producing and earning money.

We are also working; But I would recommend those who say they can't allocate a budget for the trip to review their expenses and even write down their expenses other than their basic needs. I'm sure they will be surprised at the number they encounter at the end of the month.

It is important what our priority in our life is. My priority is travel. Therefore, I can travel more by keeping my expenses to a minimum.

I try to keep my expenses to a minimum wherever I go. My Latin America trip, which I envisioned as 3-4 months, took 7 months when I used my budget correctly 🙂

Do you have any tips or suggestions for those who say they want to go away?

Let them read a lot and follow those who travel. Not every traveler, of course. Those who try to do this job properly… 

It helped me a lot to follow other travelers. I learned a lot from them before I even set off. Those travelers inspired me and one day I got lost too.

Finally, my classic question: "Does he who reads a lot or does he who travels a lot?"

How will we know where to go if we don't read a lot?

You should travel and read.

I would like to thank Esra for this pleasant conversation and wish her many good ways.

Stay on the Road!