A year ago I wrote that the beginning of a new year never brings anything new to me, and thus the excessive celebration of it feels redundant. Well, the celebrations still feel redundant, but the beginning of 2017 is bringing a tonne of changes – that in itself being the first of them. What else is changing?

The website

Welcome to the new Flying Samovar, hosted on its very own domain and designed by me (based on Felix Dorner’s Yuuta theme). My prolonged absence in various social media and here was caused by dire yet successful battles with CSS. Having more or less settled accounts with web design, I’m off to fight social media marketing, SEO and editorial calendars. I didn’t realise how much of a challenge, but also how much fun blogging can be. Now that I know it, keep popping by to see the results of my discoveries!

Another website change 2017 is bringing is the grand inauguration of The Flying Update – a monthly letter from me with all the good news, material not published on the blog and a digest of the most intriguing travel-related things. I will never send anything I wouldn’t want to receive myself, there will be no spam and no ads. The Flying Update is definitely worth giving it a go! To sign up, enter your email address in the form below this entry in the one in the main menu.

The location

I moved out of Moscow – and moved out for good. It is a wonderful, interesting and intriguing place, but it can also become overwhelming. I have had enough for now – but “never” is not a word in my dictionary, so who knows? Maybe one day I’ll be back. For now, I need a change, and when I need a change – I move. Usually, I only move countries, this time I’m also moving continents. I’m off to Mexico and words cannot describe how happy I am about it.

Having said all that, I still have plenty of material left from Moscow, so I’m not saying goodbye to it as yet. Moscow- and Russia- related things will still be appearing on the blog, especially in the month to come.

Moscow Sheremetevo airport
For the first time in my life I’m moving out with just as many things as I brought.
Me

Moving to Moscow was so very much within my comfort zone: I spoke Russian, I had been to Moscow before, both the job and the flat were arranged for me. Don’t get me wrong, it was a very good year. I learnt a lot: I learnt to trust others and, most importantly, to trust myself. It is, however, high time to go beyond the comfort zone; time for less planning and more surprises. Off I go!


So, as you can see, things are changing – and that’s a good thing. 2016 was very stable, stagnant. Let that be my wish to you: let 2017 be a year of good changes.

Happy New Year!

The Flying Update

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