How It All Began: I Didn't Like To Travel!

Welcome,my travel friend & enthusiast! My name is Yaroslava, and I’ve been traveling since 2006, mostly within the amazing landscapes of Europe and the UK. Let me take you on a journey through my absolute love affair with travel in this blog. Recently, I heard John Harbour, the host of Unique Scotland podcast say something that absolutely resonated with me & why I decided to write a blog. I am rephrasing it a bit to make it more suited to me — whether you are here to to live vicariously through my stories, or eventually visit the places I talk about in the future, that maybe your trip will be shaped by what you’ll discover here. Either way, it is my great pleasure to be sharing my passion & love for travel with you. It is such a pleasure to meet you! 👋🏻😊

Arno River, Florence

My first big trip was back in 2006 with my step-family. My step-dad took us on a [crazy] roadtrip through Europe. We flew into Paris & made our way through Germany, Netherlands, Czechia, Austria, Switzerland, north Italy, & Poland. But why crazy?…because there were 6 of us & the cars usually only sit 5 🙄 Long story short, the rides were long & very uncomfortable, sometimes lasting for over 7 hours, which made me absolutely dislike travel [can you blame anyone in such scenario? 😅😬]. However, when I look back, I understand that it was only due to discomforts that my family & I went through & had nothing to do with the actual destinations. Come on! I got to see Europe for the first time! Go through Paris catacombs, walk through very smelly Venice & still enjoy it. Get mesmerized by the Swiss landscapes, pick cherries off the road in Germany & visit my cousin in Dusseldorf. Walk through the old Prague, & more. Yet, even though I didn’t realize it back then, this trip was the pivotal beginning, the spark, for my love of travel, exploration, & discoveries. And what obviously added a little timber to this passionate fire of travel later on, is that I am naturally a very curious person & always interested in learning more.

Fast forward to 2007, my step-dad took me & some of my family yet on another roadtrip, this time through the UK. Honestly, this trip was the one that fueled that spark into a fire. I was absolutely smitten with the UK from the very first minutes. I don’t know if it’s because of how green it is & yet not overly hot; or, who knows, maybe in the past life I was a very patriotic citizen of one of the countries; or maybe it’s just my love for rain & history — the point is, I fell head over hills & never looked back. After this trip, I couldn’t wait to travel again, yet my occasional trips afterwards were mostly to my hometown [don’t get me wrong, I loved & enjoyed those too!]. Not until I started working & made enough to travel overseas again. Though, it wasn’t until a decade later, in 2019, that I finally saw UK again, where I spent my time in London & went on to visit Lisbon, while also revisiting Barcelona.

Stonehenge, 2007

By the late 2021, I made plans to temporary live in Scotland for a few months. Most of my time was spent in Scotland's historical capital, Edinburgh, with a few weeks spent in Inverness, the capital of the Highlands, and Glasgow. While there, I explored the cities & went on a journey through the Highlands. Visited museums, castles, and palaces, ate fresh & delicious food, & went on hikes with stunning views that still bring me in awe every time I remember them. As I experienced Scotland's charm and revived my little romance with this amazing country, it was here, that I felt a strong pull to share my travels with others. To inspire & to help travel & experience all the amazing destinations our planet has to offer in any way I can. 

That’s how Selque Travel, the previous name of my boutique travel company & this website, came to be. Stepping away from it earlier in 2024 & eventually deciding to continue it as a blog with a new name The Stag & Journey. As my ever growing passion for travel & a want to share & inspire anyone who wants to travel, is already traveling, or would like to live vicariously through my travel stories is always burning & growing.