Who am I?

Hi! I'm Petia. I grew up on the other side of the Iron Curtain. The one that made travel impossible. Tales of other people's journeys made me dream. Now I live my own journeys and the world is my beloved playground.

Where I come from and why I write:

I was born and raised in Bulgaria and have now been calling the United States my second homeland for 20 years. I have a master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering and an MBA from the top entrepreneurship program in the world, and I’ve spent the better part of the last ten years as a higher education executive. But that’s not what this "About me" is about. It’s about travel as a job, a choice and a way of existing. It’s especially about traveling solo - for work and for fun. Writing is a passion of mine and it goes hand in hand with travel. It stemmed from a love of reading. At a time when world travel was outright forbidden for those of us subject to the rules of the communist Eastern Block, books were the ticket to exotic adventures - be it Pippi Longstocking’s imaginary Caribbean island escape or Gerald Durrell’s Greek immersion in “My family and other animals”. The power of the written word to stir and inspire has defined my life. With Flying Raconteur, my tales of travel are my way to give back. May the power of wanderlust be with us all.