Simeon Dimitrov

What places and activities do you specialize in?

"Odysseia - In Travel specializes in off-the-beaten track experiences with unique itineraries throughout Bulgaria and the whole Balkan Peninsula including Northern Greece, Macedonia, Serbia and Romania. Odysseia - In Travel offers a varied range of tours: from sightseeing and cultural experiences such as traditional crafts and folklore, wine-tasting and cuisine, through soft adventure activities such as hiking, biking and kayaking. My specialty is to make a great tour out of all of these experiences."

How did you get involved in travel?

"I've been raised and grew up in a country where about 30,000 sq.m are covered with Mountains some of which raise as high as 3000m high. Besides that, on its East end there is a Sea, the Black Sea as well as many interesting places, cities, and villages in between....for me it was a hard job not to get involved in travel.

The real start was a hiking trip with my grandmother to the highest peak of the closest to my city Mountains. I remember that there was a Mountain bike competition that day, which really took my attention and make me ask myself, what are these guys doing? My grandmother and I continued on our way to the top, but I was already hooked on the image of people riding a bicycle in the Mountains. After that, I started saving my school money and later bought my very first mountain bike. Nature & travel became one of my best friends and definitely the greatest playground."

Please share a unique travel experience you will never forget.

"In 2010 I traveled to the USA as part of a student exchange program called Work & Travel. Initially I was supposed to sell student books in Oklahoma state from door to door, which sounded as a great and adventurous way to earn some cash. Only a week after I started I was exhausted and depressed by all the people who waived at me closing their door, so I decided to quit and find a better source of money.
Unfortunately, I didn't have any exact idea of how I was going to do that, plus the fact that I have just arrived in the States and going back to Bulgaria was not an option. Right here I left myself to the unknown, which was the stupidest thing I could do at this moment, 8000km away from my home.

After Oklahoma, I took the bus to live in Chicago for a month where I met my second family who took me from the street as a little puppy. From there I went to Boston state and Cape Code island only to meet some Bulgarian friends, which made the next two months a nonstop party.

Finding my way out of this situation turns out to be one of the most unique travel experiences that I have ever had as I relied on the help of strangers and the Universe, but after all everything came together on the best possible way."