All-In

I am looking down at my hole cards and unveil A♥︎A♣ (The probability of picking ︎two aces is 0.452% or three to four times less likely than your flight being canceled). My heart starts pounding vigorously in the presence of the most powerful hand in Texas Holdem. Finally! I’ve got the goods and my entire existence is focused on staying calm and not to convey any nervousness or clue for the treasure I’ve come upon and scare off my opponents. I casually make the standard bet and receive one caller. Jackpot! Now I hope he connects with the board (the three community cards the dealer places in the middle of the table) well enough so I can extract the last bit of his precious chips and become the overwhelming chip leader of a major tournament.

And... action!

The flop comes 6♠︎Q♠︎2♠︎. Not the best I could’ve hoped for but not terrible either. I am still sitting on two aces. I just need to bet enough to prevent him from completing his potential flush in the two remaining cards still to come.

I raise and he re-raises. I go all-in wielding the mighty power of my two aces, he has no clue I’m hiding... and he flicks a chip indicating a snap call. Suddenly, doubt creeps in. It doesn’t feel like I'm that mighty anymore. I reveal my pocket pair, and he turns over T︎♠︎J︎♠︎ for a made flush (five cards of the same suit, a hand with a probability of just 0.84%—or approximately 24 times less likely than meeting your significant other while on vacation). My heart drops. The next two cards are practically irrelevant. An overwhelming feeling of injustice and disgust is quickly replacing the confidence I once had.

I stand up, mumble a half-hearted “Good luck, everyone!” to the remaining players on the table in obvious disapproval. Here I am, homeward bound walking the walk of shame towards my car. I’ve managed to achieve the worst outcomes in tournament poker - I’ve burst the bubble (For those unfamiliar with poker, this means I was eliminated as the last player before reaching a money prize. And for those who do know poker - if the timeline doesn’t quite add up, I did bust a couple of hands later but that was the decisive moment and also sounded a lot more dramatic as I was writing this introduction).

Hello fellow readers! If all this sounds more like a poker blog than a travel one, bear with me - I promise I’ll get to the point. Let me give you a little more context...

Neli Maneva - my wife - a businesswoman, a dedicated mother and incredible person asked me if I could contribute to the Iris and Poppy Travel Studio blog. My first thought? “You must be out of your mind! I barely learned to speak English and now you expect me to create content for a blog". But on second thought, how bad could the humiliation be? Surely, it can't be worse than bursting the bubble in the manner I did. I am excited by the idea of writing and nowadays you can have an AI do all the work for you.

…So, I will give it a go. If somehow my work checks with the high standard that Neli and Laura have set for their studio, then, I guess you, dear reader, will be the judge of whether I should continue. In the meantime, I'll just enjoy being part of the strong professional team that Neli Maneva and Laura Roberts have built.

I mentioned Laura a couple of times and there's plenty to be said about another businesswoman and incredible person, but that’s a story for another post.

Here's what you know about me so far... I am insecure about my English and my lovely wife puts up with me and my fascination for poker. There's more, I like to believe...

Both Neli and I share backgrounds in Landscape Architecture and own a design-build company based in California. But are we really Californians? Not exactly. We moved here from another state - S Carolina. But to be completely honest, we are not from S Carolina either. Neli and I immigrated from Sofia, Bulgaria about 14 years ago. And throughout our journey—before and after our move— the love for traveling has remained an inseparable part of our lives. We would set up our lives so that it would create more opportunities to travel, and our number one investment has always been a ticket to somewhere. We don’t care about expensive cars, fancy possessions, or dining out constantly. As university students, we would mostly book a hostel or a motel or we'll plan a camping trip - and yes, we’ve slept in our car an embarrassing number of times but that was the only way we could go places at the time. 

As life progressed, our ways became more versatile, more sophisticated at times, and the destinations more unique and remote (More on those adventures in future posts!). Now we are proud parents of a 5-year-old girl and a 3-year-old boy. As our family grew, travel became a lot more challenging but never less important. Over the years, Neli has developed incredible expertise in crafting the perfect itinerary - researching every detail, ensuring smooth experiences, and making every adventure memorable.

Include Laura's skill set, and I genuinely believe this collaboration is going to continue to be the success story it's been where passion and professionalism blend together as Iris and Poppy Travel Studio.

Okay... AI is good! 

If you, please, shake off the goosebumps, I wanted to focus more on what I see this blog being...

Mainly, my future posts will describe trips that either I alone or our family took. I’ll document everything we’ve learned about a destination, sharing day-by-day itineraries where appropriate. By any means, I don't claim to offer the optimum experience, and I'll encourage readers to share their insights in the comments. Please, tell us about a detour we could've taken or a place worth visiting. The goal is to spark discussions, exchange ideas, and inspire more travel.

A secondary goal, in my mind anyway, would be the promoting effect a blog could create. 

There will be a personal gain as well. The need to generate blog content will naturally push us to explore more. Every new trip will need to be more unconventional and will push our family closer to our physical, logistical, and financial limits while embracing both nature and urban life.

Below are listed some additional topics I have in mind for the blog posts to follow:

Traveling with young kids is a subject that brings anxiety to many parents. One of the biggest challenges Neli and I faced was how to adapt our lifestyle so we could continue to travel even after our children were born. The easiest route would’ve been to let parenthood take over completely and forget what we are really passionate about. This is a major concern many young parents share and something we are still figuring out. But does that need to apply for traveling? We think, the answer to this question has something to do with the right attitude and a good partnership; a constant conscious effort balancing personal interests, career and the desire to be the best parent you could be.

Future posts will comment on this while covering multi-day family backpacking trips through California’s Lost Coast, descent into Grand Staircase-Escalante NM, adventure-packed vacation time in Mexico, Greece, Costa Rica, and beyond.

Theme-specific posts dedicated to interests I have, like:

- Poker - Featured in an upcoming blog post will be a visit to Las Vegas and the World Series of Poker in the summer with a list of my favorite spots in the city to eat and drink.

- Craft beer - As a home brewer myself, I like to tour different breweries in the US and other countries and will be bringing the highlights from the more unique spots as I see them. 

- Sport - The upcoming FIFA World Cup and the summer Olympics on US soil will likely create a few exciting opportunities to travel. 

- Architecture and landscape architecture.

Sustainability and the impact we all have on the environment as tourists and travelers. There are numerous basic sustainable practices that can be adopted by everyone. This will go a long way in protecting nature even if local authorities fail to implement sustainable policies. It is an unpopular topic due to obvious reasons. I won’t go too deep into it now but it’s a topic we must discuss. If nothing else, please, give it some thought.

And finally — Authentic travel experiences. Have you ever sought "authenticity" while visiting a new place? According to an AI search engine, an "authentic experience" while traveling means:

"immersing yourself in the local culture of a place by engaging with the people, trying local food, participating in traditional activities, and experiencing everyday life as closely as possible to how the locals do..."

Right! But what does that mean in practice? I want to hear your best authentic experiences - I really hope you'll leave a comment below! 

Often, what we find online about a place is heavily scripted. This is not what I am looking for. Going to Ireland and visiting the Guinness plant is probably incredible. Can't tell you how many times I've heard the phrase "Best Guinness I had was in Ireland". But have you ever considered going to a local dive bar and connecting with the murkiest characters you would find in Dublin until the sun comes out? I've never been to Ireland so I'm not sure this example is even accurate. My point is - true authenticity often requires stepping outside your comfort zone. I can think of a number of times in the past where I could've taken an opportunity but for whatever reason I backed out of a great situation. So, let's get out of our comfort zone and make this a frequent occurrence while traveling. I’ll make sure to keep the topic alive in future blog posts.

There’s more I want to share, but I’ll leave it here for now. Oh… one last idea I hope to realize: I’d love to write a fictional travel post—a short story featuring characters navigating an unusual travel situation where they'll be forced to act while touching on deeper themes. Why not? I’m going “All-In” on this project - assuming I’m allowed to.

Now that we’ve talked about authenticity, some virtues and the value of stepping outside your comfort zone, I can only imagine what’s going through your mind, letting you believe this post was AI generated. I would be disappointed too! Here’s the twist: it was NOT. Not even a little bit. (Okay, maybe just a spell check—English isn’t my first language, after all). This is the exact equivalent of looking for a travel agent, putting your hopes and dreams into their hands and ending up with an AI generated three-day itinerary for Ireland. And you guessed it right - you’re going to the Guinness brewhouse! Original, right?

Apologies for the deceptive way of getting my point across! I felt obligated to really emphasize the importance of finding a dedicated professional; someone who will build a more personal relationship with the ones seeking guidance on travel planning. But who can take the time to understand your unique interests and build a personalized experience around them? By now it should be clear that I am referring to Neli and Laura, because that’s exactly what they bring to the table. 

I can’t explain how much more excited about this opportunity I feel than expected. Thank you, Neli and Laura, for being so gracious and letting me experiment at your expense.

And to you, dear reader(s) - I really want to end on a bright and positive note. Hope it doesn’t come out too hippie. After all, this might be my first and last post… Be kind to people in public or when you travel. No matter how frustrated you feel (due to a bad beat in poker or for whatever reason). A smile or a pleasantry can go a long way.

Good luck, everyone!

(Until next time. Or not!

We'll see!)