Norwegian fjords

Hi! I'm Haluk, a Turkish native who was born in Istanbul.

As far as I can remember I've been travelling since early 90s. And I started to take photos while I'm on the road. No, I'm not a professional. But I like recording what I see on the go! 

Several years ago, I was checking my travel photos on my computer. They were about thousands. Tens of thousands since 2002. Tens of thousands of stories... (Love my Canon!)

So I made my decision to share some of them with other people. I quit Facebook (rarely use it), installed Instagram on my mobile, used Blurb to press my own hardcopied travel photo books. 

It all started with Finland!

I adore Scandic lifestyle. Simple, elegant and functional! When I first travelled to Helsinki for a business trip years ago, I never knew that it would change my point of view about Scandinavia and the life itself. Being in the North is happiness!

The feeling to explore new places and having a destination are the most important motivations in my life. I’ve spent most of my spare times fighting an incurable case of being a wanderlust.

Suomenlinna, Helsinki

After Scandinavia (and Swedish Alps), I realized that I have to change my travel style. Travelling to the nature was more pleasant than being in a stereotype city atmosphere. I know I will visit a lovely cafe, an important museum, a special statue in a city again. But the most exciting feelings have been changed for me. Chasing Northern Lights in Lofoten, taking photos of cherry blossom in Japan, memorizing reflections on a salt lake in Bolivia, following Romantic Road in Europe or climbing Machu Picchu etc...

What I watch somewhere, read on books or see on the internet inspire me to see the world. I feel like I was not trying enough to reach my dreams. So I appreciate people who encourage me to do it.

Yes I work

Many people often ask how I can afford to keep traveling. Simple... Just priorities! I don't smoke, I'm not ambitious to have fancy things, I don't spend money on shopping to buy something extra for myself etc. The key is learning to live with less and, above all, compromise. And yes... I have an ordinary job. I work for a telcommunication company about the new and next generation technologies. Somewhere between technical and management divisions...

Travelling a lot

And I remember each experience I learnt. 

I would like to thank all people who we enjoyed our time there and helped me to endure difficulties in Shenzhen.

That street and the old building which was coming into colorful life with Hergé's drawings on its walls.

What I saw in Dachau… The life I was questioning while I was leaving gas rooms, crematoriums.

Pomposh and hot wine in Budapest.

Preikestolen, Norway

My crazy trip all alone and rolling over snow on the way to Preikestolen.

Walking in narrow cobbled streets between red bricked houses of Leuven.

Feeling cold in my bones at Stare Mesto on November and finding a great restaurant to have gulash and rib eye steaks.

Casa Batlló

Footprints of Gaudi… The note I wrote on Casa Batllo memorial papers.

Drinking Paulaner in a historical building on a side street reaching to Marienplatz.

Street statues of Bratislava

And Brugge. What a magnificent city that was! Even now I remember the photo with foggy weather from the bridge at entrance.

Having Kirsch with my Spanish friend

Beauties of Volendam and Marken houses.

Santorini, Greece

Talking for hours without understanding our languages with Kostas in my balcony at the edge of Santorini

Serenity in Montreaux and spending time around the statue of Freddie Mercury next to the lake.

Cevapcici in Mostar during Ramadan.

The plane I could catch barely at Hong Kong.

Hibernian - Falkirk football game at Easter Road.

Hundreds of gravestones as a lesson of Bosnian war and that national library which was burned!

Foggy canals of Ghent

Wandering around Ghent streets in a foggy evening.

Riding with Thalys to Paris, great dinner at Saint Germain and that magnificent dessert

Amsterdam, Katoen Cafe!

Octopus salad in Dubrovnik and my room overlooking to the old medieval town.

"Würst" and hot wine at christmas market of Wiener Rathausplatz

Passing through the King's door at Suomenlinna.

Lofoten Islands, Norway

Small plane I was boarded on my way from Bodo to Leknes

Chasing festival routes at Chinchón.

Leaving foggy and cold weather in Istanbul for swimming at Jebel Ali the next day.

Tracking the path a smell coming from Ben’s Cookies at Covent Garden.

Chatting with spanish guys at Bernabeu

Handshaking with a stranger at lower Manhattan and going away :)

Strong wind and rain while riding through Ngong Ping around 100m above on the sea.

Observing William Wallace's sword at Stirling

Finding money on the road at Astoria, NY just before our road trip to Niagara!

A dreamland Lauterbrunnen! Waterfalls and streets with full of flower smells in Interlaken.

Walking on the sea for the first time in my life in Helsinki.

Kefalonia, Greece

Swimming with goldfishes in Kefalonia

Having nuts at front of Olde Hansa in Tallinn.

Sipping wine at Piazza Navona in a lovely evening.

Colorful houses decorated with flowers in Burano.

Crystal clear waters of Naxos Island!

Full of road and shop signs at Kowloon

Dusty quarter of Old Delhi and sneezing all the way till the end of Khari Baoli spice street.

Watching Santa Maria Maggiore with admiration 

Rain and stormy weather at the altitude of 1800m of Swiss Alps and finding an abandoned shelter.

Talking about Budhism, Istanbul and India with a beautiful girl next to me on my way back home at the plane.

Being captivated under the Northern Lights while ignoring freezing conditions.

and many more I have lived and I will live in the future!

I agree with you

I travelled a lot and they all were beautiful. But I still have destinations to go, hopes, questions, people I will meet and new experiences. As in the song I love...

"I don't wanna die, I sometimes wish I'd never been born at all."