TRAVEL BLOGGERS
ŽELJKA KOČIĆ
Travelling Feeds Me With
Positive Energy
ŽELJKA STARTED TRAVELLING A LOT AFTER GOING THROUGH A TOUGH TIME IN HER LIFE. INITIALLY, FOR HER, TRAVEL WAS A MEANS OF ESCAPE FROM EVERYDAY LIFE AND PROBLEMS, BUT EVENTUALLY IT TURNED INTO A TREASURE TROVE OF NEW KNOWLEDGE AND PEOPLE FROM AROUND THE WORLD THAT SHE CAME TO EMBRACE AS FRIENDS.
A
t the beginning of 2019, Željka Kočić from Banja Luka turned her love for travel and photography into a successful profile on Instagram called whitepearltravel. Even though she had no intention of becoming a travel blogger, people recognised her work, so the number of people following her is growing by the day.
I LOVE ASIA
When a couple who recognised them from their Instagram profile came up to greet her boyfriend and her on their last trip to Jordan, at the Treasury in Petra, she was in disbelief that people could actually recognise them at a place so far away from home, even though the young man and woman were from Serbia.
“I love Asia a lot. Every country on this continent leaves a strong impression on me. For example, China is a country with a long tradition, interesting customs, and a culture that is distinctly different from that of Europe. I spent a month living there and absorbing their way of life,” says Željka, who has had a lot
116
The basic criteria for choosing a destination is that she has not seen it before and that entry procedures into the country are not complicated. But, Željka honestly admits, owing to her job, destinations usually choose her—she receives travel invitations.
of adventures while travelling around the world. “When I was in Paris, there was a terrorist attack a kilometre away from the hotel I was staying at. On the eve of my trip to Bali, a volcano erupted on the island. When I went to study in Italy, the corona virus pandemic broke out there, and there was a flood during my stay in Sarajevo.” TRAVEL DURING THE PANDEMIC After facing a lot of challenges trying to return home from Italy in March 2020, she continued to travel to countries tourists were allowed to enter with a negative Covid-19
