“Well then... happy birthday. This is something new.”

I don't usually celebrate birthdays in any special way.

There has never really been a tradition of that in my life.

But sometimes memorable birthdays happen on their own.

Like the birthday I spent at a surf camp in Portugal 🌊

There was simply no way not to celebrate.

So there I was, on a beach by the ocean, receiving birthday wishes from both friends and people I had only just met.

It felt completely unusual.

That was when I noticed something: people who love surfing seem to know how to celebrate not only birthdays, but life itself.

For me, traveling on my birthday is already a gift.

Because somewhere ahead there is always something new, interesting, and a little unknown.

Sometimes I even planned trips around my birthday.

But sometimes you are not planning anything special at all, and then suddenly everything comes together as if a dream has been waiting for you all along.

That's exactly what happened to me last year.

I planned a trip to explore Amsterdam and Zandvoort in the Netherlands with a friend before flying to Canada to spend the summer with my family.

There are not many convenient routes to Canada, and I usually fly through Frankfurt or Amsterdam.

Years ago, I would simply connect flights and keep moving.

Now I prefer to travel differently.

First I make my way to Germany or the Netherlands, meet friends, slow down a little, recover from the journey, enjoy the moment—and only then head back into the sky.

It happened that my flight to Vancouver was on the evening of May 31st.

My birthday is June 1st.

And because of the time difference, when I arrived in Vancouver it was May 31st again.

But according to Kyiv time, I became the birthday girl three hours before landing.

That thought made me smile.

Because years ago I had a dream—to celebrate my birthday on a plane.

And suddenly I realized:

the dream had already been waiting for me.

I even said to myself on the flight:

"Well then... happy birthday. This is something new." 😁

And it really was.

Then my family was waiting for me on the other side of the journey.

The next morning I woke up and celebrated my birthday all over again—this time in Canadian time—receiving messages, calls, and birthday wishes.

That birthday was especially warm and joyful.

So much attention from my girls 🫶

I loved it.

Dreams do not always come true the way we imagine them.

Sometimes they quietly become reality somewhere in the middle of the journey.

Thank you for reading!

A birthday at 12,000 meters

Journey with a racket

A birthday at 12,000 meters