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The Traveling Psychiatrist is ready to travel again
Earlier this month, on the 16th of June, the Traveling Psychiatrist (the blog, not the blogger) turned 3 years old. This anniversary prompted me to reflect on my blogging journey so far, and re-visit the last 54 posts (published over the last 52 weeks). At the same time, fully vaccinated and on the verge of a burn-out, I have decided to take a break (from my work and from blogging) and travel again. I am not going to reveal my travel plans as yet, but I promise I will soon come back with tips about places I’ve never visited before. But before I go, I will re-visit the posts published…
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Finland tops the World Happiness Report
Today, March 20th, is the International Day of Happiness. According to the ninth World Happiness Report, published yesterday, Finland is once again on the top of the happiness rankings (for a fourth year running). It is followed by the usual culprits: Iceland, Denmark, Switzerland and the Netherlands. As usual, the happiest countries in the world are predominantly in Western Europe. New Zealand is the only non-European country in this year’s top 10 (9th place). Canada is no longer in the top 10 (15th place), whereas Germany has made it to the top 10 of the happiest countries in the world. My home country, Greece, is in the 51st place (better than last year’s…
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7 reasons to follow the Traveling Psychiatrist
Hello and Happy New Year! As England has recently gone into a third national lockdown, it is a good opportunity to re-visit my post ‘Self-isolation, social distancing and wellbeing’ first published in March 2020, during the first lockdown. At the same time, as this is my first post this year, it is a good opportunity to re-introduce myself and my blog, the Traveling Psychiatrist. Or, rather, I am going to give you 7 reasons to follow the Traveling Psychiatrist in 2021: Tips for Greece & the Greek islands from a Greek Having been born and raised in Greece, I have always loved sharing tips to help people see my home country…
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Goodbye 2020: End-of-year-reflection
An eventful year, 2020, has come to an end. Over the last few days, I’ve had time to relax a little (which is why I decided not to publish a new post last week), re-connect with my family, and reflect on the year just gone (as well as on the 56 posts I published over the last twelve months). January 2020 5 (+1) Japanese novels to read in 2020 2020 was going to be the year that the Olympic Games would’ve taken place in Japan, a country that has fascinated me since a very young age, but I’m yet to visit. In the last couple of years, I have read…
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The Traveling Psychiatrist turns 2
Two years ago, long before COVID-19 interrupted our daily lives and travels, I met my friends in Oslo and had a wonderful holiday in Norway, one of my favorite travel destinations. Upon my return to London, I launched the Traveling Psychiatrist, with the very first (introductory) post published on 16 June 2018. Since then, I have been publishing a new post every single week, a total of 112 posts to date, including the one you’re currently reading (on a few special occasions, I published two posts a week, in case you’re wondering why the number doesn’t quite add up). Today, I’d like to reflect on the Traveling Psychiatrist ‘s journey…
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Is the coronavirus good for our mental health?
Last week, I reflected on the fact that the media (at least in the UK) appear to have forgotten about Brexit and have focused almost exclusively on the coronavirus pandemic. Of course, such a pandemic is worth reporting on the news. However, it appears to have given rise to panic and mass hysteria; for instance, as the coronavirus spreads to the UK, the toilet roll and hand wash demand has risen to unprecedented levels, with the supermarkets notoriously running out of supplies. I personally largely blame the media for this over-reaction. Today, as the number of UK cases of coronavirus has risen to 319 and the number of fatalities to…
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COVID-19: a new case of mass hysteria
Up until the 31st of January 2020, I would wake up every morning to news about the –then-upcoming Brexit. Sadly, this is now a done deal. A bloody done deal, as half of the Brits would say. I live in London, England, and I listen to the news on BBC Radio 3 (in case you’re wondering, BBC stands for British Broadcasting Corporation, and Radio 3 is one of the many radio stations operated by the BBC, but mostly playing classical music). Come February, and most mornings I have been waking up to updates on the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) first reported from Wuhan, China, on the 31st of…
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2019: A year of travel blogging and traveling
One year. 52 weeks. 365 days. 54 blog posts (55 including the one you’re reading at this very moment). Over 5,000 views from more than 100 countries all over the world (I’ve even had 4 views from Brunei). These are some of the stats for my blog. 9 trips abroad. 7 countries. 2 islands. 27 flights (I do like my stop-overs). It is not a secret that traveling is one of my favorite activities; in 2019 I have been fortunate enough to travel back to some of my favorite places (Vienna, Rome, Kos, and California), but also to visit new ones (Cortina, Trondheim, Isle of Man, and Tromsø). These travels…
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The Traveling Psychiatrist: Wanderlust & Wellbeing
Wanderlust Being a non-native English speaker, I was well into my twenties when I first came across the word wanderlust: the wish to travel far away and to many different places. Yet, now that I know this word, I realise that I have been familiar with its true meaning since I was eight, when I first stepped into a plane, and then into a foreign country (Thailand, and then Singapore). The following year, I traveled back to Far East Asia (Thailand and Indonesia), and that is how I became addicted to traveling. At the age of nine, I had already experienced my wanderlust, and from then on, I would travel…
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The Traveling Psychiatrist
“I’ve won!” six-year-old Alex exclaimed, as he moved his pawn to Oslo. Born and bred in Thessaloniki, the second largest city in Greece, I would spend hours and hours playing ‘Traveling in Europe’, the board game that introduced me to traveling and to Europe. Once I learned all the continent’s countries, capitals and major cities, I moved to ‘Traveling in Greece’ and got to know every single island of my home country. Then came ‘Traveling in the World’ and soon afterward I was onboard my first plane. Spending two weeks in Far East Asia expanded the horizons of the eight-year-old me, brought me in contact with different civilizations, religions…