Go everywhere but always come back home (and a bit of life journey in between)
- Kristina Radovanovic
- Dec 25, 2025
- 11 min read
During our lifetime, we can certainly travel and visit as many places as we want around the world. Everything seems interesting, sometimes glamorous and makes us think about how nice it would be to have the opportunity to be there.
When I lived in the village, I always looked at the planes above the sky and wondered where these people were traveling, where they lived and what these places looked like. I always had a desire to see the world and I believed that one day that time would have to come. It seems that this happens if you combine your desires, sacrifices and love.
As someone who currently lives abroad and has even lived in a different city more than in my hometown in Serbia, I can freely say that the one place where I feel a certain kind of the freedom is my home, my village. The home where I was born and spent my childhood is the only place that cannot be replaced and changed in the heart and mind. In Serbia, we are famous for a saying for every situation, and this time I would definitely say it: "Svuda podji, svojoj kuci dodji! - “Go anywhere, come home!”. This is literally how I feel when I get on a plane and return to Serbia.
The place where you grow up doesn’t have to be perfect, have new furniture, cars, surroundings just like you look for when choosing a hotel for your next trip.
But the most important thing it has are the memories. When you enter a home, you feel safe, free and think all the time: “Home, sweet home”.
That time, everything seems perfect!
It was spring/early summer, so gardening had just begun. I always look forward to walking through our property, looking at all the crops, and reminding myself how much I miss this time of year.
I simply love the Serbian spirit when it comes to customs, gatherings and celebrations almost every month. It's a way for relatives and friends to stay together, considering that nowadays we are all busy with work, obligations and a rush. I usually get pictures of the home-cooked meal from my mother and sister regularly, whether it's a celebration, or preparing homemade meals (the well-known "ajvar" made from garden peppers).
Milos and I had wonderful plans and ideas to organize a wedding in a church in Serbia this year, with our families present. We booked everything by phone and scheduled meetings to finalize all the plans again before the event. Our plan was to have a traditional wedding, which seems like an event that lasts from morning to night, because I always dreamed of wearing my wedding dress at home in my room, like all girls, I believe :D
Although things have changed today and people have a different way of organizing weddings, I can’t hide my willingness to make all the decorations in both parents’ homes and bring the families together to celebrate our love. Especially if you don’t spend time at home, this happens once in a lifetime and you want to create a memory that you can show your children one day and remind them that choosing to get married is a huge step in life. As someone who doesn’t take anything for granted, for me a wedding day should be something that has to fulfill both partners’ wishes and be joyful.
In addition to our wedding, we had other weddings and gatherings that were supposed to be memorable and make our vacation joyful. However, things don’t always go the way we want.
Milos was feeling a little unwell after the flight, which we thought was due to less sleep and being overwhelmed with all the responsibilities before packing. But unfortunately, no one thought that it could be something else or worse.
Since we each spent a lot of time at our parents’, I woke up one morning to a photo of Milos in the hospital and on an IV. He informed me that additional check-ups were scheduled as soon as possible, and he could see that the doctors were concerned about his health because they had warned the doctor to come all the way from another city to check his heart blocks because the blood test was not good.
Rushing home, I honestly couldn’t believe that this could happen to him, especially since he was training on the last day before we left Toronto. That one day definitely brought us even closer and bonded us even more. The rules in Serbian hospitals are different regarding patient visits, which means you can only see a patient twice a week. So, when I arrived at the hospital, I was waiting outside the day surgery room, where the coronary angiography was done, and luckily the entrance was from the door right next to the waiting room, so I was able to see Milos for a moment and give him support before he went in.
The doctor diagnosed myocarditis and was not optimistic about releasing Milos from the hospital at least 10 days or our wedding with over 200 people in attendance, and he was also angry about Milos’s vigorous cycling workouts, considering them too much strain on his heart. As someone who devoted all his free time to activities like cycling and hiking, Milos was shaken at that moment thinking that he would have to stop those sports activities for at least 6 months until his heart healed properly and he definitely needed time to process everything that had happened in just 3 hours that morning.
On the other hand, I immediately started canceling all our wedding reservations step by step, because it was already short notice for everyone, and the wedding was the last thing on my mind until Milos recovered. I am grateful for the understanding of the people who organized everything and were so supportive.
While I was going to cancel the restaurant, I stopped by to visit our church in Mataruska Banja. Having completely lost track of time and date, as soon as I entered, I realized that it was Pentecost (the Descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles or the Trinity). This holiday is considered by folk beliefs to be the beginning of summer. It is customary to go to church, and churches and houses are decorated with greenery, grass and flowers. Wreaths are woven, and greenery symbolizes new life, renewal and the descent of the Holy Spirit.
For a moment, as I sat and wove the wreath that I brought to Milos, I felt relief and peace in my soul. I knew that everything would be fine.
This was a definitely time when I could have a sit, think clearly and not rush.
I felt grateful for everything we have together and that this will be the challenge time for us which we will overcome and stick together as we always did.
The rest of our vacation was mostly about Milos being in the hospital, and I was sneaking around to find a way to be with him in the room for a while, bringing him fresh food, water, and positive energy, and at least occasionally waving from the side of the parking lot visible from his room.
The nurses were even willing to let me stay longer on the day of the wedding, so we even had breakfast together and spent some more time together.
I was so happy that his recovery was going well and that the doctor was announcing he would be discharged from the hospital soon.
It was so hard to think that he was spending time alone in the hospital for almost the entire vacation while our minds had totally other plans, and our vacation was limited during the year to spend the time at home.
Our departure time was also delayed due to his condition, and when we left the hospital, we were either at Milos's parents' house, or I convinced him to visit at least one more place, which was Kopaonik Mountain. I chose Kopaonik because of the fresh air, a little colder than our places, and besides, it was a place I wanted to show him because I spent two winter seasons working there. This time the atmosphere was different, because it was summer, but still, this place was full of people because of the weekend, and the hotel had a very cheerful and lively atmosphere.
We walked a little during the day, since the whole mountain is uphill/downhill, we decided to take a complete break from everything by choosing a nice room with a huge TV and a great view of the main trails, which was much needed and pleasant at that time. I felt we were cheating to our healthy diet those 2 days 😄
Otherwise, Kopaonik is a national park and one of the largest ski resorts in Southeast Europe with the highest point called Pančićev vrh with an altitude of 2017 m.
With a variety of viewpoints, flora and fauna, this national park attracts people during the spring, summer and early autumn months for hiking tours. However, the main winter season starts in November and lasts until April, when you can notice a huge queue between all 25 ski lifts that can accommodate 32,000 skiers per hour.
When I started working seasonally on Kopaonik, I fell in love with winter. The road to the mountain is amazing with conifers decorated with heavy and frozen snow, it looks like a fairy tale. Sometimes you can’t open your eyes if you are walking because of the speed of the wind and the simultaneous snowfall, but when it stops, the beautiful snow cover is everywhere. It's not such a pleasant surprise for owners of vehicles parked outside, as their vehicles are covered in snow to the depth of half a meter. Below, I'll share a few photos from those years spent on Kopaonik:
After visiting Kopaonik, we made our decisions, changed our flight to a few days later, and were looking forward to finally reaching our apartment and getting back to our routine. The beginning of our flight was smooth and beautiful, starting with a cup of coffee, continuing via Munich airport, and counting another 8 hours to Toronto. As we continued from our stop in Munich, I was very tired and fell asleep until I felt Miloš shaking my shoulders and waking me up because of some emergency on the plane. A woman had fainted in front of the toilet and at first it seemed like something temporary. However, the passengers became alarmed when we heard the captain of the plane asking for help and if there was a doctor to help the woman. After 30 minutes of deliberation, the crew decided to make an emergency landing at the nearest airport in Dublin, which everyone considered a reasonable decision.
Thank God, we arrived on time, and the woman was taken by ambulance. Then the crew suddenly informed us that the plane could not continue the flight to Toronto and that we had to find accommodation for the night and wait for information about the new flight. Honestly, we ended up in a real mess with over 300 people from the plane collecting luggage, checking information about the place that was crowded, and the representatives repeating the same answers 1000 times to all the passengers. All the hotels nearby were already booked, and, in the end, we took a taxi and a hotel 30 minutes away.
We tried to calm down and look at this as an experience; we ordered food to our room and started making the next plan and looking for solutions. During our stay at the hotel, we met and got to know more people from the plane and shared experiences about further plans about booking flights, and it seemed that everything was better because we were not alone in everything. The next morning, we went to breakfast and got ready for the airport to find a flight to Toronto.
I made sure to document this experience by taking pictures around. If Milos was feeling better, I believe we would even visit a town properly while there.
While talking to other passengers at the airport, we found out where they had bought their tickets before we arrived and we asked for the same. Luckily, we got the last two tickets for the plane that was supposed to leave in 40 minutes, and we were literally in a rush to catch that flight and finally get home and rest.
Upon returning to Canada, everything was different and we returned to our home routine. I was given a few extra days off to keep Milos company and prepare healthy meals for us for the next few days. Milos birthday was just around the corner and we invited a few of his friends over to our house to share all of our recent experiences.
We left this period grateful that everything ended well and have already made some plans for our next trip after Milos recovers. Meanwhile we were beginning with our everyday walking, stretching and going to the swimming pool in our building as per doctor recommendation.
Meanwhile, I decided to take care of my plants and repot the most of them, since we didn't buy any seasonal plants due to our trip. The very first plant we had in our apartment was Orchid.
Since it was summer and the weather was perfect for hiking, we chose a few shorter trails to make a different plan, because for the first month we only walked through our neighborhood to avoid long trails.
Our first 2 destinations were Devils Glen and Lions Head Park.
Devils Glen
Location: Off Highway 24 south of Collingwood
Honestly, this park was a pleasant surprise compared to other places we visited. Usually, hiking trails tend to differ in the number of lakes, hills, or types of flora and fauna they offer. Since we didn’t even look this park up online, we decided to explore it spontaneously.
The hike started with a steady downhill walk through the forest, with the Mad River flowing through a deep gorge below us. Following our "All Trails" app, we eventually found ourselves climbing up a ski trail all the way to the top of the hill, something we definitely didn’t expect. Milos was doing great, already thinking he could handle an even longer and more challenging trail, while I was perfectly happy believing this would be a relaxing walk 😄
We took a short break at the top before continuing toward our parking area, which felt very far away at that point. We slowly made a loop, choosing a different route back. The views were stunning the entire time, and there were surprisingly few people around, which felt unusual but very refreshing.
When we reached a large parking area, we met a man who was taking care of the visitors. We started chatting with him about the winter season and the ski trails, since the area looked much nicer than some of the nearby places we visited last year. That’s when we learned about the expensive membership required for skiing here, which explained why the area was so quiet.
We finally headed back to our original parking lot, facing one last uphill climb… and we made it 😄
Lions Head Park
Location: On the Bruce Peninsula about 80 km north of Owen Sound
Lion’s Head Provincial Park was one of those places that just makes you stop and stare. The views over Georgian Bay are unreal, bright blue water, white cliffs, and that wide open feeling you don’t get every day.
The hike itself was pretty relaxed (in the beginning), with just enough effort to make the views feel earned. We took our time, stopped often for photos, and enjoyed every lookout along the way. Standing at the cliffs and looking out over the bay felt calm and refreshing, especially reminding me of the view we got in Madeira 2 years ago (Portugal).
Lion’s Head is the kind of spot you go to when you want good views, fresh air, and an easy escape into nature without overthinking it.
There are several options when it comes to trails, both longer and shorter. We chose the longest one, which was challenging but also a great experience due to the stunning views and the end of the trail where we met many people who had come to see this special spot.
It took us a few hours to get there and complete the loop, but we were brave and stubborn enough to do it. And luckily, I don’t regret doing it.
I was really obsessed with nature, the greenery and so many small mushrooms in the forest, as they were just starting to grow due to the damp soil after a recent rainy day.
This place will probably be a must-visit every year on our list.
All in all, this season has been good for us, and we have successfully overcome it, sticking together and becoming closer than ever. It seems that is exactly the goal of difficult times. Cheers!
Thank you for your time - Home | Kristina's Notes
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