In Iran, everyone thinks I am a tourist. Taxi drivers, hotel staff and people, I meet on the street recommend me places to visit. And I would love to go there! But the misery about a research trip is: you always have too little time. Before the trip, I had the same image in my mind, a romantic one. How fun must it be to travel for work! You will visit historic buildings, eat fancy and exotic food and enjoy nature. And all this in the name of work. The reality is: You skip historic buildings because of lack of time, you eat kebab almost every day and you see the scenery passing by when sitting in the next mode of transportation.
Inhaling emissions and explaining design
Still, I enjoy being out there. Hopping from one shared taxi into the next and paying local fees. Drinking a mix of fresh orange and pomegranate juice for breakfast. Inhaling the emissions of millions of cars, motorcycles, and buses. Okay, that’s a less exciting part. Trying to make people understand your project and that interior design means a house is beautiful from inside. And that this doesn’t mean necessarily spending a lot of money or buying western-looking furnishing. And then your eyes become shiny because you meet again one person who just knows what you are talking about. He or she is on the same endeavor. That’s when your heart beats up again and you feel full of energy.
On which roads I travel you can see on these two maps. In total about 7000 km. Unfortunately, Google Maps doesn’t allow more than 10 stops, so I had to draw two parts. Happy to meet anyone who is on the same track!