Dobrina Zhekova Dobrina Zhekova discovered her passion for travel at age 17 after spending four days in a bus traveling 2,500 miles from her home country of Bulgaria all the way to Lisbon (the bus broke down in the middle of the night in Serbia, but she still enjoyed the trip). She moved to New York City in 2010, and after completing her M.A. in Journalism, she started working at Elle.com. She is now a freelance writer based in Alexandria, VA, and her writing has appeared on InStyle.com, Vogue.com, Departures.com, Elle.com, and Sunset.com among many others. She covers travel, design, architecture, art, and weddings. When she is not learning a new language (her latest obsession is Icelandic), she daydreams about traveling to remote islands. About Travel + Leisure Travel + Leisure, a Dotdash Meredith Brand, is a top travel media brand with a mission to inform and inspire passionate travelers. Our expert team includes a network of hundreds of writers and photographers across the globe, all providing a local eye on the best places to stay, eat, and explore. We reach an audience that takes 76 million round trips annually, offering valuable travel tips, ideas and inspiration, and products you need to get you to your destination — whether it’s a small town or big city, beach or lake, national park or theme park, road trip, cruise, or long-haul flight, and everything in between. Learn more about us and our editorial process