The dreamy destination: Mexico with Billyana Trayanova
This post is also available in: Bulgarian French
Today I will tell you about one dreamy destination. I met Billyana Trayanova, the charismatic founder and anchor of the TV show No Luggage, between two trips, a summer afternoon, and while we were drinking fresh lemonade, we were immersed in stories of distant destinations and unknown lands. Instantly, I felt like thousand miles away. Billyana was such a fascinating storyteller that my mind began painting pictures and I immediately wanted to book my next trip and begin to plan its route. Our conversation turned to Mexico, and I’m eager to share it with you: 
Why Mexico has been a dream destination? The Indian novels are one of the “instigators” to turn adventures into a profession. J Feather crowns, bone adornments, scalping of enemy captives, sacrifices, beautiful young chieftains and their beloved with ravenous hair tangled in braids and leather gowns – these are images that do not fade with age and experience. Years ago, I accidentally came to the New York Museum of Indian Cultures and I could not get out of there all day. I pressed buttons to hear speaking in various ethnic languages of Mesoamerican cultures, trying to make nodes in their pattern, staring at the faces of the different tribal communities, and looking for similarities and differences. I cannot explain my attraction to this part of the world! Mexico is the first territory once populated by the Mesoamerican peoples I dare to visit.
Somehow I’ve always felt that in Mexico you have to go prepared, to be a traveler, not just a tourist.
Today Mexico is so vast as a cultural and historical heritage that you can discover new challenges throughout your life. Now that I have come back from my first trip there, I understand that my intuition did not mislead me. For my next trip to Mexico I have to be even more prepared and I am already gaining knowledge about it. 
How do you prepare such a trip? It was a difficult decision. The site of the MFA warned that Mexico was not a safe destination. I have had many conversations with people traveling there, with our embassy in Mexico City, with ministry officials working with the region. The main thing that leads me when choosing a video shooting destination is safety. Of course, only the travel agencies I interviewed for organizing our trip were positive, they said there were no problems in the region. Around me, everyone who heard “Mexico” was saying something like “but why, isn’t it dangerous, dude, that’s very dangerous …” And that affects the decision. But after all, the team was very motivated to go, we bought the tickets for the plane, and then I started making the route – countless emails and telephone conversations with our agents in Mexico and the embassy, the local authorities who gave us one or another photo license. The process of organizing our travel trips is the most exhausting thing. : ) 
Do you have any beauty trips for a long-haul flight? Very often we have to go on a shooting set directly after the flight. It will not be good if I look too tired. Otherwise, I’m not vain, I accept myself as I am, but the dark circles under the eyes create another impression for the audience – for effort, fatigue, discomfort. So, on a flight, I never put on the contact lenses that I otherwise have in my everyday life. I use my dioptric glasses. So my eyes are not reddened by the pressure and do not dry out of the air conditioners. Always, I always travel with a thin sweater at hand, preferably with a hoodie, and I have a cotton scarf on my neck. If I do not use them, I often get cold from the air conditioners and then it’s hard to work.
I drink plenty of water on the flight and I eat vegetarian meals, I do not drink coffee and tea so I can easily set my biological clock to the new time zone.
If I accept the jet leg, I will not be full-potential for the shootings. I travel without makeup, only with moisturizing cream, because the skin is too dry from the air conditioning on the plane. I almost do not sleep on a flight – watching movies and reading, and this complicates a little all those things with the good look on the next day 🙂
The most memorable experience in Mexico? My meeting with Mariche, an Indian woman living high in the mountains, dressed in her own hand-woven petticoats embroidered with colorful flowers, with two thin braids and a smiling round face … We met at a church in a small Mexican village. Traditional treatments were held in the church, among icons and traditional symbols of the animated Indian cultures. The cures require eggs, hens, black and white liquids, candles, threads … We stop here because the episode will soon be ready for this very strange place. Mariche agreed to show us one of the healing rituals and the experience gave answers to many of my questions about this world, so different from ours …
A favorite picture from there? Now, that is a difficult question… What to keep in mind when traveling to Mexico? Mexico is a destination for connoisseurs, it is not for parvenus and collectors of destinations.
Many people travel without knowing where they are, what is happening around them, what is the value of what they see.
Mexico needs to be experienced. Mexico is not Cancun. Mexico has lightly opened the veil after at least two weeks there in tours of ruins, temples, churches, villages and markets. Mexico cannot be traveled “individually”, the tour guide is obligatory, otherwise many things will also be omitted because of the time lost in search of one or another, and because of the details that a professional guide knows. That’s why I never save money on that, we are always the best guides. It’s not a good idea to get stuck in urban ghettos, you should not trust any stranger. This, unfortunately, does not only concern Mexico but it is valid for most of the world. You need to know a contact phone with our embassy, to get in touch with your agent. All of us were frightened by some “amoeba” that you can grab there, but there were drugs in every pharmacy against it. We avoided ice drinks for this reason, washed our teeth with bottled water, and we followed all these precautions so that we could travel and shoot adequately … As each destination and route are very specific, the instructions are most varied. It’s one thing to go to trekking in the mountains, another is to take pictures of the ruins where you can bump to deadly poisonous snakes meet, third is to go cave diving or to watch the whales … 
We created the No luggage Club, whose members are traveling people and together we exchange firsthand information. We are already preparing “No Luggage” designed trips and anyone who would like to consult us can write to us on Facebook or on our email bezbagaz2@gmail.com . In partnership with Air France Photos: Martina Todorova et Billyana Trayanova
