Some stories don’t begin with a plan. Mine began with a meeting, with a person of rare energy, and with a conversation that, without my realising it, became the beginning of many things.
This isn’t a list of places or documents. It’s the story of the years from 2019 to 2026, when friendship, trust and curiosity about the world went hand in hand, and when every journey taught me something new about work, about people and about myself.
The journey, year by year
2019
The first meeting
In 2019 I met Juli. Her energy was extraordinary, and we very quickly became close friends.
I had just finished my studies and needed to see new places, get to know other cultures and pick up ideas connected to my professional field. At the end of that year, with her help and advice, I got my first 6-month tourist visa for the United Kingdom.
2020
New ideas to bring home
When the first visa expired, I applied again and, once more with Juli’s support throughout the process, I was granted another 6-month visa.
I began travelling to the United Kingdom from time to time. I saw other ways of working and doing business, and I tried to bring many of the ideas I picked up there to life in Albania.
2021
Two years, even during the pandemic
With Juli’s professional advice, I was granted a 2-year visa for the United Kingdom.
Even during the pandemic I kept travelling whenever it was possible. Those trips became an important source of experience, ideas and growth.
2023
Across the ocean
Juli helped me again with her advice, this time for the United States. In September 2023 I travelled to the USA for the first time.
With her guidance I was granted another one, and today I hold a 10-year US visa.
2026
One chapter closes, another opens
In July 2026 I was granted a 10-year visa for the United Kingdom. For me, this moment closed a long chapter of applications and opened a new period, focused on work, business, travel and further growth.
More than a visa
Over all these years I have taken part in events and activities related to:
Tourism
Business
Information technology
Business development
Professional training
Each of them left me with something: a conversation, a different way of looking at a problem, an idea that later took shape in my work. These experiences have had a strong influence on how I think about business and personal development, how I build relationships with the people I work with and how I start my projects.
For me, travel has never been simply about a destination. It has been a way of coming home with new eyes.
Trust that turned into friendship and collaboration
Over all these years, my friendship with Juli has only grown stronger. In all modesty, I can say that I have learnt a great deal from her, not only about visa processes and travel, but also about the way she sees opportunities, how she communicates with people and how she builds professional relationships that last.
What began as friendship became trust. And trust, over time, became collaboration.
During the same period, I have also looked after the website and the digital side of Juli’s company. In a completely different way, my work has become part of a mission that has opened the way to the United Kingdom for more Albanian families, so that they can be close to their relatives and loved ones.
Many Albanian families have loved ones in the United Kingdom: a son or a daughter working far away, grandchildren growing up without their grandparents nearby, brothers and sisters who only see each other on video calls. For them, a trip is not a holiday. It is a hug that has been put off for a long time, a birthday finally celebrated together, a table where everyone is together again.
Knowing that, in my own small way, my work helps these reunions happen gives a special meaning to everything I do.
When I look back on this whole journey today, I don’t think so much about the places or the documents. I think about the people. About a friendship that gave me the courage to set out, about the trust that was built step by step, and about a collaboration that today means something for others too.
Thank you, Juli, for every piece of advice, for your patience and for your friendship. The journey continues.
N.Doda
