12 Days, 3 Cities, and a New Chapter

There are moments in life where everything hits at once. The personal and the professional colliding in a way that leaves you no choice but to stop and breathe.

On March 5th, 2026, I officially divorced my wife of 3.5 years, Bahar. It had been a difficult year, and the last three months especially had been relentlessly stressful. On top of that, a content overhaul we made on Popupsmart triggered an unexpected negative signal from Google, and we saw roughly a 50% drop in organic traffic. So yes, divorce and a major SEO and startup crisis, back to back. Not my finest season.

But sometimes the only healthy response to chaos is to step away entirely.

Why I Needed This Trip

I've always been the kind of person who finds it difficult to truly disconnect. I've built companies, spent years in consulting, and somewhere along the way "always on" became a personality trait rather than a choice. The divorce forced me to confront that.

After March 5th, I realized I hadn't taken a proper vacation, unstructured, unplanned, just mine in as long as I could remember. So I booked the flights, packed light, and made one rule for myself: no laptop.

For 12 days, I didn't touch my MacBook. That might sound trivial. For me, it was genuinely historic.

Paris

I'd last been to Paris three years ago, in winter. That trip was the classic rushed tourist loop a blur of museums and landmarks with a packed itinerary and jet lag throughout. I left feeling like I'd seen Paris through a car window.

This time was different. I went alone, completely unplanned.

The weather was generous. I walked for hours through the Marais, along the Seine, up through Montmartre with no destination in particular. I ate at restaurants I stumbled into rather than ones I'd researched. I sat in cafés and read. I people-watched. I let Paris be slow for once.

For accommodation, I stayed at Locke, which has become my go-to when I want something that feels like an apartment rather than a hotel. The Paris property has stunning architecture — warmer and more characterful than I expected. It set exactly the right tone for the trip.

Paris without a plan is a completely different city. I'd recommend it to anyone who's done the tourist version and wants to actually feel the place

Amsterdam

I traveled from Paris to Amsterdam by Eurostar, a route I'd genuinely recommend. There's something about crossing through the French and Belgian countryside by train that flying simply can't replicate. The journey itself becomes part of the experience.

Amsterdam was the social heart of the trip.

I spent four days there with Salih Çağlar İspirli, a senior developer I know, and his circle of friends. It was Kings Day while I was there the entire city dressed in orange, every canal and street turned into an open-air party. It was chaotic and joyful in equal measure.

Through Salih, I got to meet some genuinely wonderful people: his Turkish friends Barış, Ece, and Mert, and local friends Stephan, Frederique, and Yago. Everyone was warm and open in a way that felt effortless. Four days of good food, good conversation, and being around people who had no idea what kind of year I'd been having which was exactly what I needed.

One thing that genuinely surprised me about Amsterdam was the relationship the locals have with English. We also attended a barbecue at Salih's apartment complex around 50 people, mostly in their 40s and 50s, Dutch through and through. Despite only three of us being Turkish, the group naturally defaulted to English for general conversation and announcements. Not performatively just casually and inclusively. I wasn't expecting that level of integration. It's a small thing, but it stuck with me.

London

I took the train from Amsterdam to London as well, crossing under the Channel via the Eurostar. By this point, the train had become a kind of ritual a slow, deliberate way of moving between places that matched the pace I was trying to maintain throughout the trip.

I spent five days in London.

The main plan was to catch up with my close friend Erkan Efecan, and together we'd talked about visiting some of the quieter villages outside the city. We made it to Bicester and Henley-on-Thames both worth the detour. Henley especially has a stillness to it that's hard to find in the city, and the riverside walks are genuinely beautiful.

During my London trip, I coincidentally ran into my close friend Batuhan Özyön, founder of scrape.do, and we caught up over pizza at my favorite pizza place, Pilgrims.

Inside London, we explored some neighborhoods I hadn't spent much time in before. I won't pretend London was the most restful leg of the trip — it rarely is — but it felt right as the closing chapter. Familiar enough to be comfortable, dense enough to keep the mind engaged.

Coming Back

By the time I landed back in Ankara, I was exhausted in the best possible way the kind of tired that comes from living, not from working.

I took two days to decompress before doing anything.

This blog post is the first thing I've written since the trip. It's been two weeks since I got back, and I'm only now opening my MacBook again with something resembling intention.

I missed it, actually. The work, the products, the problems to solve. But the distance gave me perspective I didn't know I needed.

Final Thought

I don't know exactly what comes next personally or professionally. Life after a significant relationship ends is strange and open-ended in ways I'm still figuring out.

But I came back feeling like myself again. Quieter, maybe. More grounded.

I hope this chapter — whatever it turns out to be — is good for me, and for Bahar too.