Life Recap - Bulgaria Wins Eurovision, Getting Sick & My Fairytale Forest Wedding

After a month-long hiatus, Tyla returns to the podcast with a personal life update. In this intimate episode, she catches listeners up on what's been happening behind the scenes - including an unexpected Eurovision triumph, a week battling illness, last-minute wedding planning chaos, welcoming extended family to Bulgaria for the first time, and celebrating her own fairytale forest wedding in her favorite place in the world!

So grab a cup of coffee, get comfy, and settle in for a short but entertaining tale of life updates, personal stories, and the adventure that comes with balancing travel content creation with major life milestones.

In this episode, you'll learn…

• Why the Travel with Tyla podcast took a month-long hiatus and what caused the silence
• How Bulgaria's unexpected Eurovision win caught everyone by surprise at the 2026 contest
• The reality of getting seriously ill while trying to manage a podcast and wedding planning
• How last-minute wedding planning differs from thoughtful advance planning (spoiler: it's chaotic but not impossible)
• The experience of welcoming extended family to Bulgaria for the very first time
• Why a forest wedding in Bulgaria became the perfect family celebration
• What's coming next for Travel with Tyla in the second half of 2026

What's next?

✨ Book a Trip Consultation - let's start planning your dream trip to Europe! 

✨ Browse and download our collection of itineraries at travelwithtyla.com

✨ Follow on Instagram @travelwith.tyla for more Europe travel inspiration

✨ Subscribe so you never miss a future episode!

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:10

Hello friends and welcome back after what feels like an eternity of not being able to record new podcast episodes. I must say it does feel really good to be back, and I'm so excited for what's to come in the second half of 2026 for Travel with Tyler. Now, if you are a regular listener to the podcast, then you may have noticed that things have been a little bit quiet around here for the last month. There have been no new episodes, and for this I sincerely apologize. But I promise it has all been for several reasons. Some exciting and others not so much. For those who sent me a message wondering where I had disappeared to, firstly, thank you for reaching out. I feel so incredibly blessed to have this amazing online community of fellow Europe travel loving listeners. And secondly, oh do I have a story to tell you? So when you're ready, I suggest you grab a cup of coffee, get comfy, and settle in for a short but entertaining tale as we catch up on what's been happening over the last month. From a Eurovision win that none of us saw coming to a week where I spent most of it lying in bed. Then there was the chaos of last-minute wedding planning, preparing to welcome all of my extended family to Bulgaria, many for the very first time. Of course, I then celebrated my wedding week in my favorite place in the world, and now I'm slowly getting back into the swing of routine and all things travel with Tyler. So before we start recounting everything that's happened over the last five weeks, let's rewind to my last episode, which for those of you who haven't listened to it yet, I highly recommend you do, as it was a lot of fun. Talking everything, Eurovision song contest, and more. The history of it, what it actually is, why it matters, and why it's considered Europe's cultural event of the year. Now, when I recorded that episode, I had no idea what was about to happen, because only two weeks later, on the 16th of May, Bulgaria went on to win Eurovision 2026. Bulgaria. Actually did it. They won the whole contest. And the country's representative Dara and her absolute banger of a song called Bangaranga is an incredibly joyful and infectious song, which I can confirm has been playing on repeat everywhere in Bulgaria. From the supermarkets to restaurants, petrol stations, and even at our wedding, where we played it three times. Yep, there was a lot of bangaran all night long. The song entered the contest with quite low odds, but then over the course of the week, with rehearsals and semi-final performances, Bulgaria's entrance was gaining speed and popularity, entering the predicted top three to win only an hour before the Saturday night final officially kicked off. This was especially exciting as I'm a huge Eurovision fan, and while I was a big fan of Australia's entrance, the one and only Delta Gudrum, I've come to expect that Australia will never actually win the contest. It just doesn't make sense. So when Dara's highly entertaining performance went on to sweep both the jury vote and the public televote with an impressive 516 points, I was pretty ecstatic. Bulgaria is my adopted home country, and I'm incredibly proud to see Bulgaria perform well on the world stage, whether it be at the Winter Olympics, Eurovision, or even in the current Formula 2 Grand Prix Circuit. Now, while there are so many wonderful things to love about living in Europe, one of my favorite parts is that it is completely acceptable and very popular to organize Eurovision watch parties. So that's exactly what we did right here in Bansco. We got a group of friends together and headed to our local hangout spot for a super fun night of sharing food, drinks, dancing, judging, and a whole lot of laughter. If you remember back to my previous podcast episode, Eurovision is not meant to be taken seriously, it's just a whole lot of excess, extravagance, and excessive fun. Especially when you get lots of different nationalities together, arguing, debating, cheering for their home countries. It all just adds to the atmosphere. In our small group, we had several Bulgarians, as well as Australians, Germans, French, British, Dutch, and more European nationalities, making it a highly competitive and highly entertaining evening. But of course, being in Bulgaria, we all started screaming and cheering as we watched the voting live. Bulgaria steadily creeping closer and closer to the top position. And the moment when they announced the public vote is something I will never ever forget. In fact, I videoed it and watching back our raw reactions was amazing to see as we realized Bulgaria had not only won the competition, but would also be hosting the competition next year. Bulgaria is a country that not too many people outside of Europe have ever heard of, and a place that many people would never consider visiting. Yet that's exactly what I did three years ago, and my whole life changed because of it. To know that this welcoming and wonderful country will be visible on the world stage, opening its doors to visitors and a global celebration of music, it's just all so exciting. In fact, I was so excited I may have stayed up until 5 a.m. after the contest had finished, eagerly searching and booking Airbnbs in Sofia for next May. The exact dates have not been released yet or even the host city, but I am quietly confident it will be held in Sofia. I have always dreamed of going to watch Eurovision Live, and to go when Bulgaria is hosting the contest would just be the most amazing experience. So, yes, I will 100% be at Eurovision 2027. Because two days later, I, along with a few others who were at the watch party, all got hit with the worst case of the flu that I can remember. And it's not that it was especially painful, it just took so long to get over it. What started with a fever lasting 24 hours turned into intense fatigue and exhaustion that stayed around for almost an entire week. Now I'm usually pretty good at getting over an illness in a day or two, but no matter how much I slept, medicated, or drank fluids, I just couldn't seem to knock it. Both frustrating and annoying, especially because I knew I had a podcast episode to record. But alas, I ended up spending seven days in bed. I didn't even venture outside until the eighth day, and even then it was only for a few minutes of sunlight before returning to my bed exhausted and out of breath. I tried multiple times to record a podcast episode during that week, but every time I looked at my laptop, my body ached with tiredness. Plus, by day four, my voice was almost completely gone, so recording a podcast episode was essentially impossible. So instead of working, I spent most of that week sleeping at irregular hours, watching movies on my laptop, and trying to fight the constant invading thoughts of I should really be working right now. Thankfully, finally, I slowly and gratefully started to feel human again. And just as I did, I looked at the calendar on our fridge and realized it was exactly one week until our wedding week began. Whoops. So having healed enough to go outside but not yet fully recovered, I was now able to stare down my long, long list of things to do before our wedding celebrations kicked off in exactly seven days' time. And I want to make it clear that while most people in Australia, the US, and the UK tend to plan their weddings over a year in advance, my husband and I only really started planning our wedding two months ago. And that's not because we are not good planners. I mean, I do plan trips for a living, but it's just the nature of doing things in Bulgaria. We sent out invitations to family members over a year in advance as many would be traveling far from Australia, the UK, and Denmark to reach us. But when we first went to our venue and said we wanted to book for 12 months in the future, they laughed and said, come back in six months. It's just the way things are here in Bulgaria, and instead of getting worried and stressed, we both just leaned into it. And wedding planning became a very relaxed, last-minute sort of thing. So much so that when we reached two months before the big day, we hadn't planned anything except the date, and of course, I already had my wedding dress. So for the next two months, our weekends were filled with driving between Sofia and Bansco to purchase things like wedding rings, a suit, DJ speakers, decorations, and everything else we couldn't find in our little mountain town. But remember, as I mentioned earlier, it was a wedding week, not just a wedding day. So in addition to the main celebrations, there was an entire week worth of transport and activities to book for our families, ensuring they were entertained and got to experience all of our favorite parts of living in Bulgaria. So naturally, this last-minute rush to book airport transfers, finalize our catering and drinks order, plus purchase all our own DJ equipment and makeup supplies, because we decided it would be more fun to do it ourselves, ended up taking up almost all our spare time. So if I'm being completely honest, recording a podcast episode was the very last thing on my mind. I think anyone who has ever planned a wedding can relate to the heightened intensity of the week right before. Then you add in the fact that I was still recovering from being sick and trying to make sure that 50 plus people made it onto their flights and arrived on time. In hindsight, it was a lot to coordinate, but thankfully it all worked out beautifully. One of the best decisions we made was choosing to have our wedding in Bansko, as even the most stressful moments felt more manageable. We had briefly considered having our wedding on the island of Eos in Greece, but after visiting the island last year, we quickly realized that not knowing the destination that well, or having someone to call when a problem arises, would have made the week so much more stressful. Whereas in Bansko, we have our people, people we can call on for a last minute favor and who could help us pull off the wedding of our dreams. So for that and many more reasons, I'm so grateful we chose to host the celebrations here, in our magical mountain town. The place where I met my now husband, and the place where our story has beautifully unfolded over the last three years. And it is so true what they say about weddings. Blink and it will be here, blink and it'll be over. The most incredible week of our lives was about to begin, and I wanted to be present to Savor every single moment. The party I had always dreamed of. To say that our wedding week was incredible doesn't do justice to just how every little moment and time spent with family and friends was just so special and perfect. In one week, we were able to show them our favourite parts of where we live. From the cobblestone Old Town to the snow-covered mountains and glittering lakes of Pirin National Park. There were also many long lunches and late dinners, bonding over ginormous plates of food, flowing house wine, and of course, when in Bulgaria, there is always the homemade rakia. The wedding day itself was magical. Thanks to the intense week prior of planning and pulling everything together, the day itself was actually quite relaxed. I wasn't stressed at all, and I think it was partly due to being surrounded by all my favourite people. Everyone was on hand and everyone was willing to help out. There was a brief moment, about an hour before the ceremony began, when the sky broke out in thunder and lightning. Grey clouds gathered and the heavens truly poured down for about 20 minutes. And then, in a stroke of pure luck, the skies cleared and the rest of the day went off without a hitch. The venue was set within a peaceful meadow surrounded by vivid green pine trees, and with a small wooden cabin that housed a restaurant serving delicious Bulgarian dishes. There was even a mountain stream flowing through it, that paired with the hundreds of meters of glowing fairy lights, made the entire space feel like a life-sized fairy garden. We exchanged our vows by the stream, captured precious family moments on camera, ate and drank until we couldn't anymore, and of course, danced the night away under the stars. It was so important to us that everyone had a fun and memorable day, ourselves included. And now looking back, we certainly achieved that. Now, all of this is to say that while I have been absent from the podcast for the last month, I can assure you it was for a very special and worthwhile reason. Being able to focus purely on my new husband and our families for an entire week felt like the biggest gift and something that I will forever cherish. We have made the decision to live far away from our families because our home countries never felt quite right. And with that, there certainly comes a lot of guilt, but at the same time, a lot of joy. Our wedding allowed us to bring so many people to Bulgaria, most who openly admit would never have come here otherwise. Yet every single one of them left surprised, delighted, and saying they can't wait to come back. I went off the beaten path three years ago, and it led me here, to Bulgaria, to my husband and to creating Travel with Tyler. A dream, an idea, and a desire to share everything I love about traveling in Europe with you, my wonderful listeners. So I hope you'll forgive me for disappearing. I've been a little busy getting married and all, but I'm very excited and happy to say that I am back and ready to go. So I hope this little update explains where I've been and why there haven't been as many uploads as you may have wanted. Trust me, I so wish I could have got those scheduled episodes out to you, but sometimes in life it's important to slow down, to rest, and focus on being in the moment. By the time this episode goes out, it will have been a week since we said goodbye to all our family and friends. And while in some ways that does make me sad, being able to get back into doing what I love most, creating these podcast episodes, and sharing my love for all things travel in Europe, it truly is the ultimate post-wedding depression cure. I'm feeling more inspired and excited than ever before. Throughout this brief pause, I've also learned that planning ahead and recording episodes weeks or even months in advance is the key to staying consistent. Because while a wedding only comes along once in a lifetime, getting sick and being physically unable to record an episode is likely to happen again. Nevertheless, the best thing about taking an involuntary break, as frustrating as it was at times, is that it gave me a lot of time to think about the podcast, about the content I want to make, about the places I want to take you to this year, and about the kind of travel storytelling that I love listening to the most. And so I've come to the conclusion that through each podcast episode, I want to take you somewhere real, somewhere a little unexpected, somewhere that rewards the curious, the unhurried, and the travelers who want more than what you'll find on the first page of Google. It's about diving deeper and experiencing the parts of Europe that I adore most. The reasons why I love living here and why going off the beaten path to discover new places often turn into the most rewarding travel experiences. So if that's something that interests you, I really hope you stick around because there are plenty more European escapes, downloadable itineraries, and special guest interviews coming your way. All designed to help you experience both the popular and lesser-known European destinations from the comfort of your couch, car, or wherever you may be listening from. So to everyone who has been listening to past episodes, who sent messages asking where I was, who stuck around through the silence, I want to say a massive thank you. Building travel with Tyler has been one of the greatest joys of my life, and knowing that there are people out there who genuinely look forward to these episodes, who use them to plan their own adventures to Europe, who write to tell me about a trip they took because of something they heard here on the podcast, it really does make all the hard work and long hours worth it. So I hope you'll enjoy this and every future episode. This is only the beginning, and I'm so excited for what's coming next. Speaking of, next week we are back to our regularly scheduled European escapes. And for this long-awaited episode, I'm taking you somewhere filled with ancient ruins, deep blue seas, whitewash buildings, and a whole lot of tasty food. That's right, we're off to explore Athens along with several stunning Greek islands. Until then, keep dreaming, keep exploring, and keep that European Wanderlust alive.