Are these marketing people getting so desperate that they feel they need to push the boundaries of what is socially acceptable, just to cause a stir and make those billboards go the extra mile with some controversial negative press?

Match is a company that doesn't seem to place user interests, or moral obligations, before profit margins, so personally I hope this backfires fantastically.

Perhaps it simply never occurred to them that anyone would react this way! Clearly there exists some cultural context within which this ad comes off as offensive, but it is so far removed from the culture I live in that I find myself unable to empathize with the people who are upset.

Bumble is not owned by Match.

Ah, appears google quick results got it wrong.

Only a matter of time.

Seems obvious to me but it needs to be said: perhaps you're not looking deep enough. Read the article again, the key message of "connecting with people and their cultures" is hard to miss.

Shallow self gratification of sun, surf, sex and art, these are not going to inspire you, challenge you, or help you grow.

But I feel like you already knew that, so why did you post this.

There are diminishing returns to everything, travel included. If you go deep enough, you’ll typically just uncover the mundane, everyday realities, that people are often not willing to share with a foreign, relatively wealthy tourist.

i started reading some of paul therouxs books and its given me a refreshed idea of what travel can be and how much some people are ok with opening up about. travel is so hard and expensive to do, were basically all beginners at it. even if you think your well traveled. visit 20 countries sounds like a lot and you start to feel like you know what your doing, but if you did 20 drawings your still clearly learning the basics.

People are not really that different either, even cultures. Get familiar with enough of them and there are few surprises left.

You can get bored of anything if you do it enough.

It's hella laggy, you have too many results in the page, a simple case of too many divs I think.

I think it was caused by too frequently updating map. If you get a chance to check it out again, let me know if the issue has been resolved :)

So long as you're fully vaxed its not so bad.

Heading there next month ;)

You can certainly catch a variant or just test positive even if you are fully vaxed and boosted. And frankly it wouldn't surprise me if this is just a way to shakedown tourists.

They decided last week that on the first and fifth days from arrival you must stay in an approved hotel. They don't tell you the results until you are all tucked in, and so you have a rather high chance of ending up in an expensive covid jail.

Next month is a long time away and they are making up new rules as they go as per usual. I admire your optimism and hope you get lucky and enjoy the place as few people will get to experience the islands so empty :)

Yeah, happy with that risk, 2 years of lockdowns and no travelling you know?

Thailand is not an expensive place ;)

You sound like a genuinely productive individual.

This might sound like complete bullshit, but have you spent any time to try and gather your thoughts in a constructive manner to identify where your feelings are coming from, and where or how you might find excitement and joy again?

You won't find all the answers this way, but it could help you find some direction. Personally I might guess that you need to explore other opportunities and find new passions in life to truely get out of your current state of mind. That might involve travel, as others have suggested, to open your mind to other possibilities, since we often pigeon-hole our focus towards what's already in front of us.

I've been through something similar twice in my life, and as I say, it took both mindfulness and a bit of exploration to find my way out. Sending yourself off to uncomfortable and unknown situations, to discover what else there is to life, for you. We need goals in life to feel like we're achieving something, striving for something, like we have something to live for. Have you lost sight of your goals? Do you still have any as of this moment that you are passionate about?

One last fortune cookie I might offer: Believe in yourself. We all fall down at some point, it's how we handle that fall that really matters, and if you can pull yourself back up, new horizons await.

Based on your portfolio, I would suggest seeking some design training if you seek to freelance - as a front-end developer you should be owning the latest design standards such as proper content spacing, font combos that compliment, simple colour palettes, interaction animations & loaders, etc etc etc - none of which I see in your portfolio. You really need to impress and to also learn to sell yourself as a freelancer (you know, fake it til you make it, all that).