This became one of my featured photos because it captures the side of travel I love most—the unscripted moments you could never plan. As Istanbul’s famous red tram made its way through the city, this little boy simply climbed onto the back and held on as if it were the most normal thing in the world.

There’s something about the image that feels so distinctly Istanbul: the brilliant red tram, the Turkish flags, the movement of the city, and a child turning an ordinary ride into his own little adventure. He looks completely comfortable there, as though he has done it a hundred times before, while the rest of the city continues moving around him.

It is easy to come home with photographs of famous landmarks, but sometimes the images that stay with me most are the ones that reveal something about everyday life.

This photograph is not about a monument or a perfectly posed scene. It is about noticing what is happening in between the major sights—the people, the movement, the routines, and those small moments that make a city feel real.