Welcome to Australia! – I lately hear this phrase pretty often. It is the beginning of my new adventure. I’ll be staying in Sydney here for at least a year or maybe two. In fact, after two full weeks here, I am optimistic about this idea. It all came quite unexpectedly, like many things and travels in my life, and I’m considering it a great opportunity to know better this far away continent. Let me share with you five things I found rather surprising in Australia. Everybody runs Jogging and running are extremely popular. The CBD from early morning throughout the day with a peak in lunch hours is full of runners. They are mostly heading towards Botanical Gardens which is a fantastic place to run. Not only the views are breathtaking but also the shadowed paths and the nature around you are very encouraging. I came with no running shoes because of the luggage weight restrictions which was a mistake but luckily for me I found great running shoes in one of the stores and bought it right after my arrival. The weather is just amazingly beautiful which makes the whole running in Sydney pleasant. Everything is sweet This is something I found awkward: most of the food here, including yoghurt, tomato sauces, drinks and even milk is really sweet. I am not used to the sweet foods thus this was striking. I now pay attention in shops and before I buy any food I check the nutrition information for sugar quantity. Also, when I have my coffee I specifically ask for no sugar in it. When you come to Sydney remember to repeat ‘no sugar’ phrase, unless you want it sweet. Every day is sunny I’ve heard a lot about the weather in Sydney but let’s be honest: after living in Italy for years I did not believe it. The last two weeks were extremely sunny. From the early morning until late evening the sky is blue and the temperature is way above 20 degrees. Thanks to its location there is a slight wind from the bay which makes his city so easy to love! Everyone is chilled out Obviously not everybody but in most of the cases, I found the Australians easygoing folks. Not only they sit and lay down on green grass in parks and gardens but they also finish working early so they can enjoy life by visiting bars, restaurants, spending time with their friends or simply exercising. The peak hours are pretty narrow and after 5:00 p.m. everybody leaves offices heading home or leisure spots. Every tourist will find something interesting here Sydney has a lot to offer. From high adrenaline activities, through the music and theatre events, up to craft beers. In last two weeks, I went to two museums, had a few drinks here and there, run in the park, watched the huge ferry cruises muring in the harbour, walked along the beaches, did shopping and had a few dinners outs. All in all, you will find everything in Sydney. A huge variety of activities, places and fun things to do awaits for the tourists here. Sydney, I have a feeling we’ll come along quite nicely! Keep coming back for more info about Sydney, Australia and adventures of a foreigner in the Antipodes.  

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Since I started travelling I have always been eager to visit my own country. This year I drove far east to visit Podlasie, one of the most beautiful Polish regions, for the first time. Here is a short summary of my journey. The idyllic Janów Podlaski Janów Podlaski is a small village in Podlasie and it is widely known for its Arabian horses breeding programme and horse auctions. The horse stud established in 1817 gathers horse experts from all over the world. I’m not a huge fan of horses thus for me this was only an idyllic village in Podlasie. A few kilometres south from the world wide renown horse stud we found a perfect location for a short and peaceful stay. It’s called Pensjonat Uroczysko Zaborek and it is located in a beautiful spot. Recently renovated old wooden buildings are available for guests along with vast green terrains of the forest, small ponds and meadows. We were lucky to stay overnight in an old beautifully renovated windmill. A small apartment at the top floor was spectacular. Inside of the living room, there was a huge windmill wheel converted into a table. Also, small windows and wooden floors made a huge impression of being close to the past of this regions. Full immersion in the green landscape was at our fingertips. It is hard to admit but even in such an idyllic place, you can experience a bad luck. There were other guests at the property and unluckily for us they were having a wedding party. They were loud and extremely disturbing until 3:00 a.m. There was no chance to sleep sound so I can’t say we fully appreciated the location. The next day the owner apologised us and gave us a small hand made gift to make a good impression. We were not fully satisfied with our stay but the service was friendly so I’d say we could stay there again in the future. The Holy Hill of Grabarka The next day we drove further north along the east border of Poland. We were aware that the Podlasie region is known for its religious and cultural diversity and we wanted to experience that, therefore, we drove to a holy hill for Orthodox pilgrims called Grabarka. It is a sanctuary with a small wooden Eastern Orthodox Church constructed on a top of a hill. There is also a wellspring with water that is believed to save people from dying out of extremely contagious disease cholera. The local story says that people who came to the place carrying wooden crosses on their back and drank water from this wellspring were saved. Since then the hill is full of crosses, big and small ones, and people still carry them as a penance or supplication to God. The wellspring is located at the foothills of the mountain and all pilgrims can draw water from it. The UNESCO site If you’re interested in wild nature you’ve probably heard about Białowieża: the ultimate wilderness of Europe. The national park (Białowieski Park Narodowy) established almost hundred years ago protects large parts of this wild forest. To all Polish and some foreigners, Białowieża is synonymous to European Bison, the biggest European mammal that still lives there. Thanks to a collaboration of state institutions and private companies not only the wilderness is well protected but also a breeding programme of the Bisons is well developed. The tourists can watch Bisons in a sort of semi natural habitat which is quite impressive. Religious diversity of Podlasie: The Eastern Orthodox and the Muslims Poland is known as a religious country with the majority of Christian Catholics. Out of historical reasons, the eastern part of the country is more diverse. Being highly influenced by our eastern neighbours who are almost entirely Orthodox, Podlasie kept its multi religious character. The houses of small villages and towns gather around Eastern Orthodox churches. Further, the big towns like Supraśl and Białystok have their own modern churches. We watched the small wooden churches from the outside as they were closed during the day. We also visited a big Eastern Orthodox Church in Supraśl which was deeply disappointing. We also visited a big Eastern Orthodox Church in Supraśl which was deeply disappointing. It was mainly due to a hostile attitude of the guide who let us wait long in a cold passage before we entered and then he said absolutely nothing about the buildings we visited and the orthodox religion itself. We even witnessed that he made fun of a tourist who asked some basic questions about the Orthodox faith. Moreover, the churches we watched were recently constructed so their architecture and their interior was not very impressive. There is even one wooden mosque in a village of Kruszyniany that serves to the local community of Tatars. The Folk Music Going deeper into the cultural diversity we eventually arrived in Supraśl and listened to a concert of folk music from the area. The artists Karolina Cicha and Bart Pałyga played a wonderful concert presented to the audience an exotic music of the Tatars. We listened to their band a few years earlier at the Poznan Ethnoport Festival and they developed their repertoire even further. We enjoyed it immensely and through the music our journey was complete. There is so much more to see and we’ve already decided to go back to Podlasie one day.  

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It looks like this spring has been a series of weekend retreats. As the writing of my book occupies the major part of my weeks I find a few free days to enjoy the weather. Last weekend I spent in Tatra, the highest Polish mountains, located in the south of the country. This was a great weekend because my Italian friends joined me and we walked together. It was their first time in the Polish highest peaks. Here is a review of our stay so you could plan your visit there. A weekend retreat – the itinerary This was a classic weekend retreat with two extra days. We met on Saturday in Kraków where my friends arrived by plane. We drove to Zakopane and stayed for the night in a hotel with a breathtaking panorama over the mountain range. We left on Sunday morning and climbed to Wiktorówki for a mass, and continued our walk up to the valley called Dolina Pięciu Stawów Polskich (Five Lakes Valley). We stayed overnight in the refugee there, hoping for the crowds to vanish. On Monday morning, we continued our walk up to Świstówka and walked down to Morskie Oko, one of the most popular places in the mountains with overwhelming crowds. We walked down back to Polanica, from where we took the bus and returned to Zakopane. We stayed for the night in Kraków, from where my friends went back to Italy the next day. Overall we walked 25 kilometers, with the drop of over 3000 meters: 1500 meters up and 1500 down. The Tatra Mountains The High Tatras is a special place for me. Not only I visited these parts of the world with my Dad when I was a child but also I was visiting it regularly as a teenager. I felt always a strong connection to the snowed peaks and rocks, small lakes and cascades. I have many wonderful memories from the trails there, both in spring and winter time. The mountain range is pretty modest and the moment you climb up to 1500-1700 m.a.s.l. you can see almost all peaks at the same time (it’s only about 175 km²). There is a National Park established over fifty years ago and the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. The crowds The modest surface of our highest mountains results in crowds. In order to avoid people you should probably visit this place in late autumn or early spring but it might be risky due to the difficult weather conditions. It is good to avoid May and June as the school trips tend to visit Morskie Oko making the noise and the mess all over the place. The best way to escape the tourists is to go up, where only a few people go, stay in a refugee overnight and walk even higher the next day. The Weekend We had a great time, no doubts about it! The weather was splendid even though the forecast was very pessimistic. There was not even one drop of rain and two days were full of sun. We were lucky to bring with us summer outfit, hats, and shawls to cover the skin. We had a few snack brakes with an amazing panorama in front of us. The Controversy One of the most famous tracks in the Tatra Mountains is the Eagle Path. There is an ongoing debate whether the path should be closed down due to the recurring deaths of the inexperienced climbers or whether it should be left as it is. I walked the Eagle Path a few years back and it is rather demanding. I would not suggest you to walk it unless you are experienced, have no fear of heights, are able to follow the via ferrata and can handle the extreme fatigue.  

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I normally skip this sort of activities: short stay over the weekend in a big city, but this time it was different. It was my birthday and I decided to organize a surprise trip for my husband so we could spend some time together. I wanted to make it special and, therefore, I chose a place that was new to both of us: Scotland. One of the things I took with me was a SIM card given to me by MTX Connect. It guarantees an access to the Internet in over 40 European countries including Scotland. I thought that for such a short trip there is no time to loose for purchasing a local SIM card. I decided for this handy solution to save some time and fuss. Thus, here is my story of a romantic weekend retreat with a short review of the MTX Connect services. Weekend Retreat It took me about 2 weeks to organize everything. This was a challenge as I started from getting a workshop organized in Warsaw so we had an excuse to leave the house. I bought a one-way flight from Warsaw to Dublin first with a late arrival at midnight. I booked a hotel at the airport so we could have at least 4 hours sleep before we flew to Edinburgh the very first thing in the morning. Travel Tip I shall never fly from Warsaw Modlin on Friday evening again! The line for security check was 1 hour 15 minutes long! It was unpleasant and highly frustrating. In fact, this airport is doing so badly in terms of security services there are rumors that Ryanair is leaving them (not confirmed information but I can easily believe it). Weekend in Edinburgh We arrived at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday. The morning was glorious! I haven’t expected the sun and tranquility so we felt wonderful from the start. I got in touch with AirBnB host and he was kind enough to meet us at 9:00 a.m. which was great because we felt tired. The guy was polite and very welcoming. He gave us a few tips on how to move around and where to eat. We came back with a direct flight to Poznań which was a marvellous thing to do. Travel Tip Always contact your AirBnB host in advance. There is a good chance that they will accommodate your needs. Also, find a local person as a reference point and a good source of information. Super hosts are especially helpful. Food and things to do in Edinburgh I hate rushing, I dislike crowds, I loath quick guided tours. You might ask: what was I doing in Edinburgh over the weekend. Indeed, this was a tricky journey but even a person like me could find something interesting to do and do it with no rush. First, we walked a lot. We used tram only twice: a round trip to and from the airport. The rest of Edinburgh was seen by us on foot. It is a fantastic way to spend time actively, enjoy the good weather, feel independent and avoid the crowds of the public transportation. Edinburgh is a walkers’ friendly town! Second, we followed the advice of the host and ate in pubs and restaurants near the apartment. As our host said: “You can’t go wrong with food in Edinburgh”, and I must say I completely agree with him. All five restaurants and pubs we ate at were terrific! Further, we kept our restaurant budget tight with one exception: a whisky tasting experience. After all, this was my birthday, I like whisky and this was once in a lifetime opportunity to taste the real thing. This wasn’t cheap but I must say they are well prepared to accommodate guests who are not experts in whisky. Not only we felt welcomed and taken care of but most of all there were packages we could pick up with a profound comment of the waiter. We felt that even if we knew nothing about whisky we tasted the most characteristic ones. Last but not least, we visited the main attraction which is the Royal Mile only once and next day we picked up a long walk to the harbour. Crossing Leith was really nice! No crowds there and we spotted a military cemetery which was really interesting to visit. The harbour was also quite spectacular with a huge ship of the Queen Elizabeth II available for visits (the real Scots name The Queen Elizabeth the First, as the first one was not the queen of Scotland). True: we haven’t seen even half of the attractions prepared for tourists in Edinburgh so what is the point of such short visits in a city? For me, the main gain is the explorative activities. What I mean is that after 3 days I’m able to say whether I wish to visit a place again and stay there longer. Is Edinburgh a place I wish to go back to? YES! And I have a dream to expand the journey to the Highlands. A week long trekking around the mountains should do the trick! Travel Tips for Weekend Retreats Walked as much as you can. The major part of mid-size towns and cities have their historical sites located within a 2km radius of the downtown. It is best to see everything you want on foot. Visit the places that are not top 10 attractions. It’s OK if you don’t see the main attractions. Sometimes the suburbs or small villages near the main city are the most interesting ones. Spoil yourself even if only once throughout the journey! I’m so happy we tasted whisky in a proper way! Such birthday is memorable and very joyful. There are some things not worth being parsimony. Go back to a place more than once. It gives you a chance to fully know it. The MTX Connect Review Throughout the journey, I was using a SIM card sent me by MTX Connect. The card was working great. I logged in, in no...

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I regularly follow BBC Travel and read the articles published there. This is a good source of information. They publish beautiful pictures and I generally enjoy reading the articles and posts on their site. But for the last couple of months, among few other themes, BBC Travel has been running a series of articles called ‘How I quit my job to travel’. As an experienced traveler and a travel blogger here are my thoughts on this ‘quitting the rat race’. How I quit my job to travel All of the BBC Travel articles I am discussing, basically tell the story of people who decided to quit their job and travel the world. The series presents them as ‘leaders’ of the contemporary world, as ‘trendsetters’ and people whose ideas are not only worth our admiration but that we should also follow their example. The major part of the articles published in this series present the reality in a misleadingly simplistic way. Ordinary life and work is presented as negative, boring and unwanted while traveling is presented as a joyful, fulfilling and harmonious activity. This is wrong. To me, it seems like madness to criticize and imply that the majority of the population of the western world ‘waste their time’ working from-nine-to-five. It always surprises me how easy and quickly there is an equal sign between an ordinary job and boredom. When a respected medium like the BBC repeats this month after month, I find it not only naive but also offensive to all workers. I wonder is it really necessary to make people feel bad about their ordinary lives with their routines, roots, and connections with their local community? Change your life The stories described in BBC Travel often run like this: a girl or a couple get bored with their job or go through a crisis and as a result, they decide to completely change their life. The leading characters quit their job and for the next months and/or years their main and only activity is traveling. What strikes me is the conclusion that a perfect remedy to everyday hardship is travel. This idea is only a temporary shortcut. I can easily relate to the need to change your life. I’m all for it! In fact, I strongly believe that regular work on your character, virtues and habits is the best way to become a better person. But why on earth would the only solution to boredom be leaving everything behind and traveling? How about looking at your local community and the needs of your neighbors? Making a difference in a place where you come from rather than having to leave to make a difference? Making new friends just around the corner can be a journey of discovery, why not try it? How about visiting a library? Acting as a guide in your hometown? Doing some sport with the kids in the neighborhood! The list is limited only by you. There is no need to travel thousands of miles or to quit your job to discover that people are friendly or that they need your help. Disappointingly, I feel that the BBC Travel articles leave no doubt that there is ONLY ONE right solution. That solution is ‘Quitting my job = pure happiness.’ Tha fact is, that the big change described by the leading characters of these articles concerns a career switch from their former job to blogging, rather than a total freedom. Just another job The travelers and bloggers presented in the BBC series declare that at the moment their main income comes from writing posts and reviews, visiting the places they get invited, and so on. Whilst blogging is presented as a total freedom by all the travelers featured by on this BBC Travel series, the reality of blogging is rather the opposite. Bloggers have many concerns that can follow them 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. In addition to writing, editing, photographing, and maintaining a website, they must be active on multiple social media platforms. Bloggers care about numbers and must cultivate  likes, traffic, reach and milestones as well as being responsive their readers’ and customers’ feedback. Bloggers all have deadlines to follow and customers to please; they often don’t just simply pick the places they wish to go; they need to follow the invitations they get. If blogger  would like to go to a particular place, the vast majority cannot afford to do so straight out, and must find the relevant contacts and then pitch a proposal. If it is successful, there are negotiations, what writing/photography/video work will be done is contracted, and there are social media sharing targets to meet.  I would consider this reality a rather limited version of freedom to the ones presented by ‘I Quit My Job To Travel’. In their articles, all of the bloggers unanimously praised their recently gained freedom. I think that many of them do realize how difficult and time-consuming this job is, and how limited their real choices are, but for some reason they say very little about it. There is silence about times of being burnt out by traveling, and no mention of times being tired; similar to how they may have felt in nine-to-five jobs. Obviously, it is the fantasy of ‘living the dream’ that sells rather the balanced reality: blogging is work with ups and downs to it like any other. It is true bloggers are not always sitting behind the desk for eight hours a day five days a week, but implying travel bloggers get total freedom for next to no work is far from true. Here is what I think: blogging is just like any other career and it is unfair to try to convince people it is otherwise. The good news The good news is that traveling around the world and blogging about it is just a job like any other job. Dear Hard Workers, next time you are reading a similar article that is...

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We all love these stories, don’t we? A long and difficult journey with a high-minded target. More and more people volunteer abroad as it seems to combine two activities we are fond of: traveling and helping to the poor. Our collective imagination has been taken by a romantic impulse of helping those in need. The contemporary charities are not as strictly connected with religious beliefs and Christian ethos of mercifulness as in the past, thus, undoubtedly, one should ask an important question of how he or she helps? I consider this new trend very interesting. Therefore, I thought I will contribute the global discussion on volunteering by sharing few thoughts on the theme. Tibetan Foothold You might be surprised, but I will not share any personal stories here. Although I believe that helping people wherever you are is one of the most difficult activities, and yet, one of the most important ones, I will share here a review of an old book. Dervla Murphy, one of my favorite authors, published a book titled: “Tibetan Foothold”, which I believe is an important voice in the debate whether we should volunteer abroad or not. The book is a result of a four months stay in Tibet, in the late 60s, when Dervla cycled crossed a continent and arrived in India by bike. Her epic journey was described in “Full Tilt” book, one of the most entertaining and interesting diarys ever written. So, here we are, with young Dervla who had completed her first epic journey. She was proud with a sense of accomplishment, that her plan had been realized. She had a personal introduction to the staff of an orphanage in Tibet who she joined without a second thought. The Important ‘how’ What is striking from the first page of this book is Dervla’s inexperience in how the western world system of help works in the most disadvantaged areas of the world. And as a result of this, the reader is rewarded by as authentic description of this system. Right there, in, you may say, extreme circumstances, Dervla is faced with a dilemma that all volunteers are faced with: HOW do I help. What helping means to me? What is the best use of my time and skills? Quite quickly, she discovers the  numerous failures of the system, burdensome bureaucracy and lack of proper communication between funding bodies and volunteers on site. It gets only worse: not enough resources has terrifying consequences resulting in the death of some orphans. Dreadful living conditions and extreme poverty was not something Dervla was prepared for, facing this hardship she could have easily decided there was  little she could do and she could have blamed the system for not helping to the fullest. Instead, she asked herself HOW did  she want to help by making the best use of who she was and what her skills were. This is a precious testimony that whoever you are and wherever you are, you can make a difference. Make a difference In volunteering, we all want to experience the rewarding feeling that our actions resulted in something good for others. Dervla, after realizing that she couldn’t  help everybody, focused on one issue: the hearing problems of the orphans. On every day of her stay with the kids, she made an effort to screen their hearing condition and obtain medicine for those in need. It was not numbers nor statistics that she was after, but through a patient, methodical and regular effort she made a real difference. Before she left the orphanage, the percentage of children with hearing problems dropped significantly, which she noted in her book with extreme satisfaction. I’m not going to spoil your own reading here. The book is full of fascinating stories, incredible adventures, terrifying events, conflicts, triumphs, and personal struggles. It reveals a few dirty little secrets of international helping in the late 60s, and many important issues we should consider before we either support financially or engage personally in volunteering abroad. But the leading message of this book is an optimistic conclusion that irrespectively of the institutional problems of all organizations, it is up to you HOW do you help. Charity begins at home It is crucial to think about it before you go. I strongly believe in local charities. It is my personal view that you can understand the needs of others best, when you live close to them, speak the language, know their culture. You can use your judgment to assess the efficiency of the support provided. If you decided to travel far and volunteer then you need to rely on somebody else’s judgment. And then it all comes down to trust. Don’t get me wrong. This article should not discourage you to devote your time and effort to others. Nor it should discourage to travel and volunteer abroad. On the contrary, I think it can be a very positive experience. All I’m trying to say here is you should think it through, engage in local charity first and make a thorough research on the organization that you want to engage with. At the end of the day, all that matters is your individual attitude, strong will and clarity of intention.    

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I’ve been reading travel books by Dervla Murphy for quite some time now. I started in  chronological order with “Full Tilt” followed by “Tibetan Foothold“. The books  were a sort of novelty to me. I have never read anything so sincere, straightforward and honest. I was fascinated by her style and stories so when I received Dervla Murphy’s biography from Eland I started reading it right away. Here is why you should read “Wheels within Wheels“, too. Ireland It always amazes me how well people remember their childhood and how deep the events and emotions are hidden in our memory. “Wheels within Wheels” is a memorable journey in time.  The author invites us to follow her footsteps in her early years, to explore the history of her family and to discover the nature of relationships with close relatives. It all started in Ireland, before the 2nd world war, when three of them – mother, father and little Dervla – move into a small village Lismore. A remote location in rural Ireland with a beautiful landscape in the background which shaped Dervla’s personality and habits more than anything else. Except, perhaps, her mother’s illness and both parents’ love for books. Personal There is also a particular detail in Dervla Murphy’s biography that I find very powerful. My Mum, just like her mum, is disabled and thus my childhood has been influenced by caring for her. Although my Mum has been more independent than Dervla’s mother  it still influenced me and who I am today. Caring for somebody else, thinking about somebody else’s need and just getting the focus away from myself was my daily routine. I had a beautiful childhood irrespectively of my Mum’s condition, but I see many similarities between myself and the author. Bicycle I found it particularly interesting that an Irish girl, with no formal education, possessed such a curiosity for  other places, cultures, and languages, such a vivid imagination and, at the same time, her actions were characterized to a great extent by common sense. Her childhood in rural Ireland honed her material needs to a minimum which allowed her to travel the world in a very particular way. I hadn’t realized earlier that she stayed with her mother until the very end and only after her death Dervla’s plans to travel the world were realized. Enough to say she was thirty by then. When she finally began her first journey into the unknown, she felt the need to know the world quite urgently. And it was possible because one day her parents gave her a bike. It was love at first sight and soon, even though restrained by the home duties, she ventured out on bike trips. Every time she went further and further until she realized that there was no reason why she shouldn’t cycle wherever she wanted – even to India. Books It is fascinating to learn about her childhood and the way she was learnt about the world through books. Her father was librarian and grandfather a scholar so although she didn’t finish  school due to the hardship within her family, these two men influenced her greatly. Reading every book she found was her way of keeping her mind open, exercising her imagination, and in some years marked by extreme difficulties reading books also kept her sane. Choices This biography is a wonderful testimony that family matters and it marks us to an extent we would never imagine. It shows the author’s ups and downs, fulfilling friendships and school failure, ethical and religious dilemmas, and the everyday struggle to keep her spirits high. Furthermore, the book helps to understand that for Dervla the journey was not only just travelling around, discovering new countries or even talking to the people she met and sharing their reality for a while. It was a deep human activity she undertook out of a need to realize her dream and to fully develop what she believed she was called for. Typically for Dervla her difficult road towards independence in her own words was summarized as follows: “The school was hard, but the knowledge was priceless.” No regrets, no bitterness, no fuss. In her life, everything that should have happened, did happen. And it all made her an amazing person she is today. Wisdom Dervla Murphy traveled the world on her bike. You might think that through her journeys she became knowledgeable and smart but I think, who she is today, is derived from her difficult childhood and obstacles she was confronted with. She was smart before she ever started traveling. And her way of travelling is a result of who she is. Not the other way around. There is one certain thing about Dervla Murphy and her biography: they are characterized by sincerity and integrity, so precious and so rare nowadays. Apparently, formal education is not everything. My biggest regret after reading this book is the missing part of the second half of Dervla’s life. I would be very interested in what happened after her success, how did this change her life, whether she likes meeting her audience and how the international recognition influenced her traveling. Dear Dervla, if you are reading it part two, please!  

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You would be surprised what kind of people you can meet on Rarotonga! At first, it seemed like the end of the world. A paradise like island isolated from all other countries. Soon, I realised how wrong I were.  Journey in time The most unexpected person I met on the island was Tim. His story was a blast! There is nothing special of being a Brit, born in Manchester and moved to New Zealand with his parents. Not even his career as a lawyer and his decision to settle on Rarotonga. But his love to trains, so powerful that brought a real steam train to the island. And this is somehow understandable, you may say. Well, a man with passion. True, but the train he transported to Rarotonga comes from a place where I live. And this coincidence made us both laugh! Tim is an excellent storyteller so when we met over lunch in Salsa Cafe I wished that day would never end. He started his story from Napoleon Wars in Europe just to explain the connection between his client and a small estate in Poland he inherited. To have a careful look at the estate he went to Poland and BANG! there he saw it: trains for sale. It was the beginning of the 90. in Poland and as a result of serious political changes (a switch from communist regime towards democracy) many of previously state owned properties and other goods were for sale. It happened that Tim’s client knew about his love to trains and so after he saw a steam train for sale he phoned Tim and asked if he wanted to buy one. Passion He had also a free space in a container and so they could split the costs of shipping it from Europe. Tim had little money saved and soon they arranged the whole thing. He bought an old steam train that was still in a good shape and he planed to open a short railway road on Rarotonga as a tourist attraction. The train arrived to Rarotonga and Tim spent another 10 years renovating it! A dedication is the right word to describe what he did. Eventually, the train was fully operational but unfortunately the investment in railroad was not that successful. Years have passed when Tim realised he has no more time nor money to proceed with his daring idea so when a friend from New Zealand approached him asking to get the train out of the island he agreed. In next 6 months the train will be transported from Rarotonga to New Zealand where it will be a tourist attraction near Lake Wanaka. Luckily when Tim was working on this train he had all controls done by a New Zealand office so after all his train is fit and ready to ride in New Zealand with all formal conditions filled. Curiosity Tim’s story was epic. I listened to it with my jaws dropped. To find a person who visited and liked my country was unbelievable enough but to find out there is a steam train that I probably rode in as a kid as far away as on the Cook Islands was mind blowing. Although Tim’s story has a bitter – sweat end it shows few important things. First, that there are no limits for imagination, then, that where you really want something to happen and you are determined enough there is a high probability it will happen. And when you are travelling you should be prepared for amazing things. This is probably my favourite part of travels: meeting people who share their stories with me. Sitting in that cafe on Rarotonga and listening to a story told by Tim was something I could never planed nor even think of. But it happened for real. And for such moments I am ready to travel. Just to discover the connections between places and people. And to understand more even if it is very little.    

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I miss Lapland a lot! Especially in autumn time this feeling becomes difficult to deal with. For years, I was heading towards north by plane, bus and train and bus again. I was already getting cool in Stockholm- the first stop along the road. And then, traveling with a night train to Kiruna, Abisko or Gallivare was a terrific adventure itself. The first breath after getting off the train was freezing my lungs and was a sure sign of being close to the last wild area in Europe. Far north, over the arctic circle, close to the North Pole (let’s be honest: relatively close is better said, as it is still about 2500km from Kiruna to the North Pole). This year, my missing Lapland is worse than ever because I didn’t go there. The reason is explained here in details but even if it sounds reasonable and still keeps hope for next year I miss Lapland. Badly. To deal with it I was browsing my pictures taken throughout the years spent there. I have like thousands of them so at some point I thought I’ll pick up the best ones to show you how beautiful it is. I wish all of my readers to visit this site in person. This is one of the most beautiful places I have even been to. This collection contains only 20 pictures taken in last few years, however, there are more on the Flickr website. The gallery shows Lapland in autumn mainly, because that was always the time I went there. I really hope that the next May I’ll bring some winter photos to share with you. But before I will enjoy the ones taken just at the very start of winter. And here is my recent (February 2015) interview about Lapland! Listen to my story here:  

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Summer time is flourishing so more and more of us travel. While nice weather encourages everybody to outdoor activities some tourists decide to visit museums while travelling. Here is my list of best museums I have ever visited. Obviously, I haven’t seen them all but of all I visited these are particularly interesting. Galleria Borghese (Rome, Italy) I have never thought I was a fan of sculptures until my first visit in this museum. All Bernini’s sculptures were simply awesome. Apollo and Daphne, David, Pluto and Proserpina, makes you wonder if the sculptures aren’t real. The details of human bodies frozen in marble are stunning. Also Pauline Bonaparte  by Canova is simply beautiful. While it is tricky to buy a ticket as it needs to be purchase in advance and it allows you to visit this museum in a particular slot of time (about 45min.) it is still worthy of the effort. Villa is remarkable itself so if you can’t buy the ticket via internet go to the garden in early morning, try to buy a ticket for the same day and wait for your turn sitting on a bench and watching this perfect building blended into the garden. Ah, yes, and don’t bother to visit their website, it is rather old and it might discourage you. Van Gogh Museum (Amsterdam, Holland) I enjoyed this museum very much. First of all, I went there with my dear friend and this was a nice conclusion of the whole day spent in Amsterdam together. Second, this is the world’s largest collection of works by Vincent Van Gogh. Third, the building is stunning example of modern architecture so don’t think twice before visiting it. No surprise the Van Gogh museum exhibits more than 200 pictures of this author, but what is really great about it is the narration of this exhibition. It tells you a fascinating story, showing particular periods of artist’s activity, his relation with brother Theo, moving around France and Belgium, friendship with other artists and temporary insanity episodes. The exhibition attempts to show the influence of the particular events on his works and by the time you watch the Wheatfield with Crows (1890), one of his last paintings, you are deeply touched with his story. I think this is a must-see in Amsterdam and encourage you to visit by all means. Postal Museum  (Washington, DC, USA) I described this museum before and to avoid repetition please visit this post for the details. Mauritshuis (The Hague, Holland) Long before the movie starring Scarlett Johansson the picture Girl with a Pearl Earring was in my mind. I saw the first picture painted by Vermeer- The Lacemaker kept in Louvre- in the late nineties and admired it at once. Most of all the size of the picture was unexpected and knowing he was working on it for more than a year made it even more eccentric. Mauritshuis located in the Dutch capital The Hague is much less visited than other museums in Holland, however, it is worthy of every penny. Its location is beautiful: an old building surrounded by the water in the city center. Apart of its main attraction this museum is exhibits other famous works of art, including Rembrandt’s Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp and The garden of Eden with the fall of man by Jan Brueghel the Elder. The museum is small but well kept and apart of the works of art it also gives you a good opportunity to watch the traditional Dutch houses inside. Phillips Collection (Washington, DC, USA) Washington DC is widely known for its museums and thousands of people visit this city every year for this purpose. I am always amazed with quantity of impressionist pictures exhibited in the United States. Even having seen the biggest impressionists’ museums in Paris and in the Netherlands I am impressed with the exhibitions watched in the States every time. Phillips Collection is a beautiful example of excellent paintings and well thought exhibition mode. It is situated in elegant district of Washington, in a charming old building surrounded by garden. If you’re lucky and visit Washington during the Cherry Blossoms Festival you’ll see it in its best. Luncheon of the Boating Party by Pierre-Auguste Renoir remains the best known and most popular work of art at The Phillips Collection, however, it is full of European impressionism. Dancers at the Bar by Degas,The Road Menders and Entrance to the Public Gardens in Arles by Van Gogh, or Ginger Pot with Pomegranate and Pears by Cezanne are examples of excellency of the Phillips Collection. This museum keeps a good balance between famous and less known paintings and all works of arts are shown with care. The story told in this museum is framed with very nice interior and good light so your journey to the past is just perfect. Watching works of art is a good opportunity to get closer to the culture of a visited country. It’s not that you need to visit all museums and spend all your holiday inside but if you picked up one or two in a place visited it’s no harm. If you’re not an art enthousiast start with the most famous one to get encouraged to the less known. Which museum would you recommend to other travelers?  

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