I’ve just got back from Sardinia where I spent more than two weeks. There is a lot of stories to tell and hundreds of pictures to share but I can tell you one sure thing: a variety of landscapes and attractions in Sardinia is amazing! It is a wonderful beach destination and all sand & sea fans will find themselves in a paradise. Even within beach business you will find an extreme variety. From white sand and pristine water, through stones and rocks up to the beaches surrounded by high peaks with monuments on top of them. Further, if you are a fan of industrial historical sites you will find yourself in Sardinia like a fish in the water. A widespread mining industry that collapsed more than 50 years ago left here its marks. Sardinia is also a wonderful playground for long and short trekkings with spectacular views. Sardinia means also culture and tradition and what I found delightful the sort of tradition still kept alive by the locals. Through the folklore groups, music bands, and religious feasts’ celebration the culture in Sardinia is easy to trace. I was lucky to participating in one of the biggest feasts in Sardinia organized August 15th and devoted to Virgin Mary. And above all Sardinia surprised me to be just a perfect site to watch the stars. I simply cannot wait to tell you all that happened in last two weeks and sharing interesting stories. If you have ever dreamed about visiting Sardinia, reading these posts is a great way to start. Stay tuned! Click here to read the first episode.  

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Having fun in Lloret de Mar was somehow against the odds. First, the weather was not as warm as I expected. Although I don’t mind cold, I did mind in this case because of the clothes I took (summer like dresses and sandals). Second, my phone broke down. I know! First world problems! It all confirms Murphy laws being in force, but it made me angry. Not only I had no internet connection, which was the least problem, but I also was left with no camera and no alarm clock. Suddenly, because of one little thing broke down I found myself in an awkward position of being late in the morning and not having pictures. But I had fun! And why is that? It’s because of people I met! People People is definitely the best part of Tbex community and I had a pleasure to rediscover it. Although my closest blogger friends could not come I found some new ones. I was having an interesting series of discussions, sharing the knowledge and also giving back, as I went for Tbex as a speaker for the first time. It was funny because I met another Tbex participant already on the place from Munich to Barcelona. She asked me if I was going for Tbex just because of the book I was reading (btw a fantastic one, soon to be reviewed here!). So I had this opportunity to give a few advice to a blogger who participated Tbex for the first time. It was also great to meeting my co-presenters, Lanora and Pola, and to discuss further our theme of multilingualism in blogging. Tbex Team My huge congratulations to Tbex team with exceptional MaryJo on board. My transfer from the airport to the hotel was as smooth as a walk to the corner shop. I was taken to the hotel in no time, and checked-in likewise. I had a lovely large room in a hotel where the conference was held, which is always the most convenient way of enjoying full freedom of movement. Also, my technical problems with using my computer for the presentation was resolved in a blink of an eye, and the cable was found in less than a minute. The information about trips and activities was always easy to find making my stay on Tbex stressless. This year, Tbex team made an effort of inviting very attractive keynote speakers. Although I enjoyed immensely Robert Reid in Athens and missed him among the speakers very much, they did an excellent job. Michael Collins performed the best talk of the conference on the very last day. It was super interesting to listen to his point of view, especially that his comments also included a large part of language focused issues. The Internet is much more than English, he said, and I couldn’t agree more! It takes me straight to my presentation titled: ‘Building community when English is not your first language‘. Presentation Together with Lanora and Pola, we’ve been discussing this issue for months. It took us a considerable time and effort to make a thorough research, small scale survey, analyze the results and draw a conclusion. The biggest satisfaction was watching a room full of bloggers who run their blogs in their mother tongues, and also those who decided to publish in English and are struggling with a quality challenge, just like me. The discussion after our presentation was rich and lively, which makes me sure on the importance of the issue. Bloggers are not only English native speakers, and I consider this group large enough to make an effort to meeting their needs. There is a window of opportunity in the global blogosphere at the moment, on publishing in native languages rather than in English. The trend is visible and will be developing further in coming years. Lesson learned Never again, I will go for a conference or a journey with no camera or separate alarm clock. As long as the alarm clock is easy to replace it was much less so in case of the camera. I have only a few photos from Lloret de Mar taken on the second day so my sincere apologies for this post and only a few pictures. This is the reason I would like you to visit the sites of my friends and co-speakers so you could look for yourself how beautiful Lloret is! Karen published this post on Lloret and I think it is wonderful! Also Heather did a great job, summarizing highlights of our stay in Lloret de Mar. If I had a camera, I would love to walk some of the trekking paths along the coast. The little part I saw was just marvelous! Rocky mountains just above the crystal-clear water looked fantastic! I don’t blame the British, who walk it every year spending their retirement in this part of the world. Lloret de Mar The moment I’ve known that Tbex 2015 takes place in Lloret I didn’t expect any fireworks. The location seemed to me dull and predictable: another summer destination, full of beaches I don’t like and crowds I hate. Instead of a dull place full of tourists I found an exciting city, very well kept (with impressive sidewalks, banks and trash cans everywhere), and tourists’ friendly place. I was delighted to see a huge sandy place in the city center for petanque (bulle or boccia) players, full of retired people spending their late mornings on this play. A few building in the center were beautiful and made me think about the history of the place. Also, this is an ordinary city with many locals living there, with schools, shops, post offices etc. One thing that I can’t stand is an artificial village for tourist purpose only. Well, this is definitely NOT the care of Lloret de Mar. Think about above-the-sea trekking trail and renaissance like gardens of St. Clotilde and crystal-clear water wherever you are, and you will get a very attractive holiday destination. All pictures were taken during...

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My journey around the world is over. I returned home safe and sound. It will take me a while to bring you all amazing adventures I had, to share pictures and videos so let me just share some highlights of this journey. Slow travel Telling the truth, this was the best part of the whole plan: do it slowly, so as a result I stayed more than 2 weeks in the same place, with the exception of Hong Kong. It worked really well. Two weeks is enough to get friendly with people around, get your bearings, enjoy your stay, figure out how public transportation works, and, most of all, experience how people live in remote locations visited. I don’t know whether this would work for everybody, but I would argue that staying in the same place for longer than few days is beneficial to a general well-being and increases the quality of the journey. Small amusement Each journey, even if the most cost-effective, call for the small amusement along the way. It is really useless to travel around the world and limit yourself just to sleep and eat cheaply. Limiting yourself to the basic needs make the whole adventure stressful, money focused and, after a while, monotonous. Although my trip wasn’t neither budget nor luxury I balanced all my needs on an everyday basis. And from time to time I spoil myself with an evening at the cinema, sweets at Moomins’ Cafe and other things that I really like. It not only made my journey pleasant but also allowed me to experience the way people do things in places I visited. I often tried to capture their way of spending free time and relaxing and it worked pretty well. Meeting people This was one of the most rewarding experiences along the way: meeting people and listening to their stories. I am deeply satisfied with all new friends I met. It is always helpful to know the language so the most difficult and challenging country was Japan, as I don’t speak Japanese. But even there I met two Italian girls and one Japanese guy who were willing to share their stories with me. Keeping my habits This was a real struggle: keeping my jogging routine. I took running shoes and gear with me which was a sacrifice itself because it occupied literally half of my luggage. I tried to stick to jogging at least 3 times a week, but I must admit I didn’t make it. I run a lot on Rarotonga and Auckland, plus I cycled a lot but I was not able to run as much as I wanted nor needed. It was way too cold in Japan and way to hilly in New Zealand, but I was able to run little less than 100 km in these 3 months. After my return home I’m running every second day and feel much better. Sustainable travel I think that many of my colleagues from the blogging community pursue a lifestyle that is unsustainable in a long term perspective. After a year or two of traveling many of them are struggling with obesity, insomnia, being tired or even exhausted all the time. There are many reasons for that and traveling as an activity is really demanding. If someone is telling you it is effortless he or she is lying, because it is not. On the contrary: far from it! And although I think my way of traveling is still missing a bit of care for myself I consider it way above the average bloggers’ journey. Traveling is surprisingly similar to everyday life and if you don’t make an effort to do jogging or eat healthy food the travel will not make it for you. Best things Many people ask me: What was the best about this journey? And is it hard to reply in one phrase, but if you asked me what I consider the best element of this journey I would say: return home. Seriously! The moment I entered my house was the moment of true happiness. Does this make me a lousy traveler? On the contrary, I think. I’m having now time for digesting all information, emotions, impressions, tastes, smells, meetings, smiles, well literally everything I experienced. I need to stay with this for a while to fully appreciate it and enjoy all of my adventures. So although I’ll travel a bit next few months I’m going to focus on telling the stories that I brought with me. OK, true, second best thing about this journey was a stay in Kyoto with a book by Nicolas Bouvier in my hand. This is my favorite way of traveling: reading a book about the place I’m in. Truly fabulous experience! And highly recommended too. This long journey showed me how important it is to have a home. Surprise Last, but now least, I was writing a diary for the whole journey and it looks like a lot of materials to deal with but I’m really hoping to work on it and publish it as a book. I will keep you posted when I have more details. For now, please read my posts from a travel around the world and keep your fingers crossed!  

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This was a delightful day! Although in the evening I was very tired I had a great time. It is the middle of the summer here, in New Zealand so last Saturday I went to Waiheke. This is a popular recreational destination, not only for tourists but most of all to Aucklanders. It is easily reached by a ferry from downtown Auckland. A ride lasts about 35 minutes and a ferry goes every hour. Bike Not always, popular places are beautiful. It often happens I am disappointed with top touristic sites. But this was not the case of Waiheke. Although there was a crowd on the ferry the island is large enough to accommodate all visitors. First, I went by bike, which was a challenge itself. I’m not a great bike rider as you probably remember from my previous post on Aran Islands, but I enjoy recreational riding just like I did in Athens. Anyway, this was a different story because Auckland is very hilly city and Waiheke Island too. The great thing about this trip was that I could take my bike to a ferry for free. I was wondering why more people do not do this. After all I checked the price for bike rental on the island and 50 NZD daily rate seemed to me very expensive. But soon enough I knew why people rarely take bikes with them. Making the long story short: Waiheke Island is very hilly. I was not prepared for this! The first part of the trip – from Kingsland where I live in Auckland to harbour – was downhill but the moment I started my ride on Waiheke I thought I should get back home at once! First kilometer was uphill and I felt like my legs and lungs were burning. And it was no better further: up and down for next 9 km! Only because I was really determined I eventually reached my destination: a winery and restaurant “Wild on Waiheke”. Wine Waiheke is called the island of wine. There are as many as 25 wineries on this island and most of them offer wine tasting, restaurant, garden and a place to have your party in. I tasted few wines in ‘Wild on Waiheke’ and I can tell you this: if only for wine this trip would not worthy my effort. Now, I know this might be due to my previous experiences in Italy and my particular taste shaped by Italian wines (not luxury nor expensive but still). And I really understand people who go to Waiheke to taste wines. I do! After all, this wine was better than the one I had in Paris (shame on you!). What is really great about Waiheke and wine tasting is that you can have a very small glass with your meal for just 2 NZD. It allowed me to taste as many as 4 different ones and I did not have to spit! The more friendly version of professional wine tasting. Just for people like me and a million of Aucklanders who come here. Food and people If not wine than food! What else makes you determined enough to ride up and down for an hour? “Wild on Waiheke” provides high quality and very tasty food. Their garlic bread, salad and a variety of cheese and ham were excellent! Also, people who work there are friendly and helpful. When I arrived at noon all seats and tables were taken but they were still able to find a place for me. I had a look at ‘typical’ Kiwis having a great time. These people are chilled out beyond my imagination. They are not slobs, though. They keep their being chilled out well balanced so people who watch them do not feel embarrassed or disgusted. Kiwis chill out makes you relaxed and eager to share their state of mind. In this restaurant, I felt like being a part of a big party. Even though people did not know each other it still felt like somebody’s wedding. And let me tell you that the dress code was not wedding focused! Landscape The best part about this island is landscape. I was riding a bike and at some point I felt really exhausted but it did not prevent me from watching breathtaking views. Little bays, hidden beaches, gentle green hills, white boats on the water and blue sky over all of this was a reward for riding uphill. Just like elsewhere the middle of the summer makes a place colourful and smelly (in a good sense!). A variety of trees and flowers is delightful here and the whole island was like a big garden. New trend What I found most amusing was a popularity of this place. Yes, it is beautiful but often this is not good enough for people to come. Apart from a chill out of New Zealanders I can’t still well understand I think creating new trends works really well here. Wine has become a desirable and widespread drink recently. It is fancy to drink red wine instead of anything else. So people do. They have their favorite wines but also visiting a winery for a day became a great idea for a weekend. Waiheke would be still beautiful without wineries but for its beauty people would not come. If you are spending your summer in Auckland this is a great one-day trip. I think it is worthy to visit this island for its atmosphere, beauty and for people. I enjoyed my stay there very much and I hope to go back there soon. Travel Tip When you take a ferry don’t sit on the back lower deck. I did and after 15 minutes I was completely covered with salt and water. I looked like a wet chicken and for the whole day I had sticky hands. So make yourself comfortable inside the ferry.  

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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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Why people travel is a central question for me. I am traveling myself to find the answer why am I doing this? I always read what other travelers say about their motivation and – sadly – I often get disappointed with trivial replies. I think it is great to exchange ideas on personal motivations and when I got familiar with a Travel Blog by Justin and Lauren  – a Canadian couple – I thought it is a good opportunity to ask them few questions about their travels and blogging. They traveled around Canada, the US and the Caribbean and in 2015 they planned to visit Italy (and that is how they came across with my blog). Here is what they told me about their way of traveling. How did you two met and is there a travel involved? We actually met at work! We both work together as video editors for our day jobs. When we first started dating, we both loved to discover new places to visit in our own city (Toronto) or within a day’s driving distance. Soon enough, we were planning trips together to Niagara Falls, Montreal, or places in the USA. This past winter, we went to the Caribbean and our next travel destination will be Italy. While we didn’t meet during our travels, we found out that we both want to travel everywhere in the world together and share all of those wonderful experiences! Do you learn the world through traditional or local music? We are both music lovers. Justin can play the guitar and I play the piano, guitar, and clarinet. Learning about traditional music is a great way to experience different cultures. I love finding out about all sorts of musical instruments from different areas around the world – they can make such amazing sounds that don’t normally exist in Western music! With that said, I would love to explore areas like Austria that are rich in Classical music history. . Back at home, we love to hear local bands play at smaller venues. Is traveling together a good strategy to care for a relationship? I think that everyone needs their “escape” from regular day-to-day life. Sometimes we work opposite hours and can’t see each other very much, or we have to do chores and things like that on our days off. When we get to travel, we get to spend every moment together experiencing something new, whether it be kayaking, hiking, snorkeling underwater, tasting yummy food, or taking in the surroundings of a completely different place. It is also nice to unwind and relax on a vacation, away from the normal stresses of everyday life. It is so wonderful to be able to visit new places together and it is difficult for me to even think of traveling without Justin! I want him to be able to see everything, too! Traveling together has definitely worked for us and I think it has made our relationship even stronger! Do you like the returns and what do you bring with you from places visited? The most important thing that we bring back from our travels are photographs and videos. We love to look back on pictures from our trips as memories of where we’ve been. They’re also great for blogging! I also like to collect postcards and sometimes postage stamps if I can find them. I have a collection of postcards of places that I’ve visited. Otherwise, there’s nothing really specific – usually we might bring back something special about the area that we visited. For example, we brought back spices from Grenada, sea salt from Bonaire, and wine from the Niagara region of Canada. Returning home is always difficult because I could just keep on traveling forever! There is something really nice about being at home in your own bed though. Plus, we own a kitten now, so the next time that we travel, we will be missing him! So, it will be great to return to our little cat. The other fun thing about returning is writing and updating our travel blog – I generally start to do this when we return home from the trip! What is the driving force behind your travels? We want to visit all of the natural wonders of the world – fjords, waterfalls, mountains, and more! We love the adventure of visiting a brand new place, or even returning to a favourite destination. We want to experience different cultures and try different food – we both eat a plant-based, vegan diet, so we’d love to see the different types of vegetarian food from around the world. We want to learn about the rich history of countries and regions by traveling there in person. I would truly rather be “rich in experiences” than rich with money. We hope to do lots of traveling throughout our lives! Meet Justin and Lauren on their website and social channels: Blog – Twitter – Facebook – Instagram – Pinterest – Youtube    

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It’s St. Patrick’s Day today! The whole world celebrates the patron of Ireland and so do I. Ireland is a wonderful country and due to its long and turbulent history it has very particular traditions, culture, music, language and feasts. Following this important tradition of remembering the saints and patrons I am sharing few impressions from my first stay in Ireland. It’s been almost a year since I went there for the first time so it is good to reflect a bit about it. My impressions from the Green Ireland were published on website of a local tour operator Tour Ireland. Read it right here and stay green in St. Patrick’s Day!    

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Just when I got back from New Zealand I started to think how the real life in New Zealand is? Not that I would like to move there permanently but one month in NZ allowed me to reflect a bit on that. Few weeks later one of the posts on NZ got a nice comment from Esther (founder and editor of NZMuse Blog) and after a short exchange of emails she agreed to write a post. This is a guest post from her. Esther is a New Zealander herself I thought this is a very good idea to ask her about life in New Zealand. Here is what she wrote about it. Life in the land of the long white cloud Among other things, they call New Zealand “Godzone”, as in “God’s own”. People who’ve never been here have idyllic images of an island paradise. Having been around the world and back, I can confirm that my country is far from perfect, but indeed, we’re lucky to have what we have here. Let’s get the negatives out of the way first. Everything is expensive here. We are so far away from the rest of the world (being such an isolated country, reading news about other parts of the globe actually feels kind of surreal and distant, though less so now that I’ve been to some of those places) that everything costs a lot, from clothing to food to electronics. Yup, even the stuff we produce. Our lamb and dairy, for example, is sometimes cheaper overseas – and we export all the best stuff. And don’t get me started on the price/quality of housing. Plus, it’s also expensive to get here or fly out, thanks to the tyranny of distance. Public transport sucks. And in some places, it’s non-existent. That comes with being such a small and sparsely populated nation. If you’re visiting, it’s best to get your own wheels. It can also be kind of boring here, especially if you’re not outdoorsy. There isn’t a ton of culture here, and while we have a lot of great Asian food, cuisines from other countries can be hard, if not impossible, to find. Aside from these things, I’m a big fan of New Zealand, especially as a destination to visit. I love the chilled out culture we have. Barbecues. Road trips. Days at the beach. Running around barefoot at school. We get four weeks of leave a year, plus 11 public holidays, and while there are some industries where you do have to work long hours, generally you can have a pretty good work-life balance here. I love that travel is such a key part of our culture. It’s a rite of passage to travel overseas in your 20s. Travel is valued and admired. I love passing another campervan and waving in comradeship. I love that tourists flood the country every summer and winter and I love seeing backpackers on Queen St. I love that people are generally friendly and welcoming. I love that it’s relatively clean and safe. Now, we’re not 100% Pure or as green as we’d like to think, but on an international scale, we’re doing reasonably well. And while I’ve been burgled multiple times, violent crime is pretty low – I’m not worried about getting mugged or shot here. I love that it’s fairly egalitarian. I’m not going to lie, there is poverty here, including the worst kind – child poverty, which most likely relates to our sadly high proportion of child abuse – especially in smaller, dying towns. And there are racists here and there, as in every other country. But we are a country of immigrants, and a very young country (only a couple hundred years old) and having visited many other countries I can pretty confidently say that our problems with integration and inequality barely register on the global scale of things. I also appreciate our public healthcare and welfare. I love the nature that’s all around us. New Zealand has a wide array of landscapes – almost anything you can imagine – and they are never more than a short drive or flight away. It’s the beauty of being a small country. More about life in New Zealand is here: Living in New Zealand by Esther.  

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Another week, another guest post. It looks like an epic accumulation! But here it is: how to prepare a journey that will change your life? Tough question but if you focused on the crucial things you will come much closer to the answer on how to do it. My guest post on Thinking Nomads blog is here. Writing this post after few months made me think how much I miss Ireland. It doesn’t look like I go there in the nearest future but really hope to visit it this year. If only for few days…Let’s get back to the best memories!  

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Some of the pictures shared above were taken without even stopping a car. Literally. Just having window open, driving about 40 km/h and…click, done, let’s go. This was pure madness! The number of breathtaking sites in this country is hard to believe. All regions I crossed were not only packed with breathtaking views but also an evidence the stories on the variety of landscapes were true! I think my favorite view would be something I would call typical New Zealand one: a wide valley, green grass, few sheep, mountain range as background and blue sky above. These are pictures that were in my imagination before I went to New Zealand and this journey not only confirmed its beauty but it exceeded them totally! New Zealand is just pure beauty to the extent that is hard to believe. This was one of the journeys that even though it is finished it still lasts in my mind. Previous gallery is here.  

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