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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Tbex 2014 in Athens is coming and I’m obviously participating this amazing event. I thought this is a right moment to share some memories from Ireland here. See who I was at Tbex with! Here are some nice captures of these jolly fellows with links to their blogs. I think you might find it interesting! Just as we did! Spending few days in Ireland together was a vibrant and very energetic time. The ideas were just flying around! I would love to share some of the best moments of this trip. So here they are! This is Erin who runs a blog called Travel with Bender. She is Australian mum traveling around the world with all her family. We had eaten our first oyster together! Unforgettable. And in June 2014 she visited Poznan! I have never imagined this was possible but it happened for real! We met in my home city and it was so nice to refresh our memories! Vera from Finding the Universe was sitting next to me in a bus. We met later in Poznan too, having a lovely lazy walk around my Home City. This is Sarah. She is French and so her blog is in French too. Charming girl with curly hair! We both got soaked at our segway tour so we have unforgettable memories of drying our clothes in a hotel. And here is Nick. American guy and adrenaline junky in one. We shared our Killary Adventure. The Big Swing was fun, wasn’t it? He runs a travel blog Nick’s Travel Bug. Here is Lanora from Writing Travel. Her speciality is photography so she was hanging around with her camera watching everything very carefully to get a perfect capture. Amazing photos! Who else? Oh, yes, Corey. Our Irish guru, although not Irish. Rather American with Polish roots. But his blog is focused on Ireland so he felt like at home. His blog is a winner of Best Blog Diaspora 2013. Congratulations and I hope to see you soon! Whose turn is now? Another Aussie in our company. Meet Brendon from Nerd Travels. Hs is on his journey for a long time so being a backpacker in everyday travel (how does this sound?) he was impressed with excellent quality hotels we had been staying at. Johnny is both: chef and traveler. He runs a blog Vagabundus. We had a lovely adventure at Killary Adventure park. Plus he was always sharing some interesting tips on food and kitchen. Best spot at the Irish cottage was taken in a second! And last but not least two German fellows: both running blogs in German so visit their blogs if you speak the language. Carina from the Pink Compass  and Robin from Weltreisejunkies. We met later with Robin in Berlin at ITB Travel Fair in March 2014. The world is really small!    

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Meet Megan, a great journalist and travel blogger. She is Australian and she travels around the world with her American husband. Needless to say that for last 7 years they had many adventures and they willingly share it on their blog. Exclusively for Null&Full blog Megan shared her favorite high adrenalin activities in Ireland. I love Ireland and I enjoyed my stay there a lot but looking at these activities by Megan I feel like I missed something. Instead of going as far as New Zealand I probably should focus on Ireland! Because services offered there are breathtaking. Finding adventure in Ireland Ireland could easily be considered to be the adventure capitol of the world. Stunning landscapes and dramatic scenery lend themselves to high adrenalin activities such as zip lining, abseiling and water sports, and the country offers ample opportunities for extreme sports like skydiving and white water rafting.  Think soaring through brooding forests with views of magical castles or spectacular coastlines. I guarantee you it’s a thrill. Think stepping over the edge of a vertical rock face and looking down when all you can see is the Atlantic Ocean – treacherous waves which crash against the rugged cliffs with spectacular force. It’s terrifying but terrific! And even though these experiences in Ireland were phenomenal, and some of the more adventurous fetes I’ve completed in my life, nothing will get your adrenalin racing more than traveling to the country in the first place. That’s right – the biggest adventure of all, is traveling to Ireland itself. Your adrenalin will pump from just being there. You’ll shake with excitement from the views. You’ll get lost in Irish music & traditional dance. You’ll get drunk from traditional Irish brew. Our adventure started with an Irish tour guide (Patty) who had us in stitches with his insane sense of humor. As with the majority of the Irish population, he was truly blessed with the gift of the gab, and all I remember from our tour of the country is laughing until my sides burst.  We arrived in Ireland with an action packed itinerary which included zip lining, abseiling, rafting and time on water skis, though these proved to be merely an appetizer to a much larger experience. More exciting than the water skis, I can assure you your adrenalin starts pumping as you make the walk across the mind blowing Cliffs of Moher. At 750 ft high the cliffs are both strikingly beautiful and incredibly intimidating, plunging dramatically straight down into the sea with crazy views of the Aran Islands. Would you walk this? Another highlight was a visit to the nearby Burren area. which was a 200 million year old botanical and geological wonderland – and was truly as though we could have been walking on the moon! If you were to tell me I would enjoy karaoke more than zip lining, I would tell you that you were mad. Though in Ireland, Karaoke is a sport. And sharing a beer with colorful Irish characters in one of the country’s many famous pubs is an adventure within itself.  While we would spend our days devouring the country’s many spectacular sights, we would spend the nights partying until we saw leprechauns. There was live music, Irish dancing and absolutely unforgettable memories.  So yes, travel to Ireland for the adventurous activities. Travel to Ireland for the spectacular views. Travel to Ireland for the mountains, the lakes, castles and national parks. But in doing so, realize that the true adventure is in traveling to Ireland itself.   You can’t land here without being swept up in an almost crazy culture which will instantly capture your heart. This is the true adventure.  About Megan Megan is an Australian Journalist who has been traveling and blogging around the world for the last 7 years to inspire others to embark on their own worldwide adventure. Her husband Mike is an American travel photographer, and together they have made the world their home. Meg authors “Mapping Megan”, an adventure travel blog which aims to give you the best tips and advice on traveling, volunteering, living, working and holidaying abroad. You can follow her journey on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, YouTube, Pinterest and Instagram also. Picture credits: courtesy of Megan. Cliffs of Moher photo CC Martin Abegglen http://tinyurl.com/prd2tm4    

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ITB Berlin has a reputation of world biggest travel event. Here the tourism industry gathers. Travel agencies, tourism boards and associations meet in order to find a common ground. In last few years the organization committee created a space for bloggers who are very specific actors on this stage. In 2014 I was one of them. After getting the official accreditation of ITB Berlin Press my adventure started. Here is my story and few thoughts on this event. If you are interested in ‘behind the scenes’ or you are a blogger who is thinking about coming next year this post is for you! Organization The quality of organization of this event is mythical. As a blogger I received all support imaginable: my own profile with short instruction how to personalize it, on-line support, a searching tool of all other participants and an invitation for so called ‘Speed Dating’. The most impressive thing is actually a real on-line support. I had to contact the organizers few times and I always received answer to my question. It should be normal but it rarely is. And I felt so good about it! Discussing all things that were important to me with a person from ITB was really great. I knew exactly where to go while on site and it made this event so pleasant and stress free! Pre conference arrangements included shuttle bus from my hotel which actually was on time! Impressive. Also organization on site was excellent. Despite thousands of guests -literally! – I could easily find my way to meet everyone I planned. Stands I didn’t visit ALL stands but in two days I was able to see the majority of them. I must say that many stands made a huge impression on me. The particular countries did great job presenting their homeland from the best and most interesting perspective. I enjoyed the following stands in particular: Curacao for their colorful houses constructed in the middle of the fair hall. Paraguay (one of very few that exposed their social media icons and hashtag). And finally Tirol for their ingenuity in bringing a gondola with them. Best event ITB Berlin is not only a collection of stands. It also provides a huge repertoire of events related to travel. My favorite even was organized by Tourism Board of the Italian region: Puglia. They cleverly invited some bloggers for a cooking lesson and I must admit I had fun! Not only I was making Italian pasta again but also I tried delicious food and met fabulous people behind this excellent initiative. #WeAreInPuglia attacked (and conquered) all my senses. What a delight! I received a cook book from them and the fresh pasta I made so after my return home I cooked pasta for the whole family. Speed Dating Last event that was very helpful was so called ‘Speed Dating’. On our ITB profiles we could pick up several companies that we wish to meet and the companies could also do the same. And there was a space dedicated for a meeting when we were discussing all issues related to potential cooperation. As a tool to meet people it is quite popular but the german genius made it as smooth as possible. Every Friday evening before the event all unconfirmed dates were cancelled so nobody was blocked by companies or bloggers who did not reply for an invitation. Brilliant! All in all the ITB in Berlin is a wonderful event and I hope to go there again next year. My congratulation to all who were engaged in this spectacular event! Interested in other blogger’s review of ITB Berlin? Click here to read a short summary of ITB in German by Monika.    

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My first TBEX conference was a thrilling experience. I hope it will turn into a long lasting relationship with the community of bloggers from all over the world. As for now I can tell you a few things that I most appreciate from these couple of days spent in Ireland and why I think this was amazing experience. The Power Of The Community Although my blog will be one year old very soon my contacts with blogger fellows were limited to the e-version only. I knew some names, some interesting blogs, some sites I regularly visit and some nice chats over Twitter. BUT I have not met any of them in person. Thanks to TBEX conference it has changed. When I arrived to Dublin and saw the hall in Double Tree Hilton hotel packed with people I was shocked to discover how big the community is. Suddenly, hundreds of people got their faces behind their Internet names and we started to get known each other in a very traditional way: over coffee or drink, sharing our passions and worries. As far as I’m concerned, although we are all individualists focused on our travels very much, the sense of belonging to the group is still important. In order to retain a healthy balance we need each other to share a common experience and not to feel completely isolated. Having a certainty that there is someone who understands you is a huge thing. The Joy Shared Multiplies This was amazing to see that the passion towards travel is shared by so many and it manifests itself in so many ways! Each of us travel and each of us do it differently. Isn’t it great? It is a good example of how shared characteristics keeps its individual and personal character. Although each of us has their own disappointments, failures or embarrassing stories we all agree that traveling is very joyful experience. The Feeling Of Being Taken Care Of The hospitality of Irish hosts was outstanding. It was not only the marvelous organization of the event or generous snacks at the coffee brakes but most of all their engagement in making sure that we’re all fine and happy. During the post conference trips (Wild West Atlantic) I was overwhelmed with the care and attention of people responsible for our time spent there. Starting with the driver Tommas and our guide Therese (Failte Ireland), through all hosts: Radisson Blu , Zetland Country House Hotel, Cashel House, traditional Irish food suppliers: Gleeson’s Cafe in Roscommon, Portfinn Lodge& Fjord Restaurant, Ard Bia in Galway, Twelve Hotel, Mulranny Park Hotel, Grainne Uaile Pub, tradition keepers from Cnoc Suain (traditional Irish cottage, music, dancing and cooking), ending up with our entertainers: Great Western Greenway, John (Segway Adventures), guys from Walking West, and Killary Adventure. And photographer Shean O Mannin. No Matter Who You Are The community is large enough to mirror the general composition of the global society. So at the conference you could meet singles, couples, families- both siblings and married couples with kids, and people with grey hair. Thanks to such a variety we could feel more attached to the reality. If that was only a group of young independent people in their 30s it would be much less so. Meeting people who have been traveling for last 25 years, who have been working for newspapers, travel agencies, publishing houses, chain hotels is a great resource. My Best Thing About Tbex For me: meeting John Minihan in person was the best about Tbex. It all comes from love to the literature and my total delight with Samuel Beckett plays. I feel privileged I could meet John who was not only the famous author’s photographer but was actually a friend of Beckett. Hie story was fascinating and a short conversation after the interview was amazing. I got back home, unpacked my suitcase, made a laundry and now I’ll do my best to bring you through the whole Tbex experience as I saw it. I hope you’ll like it and, who knows, maybe we’ll meet at the next Tbex? All published posts from Ireland are here: The Irish Fiddler: read a story of Irish girl Bernadette Soaked story in Galway: the segway ride at al. Outdoor Activities: for adventurous people only Best Irish Museum (even though little one)  

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