“I have always dreamed about going to….” or  “I alway wanted to see….”. How many times did you hear it? How many times did you say it? And it has never happened. No matter how exceptional or exaggerated you dream might be there is always a chance that one day you actually do what you always wanted. I did. Some things I have always dreamed about came true. Here is my list of best activities I have ever done. Whale watching This is hard to explain why wales have always fascinated me. It’s not only that they are the biggest mammals that have ever lived on earth, or rather, in the ocean. There is a particular combination of early childhood memories and genuine passion for getting know things. There is this child poem titled “Mr Tiny” that tels a story about a travel. The smallest creature desperately wanted to meet the biggest creature so he takes risk and go to the ocean in a nutshell. Eventually, instead of on an island he makes a camp on back of a whale and turns home scared but proud that he made his dream come true. I still know this poem by heart and I still enjoy saying it loud. The power of children books! Be careful what you read to your child.   I also remember that I was collecting a sticker album published by WWF many years ago and a sticker with blue whale was absolutely breathtaking. The blue whale was photographed from the air and so you could see how big he wss. It played with my imagination when I was little just because of the comparison with all other animals. When I went to Canada I saw three humpbacks and this was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. Skiing in the Dolomites I know, I know, I broke my leg there so why should I put this activity on my list? Well, if you imagine pain of a broken leg and the fact it is still worthy to put it on the list then it’s easy to understand how great it is. I have told you the story already but I think that if you ski you should go to the Dolomites at least once in a lifetime. This is a stunning background for your ski rides. I think that the Dolomites gives you an opportunity not only to ski in a sort of artificial and only-for-tourists place but also you can get closer to the real people and their real lives. Exceptional place. Driving a Scooter Since I saw ‘Roman Holiday’ with Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck as a teenager I always wanted to drive a scooter. Just like she did. Well, maybe not exactly as she did. I didn’t want to demolish the whole market but in any case it seamed a marvelous idea to me. When I moved to Italy it became my obsession and it was getting worse when I was watching all these people driving around like crazy. So, one day, I received the best gift ever: an old, used, beautiful scooter! This was one of the happiest days in my entire life. Seriously! And driving a scooter was the only skill I had before I learnt it. Hopefully, I’ll discover more of this stuff in the nearest future to make my life easy and enjoyable. Since I got the scooter I drove thousands of kilometers around the place where I had lived: to a restaurant, to bring ice creams or pizza home, to visit friends, to see fireflies, to take pictures of old churches, well literally everything. And when I left Italy I gave it to someone who still drives it. This sort of dreams are easy to realize. There are many renting agencies where renting a scooter is possible also for tourists. Pick up one and ask for the details. If you have never driven a scooter before it is better to try it on the large parking place to avoid the potential damage of property. And always remember to ask for insurance: you don’t want to be involved in any kind of accident related issues. Cooking Lessons Learning Italian traditional cooking methods was never on my bucket list. I simply used the opportunity I had. My neighbors were absolutely exceptional people and through this experience I felt in Italy like at home. It’s not only cooking itself that gathers: it’s passing your time on doing something together. A common activity is always something that brings people together. What was so appealing about it was the time, patience, willingness to share the personal stories, practicing the language and showing respect to tradition: all combined in this simple activity. This was a great adventure, and what is even better, you can try it while you visit Italy as a tourist. In Emilia-Romagna there are couple of agriturismi that organize cooking lessons, and I am not talking about the professional schools for the cooks. This might scare you, but what you could do instead is to stay in a B&B or agriturismo and have your cooking lesson there. Stress free way of learning things. Sauna in Lapland I hate heat. I normally avoid humid and warm places where it is hard to breath and to think. So, why sauna? This is a very warm place, indeed. I would say that in this case all depends on the circumstances. I went to sauna for the first time in my life in Swedish Lapland and the sauna on the photo below is along the King’s Trail. Now, this is a very particular place and generally speaking during this trekking the opportunities to take a bath are scarce. Unless you are ready to do it in a water which has a temperature of melting snow. I wasn’t. But after few days with no shower sauna seamed to be a nice option, despite of its warmth, as this is the only place which provides warm water. How it works? When you arrive to the...

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My first post on my RTW was published a while ago so let me get back to the issue. Just recently I got a lovely gift: a guide titled ‘First Time Around the World. A Trip Planner for the Ultimate Journey‘ written by Doug Lansky, published by Rough Guides. I have already started reading it and I must share two thoughts with you. Perspective The most striking in this book is a general perspective on travelling. What usually drive people to travel is they desire to SEE THINGS, like famous building, particular landscapes, rare animals or renown works of art. Or just SEE how other people live, what they do, how does their life look like. But the author of this book encourages to change this perspective from SEE towards DO. He actually argues for doing things while travelling rather than just watching them. I discovered this is very true for my own travels. Doing things together with locals or other tourists is very enriching. Couple examples: when I started to learn cooking in Italy the new horizon of relations with the locals and with their tradition has opened up. Through the traditional food preparations I spent many hours with the Italians and it gave me an opportunity to get known them better. The moment I drove a scooter was a sort of braking point in my stay in Italy: I finally felt like all the other drivers, enjoying the sun and the wind. The same thing happened in Canada while watching wales: this was a memorable event so I’m still talking about it. Therefore, I found this thought very persuasive and very true. And if you still consider your travel in terms of watching things you might find this guide interesting. Must-See or Must-Do List The second important thought of the first chapters of this guide concerns so called must-see spots. Even with the slightly upgraded perspective to must-do things the author argues the universal list actually does not exists. And I fully agree with it: everyone has his/her own bucket list. The tricky part is to create your own before your travel (at least the basics) so you could experience of what you have been looking for. If you go around the world just to see the famous spots there is a high probability you’ll return disappointed. Professional photos made in a perfect time of day and year rarely represents the reality to the letter. While it is true that you sometimes get surprised with the unexpected beauty you will get disappointed with many of must-see spots. It might be due to the wrong season you picked up or simply to the bad weather in a particular day, or because you felt lousy when you went there. I’m not arguing that when planing your RTW trip you should skip all things you have always dreamt of seeing ‘once in a lifetime’. All I’m saying is that you should limit this list and not make it the most important thing of your travel. Write all your dream places down and try to find out as much information as you can before you buy the RTW ticket. This activity reveals some interesting news, for example: if you want to see a cherry blossoms festival in Washington or in Japan you need to go there in very precise dates. And even if you do you can still be unlucky as the blossoming thing varies depending the weather. If you want to see the whales in Hawaii you also need to be there in a within certain dates. Sometimes you get disappointed with, let’s say, the size of Vermeer picture or the location of the Eiffel Tower, but this might be the best thing that happened to you during your travel. And even if you dislike a long awaited site this is still worthy to travel: at least you know you hate it. The thing is not to get back home solely with a list of sites and things that you don’t like, right? Senses Some travelers-to-be have no particular plans nor their bucket list. If you are one of them what should you do then? My advice is as follows: take your time and think about the way to get known the world. About your senses. Whether you enjoy watching it or rather tasting it? What do you remember longer: the sound of a jungle or a smell of a flower? If you love vivid colors and energy events your choice of RTW stops will be quite different than a person who loves listen to the music more than anything else. Each sense is a channel on how the information about the world comes to us. Therefore, this is important to think how are you going to learn the world. Like half of the world population, I am particular sensitive to multisensor experiences. This is the reason why I often take particular music pieces with me. For example: listening to the Rigoletto in front of the castle where the plot of this opera was placed is something really powerful. I could go on with the list on how to combine the senses to make a travel experience unforgettable but much more important is that you think and decide what works best for you. PLUS: I really love the title of this guide. It simply suggests that you go around the world more than once ;-) because travelling is addictive.  

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