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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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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There are few food markets in the city: Rynek Wielkopolski, Jeżycki, Wildecki, Plac Bernardyński and few others. A common characteristics is their names impossible to pronounce. The idea behind is pretty straightforward: local producers come to the market and in a dedicated space they can sell their products. People of Poznan use this opportunity every day. The quality of products is excellent, everything is fresh and looks tempting! My favorite time to visit this place is late spring and early summer. All booths are full of fresh vegetables, the smell of fennel, tomatoes, berries and cucumbers is overwhelming. Colors are vivid and people who sells these goodies encourage buyers to pick up their products. Very friendly folks! Not only colors and smells are intense here: also public debate on a variety of issues is quite lively. People discuss the latest events, gossips and news. If you do your shopping at this market regularly you will know other customers and buyers and after a while you will fervently discuss the braking news. Food markets all over the world gather local community. People meet not only to buy fresh stuff but also to stay together, to follow the local events and complain their misfortunes. A person who is interested in general attitude of citizens should spend every morning here! I think that the local market says a lot about the area and people. Whether it is a vibrant floating market in Vietnam or magnificent bazaar of Tabriz it shows how people treat commerce, what is the level of private initiative and what are the common difficulties and life hardships. People would do the very same thing on markets around the world: meet to exchange goods, opinions and fears. Every time I travel I always visit a local market and it gives amazingly precise information on how do people live like. Even though you probably do not understand Polish you should visit one of the city markets to see people in everyday life situation. This will tell you a lot about us! From a food market it’s not that far to Jeżyce – a fascinating place where the troubled past meets present. Follow me! Disclosure: this post was kindly supported by City of Poznan, however, all opinions are my own and not influenced in any way.  

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Poznan is easy to love. Not that I am biased by the fact of being raised in this city. Poznan is simply a very attractive place to visit and to have fun. Let’s say you’re coming to Poznan to visit me. Where should I go with you? What should we see together? Here are few places in my home city I would like you to visit. All are really special to me. For a good start To fully appreciate any place you need to relax first. There is no use to running around like a mad cat. So first I’m going to take you to a cafe. Poznan is known for a variety of cafes located in the heart of the city. There are many places to enjoy your coffee or snack but there are three places I particularly like. Our first stop is Kamea Cafe on Wroniecka Street. There are couple of reasons why I picked up this place. First, I remember it from my high school times. This cafe was located elsewhere but successfully survived more than a decade serving fabulous desserts. Second, I like the interior design of this place. It’s not excessively fancy nor rustic, its brown color creates a nice atmosphere of leisure and feast at the same time. Third, the fruit and ice cream desserts are delicious! I’m not going to tell you which is my favorite. You need to figure it out for yourself. And lastly, I have good memories of meeting my friends here. When I lived abroad and stayed in Poznan for few days a year there was always an issue on how to meet all friends in a very short time. And, more importantly, not having an apartment in Poznan: where to meet them all? Kamea was just perfect for long winter evenings and bright summer nights. Having my dessert in Kamea now brings all these wonderful moments alive. So this is a special place to me. Where next? Another place, another story. Dominikanska Street no 7 hosts Tea Shop Chimera. It combines exquisite tea selling with cozy cafe and good restaurant. Surprised? Well, although this mix sounds weird I think this place is very successful in hosting guests of all kinds. Since I remember this tea shop was here and in my high school time this was one of very few places where we could drink a high quality green or white tea. For years this was a place of meetings with my school mates, which is especially joyful many years after graduation. People from my high school spread around the world so whenever there is a holiday season we try to gather in Poznan. This is a tough task but we managed to meet few times after we parted at the end of high school. Just recently, visiting Chimera with my Italian friends I discovered how good the local kitchen is! My dear friend ate here an exquisite duck with dumplings and red cabbage (pretty traditional Polish food) and she told me that this was the best duck she has ever eaten! Here is something extra for you: Erin and her family recently visited Poznan and they picked up best Polish food. Find out what foreigner appreciate in Polish kitchen! Good company The last place I wish to share with you was discovered recently. Hosting Laurence and Vera from Finding the Universe travel blog few weeks ago I tried to find a very particular place to have our coffee at. And found one! Through a radio station International Poznan I’ve heard a story of Erik – an American guy from Seattle – who runs a small coffee shop at Ratajczaka Street, 18, called The Bigfoot Cofee Shop. This place might be tricky to find as it is located along a street restricted to traffic. But when you find it you will love it! Erik is one of the most friendly people I have ever met. I’m not going to share his story here. To know him you will need to visit this place for yourself. Let me just tell you that his coffee machine and sandwiches are delicious! Plus: his photographs of Poznan he exhibits on walls are fantastic! You can see that he loves our city. This story continues. Follow me to know Poznan and let’s go to Food Market together! Disclosure: this post was kindly supported by City of Poznan, however, all opinions are my own and not influenced in any way.  

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What you see when you come to the city center in Christchurch? Ruins. Lots of empty slots. Huge cranes and trucks. Ongoing construction. All what the city needs to recreate itself. Despite this, I enjoyed my stay in Christchurch for couple of reasons: lovely weather, interesting spots, freedom of movement by bike, staying for longer than one day at the same place, and meetings with people. One of the best meetings during these few days in Christchurch was the one with Marc from The Press. He is a journalist with strong focus on the earthquake related issues so he was absolutely perfect to walk around the city with and talk about the disaster.  The earthquake Nobody expected this earthquake. Just like nobody expects many other natural disaster. It is true that both islands of New Zealand are located in seismically active terrain but the earthquake was expected to hit other parts of the islands. Not Christchurch. It all went differently than expected and when the first shock hit Canterbury everyone was surprised. In the worst of possible ways. In early morning, September the 4th, 2010, at 4:35 a.m. it all began. I can easily remember this feeling as the earthquake I survived hit Italy at 4:10 a.m. when me and thousands other people were deep asleep. It is shocking when a moving house wakes you up, all shelves and wardrobes at home fall down and you are left with impression that within a second you will be quite death, crushed with a falling ceiling. Traumatic event that leaves you agitated for long weeks and what is really annoying it is magnified with every aftershock. In Christchurch aftershocks were numerous and powerful. One of them brought even more damage and terror than the first one: on Tuesday, 22 February 2011, at 12:51 the earth shook again. One of the damages was particularly dramatic: the CTV building at Madras Street collapsed killing 115 people in a second. I could go on this way and report here hundreds of aftershocks, numbers of wounded and death, but I’m not going to report here every detail of these events. You can easily find it elsewhere. I’d rather report the guided tour around this destroyed city and – what’s even more important- a process of the city reconstruction. The disaster It is useless to describe any natural disaster: if you have never experience anything like this you will never imagine how do you feel when it hits. It’s just inexplicable. It is even more surprising how easily you share the traumatic events if you experienced it. Just like with Marc and other people from Christchurch: we could easily understand each other just because of the very similar experience we went through. Very few people are able to imagine the fear and panic that floods you in a second. And makes you act like a hero or a coward and you can’t really predict which one is your fate. Let’s leave these difficult emotions behind and think about the panorama after the earthquake. The city was badly damaged. It is said that about 80% of the buildings in city center were ruined. After the first few weeks filled with saving what’s left people started to clean the center. Those who haven’t left the city started to think about the future of this place and started from the basics: they decided to bring back some life to the city center. What’s next? Despite the annoying aftershocks people from Christchurch continued their effort and after few months the so called Re:Start was established. Below you will find a timelapse clip of the final week of construction. Sixty one containers arrived on the 29th August 2011 at the port of Lyttelton and were subsequently placed in the city center recreating the shopping space called Cashel Mall. All construction process was nicely done and currently I can assure you this is a very beautiful part of the city. People use this area for shopping, meeting friends, eat out or simply walking around. The feeling is pretty awesome, especially if you look at the close sites of bare land. It is also a powerful message that this city sends: the residents will not leave it just because it was so badly hurt. To see physically the strength of the wounded community  is really impressive.  To remember This is just the beginning of a large scale reconstruction plan. The scale is a challenge itself: New Zealanders need to rebuild almost the whole city from scratch. But even when they finally do people who survived want to remember it. How the city looked like before the disaster and they also wish to remember those who lost their lives under the ruins. A modern museum called Quake City was established. Firstly to explain to the visitors what happened, then, to keep some iconic elements of the buildings collapsed, to educate about the geology of the earthquake and to remember all who died. I think this is really important for the collective identity to keep records of traumatic events and I found the Quake City very interesting. Let me share two pics from this museum I find really inspiring (apologies for lousy quality – taken with a cell phone).   There is controversy behind the scenes, just like elsewhere in the world when a natural disaster occurs and the government tries to deal with it. Some people were not happy about the way the issues related to the earthquake were managed while the others were quite content about it. When the earthquake hit Christchurch received a substantial help from other cities and from abroad. The emergency squads were sent from many places and people hurt were not left alone. Human solidarity is always impressive but the longterm activity and final results matter. One of my blogger fellow – Ari – went to Christchurch earlier in 2013. She has slightly less optimistic thoughts about it. Read here story here to get the full picture of this disaster. I didn’t go into enough...

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Few months ago my Italian friends visited me on their way home from Copenhagen and they told me this: "Look, this summer was the warmest one in last 80 years. Can you believe that the warmest was +20?".

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