If you read this blog regularly you have known that I am a big fan of the Italian city Ferrara. There are many reasons for that, including my personal story and lucky coincidence. I spent in this town many years. I saw it covered with snow, washed off by heavy rain, burnt with the summer sun and touched by the light spring breeze. This was truly fascinating to watch how this town evolve, react to the weather conditions, celebrate its festivals, anniversaries and feasts, and most of all how, despite these little changes, it lasts. Before living in Italy I visited this country couple of times. I saw the famous spots, enjoyed the weather and followed the crowds of turists. Basing on these couple of holiday weeks I was giving my opinion on climate, celebrations and architecture. I was quite positive about my first-hand information and shared it gladly with everybody who wanted to listen. Until I moved to Italy. Then, everything has changed. The most misleading information concerned the weather. Visiting Italy in summer months made me think there is always warm. Unbearably hot. And the architecture seamed to confirm this thought. Yes, it is warm in Italy and there are weeks of incredible heat in Ferrara that is hard to deal with but if you have a look at all four seasons this is only a fraction. What is  true about it,  I think, is the intensity of the heat: even if it is only couple of weeks the temperature and humidity leaves you breathless. Not everyone knows that Ferrara is located below the sea level, in a depression, in the middle of large plateau of river Po. It makes the heat really hard to deal with, and this is also true for the locals. Because of its location there are not many winds blowing, so when the warm weather begins it lasts long. This is one of the reasons why I consider May and September my favorite months. And guess what! It is not possible to join me for a week stay in Ferrara. Yes! This September I’m inviting you to enjoy this marvelous city and a fabulous event called Street Dinner. For more details click here!  I was also convinced that all Italian cities are crowded. This is true for large cities, always filled with a variety of foreign groups of people, eager to see everything. But even in Rome or Milan you can find a quiet square or park to relax. In Ferrara it is even more so. This town is outside the mainstream touristic tracks. Let’s say it’s ‘off the beaten track‘. There are not many organized groups visiting the city and if they do they are mainly Italians. At the same time, however, this is a vibrant town which means that if you go to the main square in the evening, especially during the spring and summer seasons, it is full of the Italians. I simply love the sound made by this crowd: you can actually hear how joy sounds. Also local celebrations gather people and make the town lively. So, crowd not depends solely on the attractiveness of the city. Rather, on the season and time of the day. If you cross Ferrara in July at noon I’m pretty sure you won’t meet anybody. I am not the only one who is delighted about Ferrara! Here is another blogger who found it just perfect for a holiday! Read Agnieszka’s story here! Only in Polish but if you don’t speak the language it is still worthy to look at her pictures. I saw Ferrara under snow only 4 times but this is a spectacular view. You get the impression that this is improper. Awkward  and bizarre are good words to describe the feeling.  All houses, churches, streets and squares are created for heat! Colors of walls, shapes of the roofs, window shutters and lack of fireplaces in the houses are against the white fluff. But some years, and this has changed recently towards cooling the climate rather than warming, the snow comes and made this lovely town like a fairytale like. The biggest surprise for me was to discover that the Italians are afraid of snow and they become very careful when driving and leaving home. Actually, there are some that stay at home until the sun does not melt the snow down. If you wish to adore Ferrara you need to live for couple of months here. But visiting it at last once in a lifetime is a must. I think it is true for many places. To get the real feeling you need to live in a place for couple of months. To experience more than one season, at least. My residence in Italy was a life changing experience: I feel privileged that I had an opportunity to watch numerous sunrises and sundowns in this town. Have you ever thought about visiting Italy? Here is an alternative way on how to visit Italy and get really close to the Italian way of life. I created a project ‘I love Ferrara‘ so you could join me and experience how beautiful and tasty Ferrara is. If you wish to immerse in Italy book your holiday now!  

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Nobody wants to spend a holiday budget on travelling and return home disappointed. We all know too well the stories starting with ‘everything what could go wrong went wrong’. Naturally, there are holidays that we remember forever and those that we wish to forget as soon as possible. Many people get discouraged with such a lottery whether the trip is enjoyable or a total disaster. While it is impossible to make ALL trips perfect it is still worthy to remember about basic things in order to avoid disappointments and make your trip stress-free. You get tired One of the basic things connected to travels is tiredness, kind of obvious thing but often neglected in travel plans. The moment you decide to start your adventure is probably full of visions of blue sky, crystal water and sunny beach. Being tired is at the end of your worries list. On the one hand that’s good: if you thought only about rough things related to travels you would stay at home rather than go anywhere. On the other hand, however, you get easily confused with your flight schedule and time zones, and as a result you have no idea how tired you become by the time of your arrival. I’m not saying that you are always able to secure your comfort while travelling and often you desire new adventures and even some challenges related to moving around. BUT between the travel ‘trouble free‘ and ‘full of troubles‘ there is a considerable difference. First, you need to be careful if you have never travelled long distance before your first trip. It is hard to imagine how your body will react to it. After crossing 6 time zones you may feel exhausted or you may feel great (I would bet the first one is more probable than anything else). It’s all up to your body condition and personal characteristic. I will publish a separate blogpost on the importance of the general fitness in travels but my experience shows that it is crucial to take into consideration you own characteristics while planning a lifetime travel. Not an opinion of the travel agent. Not the best advice of your friends who often never went anywhere. No. What matters is your current condition and the state of YOUR health. I fully agree with one of the Tweets published by @GoTravel saying: ‘Don’t plan a full schedule the day after flying in; take time to adjust to your new surroundings & time zone’ (cheers guys!). Equally important is a reasonable time gap for plane switch. Remember that it gets really hectic if you missed your trans-Atlantic plane. And believe me: these things can really piss you off. And can turn your travel experience into a nightmare. You (sometimes) get sick Yes, you can experience some minor health problems while travelling. Medicines taken from home often fail to cure you as the bacteria and viruses heavily depends on the climate. I’m not talking about the chronic disease that you should think about in advance. I rather think of stomach flu, bacterial infection or food poisoning. These are usually easy to treat but also a can ruin your holiday if you don’t get a suitable medicine. While it is always smart to take sticking plaster, bandage and disinfectant with you to deal with minor injuries, taking dozens of pils against frequent in your normal setting diseases makes no sense. I remember a stomach flu I caught in Egypt and a local medicine that helped me. This sort of disease happen to the majority of the tourists so the local pharmacies and drug stores are well prepared to help. In some exotic countries, you can even buy a proper medicine without knowing the local language! Particular regions of the world have their own specific threats. Therefore, it is always important to check if the area you are going to visit is a risk zone and if so what the health risks are. It is absolutely essential to get immunized long in advance before the trip to the exotic countries. There is a very useful article on immunization on the Lonely Planet website. I just want you to bare in mind this is very important. You are exposed to rough climate Long distance travels imply dramatic changes of the climate: starting with the humidity, through the sun exposure, ending with extremely high and low temperatures. This is why we travel for, don’t we? To get amazed with diversity and to feel the exotic heat. A perfect picture of white beach or rough desert seam to be fascinating while sitting on your couch but it might be much less so in +40 degrees heat, in strong wind and send everywhere including your eyes and ears, when you are sweating and (probably) swearing all the time. There is nothing wrong in extreme conditions experienced during travels but you need to be prepared for it. At the stage of planning you need to purchase some smart equipment in order to deal with the climate extremities, like: sunglasses with very high UV filter,  light clothes to cover and protect your body from drying in the desert, very warm sleeping bag to survive low temperatures, etc. You need to consider your travel keeping the climate conditions in mind. This is true that (almost!) everywhere you go you will meet local people who live in extreme climates and are able to survive. However, their adjustment is usually a result of a long time exposure to the rough climate that you don’t have being on site for a week. So don’t neglect the necessity to deal with the climate challenges by buying necessary stuff. You need to get back to routine After you get back home it might be difficult to get used to your everyday routine again. If you experienced a fascinating trip that increased the level of adrenaline in your blood getting back home will be painful. Unless you have a tough and stressful job you might sense a sort of emptiness. Exotic places are usually full of colors, flavors, smells and totally...

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If someone is telling you that learning any martial art won’t hurt he LIES! Naturally, if you start thinking about the new skill you probably imagine yourself as a person who already has successfully acquired it. If it comes to martial arts you have no problems to imagine a lovely picture with a combat that you have just won. Yes, you are prepare for an effort but somehow deep inside your head there is this little irritating thought that you’ll become a local hero within a month. When I started my krav maga training I was prepared for a physical effort but I wasn’t aware that someone will really kick my ass. The group of krav maga apprentices I have joined is mixed of experienced guys and the beginners. Such a mix is a good opportunity to learn fast. Really fast. Because if you don’t you just get your nose punched. For last couple of weeks my nose was bleeding at least three times, and between two workouts weekly the bruises on my legs and arms have not enough time to heal. Ironically, I’m more and more engaged in my training. Sounds crazy? Well, maybe it sounds crazy but not insane. Each sport you do is demanding. Let’s think about skiing: if you don’t learn how to fall you will never ski well. Why? Because you will be always afraid to fall. The case of martial arts is only different because what you get is pure pain. To survive it you need to think about two important issues: first, that pain is temporary and it allows you to learn how much pain you are able to cause in a fight to the others. That’s instructive. Second you need to mentally prepare to get hit during the training. This was a real challenge for me: I haven’t thought I’ll be beaten so many times before I acquired the basic self defense skills. What is really great about krav maga and intensive workout is that increase of your strength, condition and precision is visible. A unique skill to protect yourself from the punch in the nose keeps you smiling for the whole evening. And keeps you going.  

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The theme of souvenirs and artifacts bought in remote places, their originality or falsity is often discussed. It sometimes stirs emotions of a traveler who went to the end of the world and brought it home where a receiver of this precious goody discovers ‘made in China’ written on a hidden part of the object. Although I rarely buy so called souvenirs I remember that before my first trip to Norway I wanted to buy a red wooden horse. Desperately. It might be odd for you why looking for a wooden horse in Norway while this is a popular artifact in Sweden so let me tell you a short story. When I was studying in Milan I often visited a foreign students’ office. A very nice young lady worked there and her office was full of lovely stuff brought by students from all over the world. Once, I saw a cute red wooden horse with traditional floral patterns. I asked the lady where did she get it from and she told me that this was a gift from one of the Norwegian students. We talked a while about Norway and how bloody cold and dark it must be at this time of the year but I knew that one day when I’m in Norway I will buy a red wooden horse. I even saw in my imagination how beautiful it looks in my future office. No surprise, my first day spent in Norway was dedicated to the research of this wooden horse. I was astonished because nobody asked for this kind of a souvenir knew where I could buy it! People in Norway are not very direct so I was not told that I was a total ignorant. Instead, I was told in a shop to visit a workshop around the corner. In a workshop I was informed that I should visit a local museum. And so on, and so forth. I got totally confused and thought that perhaps people in Norway are not familiar with their own traditional artifacts. Eventually, after hours of fruitless search I gave up. I felt sorry that I was getting back from Norway without this bloody horse! Fortunately, on my way home I stayed one day in Stockholm in Sweden. Needless to say that the whole city center and every little store is FULL of red wooden horses! You may even find horses made of plastic and wool, they are red and white, you can have it on your T-shirt or on your textile bag. All in all, it was obviously a Swedish souvenir rather than Norwegian one. After this trip I was pretty sure that I should have never trusted the young Italian ladies and their ‘expertise’ in foreign countries. Once for all I remember not to trust any Italians giving advice on red wooden Swedish horses!  

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