Whales are one of my favorite animals. Yes, it is true you can’t keep it at home nor hug them when you feel down. They are not fluffy and you can’t walk them out. However, I still consider them marvels of nature. And my favorite animals. Watching whales The first time I saw a whale was a memorable moment. I can easily remember the excitement of this amazing journey to Nova Scotia in Canada and turbulent ride on a Zodiak boat. I wrote about whale watching before so if you’re interested where the idea did come from click here. From the moment I saw a humpback whale I started dreaming about seeing it again. And other whales too. Lots of them, preferably! I thought about swimming with whales but need to wait until this dream come true: it’s best to do it in Hawaii because of the water temperature. Flying over whales seamed to me a luxury I can never afford. And I also considered the flights as research purpose only. On the contrary! One visit in Kaikoura – a small town near Christchurch – has changed this view completely. A local company called Wings over Whales provide excellent services of whale watching. It was a gloomy day, one of my last in New Zealand and my intention was swimming with dolphins. I even went to a company that provides such service and checked the weather forecast and their timetable. It was not only about the bizarre time of the tour (5 a.m.) but mainly about the rain and the temperature of +7 degrees. I just thought it might not be the best idea of spending my last morning in Kaikoura: swimming in a rough ocean. This was a very good intuition: just as my blogger fellow Ari confirmed. Read her story about the dolphins that were not there here. So, heading to a campsite I saw a wooden house next to the road. It was a company that provided flights over whales. I couldn’t believe in my luck! Next thing I remember was getting into a small plane with 6 other people (Chinese, mainly). The rush was due to the message received about one sperm whale spotted nearby. We almost run to the plane! I wanted to watch it so badly! The flight I was sitting next to a pilot! Can you imagine something more thrilling? Not only I had a first row view but also watched the pilot and all plane devices. It was a mind blowing experience! Josh who was our pilot on this flight took off with unbelievable ease and a second after we were in the air heading towards the bay. If you have ever flew such small plane (Cessna) you know the pressure during curves pushes you to your seat like nowhere else. Awesome! To have a good look at the sperm whale (18 m long male) we were making circles over it! And this was really spectacular. Why there? It’s all about location! After the flight an interesting lecture about whales was provided. A short movie about habits of these marvelous animals was displayed and we could ask questions afterwards. It was explained the near Kaikoura the deep trench is located which results in plenty of food. The whales that are swimming from the south to the north and vice versa are coming to Kaikoura to hunt and eat a lot. During my short stay in this lovely little town four sperm whales were spotted. The site is so attractive to them that they sometimes fight to get the best spot. Josh told me how fascinating it is to watch the whale’s fights from the air. And I can easily believe it! Humpbacks, blue whales and sperm whales come to Kaikoura and if you are lucky you can watch them from the air. Disclosure: Wings over whales provided a generous discount for this flight for which I am grateful for.  

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“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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