Masurian lakes

Hi there!

I woke up this morning and the first thing that had crossed my mind was to go somewhere where I could forget about my work and just relax. Do you have the place where you feel good and where you could come back again and again? For me it is Masuria region. I remember all those times when I was there with my friends and we were just walking about by the shore of lakes until the long hours, swimming by boat or just playing volley-ball. It was just amazing. I really have to go there this summer! But now I want to tell you something more about this beautiful region.

So, Masuria is situated in northern Poland on the territory of old Prussia. From the name of the region derives the name of its inhabitants, which is Mazur in Polish and it consist of the prefix “maz-” which means a tar and the affix “–ur”.  Masuria is known of its famous 2.000 lakes which are called The Masurian Lake District or in Polish Pojezierze Mazurskie. The largest lake is Śniardwy. It is 22.1 kilometers long and 13.4 kilometers wide. His maximum depth is 23 metres. And there are eight islands situated on it.  This region offers a wide range of outdoor activities. It includes not only lakes but also a variety of wildlife. We can find there the Masurian Landscape Park in which there are 11 nature reserves. One of them is UNESCO Biosphere Resreve. We can find there famous Białowieża Forest with a breeding station for Europeans Bisons.

This region offers also some historical sights such as the ruins of Hitler’s fortified World War II headquarters – the most famous was the Wolf’s Lair and in Polish “Wilczy Szaniec”.  The principal resort towns are Giżycko, Mikołajki, Węgorzewo, Ryn, Pisz and Iława.

This region gives a possibility to spend some time in the bosom of nature and to get some rest from our everyday life. I hope that it will be your next trip destination J

Inspiring books about travelling

Hi there!

Have you felt a bit of your vacation, already? Maybe you’re just about to plan them right now or maybe  you are trying to don’t think about upcoming examsj ust like me? J I have a good solution for those who want to find an inspiration for upcoming break and for those who want to get some rest and forget about studying just for a second.

So I want to present you some books about travelling which are worth to be read.

The first one, “Kotlet na wynos, czyli autostopem za równik”, written by Mateusz Kotlarski presents a story of “Kotlet” who is the main character in this book. One day he just packed himself and went hitchhiking. He traverses 30 000 kilometres to visit Russia, Mongolia, China, Laos, Thailand, Burma, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia. His story is plenty of humour and authentic adventures. This book is an invitation to live an incredible adventure following the steps of the title “kotlet” who is just a typical modest boy, with a distance to himself and with a lot of positive energy.  He presents a lot of interesting reflections about life, how it is perceived.

The next one: “Swoją drogą” is a book written by Tomek Michniewicz.  It is about making dreams come true. The author chose three people from his family and friends and asked them where they would go if someone asked them to choose one place in the world and said that he would take them there but in one condition – which means that they had to make this decision right now.  He have chosen his friend, an accountant who had a perfect life but it don’t mean that he was really happy…, his wife who used to spend all vacations lying on the beach, and the third person was his father. They have chosen to visit Cameroon, Saudi Arabia and New Orleans and Mississippi. This book presents a lot of facts and curiosities about each of this places so we can see them from a completely different side. And you? What would you have chosen?

The last one was written by Conor Grennan and is called “Mali książęta”. It presents a history of a 29 years old boy who is a trifler, focused on his own life who want to make impression on his friends and especially on women.  One day he want to break his routine and he went to Nepal to work in a child care home. But he didn’t know how anything about how to rise children or how to work with them. He supposed that it would be the first step to his great adventure all around the world but this journey becomes something more special….This adventure have completely changed his life J If you are wondering how it was possible and what happened in Nepal I recommend you to read this book J

Must have apps abroad

Hello everyone!

Most of us use smartphone with Android OS. It`s common that we have got lot of free useful apps available in Google Play store so I have prepared five of them which I think are the most useful when you travel abroad.

Google Photos - when I go abroad especially for low price trips I pack only my backpack, so I don`t have got a lot of space to put photo camera inside. That`s why I take often photos with my mobile phone. And this application is an intelligent gallery which allows to make automatic backup of photos in Google cloud without any limitations, for example expire date of media or just simply limited space (it just lower slightly image quality, but you are really not able to notice this 😉). Additional feature is that after uploading photos or videos to Google Photos, it makes automatically albums based on geotags and dates even it can make collages, panoramas and movies - which is my favorite point.

Google Maps - the best maps application ever made - always up to date with lot of useful features like for example navigation, public transport timetable, but the most important is that you are able to download offline maps which are useful if you do not want to pay for internet data that could be expensive abroad. If you don`t like Google Maps you can use Maps.me which allows to download offline maps for whole country or another option could be HERE:Maps made by Nokia witch similar features.

WiFi map - like I mentioned before - mobile data could be very expensive abroad and who doesn`t need to check email or information for example about flight/hotel reservations status? This application is a solution for all kind of these problems - it contains map with WiFi hotspots with passwords if they are required. Stay connected everywhere 😉

TripIt - it is good to organize your trip - for example save your booking reservation number, addresses unless we are able to check it online. Application allows you to make timeline with dates and all trip details. It`s very simple but very useful to keep every information in one place.

TripAdvisor - let`s assume that you are going on a last minute trip, you don`t know the place, have no idea what to visit, where to go - you obviously have to pick up this app. It has got information about whole city you are going to, for example the most liked places or the best restaurants. It`s like a social network where everyone logged in is able to rate the place he has been. Very useful.

So that`s all I need abroad 😉 If you know or even use other apps that could be helpful while travelling, let me know in comments section 😉 Bye!

The highest and the deepest places we have known

Hello everyone :)

Today I want to take you into the highest and then into the deepest places that people have known.

As you may know the highest mountain is Mt Everest which is 8848 m above the sea level. It takes about 60 days to climb up to the top and it requires not only a very good physical strange but mostly mental due to pushing our limits which many times leads to death. Here`s some facts about Mt Everest:

The deepest place we actually know is Mariana Trench which is about 10,994 meters deep and is located near Japan in Pacific Ocean. Only two expeditions went there with people to the bottom of trench - in 1960 did it Don Walsh and Jacques Piccard and then in 2012  James Cameron in Deepsea Challenger bathyscaphe. There is lot of unknown fish species or even geological structures. At all Mariana Trench is less known than the highest mountain. Here`s a video about James Cameron expedition:

What does mean "multicultural country"?

Hello everyone!

As you may have heard Canada is called today a multicultural city, but have you ever wondered why is it like that?  

The Government of Canada during the 1970s and 1980s officially adopted a policy of multiculturalism. Canadians have used the term "multiculturalism" to describe many different religious traditions and cultural influences that make up Canadian culture. Since the 19th century country has experienced different waves of immigration. But the most of population has British or French origins. Today there are many supporters of multiculturalism who believe that the immigrants help society grow culturally, economically and politically.

Canadian country consist of 10 provinces in which Quebec is the largest one. Each province has a different system of local government which may include counties, municipal districts, regional districts or regional county municipalities. But I want to focus especially on one Canada's province, which is Quebec.

The name of this province comes from the Algonquin word kebéc which means "where the river narrows". This regions was a French colony in 1608, that is why today it has two official official languages - English and French. Quebec is also the only one Canadian's province in which cities are divided into arrondissements - this name means boroughs and it is typical only in the capital of France, in Paris. The capital of the province is Quebec City and not Montreal as most of people think.

Quebec has an advanced, market-based and open economy and it has one of the highest growth rate of gross domestic product in Canada. What is also interesting, the most of people work there in the field of science and technology. Leading industries are: aerospace, information technologies and software and multimedia. 

However, the most interesting facts for each traveler are those which concern places worth to see or the main events. So starting with the events, the main one is the Quebec Winter Carnival which takes place every year in February. During this festival there are many attractions like the night-time and daytime parades led by mascot which is called "Bonhomme Carnaval", a masquerade ball with up to 400 participants, which takes place at the huge ballroom of the Château Frontenac, outdoor sports events and the International and Student artist snow sculpture contest on the Plains of Abraham - the main setting of the carnival. 

The Plains of Abraham is the site of the 1759 battle between General Wolfe and Montcalm. This is where Quebec’s biggest holiday – St. Jean Baptiste Day gets celebrated every year. It’s also a 103 hectare park used by tourists and locals alike on a year round basis. It’s got a great skating rink in winter.

Visiting Quebec you have to see the Château Frontenac, which is the world's most photographed hotel. 

Quebec City is home to a Chocolate Museum but there are also other museums worth visiting include Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Québec – an art museum, Musée de la Civilisation, La Citadelle de Québec – North America’s largest British fortress and Musée de l’Amérique Francaise – Canada’s oldest museum.

There are just some information about Quebec and Canada in general but the rest is to discover so don't waste your time and flight to Canada! :) 

New Seven Wonders of the World

Did you know that the idea to choose new Seven Wonders of the World appeared in 1999? 

It was Bernard Weber, a filmmaker with Swiss origins, who set up this project. Next, the list of the monuments was created by Swiss company, called New Open World Corporation. People could vote for the best monument from that list from 1st January 2006 to 6th July 2007. According to the researchers there was 90,000,000 million votes casted form a whole world! And finally form 7th July we have new Seven Wonders of the World which I want you present today.

At first, I have to mention that there is only one of the Old Seven Wonders of the World that survived until today. It is The Great Pyramid of Giza, which obtained an honorary status during presentation of a new list. It is the oldest and the largest one of the three pyramids in the Giza pyramid complex in Egypt and it is believed that it was built as tomb for Cheops. This gigantic monument was constructed over a 20-year period.    

The first one is The Great Wall of China. It stretches form Dandong in the east to Lop Lake in the west.  Several walls were built in 7th century to protect the Chinese states against the invasions. Each of the walls has its own name.

Then we have Petra in Jordan. It is a historical city which is famous of its rock-cut architecture and water conduit system which were very important in the barren deserts. It is also called a “Lost city of stones”. His name derives form the name of its royal founder Rekeme that means Petra in Greek.

The third position comes to The Colosseum in Italy. Its original Latin name was Amphitheatrum Flavium. Its area has 24,000 square metres and it could accommodate 87,000 people! There were many different events which were organised in The Colosseum. We can enumerate shows called Munera that were given by private individuals to demonstrate of power and family prestige. Venatio – shows with the wild beast, navalia proelia – show in which the sea battles were simulated and sylvae shows, which aim was to recreate natural scenes.

The next monument is ChiChen Itza in Mexico.  It was a large pre-Columbian city built by the Maya people. It name means “At the mouth of the well of the Itza.

The fifth position is for Machu Picchu in Peru. It is a 15^th century Inca citadel situated on a mountain. It was built in 1450.

Then we have also  Taj Mahal in India. It was built let to be built by Shah Jahan in 1631, in the memory of his wife which died giving birth to their 14th child.  Taj Mahal is constructed of ivory-white marble and it is a mausoleum which stretches on 17 hectares that includes a mosque and a guest house.

And the last one is The Christ the Redeemer in Brazil. The statue is 30 metres tall and it arms stretch 28 metres wide. It is located at the peak of the 700 metre Corcovado Mountain in the National Park. This statue is a symbol of Christianity.

Trip with backpack only

Helo everyone!

Cheap trips entail big renunciations. Firstly, we buy less expensive tickets or just hitchhiking, then book accommodation mostly at Couchsurfing or AirBnb web sites (my post about how to get free accommodation). If you stay at the campsite with your tent or if you do not want to spend money on bus tickets to get for example to a hotel, you have to reduce size of your luggage to carry it easier. Best option is to take a backpack with you but it doesn't allow to take everything you want and of course it`s not easy to fit all things inside. That is why I prepared some tips how to pack your backpack easier and more ergonomically:

• If you take only your backpack - choose one with 25 liters capacity at least.
• If you take a laptop with you, pack it firstly, but never place it horizontally at the bottom of backpack - the best position is close to your backbone and of course vertically where it`s covered from any unwanted damage.
• If you take additional pair of shoes, place it flat down at the bottom of backpack to fill the space as best you can and provide great stability of the backpack. But firstly insert your underwear inside them! It will give you more space and prevent flattening your shoes.
• Next after the shoes, place your the bulkiest items like jeans, sweater or hoodie. Role it tight and push to the bottom to make sure you are using all your space. Then put all the rest you have left to fill empty space at the bottom e.g. socks.
• Above thick clothes, place t-shirts, folded and then tightly rolled too, opposite of the way you laid your bulky items. That just provides a nice flat surface. Button up shirts, fold them in half and place them on top.
• Last thing to fill any inside extra space is electronics for example memory cards, power banks just to have frequently used items.
• If you take your jacket or rain coat with you, hold it outside the backpack with buckle or simple twine.

Hope you like my tips! And of course it would be great if you share yours to improve everyone`s experiences with trips. Have a good day! 😊