Lots of my friends see me travelling many times. Many times I hear, "I wish I could travel that much, too. But, I don't have the money." Sure, all inclusive hotel stays cost a lot of money, with a cozy bed, hot meals 24/7, warm whirlpools and a pool, idyllically located near the beach. To be honest, sometimes I wished I could afford that too. Actually, I could, but then I'd do one trip for the price of 10 trips. Another problem I see with this type of travelling: You mostly bump into other tourists, probably even from your home country. Hence, you get caught up hanging out with them instead of meeting locals. Sure, it is one way of travelling, calming down and relaxing. In my opinion, I do not have to fly to another country in order to experience that. I could simply book a stay at a local spa and do the same things, without having to pay for flights, visas, etc.

Instead, I use the platform Couchsurfing, an online portal where travellers offer each other to stay at their place. That way, when travelling you have the chance to spend time with a local, get maybe a personal tour through the city with spots you would not find by yourself. This time, when I decided to go to Vilnius, I browsed Couchsurfing for a host that seemed warm-hearted, open-minded, talkative and kind. Also having similar hobbies and interests are recommended. That way, you can easily break the ice and start a conversation. After sending out a few requests, happily Emilija accepted my request. She replied:

"I'd like to host you if you haven't found a host yet :)
Our interest are similar and I think we'd have a lot to talk about.
I'd just like to confirm that I live with my family and my house is a bit farther from the city and the closest bus stop is a kilometer away.
If that's fine with you please come :)"

After I confirmed her invitation again, she shared her address with me and I looked it up. Realising it is far away from the tourist sites, most people probably get scared or think it is not convenient for them.She told me actually that already quite a few Couchsurfers declined their request again, due to her distance from the city centre. I instead was very happy about that, as there is no better way of travelling than be accommodated in areas, locals live in. It brings your travel experience to the next level, as you have the unique chance to see the real life. That way you get a much more representative picture of a place and their people. Actually, her place was only a 30 min bus ride and 15min walk by foot from the city centre. And come on, having demands even being accommodated for free would be really a shame.

The moment I arrived there, she warmly welcomed me and showed me that her whole family made space for me, giving up their entire living room for me for 3 nights. That was so generous! I will never forget that. over the next mornings, her father even made me coffee, tea and prepared a double breakfast for me. He offered me everything his fridge had to offer. I was really overwhelmed by his generosity.

To show my appreciation, I brought some Polish chocolate as a gift with me and invited her for dinner and drinks. That way, I can spend money on restaurant food instead of accommodation that I anyway only need for sleeping and showering and she has the chance to pick whatever she wants and enjoy a meal as well.

Over the course of the next days, she was mostly busy which is totally fine. That way, I could explore the city by myself. But of course, when it is freezing cold outside you want to warm up from time to time. Travelling solo also makes you want to talk to people once in a while. Hence, I was tired and a bit bored after a few hours of walking, so when I was stumbling upon a small cafe, the Storytellers Cafe, I decided to enter it, as it was looking very cozy and only one guy was inside. So I was hoping to maybe start a dialogue with him. In fact, the cafe's owner started the dialogue with me which I was very happy about. We talked for more than two hours and he also introduced me to his friend. After a while, we really had a gregarious round of people talking about life, society and travelling. It really cheered me up! In addition, I would like to outline that I probably drunk the best cup of black coffee for several years at his cafe, which made me return the next day again.

That way, you can always find company by travelling alone, save money, meet locals and experience life on a different level. Of course, it is also nice to not always travel alone and to have your companion, but if that person is not available, you know now a way of social solo travelling.

Overall a four-days stay costed me estimated around 80€:
Gdansk -> Vilnius 10€
Vilnius -> Gdansk 10€
Taxi 5€
Busses 15€
Restaurant dinner for 2 people 20€
Restraurant dinner alone
Small snacks + Entrance fees 20€

Isn't that the amount people pay to refuel their car? ;)

Below, you are going to find a gallery of images I took in many different places I just found by walking to my host, randomly through the city and through the countryside of Trakai, a city next to Vilnius.

As I am a quite thoughtful and melancholic person, I thought back to my time in Norway, probably one of the most unforgettable experiences of my life so far. I have lived in Stavanger for 6 months. I did not earn much money, but my ultimate goal was to explore the fjords, spend time outside in nature and just be amazed by the many beauties the Norwegian nature has to offer: Fjords, mountains, forests, lakes. You just need to spend two nights out in nature and you can pretty much experience everything of it in a nutshell.
The pictures below are the excerpt of my first night out in the Norwegian fjords, more precisely in the Lysefjord. As I had visited the famous Preikestolen already, it had has been time to go off the beaten path to get a more genuine experience than just visiting the region's main attraction. Hence, my flatmate and I decided to set out and follow along the Lysefjord trail.

At that time, I hosted other travellers at my home in Stavanger. So did I for those 3 days, but unfortunately I could not accept the Couchsurfing request I received. I would have loved to, but I already prepared my hiking trip and told my guest about it. But as fate wanted it, I exactly met this guy, whose request I declined in the mountains. That's just crazy what coincidences you run into in life. Anyway, in the beginning we even did not realise that, but after a while -after he joined our hiking party - we figured it out and just laughed about it out loud.

I also had to learn that he has not been really prepared for a night out in the cold Norwegian fjords - yes, even in summer they are cold. So I quickly transformed his Couchsurfing request into a Tentsurfing request. Because that is most likely the biggest lessons I have learned in Norway: Out in nature, everyone is your friend. You have to hold together, share your belongings and keep any kind of reservations and prejudices to yourself. So I offered him to stay with us that night, shared our food with him and invited him to my tent. As he did not have much isolation material, I even offered him half of my very small one person sleeping mattress. It was cold, but we made it. The next morning, we continued our hike and he made his way back to Stavanger.

The official hiking trail - Level: Advanced

Feb 19, 2024

Raus aus dem Low-Achiever Mindset! 💪⚡

"Als wir zum Produkt-Launch unserer neuen Socks und Pillows im Video-Call Meeting mit einigen High-Achievern und Speakern deinen Case entwickelt haben, hat die Task-Force die Message erkannt, dass die Performance nicht ausreicht, um die Brand Visibility zu erhöhen. 📊Analytics und andere Tools zeigten, wie low die Conversions auf der Website waren, weshalb wir unser Mindset 🧠 umgestellt und unsere Content-Strategie gechanged haben. Aus diesen Learnings📚 bauten wir einen Booking-Funnel, der unsere Lead-Conversion antreibt, indem er nicht nur neue Leads generiert sondern gleichzeitig zu Active Clients konvertiert. Eine richtige Win-Win-Situation! 💯 Zudem setzt unser Sales-& Marketing-Team für eine bessere Produkt Delivery nun auch zusätzlich auf High-Quality Content und startet zeitgleich eine Personality-Influencer-Kampagne!"

Jan 18, 2024

Dancing with the lights. (BTS - Behind the scenes)

Vor kurzem wurde unser Traum wahr: Meine Freundin Lilly und ich sahen zum ersten Mal die Nordlichter mit unseren eigenen Augen. Dafür reisten wir nach Inari, ein kleines Dorf im Norden finnisch Lapplands, mitten im Polarkreis.

Recently our dream came true: my girlfriend Lilly and I saw the Northern Lights with our own eyes for the first time. For this we traveled to Inari, a small village in northern Finnish Lapland, in the middle of the Arctic Circle.

Jan 13, 2024

Arctic architecture: The Sámi Cultural Centre Sajos | Inari | Finland by HALO Architects

Sami Cultural Centre Sajos is located in northern part of Finnish Lappland, in village of Inari, on the southern bank of river Juutua. Sajos is the centre of culture and administration for the Sámi, the only indigenous people in European Union. Sajos is the centre of Sámi culture and administration. The Sámi Parliament’s main office and parliament hall are located in the Sámi Cultural Centre Sajos as well as other Sámi organizations.