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.

My last weekend I spent in Oslo. When I saw the cheap Wizzair connection, I instantly decided to go for a spontaneous trip searching for new challenges and inspiration abroad in a beautiful country. To be honest, Oslo is not the typical Norwegian city, so the challenge became real very quickly. No red or white wooden houses. Instead, my shuttle bus dropped me after a two hours ride from the airport in the middle of nowhere in the center of Oslo, among skyscrapers and office buildings. I was very surprised of that. So I started my walk over a bridge to enter the Barcode Business District, where you can find several buildings in different shapes and design rowed up next to each other. Nothing spectacular, to be honest. Anyway, the trip was about taking different pictures than usually and also to create my first picture set, to create a consistent general impression and style within the whole post. So I tried to find interesting angles to depict the typical office buildings in an artistic way, taking advantage of their diagonals, simplicity and reflections, in the post production I reduced the range of colors in most pictures to a minimum and increased the contrast dramatically. It's quite obscure, but I like the vibe of it.

Afterwards I strolled along the river amongst several building cranes, quite boring. Every window reflection showed building cranes, that's why I did not post any of the Opera pictures here, what everybody would expect, since it became one of the most iconic buildings in Europe due to its splendid architecture. Anyway, I moved on and walked through the city's main street. I had such beautiful memories of Oslo, because I've been to Oslo already when I was a teenager. But my point of view was completely different, this time. It is really a normal average western European city with lots of shops, glamour and consumption. So I decided to focus on the unusual again, the cute old-fashioned magazine shops. Unfortunately the sky was overcast and just a muddy grey showed up. So I decided to search for the next target on my checklist, the tunnel in the Nationaltheatret metro station. I had lots of fun there playing with the lines and tilting my camera to unusual angles. But also people crossed the tunnel and insisted on deleting all pictures which they crossed (although you could not see their faces...weird...anyhow!) Of course I did not delete all of them, still there are some cool ones left to be revealed at a later time on flickr.

The next day's schedule was quite simple and easy manageable: I just wanted to visit the Vigeland Park and the Huk peninsula. I imagine the park to be very beautiful in every other season than winter. Anyway I want to its less popular spots capturing the picture of the small waterfall (I just love moving water!). But on my way down to the waterfall, I slipped away on the ice, slided down the hill and crashed into bushes. Well, not a very shining moment for me, but that's the adventure. That's what I love photography, not only the results, but the story behind them. Furthermore it shows my full determination for the project Oslo, where I did not allow any room to laziness or giving-up. I just hurt myself on the knee, I am still alive and In the end I had a nice picture, so it was worth it, don't you think?
After spending an hour in the park, I headed towards the Huk peninsula, in the Oslo fjord, where I observed the weather and the sun for three hours, walking around the peninsula two times to find the perfect spot for the sunset. It was really a tough challenge to stay so long and to keep up the motivation, but I did not give up. In the end, the persistence and endurance totally payed off and rewarded me with those beautiful shots from the beach, when the sun finally won the battle against the clouds. Also those weather phenomenons I documented very well, but I still need to work on those. Hence the will be released on flickr soon. So just enjoy the best shots which I published so far:

All in all this trip clearly outlined, how determination, persistence and endurance combined with good location scouting can reveal the full potential in me to take pictures and open my eye, heart and soul every time again to see the beauty in the ordinary. It was a very motivating and educational trip!

In two weeks I'm flying again to Norway, this time to Alesund. I am totally looking forward to it! It's supposed to be a magical vibrant cozy city surrounded by water and high mountains! So stay tuned for more Norwegian beauty. I know for sure that every adventure I will go on, brings me one step closer to my dream, the dream of sharing my love to photography with the world and to make a living of it. It's all about patience, persistence and endurance!

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.