an invitation to travel the nations

Travelling has always been exciting to me. New countries with different people, languages, culture and emotions. New cities with architecture, styles and feels. New landscapes with beautiful views of mountains, seas, forests, plants, animals and smells. New places, museums with history and arts, restaurants with regional and authentic foods, stores with unique and local souvenirs. All special and inviting to see, touch and taste.

Getting a driver's license gives you a sense of freedom. Finally, you can go wherever you want on your own schedule. I did this a lot...

I don't think I did much traveling when I was little but I did find this picture from a family vacation by the Baltic Sea. What seemed very special back then is not anymore as I gone way farther since...

Either for business or pleasure, I have always liked airports, full of people, the last stop before something new. As a part of my job I saw quite a few countries; England, USA, Mexico, Turkey, Hungary, Romania and Germany. For pleasure even more; Italy, France, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Monaco, South Africa, Canada, Netherlands, Spain and Maldives. Maybe more which I don't remember.

Romania

I happily was going to Romania as I have a love towards Romania and Romanian ethnicity in my blood. Romanians are very warm people. One of my grandmothers was born there but she claimed to be Polish. I'm thinking I'll need to do a genealogical test to find out if she was correct. I liked sightseeing among old Romanian castles and the cute city centers. The interesting thing is that some of their houses are connected to each other in a long line. Since there were a lot of mountains they kept telling me to be careful for bears, that they may come visit in the city when they're hungry.

The mountains were beautiful indeed, marvelous views and great pleasure to hike there. At the trail heads they have street stands where they sell folk art made of wood and fabrics. I bought a pretty scarf for my grandmother once that made her very happy.

Germany

I ended up living in Germany for few years. Before I was moving I got two types of extreme comments "You must be were good at your job since the Germans accepted you" or "Why would you go there? Poles don't like Germans". Praying for our nations to forgive each other was on my agenda. I learnt many things about Germans who take their jobs seriously since they get huge sense of pride and achievements from what they do professionally. They are also serious about their rest so when the weekend comes they make sure to enjoy it. They like long breakfasts or lunches in restaurants with no lines. These type of places are hard to find in the USA. Germans also take very good care about their outsides, having nice gardens and front porches, flower stores selling beautiful arrangements and seasonal decorations.

Germany is a very clean country that makes everything (streets, beaches, parks, public transportation and food markets) look even better.

Spain

My country of choice for vacations was Spain. For sun mostly... and homemade sangria. I tried to recreate it at home but it didn't taste the same. As for food I ate traditional Spanish paella with rice, chicken, sea food, vegetables and saffron. Since the Spanish weather is hot the plants that grow there are palms, succulents and citrus fruit trees. As you walk around you can pick up oranges from the ground and make orange juice from it. In Poland l'm used to picking up apples from the ground to make compote.

Another interesting thing that I saw there was a riverbed transformed into a walking path with trees and flowers. The river was moved away from the city after a flood. Aside from this, I enjoyed Spanish architecture and the tiny roads that you stroll through.

South Africa

There are some special memories that I brought from South Africa. On the Table Mountain which is very flat I felt for the first time that I was walking in the clouds. A visit to Robben Island made me think how complicated life is.

There are many wild animals that normally you'd see in a zoo. I don't like animals but I saw rhinos, zebras, ostriches and as you can see on the picture penguins. There is also this funny animal called hyrax.

Maldives

The Maldives was probably the most exotic vacation I have ever taken. It is a country of 1192 islands in the Indian Ocean. To get there we had to use all the types of transportation, car, plane, seaplane and boat. It was a small island called Ellaidhoo with cute bungalows on turquois waters. I was scared to fall asleep the first night.

The place was perfect for relaxation which you somewhat were forced to do since besides the water, restaurant, bar and spa there was not much other things to do. Well, something very special that I did there for a first time was snorkeling. I was a little nervous as I'm afraid of the creatures but... all the beautiful fish, small and big in all the colors and even little sharks. Plus, the colorful and different shapes coral reefs were stunning. What made the Maldives a special trip is also the fact that they're on a list of endangered places due to rising sea levels.

Visiting new parts of the world is always a great adventure since it allows you to soak in the beautiful nature, experience something you haven't seen or heard or tasted or smelled before. I remember once I was waking with a girl from Turkey in Poland and she asked why some ladies wear funny dresses. She meant nuns. Another time in Germany a Chinese girl said keep talking about God I don't hear about Him in my country.

I have always been thrilled by the idea of spreading the Gospel to the nations. Never did I think this would be happening through my blog!