The  past two months were nothing short of amazing. Spring has finally arrived and despite a few cold and rainy days, I could finally see the sunshine more often, spend more time outdoors, cycle around my favourite lakes in Poznań, do some longer distance hiking, socialise with friends in the open air. But let me take this all one by one.

Commitment to sport and healthy food

I can hardly believe it’s been three months since I started changing my diet and I committed myself to working out. It’s only three months but the results are amazing. I basically eliminated everything that contains processed sugar and increased the intake of protein and fibres. As a result I have SO MUCH ENERGY during the day I actually no longer need coffee. I drink it for the taste and socialising only. Also, when getting up in the morning I feel my batteries are just full and ready to go. Have you done anything similar? I am curious if it’s only me or if you can share a similar experience. I am in the phase of learning about healthy lifestyle, so if you know something of value, share it with me please! ;-)

I am also a frequent guest at the gym. Why all this you might ask? Well… there’s one big reason that I will announce later in this post. :D

The Third Polish Travel Bloggers’ Meeting in Cieszyn

In April I went to Cieszyn once again to meet fellow travel bloggers from Poland. This weekend didn’t fall short of my expectations for fun and inspiration. The ideas were literally flying in the air and I even risked taking analogue portraits of some of other bloggers. If you haven’t seen this post, check out it here. It’s in Polish, but hey, photography doesn’t need any language, does it?

Long weekend in May

I love May. This is the month when spring is tangible in the air. Pubs and restaurants put out tables onto the streets; students have barbecues by the river; beer and wine just taste better when drunk in the sunset during warm evenings; I feel my introvert part is disappearing into thin air and I always get a strong feeling of wanderlust and plan my travels for the rest of the year. The beginning of the month meant a little holiday for me which I spent hiking around Poznań.

Trip to Wrocław with high school friends

Drinking coffee, catching the first suntan, chilling out in escape rooms, admiring the panorama of Wroclaw and enjoying its lively bars. That was a very, very good weekend.

Barbecue with travel bloggers from Poznań – in the rain (because why not?)

May was also a good chance to finally meet travel bloggers who live in Poznan. I have known some of them already from previous meetings, but this time we were finally joined by some new faces. The funny thing was that we started our barbecue just in time when it started raining heavily. This was no obstacle, though, because we found a spot under a roof where we prepared the food. From a distance, it might have looked a bit suspicious, but we had fun, so who cares? It stopped raining when we, of course, finished preparing the food. Such luck. Faces you see below belong to those bloggeres and their “plus ones”.

Agata from Agata w wielkim mieście
Monika czyli Amused Observer
Ela from Nieśmigielska.com
Bartek i Luiza z Tu i tam
Asia z Podróże w ciemno
Ania z Wrzosy w podróży

Kosovo

The last week of May was actually the best one. On Sunday night, in the company of Kamila, we hopped on the bus to Berlin where we had our flight to Pristina. Although both of us prefer to travel solo, we decided to meet a few times while in Kosovo. I’ll tell you more in the next blog posts. Kosovo was a big surprise for me. I expected a somewhat uninteresting country – judging by some opinions I gathered, for example, while I was in Albania. And thank god I didn’t listen to that and went to see myself: Kosovo is amazing, its citizens are warm-hearted and very, very friendly and it’s been a long time since any place made such a positive impression on me. I’m now busy preparing posts about Kosovo in which, I hope; I will convince you to include that country on your travel list.

And now… time for the big announcement!

source: Flikr

What is the reason behind all this working out and going to the gym? Surely, health is important, but I would not have so much motivation if it hadn’t been for the fact that I am preparing to….. TREK ICELAND!!!

There is one thing that drives me the most: pushing my own limits.

I am afraid of heights; so what do I do? I go to the Accursed Mountains in Kosovo to face what I’m afraid of. I think my arms are too weak to do 20 push-ups in a row, so I go to the gym, exercise and later visit a forest adventure park to check if my arms grew any stronger.I don’t like cold, I’ve never climbed a volcano that’s covered with thick snow on crampons; so what do I do?

I decide to do a trekking on Icelandic volcanoes!

source: Flikr

What’s the story behind?

In January, I made a commitment to challenge myself more often than in 2015 and try out things that I would normally not even consider doing.

I’m planning to walk between 12-24 km every day. I am really praying for good weather, otherwise climbing Iceland’s highest peak will be double that difficult. This trekking also means sleeping in tents many nights straight, spending nearly 24 hours a day in the open air (I love that!), walking in crampons for the first time ever in my life, and saying hello to the glacier – also for the first time.

The biggest challenge and the highlight will be climbing Iceland’s highest mountain, the Hvannadalshnúkur peak and this is actually the main reason why I’m such a frequent visitor on the gym. :D It would be so lame to be fighting for breath instead of taking photos while conquering the summit of Hvannadalshnúkur, wouldn’t it?

I will spend two weeks in Iceland altogether. Needles to say, I am very excited to do that and can’t wait until I hop on the plane on 3^rd August. Anyone of you has been to Iceland and can share some tips? As always, my itinerary is not fixed yet and I will be happy to gather some inspirations!

It’s so good to be floating my boat!

April and May were really good months. Months of positive changes. Without false shyness, I can actually openly admit I’m proud of myself. The commitments that were crystallising in my head in January and February are in full swing right now and I have no intention to stop working for my goals. I’ve also left my comfort zones a few times, mostly while in Kosovo, and grew stronger, but that’s a story for another time. Spring is here, summer is coming, life’s good.

How has your life been? Have you travelled somewhere? Made some plans for the summer? Worked your asses off in the gym? Read an important book? I’m curious to hear!