Hola, Mallorca!

I’ve finally found some time to update my blog a little! Haven’t been very active since I was having a lot of fun in Mallorca. My friends invited me for a trip some time ago and although I didn’t really know what to expect from the island, I said yes. (because you should always say yes to any invitation to travel 🙂 ) I’d never been to Spain or any islands belonging to Spain so I was very excited to finally see with my own eyes and practice my Spanish a little bit.

Briefly – Mallorca had me fall for it. I don’t know if it is for the amazingly friendly people or for the beautiful language or for a wonderful atmosphere. Anywhere I went in Mallorca, I was constantly falling in love again and again. Here’s where I went:

Palma de Mallorca 

The capital of Mallorca, Palma is a very classy city. It doesn’t happen to me very often, and for instance, although I loved Thailand with all my heart, it didn’t happen to me there – I didn’t feel like I could live in that place. In Palma, however, I could instantly imagine myself living in one of those amazing houses, walking those streets every day and just live the dream. Oh how I didn’t want to leave it! I could spend hours, days, just walking around taking pictures of Palma’s breathtaking architecture. Every piece was a work of art.

What to do when in Palma? Definitely check out La Catedrala and also Mango and Zara stores. As they’re both Spanish brands, the stores are huge and a lot cheaper than elsewhere!

Andratx

Mostly known for its Wednesday weekend market, Andratx is a wonderful small town. There was a special bus going from Magaluf, Santa Ponca etc. that would take you directly to the market on a Wednesday morning. The town has adorable alleyways and it is surrounded by olive trees. Definitely my kind of place.

A must for when in Spain – black paella! Or any paella for that matter… Love it!

Mallorca to me was just an epitome of partying and wild nightlife. That is at least what you hear from everywhere – “Come party to Mallorca/Ibiza”. What is less talked about is its beautiful nature, interesting history and unique culture. All of it you can experience once there if you keep your eyes and hearts opened.

Bucket List for Summer ’12

As I’ve had a lot of time to think what next to do with my summer holidays, I figured why not do something I would have never thought I would do. I mean, so far this is exactly what this summer has been about – doing things I never thought I would have guts to do. So what’s next on the list?

Scuba Diving

I’m planning a trip to Mallorca at the end of this month and can’t wait to do my PADI Open Water Course! Why Scuba? Because I just can’t imagine what it must feel like to be down there – it’s like a completely different world with its own rules.

Freediving

Freediving, unlike scuba, requires more practice and strength. Freedivers don’t use scuba gear and can only rely on themselves, on their own ability to hold their breath while going underwater. What is most important is to be able to keep yourself in control of all the actions while staying relaxed.

I am planning to do a freediving course while in Prague. I have just bought my mask yesterday and tried it out in a pool – while not being able to dive deep and only floating on the surface, I still enjoyed the ability to see what was happening underwater (not that anything was happening much but I still liked seeing people swim by).

Snorkeling

It’s basically what I did in the pool yesterday except there’s also a snorkel involved. And swim fins. There are snorkeling trips available in Mallorca so I think I can’t miss out on those!

Hitch hiking

Back on solid ground, I’m excited for my and my friend’s first hitch hiking trip from Prague to Berlin in August! One could say it’s a bad idea since we’re two girls with zero experience but you only live once, right? 😉

All Good Things Come to an End

How do most people feel after they come home from a trip that’s just finished?

Relieved, happy, sad? Well for me it is definitely a feeling of wanting more. It feels strange to come back to the place where everything is as you know it after seeing so many things you’ve never seen before. When you’re traveling, you feel alive. When you return home, you suddenly feel like life stopped, and the one thing you feel the urge for is to travel again.

Having said that, I must admit I’m no travel expert, no backpacker, pretty much none of these things. What I’ve been doing for the last couple of years is living a life of routine and I’ve felt comfortable doing so, I mean – why not? You do what you do, nothing hurts, nothing scares you, everything is easy and you don’t really need to think. Then suddenly you’re on a plane and you fly over such places as Africa and India, and I remember looking out the window thinking “Wow, down there is a place like Karachi – I’ve heard so much of it but it’s impossible to imagine that it is actually right there, that it exists not only on TV screen or newspaper pages”. It was then that I realized how limited my life has been, how little I knew about the world. I realized I could tell you everything about Second World War or European politics, but when it comes to dealing with real life issues – I think I’d just fail. That is how I felt on my way to Bangkok, Thailand, where I was about to spend 10 days.

More on that soon.

Last day of April

Do you know a feeling when you’ve been waiting for something for so long and now that it is almost here, right here at your fingertips, suddenly, you feel like “ah, it’s actually not as special as I thought”? My Dad said that whenever something really crucial happens in your life, like when you finally finish school or something, you don’t really feel any different. It’s like not much has changed and at the same time your life has changed. You just don’t fully realize it.

I’ve been feeling strange these last few days. Suddenly everything in my life seems fake. People that I meet, my goals, my visions. I somehow started feeling like I don’t belong.

As for traveling, looks like I’m going to Thailand in a month. I have some sort of “project” in mind, we’ll see how it goes.

Outside that box

I am a very enthusiastic person. Whenever there is something that catches my eye – I go for it head over heels. I’ve become passionate about writing, spent the days going through various blogs and it simply fascinates me. I just bumped into this travel blog called “Adventurous Kate” (www.adventurouskate.com) which left me quite speechless. The girl travels the world solo, her favorite book is Hemingway’s “The Sun Also Rises” and she’s about to fulfill her dream of going to those bullfighting shows described in the novel.

While going through her blog, questions kept popping up in my head. How does she do it? How did she manage to get where she is right now? How do I get there as well? I don’t think of myself as a coward, but all those questions led to arising of certain fear in me. I kept thinking –  wow, how can I one day start doing this as well? Is it not too late? Being 21, I feel like I’ve not yet achieved anything crucial in my life and I noticed I started to realize time actually does pressure me. Some might say I still have the whole life ahead of me but I feel like I can’t waste a second. I feel like I need to start NOW, I need to pack my bags and go see the world. Which leads me to another idea.

I’ve been thinking how do I manage to travel “outside the box”. I’m not a least bit excited about traveling with some agency. A good idea would be to just buy a ticket and try my fortune. I was thinking I should try volunteering in South America or teaching English in Asia. The world seems to be full of possibilities, how do I know which one to catch?

Having said all that, I need to confess that, honestly, I’ve always believed in Life. I’ve always believed every one of us leads the life which best suits each and every one of us. I am convinced that what we should do is try to go with the flow, knowing for certain that Life will never let us down.