Job magnet

So, my first solo hitchhiking trip is over. And I'm alive!

Started  at around 13:25 in Nicolassee. I got there on the S1, which took me 40mins from the West Station. There's a McDo-petrol station combo that was supposed to be great for catching a ride to Michendorf, which in turn is considered THE spot for hh east.

It wasn't that great - nobody wanted to take me for some time and then a married couple took pity on me and made quite a detour to bring me to the spot. They dropped me off and only then did someone make me realise I was on the wrong station (in the direction of Leipzig and Magdeburg instead of Frankfurt Oder). 

I did have this one moment of doubt when we passed the Frankfurt Oder exit on the highway but decided the driver knew better. Well, apparently, they don't always do.

Luckily, the person who made me realise the fact was a Polish guy, nice enough to make, yet another, detour and take me to the right spot. I got out (was sooo tempted to go to Belgium with him, though! Haven't had THE fries for months now..) and saw some other hhers. Their stories weren't too optimistic - waiting for long, all cars packed, nobody gives a (..).

Decided to take it slow. Got myself some "food" at McDo and headed to a nice spot by the exit of the car park. 7 or 8 cars later a niceeee Audi with a Polish couple offered to take me to Poznan. They travel a lot lot, so got to hear about places like Mexico, Jamaica or Dundee, Scotland, where they live at the moment. They were getting off the high way before Poznan and offered to drop me off at a gas station, which turned out to be a small car park with a toilet and not much else. 

I was considering getting worried whether or not I was gonna get out of there in the following couple of hours but one of the 3 cars on the spot, with a Polish-Belgian couple from Liege onboard, was happy to take me along, although only till Konin. It was so cute to see how worried they were about the son they'd left home alone for the first time ever (they guy's 18).

I got off at another gas station, asked in 4 cars to hear a no-no, got myself a snack and saw Warsaw plates on a car a girl was ready to take out of the parking lot. At first she seemed skeptical - the car was pretty much full, but I guess she was in a good mood, as she started rearranging things and I fit nicely with all the stuff at the back. Together with a friend she was coming back from Denmark, where they were on a week-long cruise. Turned out they were lawyers, engaged in a lot of cool projects. They asked about me and my travels, got a bit curious about my future guide career and soon were asking for my phone number - they're thinking about taking some of the people from their bar association on MICE like trips and would be looking for a person to help them out.. 

(hence the job magnet thingy, in O's words)

I was the first person the driver has ever taken aboard, the friend also said she never took anyone. By the end of the trip they said it was educative and interesting, and that they'd start taking hhers from now on. Great! 

Oh, and they dropped me off right at my building :)

All in all, the whole hitching thing actually took me less time than getting to the bus station, taking the bus and then getting back home from the bus station. Plus, saved me 30 euro and got me to hear interesting stories. 

Hitch hiking - welcome to my world!

Best hitch ever

Got out of Warsaw on a local bus.

Managed to put my backpack down and my thumb up.

A bus pulled over.

I get to see the plates - the magnificent D at its beginning.

Spot on - we're going to Berlin!

.      .       .       .      .

On a band tour bus.

With a full mini bar, a coffee machine and a microwave.

Beds.

DVD and video games.

Oh, Milka and Pringles on board as well.

Need I say more?

Key to my (future) success

Patience. Patience, my girl.

Seriously, why am I always so restless? 

Why do I feel like I have to do and have everything here and now?

A bit of patience is what could take me to a whole different level. It's what will take me there, unless I never learn it. So I'd better start the learning process!

.     .      .       .       .

The last couple of days have been rather lazy, although some advancement has been made.

For one, my friend got me a new student and although it might not be a fortune, I'll be making a bit of money till the end of next week. Which is great, as Iceland's approaching and so is the terror in my eyes and in my wallet. Every penny counts.

(and I was so sure I wouldn't be teaching English in the nearest future.. Funny thing is, I've realised how much I missed it!)

Secondly, went to another meeting with my column's editor, might be getting some more responsibilities in the fall, which would be cool. A nice title would go with it, although not too much remuneration. However, could use the position as a means of meeting some potentially cool (and business wise "useful") people. So I guess we keep our fingers crossed.

Also, two days ago I kinda appointed myself as a contact person for publishing houses and will be approaching them to cooperate with us. The idea hit me when I restarted reading "Maximum City" by Suketu Mehta - a book that got into my hands while I was still in Bombay and that I absolutely adored reading but didn't have the time to finish (I would always be reading a couple of pages while waiting for S to show up [late, of course], so we could go to the cinema). I stumbled across its Polish translation just two days ago. It came out quite recently and the job was done by a rather small publishing house, so I figured they'd like some help promoting it. Especially that the book's very famous abroad and amongst Indians themselves, not so much over here. Got a green light to contact them on behalf of the portal and did so today. They really liked the idea and we're to pin down the details next week. Yay! 

Sooo planning to get more books for our FB contests!

Next, finally got an interview secured! 

It's on Monday evening with a Vietnamese lady who's been doing a hell of a job fighting for her people's rights, those living both back home and in Poland. She's quite a persona, so am a bit apprehensive - after all it'll be my first interview ever..!

A second one, with an Indian friend and a restaurant owner, will hopefully follow on Wednesday.

Also, yesterday discussed my Indonesian trip's itinerary with the travel agency's bosses and they really seemed to like it. We went over it in detail and today they'll see whether or not all's doable when it comes to the flight connections. If so, then we analyze the financial side of it, put a price tag on it and they'll already start advertising it.. as a Magu Bee's Trip!

.     .      .       .       .

In the meantime, one of the stories in Polish is ready, with pictures in a .pdf and all, although not edited yet. Some others have been started but somehow my mind finds it a bit hard to write in Polish, so my heart finds it a bit hard to commit to it. However, in Roskilde I got my first ever Tarot reading (never really believed in any of such things) and it was to answer my doubts about the success of my new project. Apparently, the cards were very hopeful and optimistic. So am I.

In the morning I found out about a travel writing contest and am thinking about entering the 'ready' story. It'll need rewriting to a certain extent and adding more details (now it's a rather light humorous piece, I'd try to add a more descriptive and short-novel-like element to it) but there's still time, so why not take a shot at it? The winning stories will be put together and published as a book!

In the evening finally met with M who came back from her year in Indonesia, at last! Was sooo happy to see her and feel so proud of her - she looks amazing! Has also changed quite a bit, gained a lot of  life experience, which is worth all the money in the world. So so happy to have her back.

.     .      .       .       .

Damn', it's already so late? Nooooooo-oooo. 

Forgot to mention, I'm off to Berlin* tomorrow. As I've got classes in the morning and will be hitching straight afterwards, and the bag's still unpacked, breakfast uncooked and the flat untidy, it means I've gotta get up at 6am.

G'nite folks!

*Going for the weekend and hoping to get there safe and sound - will be hitch hiking alone for the first time eva. After last week's events might not seem like a grant idea but what can I do..

Plentiful

Plenty of things.

First international hitch hiking, first music festival, first canning, first dumpster diving, first tenting.

New friends met, new bands discovered, new ideas born, new urges to be satisfied arose.

Old friend met, old projects revised, old thoughts rushing in.

Millie's cookies again, philosophy again.

A friend got raped. 

Loosing it

Am sitting at home, when I shouldn't be sitting but packing or making sandwiches or something, and thinking about how cool it is to have friends all over the place. How cool and how oh, not so cool to have them! 

I mean, come on - in the last 3 or 4 days have been invited to Germany, France, Italy, Spain.. and would love to go call upon all the amazing people I know there, even have a cool route in my mind that would start tomorrow and finish somewhere at the end of September, but I can't embark on it due to my Warsaw commitments. Man, I must really be loosing it if an internship, which could be doable via Internet if I played it right, and a vision of working with a cool travel company seem like too big a commitment..

Anywho,

my bus to Berlin leaves at 6am from a place that will take me at least an hour to reach, so I should leave in less than 7 hours. In which time I should make my backpack, prepare my breakfast, lunch and whatever else I can eat while on my way to Germany, get some sleep, take a shower and clean my room. 

I guess tonight I'll just settle for food and the backpack, will sleep on the bus itself (after all got 10 hrs to spare) and tidy the room in July.

That's settled then, I can go back to writing.*

*

Am beginning to work on Magu Bee's travel stories, this time in my native language. Man, it's so hard to write in Polish!

Everything happens for a reason

I was supposed to be getting my London ticket last Friday. Had found a quite ok fare, talked it over with a friend and was ready to buy it. We all know, however, that all the cheap (sorry, low cost – political correctness above all) airlines make you pay a fee for credit card payment, which quite often is just as or even more expensive than the tickets I buy, unless you have a prepaid card. Which I don’t. Luckily, a friend I’ve just been to Italy with does and she agreed to help me. 4 days have passed and due to different circumstances I still haven’t got the ticket. At least now, I know why.

.         .        .         .        .

I was to stay in London with Z, whom I’ve been meaning to visit for quite some time now. However, she’ll have another friend over at the time and as her room isn’t all that big, we’d be a bit short of space. Thus, I was about to give myself only one day in UK before I set off to Iceland. M, the helpful friend with a prepaid card, wanted to get me my ticket on Friday, but she couldn’t due to the lack of financial means on the card. She transferred some money to try again Saturday morning. Saturday morning came, but the money didn’t, so she still couldn’t buy it. And then we left for Sicily where we found out that one of the biggest holiday resorts on the northern shore of the island has zero internet cafes (seriously guys?). Our hotel (the beach) didn’t have a computer we could use either. By the time we could get online again, the ticket’s price had gone up again, so I decided to look for something else once I’m back home.

I’ve been back home for a couple of hours now but no cheaper flights on the given day was to be found. I’ve decided not to risk it and wait for some hot deal, and gave the green light to purchase the flight. Yet again, as the price had gone up, not enough dough to pay Raynair off. So again, the angelic M said she’d transfer some more cash and get me the ticket then. About half an hour later G, a Lithuanian friend living in London, wrote me after quite some weeks without contact, and invited me over to hers. So, I’ll get to see her and some more of my friends, pay less for the flight itself and enjoy London a bit more (and have read about a new mango joint yesterday , which I’m all too eager to check out, so yay!).

Thanks bank transfers for taking so freaking long! :)

Gelato..

..here comes Magu Bee!

Who said you can't have it all?

They lied.

At least this last week and a half! 

(oh, another one and a half I've noticed today!)

I'm a lucky person, I've said it many times before, but even I can't believe at how great the last couple of days have been and how wonderful the next few months seem to be.

But let's take it from the beginning. 

I haven't been quite myself for about 2 or 3 weeks and was kind of frustrated, which I forbid myself. Also, the slightest hint of regret was begining to appear and that was simply out of the question! So I was starting the weekend with less energy than I should have had, the only things keeping my spirits up were a fun Saturday out at an open swimming pool (which later grew into a home made Mexican meal and a club openning with the best music ever) and meeting F on Monday (we're on the 6th of June here, better keep track!). (F's a super nice Italian girl living in Dubai, whom I'd met 4 months ago during a night out in Bombay and who was coming to Warsaw on a work trip.)

Monday - I meet F in the evening in her hotel. Going up in the elevator of the Westin hotel makes me really homesick for India. Seeing her and listening to how her life's like might have gotten me down. However, somehow, it gives me a strange kind of hope and motivation to change what I don't like.

Tuesday - A crazy day ends with an even crazier night. A night to remember. Or not to, actually, as others will find out later - I get to relive the Hangover in real life. Some of the funniest txts in my life follow.

Wednesday - I have an interview in Centrum Studiów Polska Azja (the Center for the Polish Asian Relations) and I land the internship I wanted. I'm given a couple of column topics and choose interviewing Asians living in Warsaw. I add a twist to it - instead of writing them down, my editor agrees to a video column. Great, now all I need is to freaking pull it off :) A meeting with S is next and we talk about some cool things we could work on together for his travel platform.

Thursday - Am already on a roll! I meet owners of a cool travel agency and suggest they get in touch with my Indian (ex)boss - he might need such a well-rounded Polish partner. Then we start talking, I ask questions and answer some. By the end of the conversation we've decided to start working together on some projects. Am excited as hell.

Friday - I think and ponder and think some more, and decide to try and make it to Tripani, Sicily, for the weekend of 18th-21st. I'd bought tickets a while back and later decided I wouldn't be able to go. 'Why the hell not? I can make it work!' I hear myself saying and that's it - I'm going to get me some gelato! Round ticket for Kraków - Tripani costs me 55zł (14€).

Saturday - I meet with M and the meeting's successful - I've got my cameraman! Also, T agrees to be the lead of my first interview. Yay! Randomly surfing the net, I stumble across a travel blog which makes me rethink a lot of things and the decision's made - I'm starting a Polish website with my travel adventures. I have a theme, I have the name, little bees keep on flying in front of my eyes the whole day. Which ends great - with one of A's culinary soirees.

Sunday - I go to my summer house and while repainting some old chairs, I make the decision to take my life back into my own hands and not settle for anything less than great. Regret's not an option - I'm going to Iceland!

Monday -  I buy my IcelandExpress tickets. And so there's no turning back - on August 2nd I leave London for Reykjavik. A return ticket costs me 350€. Now how the hell do I cheaply get to London in the middle of the summer holidays??

Tuesday - Things can't get much better, right? Wrong! In the evening, when I'm already low on energy and falling asleep standing, I get txts from my friends. Lots of happy txts. It turns out I've placed 2nd in My Way.

Wednesday - I talk to my boss, we work things out and finish amicably, good! I read the Rules of My Way and somehow they don't fit in with the picture painted in their email. Either way - I'll have dancing money. What will I ask of them, I wonder? Also, C's fb status (a cool Australian met in Malaysia in October, met again in India in January, living in Berlin) tells me about Roskilde Festival and that they're still looking for staff in exchange for accommodation and food. Now that's interesting..

Thursday - Today's been a busy day. In the morning I find out there's a CS event near Tripani this weekend. I've no idea how, but I need to get myself there! The problem is I land at 10:45 pm and no buses operate to the camp site. Let's see.

Also, C tells me whom to write about Roskilde. She's going there on the 29th, hitch hiking from Berlin. Now that's something I can't miss. I find bus tickets to Berlin for 10€, already got my booking number ;)

I'm on the waiting list for the festival, but I figure that even if that doesn't work out then I'll hang out in Denmark, never been there afterall, and on the 4th or 5th hitch hike back home with C.

I talk to P, who is on a reggae festival in Spain till the 25th or 26th of August and still doesn't have a return ticket. 

'Why don't I fly to Spain from Iceland and we hitch back home?' 

'Why don't you then?'. 

So now, apart from a cheap flight to London and a bus to the CS event in Sicily, I need to find a nice connection to Madrid/Barcelona ;)

.       .        .        .        .

And why the tittle? 

(Apart from the obvious good fortune that's been stalking me these past few days?)

When coming back from Spain, I wasn't thinking about getting a job. An internship or a part time, sure. But nothing too restrictive, as I just needed time to figure out where to go. However, a great opportunity was thrown at me and I had to give it a shot. I was ready to stay back for a while and work on it. I thought all was gonna be swell - it wasn't. That's where the beforementioned frustration was coming from and it wasn't a welcomed guest. So, decisions had to be made.

Now, on one hand, I could say I failed. I won't go through with the project, won't be earning, won't learn all I was looking forward to learning.

On the other, though.. I was thinking about it last night and it hit me - I got all I originally wanted and more! I worked for 1,5 months, learned some, met great people, earned some and figured out what I want to focus on. Plus, got to win a contest, plan 2 cool short trips and still managed to find reasonably priced Iceland tickets, so no regrets will follow!

I do have it all now :)

One and a half

Have just been chatting with a friend I haven't talked to for a while, so of course the question that's come up is 

'Where in the world are you?'. 

I said 'Warsaw, like a month and a half or so­ ­'

'A month and a half ago since you've been there or until you leave?!'

And then I realised one and a half is THE number for today.

I've been back in Warsaw for a bit over a month and a half.

I'm leaving Poland in a day and a half (only for 3 days, but it still counts!)

And in a month and a half, I'm leaving for my next trip.

How cool is one and a half, I ask you? ;)

Changes coming, yet again.

It seems that another exciting chapter of my life is about to begin.

Can't wait to be able to give more details!

As for the previous post, I haven't made it to the next round. It's sad, but on the same day those doors got shut, life opened a window for me. With a view I cannot and will not complain about.

.     .     .     .     .

By the way, a couple of weeks back I found a contest on fb. The thing was to create a video displaying your passion/life story via the company's aplication. I did so, stating how I couldn't stop dancing wherever I went, and started campaigning it among my friends and their friends. However, I was way behind other competitors, as I found out about it a couple of weeks into the competition. At the beginning I was getting many new votes a day, but then most of people must have gotten fed up with my spamming (can't say I blame them all that much) and so I wasn't gonna make it even to the top 10 (the 1st prize was 15 000zł = 5k$, the next 9 was 1 000zł = 330$). I've already kinda forgotten about it and today I got txt from two friends with a lot of happy faces. I ask them what's happened and they ask me if I'd seen the contest's results.  

Nope, I haven't. - they read my reply.  

You've won $, you placed 2nd. - I read theirs.

How's that possible? - you probably ask yourself, much as I did.

People were cheating. - comes the most natural, yet still surprising answer.

And then I'm really happy, as $ are very much needed at the moment.. ;)

However, there's still a chance not everything will be so peachy - not 100% sure those 330$ will be given to me in cash. Apparently, it states that I shall receive a voucher for such amount. And seeing how I don't drink and the company does in liquor, I wouldn't appreciate vouchers for their products (unlike my friends - some of them are already organising a party and they intend to drink on my account, naive little people ;) ).

They're supposed to write me within 3 days, let's see what happens.

.     .     .     .     .

I hope they'll contact me asap and that once they do, they'll want to give me some $. I need to get to UK soon and somehow haven't been able to find any cheap flights...