Ola Mae

[00:00:00] Ola Mae: One thing that I could have changed, it would definitely be cutting off. So to me entirely not having a contact with anybody, like just go off the grid. Hello and welcome to the modern adventurer podcast. I’m John Horsfall. And on this weekly podcast, I talk to adventurers and explorers from around the world who have made remarkable and daring journeys in recent years.

But what is left for the modernist Ventra in the 21st century? Well, let’s find out, thanks for having me. It’s an absolute pleasure and great to have you on. And I think what’s so interesting about your story, which we’re going to jump into is this sort of big leap of faith that you did and a huge 13 month expedition that you did all around Europe.

I always like to start at the beginning and sort of about yourself and how you sort of got into or plat or got into planning this big trip. Well, so I [00:01:00] think every story begins way before the actual, as you call it expedition. And I’m glad you calling in the next position because having no previous experience it does validate my journey in my eyes to hear from another adventure.

So prior to the idea, you know, creating in my head, I was living in the state. So being in the states and I was studying there and not to get into too much detail about my situation, but I was kind of forced to stay in the states. So the duration of six years, which was great in the sense that I have gotten my degree there and I had the opportunity to live there.

However, it also meant the sacrifice. Saying one place and not being able to see my family for nearly six years. [00:02:00] And so I found myself in this privilege place, you know, being able to be in the states of being able to get a degree there. And then I felt trapped and you’re very in mind that it’s, it’s a sacrifice that I decided to take.

It’s a sacrifice that that was fully my responsibility, but also it doesn’t change the fact that I was feeling like I’m really not very independent, that I am really very reliant on other people. And at the time I started to listen to some podcasts and the podcasts, I listened to stories of ultra athletes, you know, adventurous people who were starting their own business.

People who are just doing, shifting the paradigm in mind. And I thought to myself, [00:03:00] wow, it would be amazing to do something similar one day, a version of it. And I just felt this, like something feeling in my chest whenever I was listening to the stories, feeling like, well, some things in me and, you know, I, I contained it by knew that it was within me.

And so after six years I come back to homelands and I have dislike around needing to get a visa so that I can go on and work in the state. And, you know, I get all the papers and everything’s fine. So I’m thinking it’s just formality. I come in and they say, well, we can’t give you the. And I remember being so shocked because I thought to myself, well here I was being a really good girl, climbing the ladder.

And then here I am on the top of that ladder, I’m looking around and I’m realizing I’m on the wrong [00:04:00] wall. And I remember I just felt quiet. I didn’t have a plan B, I didn’t have transit. And I was terrified, you know, and then there was this shower scene, every, every dramatic shower scene. And I definitely had mine worth of a Hollywood drama.

So you know, sitting in the shower and at this point reevaluating, every decision that I ever took in my life, you know, like I was doing this thing and I thought I was doing the right thing. And all of a sudden I realized that it was all for now. And so this question clarifies in my head, what makes you happy?

It’s a very simple question. And, you know, before I have a chance to actually think about the answer and [00:05:00] come up with all the good plan for myself, like an image of a bike comes to my head, you know, and I think it was so shocking to my own self to, to see an image of a bike. And then, you know, what follows is me fantasizing about like going on a bike trip through Europe completely crazy.

Maybe if I have never, ever thought of before. And you know, I got out of the shower and I started going around telling people, this is what I’m going to do. And at the time I got laughed right in my face. Well, I thought I completely lost my shit. And and no one believed that was actually going to carry that through.

So that’s kind of the seed that was planted before I even started the trip because that the shower scene was almost exactly two years [00:06:00] before I actually started my trip. It’s very interesting. There was a lot of similarities with me as well. This idea of when you have this sort of burning desire, you can almost like when you think of it, it excites, you see much, you sort of can’t breathe.

You’re sort of waking up, can’t sleep at night because you’re so excited because it’s in your head is sort of planning it. But and then the, what makes you happy was something that I remember when I went across year. So asking people, wherever, wherever I went, what’s like, what makes them happy? And the varied responses that you got, and it’s a sort of, you know, what makes you happy?

It’s a question everyone should ask from time to time because it matters so much. I’d say. [00:07:00] And so we’ve you know, planning this trip and as you say, everyone around you sort of laughing and wondering, okay, when to that gonna blow off or grow out of it, how did the sort of planning all that sort of come about?

Because as you say, having never done anything like this, how did it sort of go from the idea to the execution credits? The last time I cycled a significant distance and by significant distance, I mean probably no more than 50. Was about like 15, 15 years before I even came up with the idea and then I was sore for, so I really had absolutely no point of reference for coming up with, with a plan to cycle through Europe and laughing didn’t really discourage me, but the fact that [00:08:00] I was broke.

And so I’ve just realized that if I am to start this journey, I’ll probably the load of financial backup. And so I decided to go to London, you know, not a great place if you’re trying to stay money. Absolutely not, but that was my choice. And so I found one job, then I found another job. And and I kept thinking about this idea and, you know, I thought to myself, well, there are so many people who come up with those grand plans and.

And they just talk about it for years and they never do it because there’s always something that comes in the way. Like I don’t have money. I don’t have time. I’ll wait for the children to like finish high school, finish university, whatever it is. And I thought, well, I’m different. I’m definitely going to do it right.

And here I am jumping from a [00:09:00] job to another and then condemning kids. And I kind of, I’m still thinking, you know, I need to reach a certain financial level for me to be able to quit the job and to be on the trip. But it’s one of those things that you can just convince yourself, you know, till Aternity that you just need another month, you know, it just needs another week.

Then you can do it forever. And so for me, I got a little help from the universe as I call it and I lost my job. I was my job at the time I was in, in Poland, I was on vacation. And I remember just looking at the message and the grocery line and thinking to myself, wow, like all of my financial security just got out of the window and I have nothing now, you know, what am I going to do?

And I think before I even finished [00:10:00] reading the email from work, I already knew that I was going to move out of London, get a bike, get everything else that I need. Cause I had zero things prepared and I’m just going to start the trip, you know? So between me losing the job and me jumping on the bike probably like two weeks passed.

And again, I was starting from, from, from the zero, like during those two years that I’ve been marinating the idea of the trip in my, in my head. Someone had sent me a book on, on, on trips done on the bike. And I remember just like, you know, looking through a few pages, taking like very basic notes.

And, and so at the time, at the time where I lost my job, I actually had a couple of pages of notes. So I wasn’t, you know, I wasn’t completely [00:11:00] unprepared. I kind of had a very vague idea of what needs to be done also in London where I was living, I have met a guy who cycle through south America. And I remember talking to him about the, the, the idea of trip.

And one thing, the one advice that he has given was don’t overthink it, which is definitely like my default to over think things over, analyze them. He said, don’t overthink it because you never going to do it. And so I really listened to that advice. You know, I. I found the bike within the first week, the second week I ordered everything that I thought I would meet, but and, and then on the day of the departure, I packed all my in-ears and then I had the terrifying moment of realizing how much it actually weights.

And so I had like a very good base, like in front of my mom, pretend that like, I got this [00:12:00] like laughing. But on the inside, that was completely terrified. And you know, the first moment that you leave for me, it’s always very difficult to say goodbye to your parents, because I knew that that was going to be a longer trip.

And, you know, gave me a flashback from the time where I left to the states, where I also said to my mom, I’m going to be gone or for two, two years. And she just, you know, wave her hand to me. And she said, I ain’t going to be back before that. And I was awful. So now, you know, here I am standing in front of her and I’m telling her I’ll be, I’ll be back in six months.

And, you know, she burst in tears. I follow and we both kind of know, I think that it’s not going to be six months. And then I, and then I, you know, into the unknown, I think that’s such great advice from your friend is just DNA to think it, because [00:13:00] I think we’ve spoken at length on this podcast about this idea that if you go into every single detail of the sort of trips, everything that can go wrong and any sort of horrendous thing that could happen to you, you would never ever do it.

Whereas if you go in with a slight, I don’t know, not naive, witty, but in a sense of just see what happens. I think it’s a. I want to be careful just in case I might say, but you just want to eat, as you say, you just don’t want to overthink it. You there’s so much that can go wrong in everyday life on these adventures, but may most of the time it’s, it’s usually works out all fine.

And you sort of just learn and grow as you go along. Absolutely. But you know, a disclaimer for, for me, in my case, it definitely was being naive [00:14:00] and me not preparing anything I left the first day. I didn’t have, I don’t have anything planned. I didn’t think about the food. I didn’t think about the, the place for sweeping, how’s it going?

I was just going and I, I kind of figured that I was going to be able to do things, even if I’m not prepared, I had this Based on thing and what I was doing, because you know, when, when I sent out, I didn’t really know why, but I, I had this feeling of very strong feeling that I needed to go and I just followed through.

But the first days I kind of hats you know a general direction in which I wanted to have, but I didn’t have any maps prepared. I wasn’t, you know I wasn’t organizing every bit of the trip to the, to the details I was [00:15:00] just going. And, you know, I assumed that I was going to encounter some issues.

Cause that’s just the part of the deal. And when people were asking me about things that happened or things that could happen or warning me, trying to warn me, I would just say no. What if, if, if a problem. Then I’ll deal with it, but I wasn’t, I wasn’t going to waste my energy on overthinking too much.

So on that first day, leaving your home what happen at sort of 6:00 PM when you maybe it’s getting dark and you’re thinking about food? I always think the first day is probably the most interesting. I always find it this as well. My first three days were very interesting. And so 6:00 PM is probably a good point because, you know, golden hour, I still have about two hours of sun to go.

[00:16:00] And at this point, it’s, it’s still fun. You know, I’m still like, oh my God, I’m doing this massive trip. Like the first day, two hours later, it becomes less fun because I’m on a really bad. Roads. It’s not like my bike is perfect for asphalt, but if you using any dirt roads, it is, there was just terrible. And so I was on one of those dirt roads, you know, a supposedly a shortcut somewhere.

And here I am in the middle of nowhere and, you know, just fields and forests around me. And, and I need to start to think about the food. You know, I had something with me. I didn’t leave without any, any preparation by didn’t have much. So the first, the first night, I at least didn’t have to worry about the food.

And I remember I just asked some people about like hostels around the [00:17:00] area, or it’s not a hostile, what would you call it? It’s like this little place run by farmers that they might have a place to stay. You know, it’s very popular in Europe and. And I go up to this one place, you know, one place within the radius of like 10 or 15 kilometers.

And at this point I’m already over a hundred K, which I have never done in my life. And I’m still being driven by the excitement of the first day. You know, I’m super tired Bible society. And so I asked about this this place and, you know, people direct me like, oh, you have to go there. And there I arrive and I’m praying that they have some places thing I come and I explain, you know, and like, think about how ridiculous it is.

Like here I am on the first day of the trip and I’m telling them, I’m starting this brand S European exhibition in now, [00:18:00] but this is the first day. So they probably just thought I was crazy. They told me that they had no place for me because everything was just, you know, already, already taken. And I just begged them to let me say pitch my tendon and the garden.

And again, they were very, they were looking at me as if I seem dangerous or I don’t know. There’s just something about the way they behaved around me. That made me question whether or not I looked like the middle. But they didn’t let me go in. And they were very helpful. They got me some like extra music for by the 10th and I even got a shower.

And so it was lovely. And I remember seeing the bathroom at night and looking at my skin and I got a little bit of a, you know, a little bit of a glow from, from the summer day from riding the sun. [00:19:00] And I remember looking at it and thinking, oh great. You know, I’m going to get some. And the next two days, this became unbearable because I did not think that sound screen would be a good idea.

And, you know, by the time, by the third day, which is when I met my friends and I had like three days to cover over 300 kilometers to see my friend was like leaving the next day. And so I was kind of on a tight schedule the first three days, and I’m spending more than 10 hours on the bike. And, and I arrived at his place, which happened to be like the highest point of, of, of the city.

I am so bad that when I, I took a shower, I was actually sitting down cause I, I didn’t have any more juice in me. And and all I wanted to do was lay down and not move. So those were the thirst, the [00:20:00] first three days of mine on my truck, like by the third day, It just, it almost killed me, you know? And then I took an extra day off and all of a sudden I’ve forgotten about the ordeal and I was ready to continue because I was only about 30 kilometers or 20 kilometers from the border.

And, you know, the very idea of crossing my first border and actually making my trip a European bike trip, you know, not, not by the name, but actually because I’ve already crossed the border. And I just, I think that’s so interesting. You talk about three days because as I say, having done something similar after the third day is usually when the muscles fatigue starts to kick in your legs, feel like jelly.

And I D I don’t know what your sort of, what was your sort of training for it? Did you do much? Well, when I got the bike like a week before the. [00:21:00] I took it for a spin, like I’ve done like 50 and I was like, this is a great bike. I’m sure it’s going to be fantastic with no weight on it or anything else.

And then does it so very little training. And so, and what’s so funny is that, yeah, I just remember for the first three days, the third day was absolute or the fourth day was absolutely torture. And then about the first week or two, your muscles are exhausted. They feel like jelly. But then after that you start to get into a river, a rhythm of your day-to-day, you know, getting up cycling.

I mean, your route started in Poland. Where was it sort of moving towards? So, because it’s still started in at the end of the summertime, I figured that I’d have a little bit more time to. Cycle through the north of Europe. So I went through north of Poland, which is where I’m from too is north of Germany.

And [00:22:00] then you know, I went to Amsterdam and Belgium, so kind of like north and nice and I to say through that, because for people listening, you were doing this properly during during the pandemic, let’s say, how were you sort of greeted in these places because people were identified in England.

Sometimes you get people who were still quite fearful of strangers. You know, I would lie if I said that the endemic did not impact my trip. It was definitely very different at the beginning as it was the end of the summertime. And. If you remember, after the first way the restrictions gotten was enough a little bit.

And so I was kind of on the brink of heading into the second way. So it was still a little bit more [00:23:00] relaxed. Like I remember being in the middle and pretty much there was you couldn’t tell that we’re in the middle of a pandemic. And then there were other places that are a little bit more strict, but the more south I went and the more time passed.

So, you know, September, October, I think in October, I started to see the difference. And there was this tension in the air and people were definitely getting more concerned about what was going to happen. And, you know, the new summer one was preparing for the second way. And once I’ve gotten to Spain, which as we all know was pretty badly hit by the virus.

It was, it was getting into me. I was getting anxious myself, you know, I never did. I consider quitting because of pandemic, but you know, when people tell [00:24:00] you, well, you should avoid this or that city because they’re not, they’re not going to let you win. Or this region is closed. It’s impossible. You know, I heard the sport throughout the trip.

A lot of times it’s impossible. He can’t like, don’t go. And at some point I was just, you know, my plan was to go through Madrid to Portugal either way, but I was really relieved to leave staying at that time because of the situation. And then in Portugal, it was a little bit more relaxed when I entered by, by the time I left, it’s gotten really tense, you know, And this is actually the only border where I was not let into the country, the border with Spain on the portrait site.

I remember just seeing, because for the most part, there was no one that would be checking me on the borders. [00:25:00] I would just go into the country. There would be a little sign, the name of the place, you know, welcome. Hello. And that’ll be it. No people, no, as I call it a welcoming committee, but there was one on, on the bridge from Portugal to Spain and it’s a natural border.

It’s a, there’s a river by the Ana river. And so the policeman, when he asked me for my documents and he asked me, what am I doing? What am I going? And you know, here I am standing with my bike, my veneers to fill up to the brim. And I say, well, I’m going home. And he looks at me. In, in sheer surprise. And he’s like, you know, in a, in a broken, which she’s, he says to me, bike low, no possible.

And you know, I tried to like convince him and kind of tell him, like, what am I going to do? I’m on this bike trip. Like, please let me in. I’m just back on my own, my camp, like, you know, who cares, [00:26:00] but you know, he’s he’s like, I can’t, I can’t let you in, like, you have to go back. It’s not possible. And so I, you know, I locked eyes with him and I say, everything is possible and I cycle away.

So I cycle away pissed. I’m like, damn, I’m like, what are we going to do? And my mom’s words come to my mind. And my mom used to tell me that if they’re not letting you in through the doors, try the window. That’s how I tried the window. And I got. Well, you swim across the river. Now it’s a funny story because it’s such an empty area.

Beautiful. Almost like a talking story, you know, growing Hills and beautiful lakes. Well like parts of the, of the river really. Cause it kinda, it’s a very winding [00:27:00] river and quite hilly and this almost like no one around in the area. And so I had to cycle another hundred kilometers, a hundred kilometers to find another bridge.

Like for me, I just think he doesn’t know a way that there’s nothing between on the stretch of a hundred kilometers, what’s an empty area. It’s a beautiful area. And just there wasn’t anything thing. And so I actually, I spent the night on the porch of the side and I decided to try Spain next day and the next day.

I was on this main road. And as I’m cycling to the side, I see the sign and it says Spania like 20 kilometers, 15 kilometers, and there’s another sign right next to it, border closed. And I’m thinking, and I’m looking at the map and there’s only one road that takes you to display and everything else is like, you know, what kind of river terrain or Hills or whatever, like there [00:28:00] wasn’t anything around there.

Right? So I’m thinking I’m either going to waste my time and like go 15 kilometers and like come back with nothing. Or I somehow managed to cross the border. And so I said, give us, you know, I think the risk I go, and I remember just going down the hill and analyzing the situation. There’s a small village, probably like 15, 20 houses around.

I see the bridge in the on the bottom of the hill or on the bottom of the valley. And. The village is so small that I know there isn’t any, there isn’t even any church, so there’s certainly not a police station there. Right? Like, this is what I’m thinking. Like if this is a criminal thing right here.

And on the side of in the corner of my eye, I see like an older man. And obviously he’s giving me a look because, you know, I, okay. Let’s face it. I have four [00:29:00] pain years on me. I have my mattress and my stuff. Just packing them back. Sorry,

I, I have stuff like packing the back of the bike. And so there’s no way that I could just go through town and not be Steve. Right. And plus I covered my eyes with like massive glasses and like the Sahara or the Hara desert hat. So definitely looking at me. Right. But I’m thinking, okay, chances are.

That maybe I can cross. So I go down and I start, you know, the escape from Portugal, which you would think would be very prompt and fast and you know, but it’s not because I have like 30 kilograms of equipment, wouldn’t be. So I have to like, you know, attach all of the pain years from, from, from the bike and throw them over the [00:30:00] barricade that’s on, on the, on the border, on the, on the bridge.

And then I have to lift up my super heavy bike and put it across as well, and then jump myself and then reattach everything. So like it’s five minutes of me just like, you know, dealing with this. And then I tried to run as fast, as fast as I could, which was probably about like seven kilometers per hour.

It was an appeal. So it was very was like geriatric type of you know, escape situation. But I managed to get through. And at that point I was still very like, you know, because I didn’t want to do it. I didn’t want to, you know, do it that way. How much better does go in without any issues. So it’s not like I’m telling the story, being proud of myself, but also I do consider myself to be a European citizen.

I am a European citizen, so I didn’t feel like this law was quite fair. And [00:31:00] so I waited until I cycle like five, 10 kilometers away from that bridge to kind of feel like, okay, I’m in no, one’s going to kick me out. I can breathe out. So don’t worry about the border. And that was the only one really, that was that dramatic.

There was another one with Spain and France. That was. Kind of iffy, but what ended up happening is like, well, you have, the moms is there and you know, it’s not possible to control every board of, so if you want to get through, you’re going to get through, unless it’s almost it’s water, you know, essentially.

Yeah. Because that’s, what’s sort of very interesting about Europe. Is that before COVID it was all borderless there all France, Spain, Portugal, Holland, Germany, they’re all in Shagun. So free movement is so easy, but sort of close off borders. I can imagine, [00:32:00] as you say, they’re directing huge barricades or whatnot and putting in huge arm forces.

So in a sense of who P for people who listening, who might just have, you know, one big border on one side on the other, it’s it doesn’t, it doesn’t seem like that. Big a deal really, once you are over and into the other side, it’s not going to go back to Portugal. You go, well, not really, because then we entered into the summertime, you know, I did have to every so often I had to readjust my, my plans.

So when I started, I didn’t plan for it. But once I was the, in the, in the south saying, and that was disclosed to Africa, you know, I would, like I said, I wasn’t tempted to cross over. However, at the time that was there, it was middle of February probably say everything’s closed. And so I did not get two [00:33:00] more also.

And I think there’s still a little bit of a, you know, dissatisfaction about that because then my triple turn into international, more international more wall. Well knows what would happen if I, if I did that, but yeah, the later, you know, the closest to the summer I’ve gotten the less restrictions there were.

And so once I’ve gotten over March and April, I had no issues whatsoever. They were disliked, opening everything up and everything was pretty much back to normal. And so you’re sort of circling along the south side of Europe during the winter going through probably Spain, France, Italy. Did you go there today?

Yes. Yes. And then back [00:34:00] and around, what was sort of, what would you say some of the few sort of moments that you had on that trip, which really stuck with you? Well you know, I’m currently in the process of. Writing them down in a form of a book. And I think maybe if not for the book and the part that I was writing yesterday, I would have probably told you a different story because I have hundreds of them.

But yesterday I did. I remember this, this one lady, because if you think about it, you know, for the first part of my trip, I have been using caught surfing. And so I’ve been staying with people and their houses, and I’ve been experiencing places and cultures through the lens of, of their eyes and their houses.

Only in the second part of the trip, I decided to go off grid and be on my own, be wet camping. But the first part allowed me to see, [00:35:00] you know, people of different walks of life. I have met people who. You know a man who told me story about his daughter who died at the age of 16, I had a sober alcoholic who told me about the walks that he takes.

As a, as a way of fueling him, I say, I had a shaman, I had a matress. I had, you know, 40 years old people, seas, just all kinds of people. And this one lady, she was a refugee from Cuba. Her daughter was hosting me and this lady, she didn’t speak a word of English. And so I really had to work hard on my, on my Spanish.

And as I walked into their house, she tells me her daughter tells me my mom cried when she heard a story and there was something so moving about. About the [00:36:00] fact that she, she was so empathetic towards my trip, almost SF. I didn’t have to tell her about all the problems, the issues, the balance, the fears that I had, and she understood it.

And at some point I stayed there for two nights and at some point her daughter went away. And so it was only me and this lady. And she told me beautiful stories about, for Cuba. She told me about the country that she had. She had to leave me behind. She told me about how, when she first held her daughter in her arms, she thought about how, you know, how am I going to having to provide everything that this child needs in a country that doesn’t have Liberty.

And, and she cried, you know, only her baby in her arms because she knew that the future was just so. Shaky, but this young young moment. [00:37:00] And the other moment that she told me about was when she and her daughter got on the plane and they’re leaving their country. And they, they were, you know, once one of the few ones that managed to, to SP the regime.

And she told me she was on the plane and the moment the plane took off, she, she turns to her daughter and she was for we’re escaping the, the, the islands that just was almost like a prison, you know, escape the prison. And, you know, she is, she is talking to me about all these things and then buying her eyes out and praying along with her.

And I think moments like this, my head, a few situations where it wasn’t a conversation that. Was a sheer exchange of information. I’m doing my [00:38:00] trip. This is my job. Like, you know, oh, the small type of food doesn’t carry me for meaning. In this case, it was a heart to heart conversation, assaults, so exchange, and it was just so powerful.

It, you know, I think moments like this make our life worthwhile really in moments like this, I felt alive. And the connection that I make with them was just one that’s will leave an impact on me you know, for years. Well, and that’s sort of one of the amazing things I always feel about doing this is TG meets.

Incredible and buried people in a sense of just with such incredible stories. And, you know, sometimes people find it easier to tool, to a [00:39:00] complete stranger than their own friends and family, you know, they can sort of open up and really tell, have heart to heart with someone because they sort of, you know, there’s no sort of barriers to it in a sense.

There’s definitely something to be said about those, the barriers that some people have, like I’m a very open person. So it doesn’t take a lot from me to open up, to be very vulnerable because I find strength in that. But I know it is a little terrifying for a lot of people in this case with this lady, I want to say.

She’s from the same tribe, you know, ever so often online and to people, I am like this, this is the person from the same tribe, you know? And there is just like a sort of almost like, you know, magical connection between those two people. It doesn’t matter how [00:40:00] long, how much time you have together. You just get right into it, you get right into the zone and you, and you speak from the heart and there’s are no filters.

There is no fear there. There’s just this connection, you know? Yeah. Very, very true. And with that, I mean, we, we spake before the podcast started about sort of social media, how much will you, will you sort of Ah, what’s the word where you pacing about it on social media or where you more or less keeping that separate or distance should we say?

So I tried to be as open about everything as I could for the first half of my trip. I didn’t really do there were pictures, but that would be it. And then in second half I [00:41:00] decided then I should probably write a blog and that was a wonderful decision and a terrible, terrible at the same time because of a perfectionist and also I’m a, I’m a photographer.

And so even prior to the trip, a lot of my fellow photographers would be telling me, well, like this is such an amazing opportunity for you to get amazing pictures. And as much as this of course is true, It also puts a burden on my shoulders. I felt like I had to live up to certain expectations. So there was a couple of weeks where I would be shooting video and pictures on my Jerome.

I’ll be shooting pictures on my heavy, bulky camera that I had with me. That was not a good idea to the trip because it was just too heavy. Then I’ll be doing the same thing on my phone and then putting [00:42:00] everything together. Then I’ll edit everything together. Then you have to put everything, any, you know, like you have to put together the movies, you have to add music, then you have to like tell the this.

So like already, as I’m explaining all the elements of the blog, which, you know, the first few was tackle or, you know, I have chips and I ha I have everything, you know, but it’s, it’s so much work. It took so much work. All the time I had to stop. And I had to, you know, there was a beautiful site. I had to take all of my three devices and I had to record and take pictures on all the three of them.

Right. So I had like different, different points of views and, you know I I’d had stuff for the blog, but so I had the stuff for Instagram. And so it, all of a sudden this one here have a break, six months of a break, or however long it was going to be like, if it came up like a part-time job, like to run the blog [00:43:00] and also a blog that I was not financially benefiting from.

And it all stopped when my drone decided to fly away, it just disconnected from my fallen off the web. And then same week the camera on my phone broke. So, you know, I started to get old, those like little innuendos that, oh, maybe you’re just looking through this beautiful world through the lens of your devices instead of doing it with your own damn eyes, you know?

So that was the moment where I decided, Hey, I have to, like, I can still continue doing the blog, but it’s just, it must change. I must, I must sacrifice me that I have perfectionism and I have to let, let go of something, you know, something has to go. Yeah. It’s, it’s [00:44:00] very true. It’s sometimes the curse of people wanting to know what’s going on and people wanting to see your story firsthand almost becomes a burden to.

What you can experience, you know, while you’re writing a blog, you could very easily be having a cup of coffee and speaking to the locals about some story. And I, your story is very, very relatable, you know, going on one of my trips, it was very much in a drain to another camera, camera, GoPro, whatever I’m, you know, editing and you spend your whole life almost conceived by getting the content, getting the perfect shot.

And it detracts from the actual experience of just being present in what is going on in whatever you’re doing, wherever you are to have that [00:45:00] sort of time, not to worry about. I don’t know how many likes or not that anyone really worries about that now, but, you know, whatever it may be to really absorb yourself into the moment and cutting away from social media and cutting away from all that give you that sort of time to really appreciate why, where you are.

I would say that if there was one thing that I would change about my trip and bear in mind, I’m one of those people who like there’s a lesson, everything, and there is a lesson, everything, but if there was one thing that I could have changed, it would definitely be cutting off social media entirely not having a contact with anybody.

Like just go off the grid completely. Why do you say that? Because I think I see social media mainly as a distraction. It’s a [00:46:00] beautiful tool. You know, connecting, connecting people. But in my case, I know that I was using it as a distraction and I would be checking things all the time. I would get very jittery about it.

And, and it was the trip that I’ve taken was taken for her specifically using, you know, that’s a turnout later. I wanted to have time with myself. I wanted to understand something about myself. There’s nothing I’m going to understand about myself through looking at so just on punishment. No, no message. No matter how deep the caption is because there was also like all the contents online, of course, but nothing is going to tell me more than I already know.

It just, I have two big, you know, big through layers of. Of [00:47:00] things to get to the, to the most authentic version of myself and in order to move that do have to disconnect them from everything around me. And a lot of times that also includes other people. And I think that’s one of the reason why in the second half of my trip, I know I said to myself, I have to be out in nature.

Like I have to experience that not taking a shower for a week. Like otherwise it’s not going to be a true adventure. Like I have to get out of my comfort zone and do it in a major way and say cutting off social media and most contact was the way that you sort of thought about doing that. No, it wasn’t, but it should have been, that should have been, you know, some of the lessons you got gotta give yourself some.

Some break, you know, I, some of the lessons I’ve only learned after I’ve [00:48:00] returned. And so I was aware that this area of my life is problematic, but at the time, because I have already, you know, I’ve already was putting out the message and then I was getting close to the phone. So people were getting excited, so I did continue it.

But now a couple of weeks after I returned I’m definitely my, my former relationship to social media has, has changed and evolved. And I look at it very differently. Yeah. I, I I’ve, I mean, we’ve spoken beforehand about it in a sense of, you know, oh, and one of my trips where you’re showing these incredibly beautiful pictures, it doesn’t tell the real story of what’s going on in your head or what’s going on.

In your day-to-day and sometimes what you see and the reality. I mean, I felt like a broken record when I say this because [00:49:00] everyone already knows it, but it’s quite nice when you sort of come to a point and looking at social media and know that, you know, they’re just a picture. They’re just a video and they’re very, very small snippets, very small of someone’s life.

They’re not someone’s actual life, no one lives at a hundred miles an hour all the time, the highlights before, but also I kind of think it’s a human nature to look at those pictures, to see those, you know, idealized version of, of, of ourselves or other people, our friends, family, and. You know, we already have this tendency to look at the end product, right?

She’s done, she’s done this trip. He climbed this mountain. We don’t think about the journey at all. You think about the final product of it, and it’s just magnified, you know, and on social media. And [00:50:00] I think I’m coming to terms with that. I’m coming to realization that it might not be that of awareness of it is you’re going to help us in any way.

I think I’m coming to the realization that only like cutting it out of your life entirely might be decision. Otherwise, you know, subconsciously there might be some things that are happening that you might not even be aware of, but I dunno, that’s my theory. No, I think you’re right. Well, it was quite funny.

We had Ava’s you back on last year and she, you know, of course she’s the best parts that she has videos and everything. And so she thought, you know, I should probably show you the reality of what goes on. And so he started putting up pictures of the real reality and of course got a lot of flack because I didn’t want to see this.

I didn’t want to see, you know, bad things. Why, why, why, why do I want to see this? And they say, it’s [00:51:00] weird. It’s like human nature to they, they want the real story. They want the highlights real. They want the best bits, because if you think about it, if you have two people, right, and one is authentic and shows, you know, everything, and the other person shows only the good thing.

We’re not going to assume that the pretty picture is the pretty picture are other things. So you’re just going to assume that there is a pretty picture and that’s it. You’re not going to dig into the story. So I think that’s why it’s kind of like the cotton candy is always popping at us and grabbing our attention.

And this is something that looks more appealing in a way. Well, w what do you think the sort of side effects that you got from sort of deeper mean depletion that say, as I was trying to sort of describe it earlier, the idea of just consuming so much that eventually you just have, [00:52:00] you just leaves all the word, you lose all sort of inspiration.

You lose so much by just constantly scrolling. That’s one thing that I’ve certainly nativist hat mean is when you go a lot on social media and see. You sort of just get lazy, which is a weird psychological thing. You just, you wouldn’t think that scrolling causes you to suddenly just drift or whatnot. I think there’s a lot to unpack here and we’re doing, sorry.

I’ll start from the most, from the most important, from my point of view. So I believe that when we look at other people and we consume about other people, we get to listen to ourselves, right? So social media is a massive distraction tool. You [00:53:00] know, we already not encouraged to like sit down and be with our thoughts, like constantly hit by different stimuli at TV.

You ran to the music, Spotify, Instagram, like just overloaded with information and. You know, I’ve noticed cause I went off social media for four a month lately and I just have no dis anymore. So please. And my ability to focus and my productivity and just the way life feels, you know, like something shifted.

So majorly that I thought to myself, well, I’m not coming back. There’s just no point. And only when you, you know, there’s so much noise around, but only when you clear that noise and way, you can hear what your needs are. Right. I do a lot of hops with, with you. [00:54:00] You never have the opportunity to actually listen to your own needs.

And I do talks with young people, you know, people 16, 17 years old. And I always try to kind of really hone in this message of. Look, if you’re going to go on social media, you probably going to find a lot of beautiful drinks, a lot of beautiful adventures, a lot of beautiful challenges, but they’re likely not to be yours.

You know, I’m not coming to their schools to tell them, look, you will have to do this bike trip. This is not the point at all. The point is to encourage them to find their own version of something that makes their heart pump a little faster and brings them joy and happiness. And so I feel like the social media is really this disease of our society that doesn’t allow anyone to tap [00:55:00] into their inner knowledge.

I’m really, I know it sounds more, you know happy to say that you have some sense of your own boys, but, you know, I had moments in my life, but that most was just so clear and so strong and. I am the most spiritually rich that I have ever been. And I try to avoid the word happy because it’s really, I don’t think misunderstood and misuse spiritual, rich is going to be my version of happy, but I think it is primarily because I had this opportunity to, to really get to know myself, you know?

And yeah, social media is just not helping with any of that. I think that’s so true with some of these adventures is it’s, it’s more about sort of learning [00:56:00] about yourself and how you are, as I say, a lot of the time you see these, when you go out, you, you leave as this person and then. You come back as a completely different person, more sort of, clear-minded more sort of aware of certain things.

And you know, there’s many ways you can do that, but sometimes having that space with your thoughts and cycling every day, 10 hours, eight hours a day, you have a lot of time with your thoughts and it sort of gets you more, I’d say more clear-minded or whatever it’s hiding behind us suddenly comes crawling to the surface quite quickly.

Absolutely. And that’s definitely my experience of with the bike trip, but saying, you know, one of the changes that I see in my life is, well, I think all the changes that happened were changes that were [00:57:00] unexpected. There are certain things that you just know that are going to happen such as. You know, you’re probably going to build your self confidence.

You’ve probably going to be strong physically and mentally, but I think a few things that I didn’t expect to be a part of the equation was for instance, me appreciating learning to appreciate and value softness. You know, I think we live in a society that really pushes hard and always tries to get us to things that are bigger and stronger and go, go for longer and you know, more exciting things.

But for me, the, it was a, like a bird verse of a lesson because I needed to actually say sometimes, you know what? I don’t need to argue with this person. I don’t need to throw my phone. I don’t need to do anything for other people. All I need to care about. [00:58:00] It’s like this idea of like call it social equals.

I’m here to take care of my own self. And if I’m good, then I can spreads, you know, the goodness out there to the world. But first and foremost, it will always have to be mean, and it’s not narcissistic or egoistic really it’s realistic. If you want to live a happy life, happy you have to take care of yourself and that’s.

So I started to cherish my soft spots, me being delicate with people I, something happened to, to me creatively, you know, I I’m, I’m an artist. I, I take pictures, I make movies and I kind of felt very comfortable in that zone. That was something that I had the degree to prove my abilities for and kind of anything outside of that was just not, not my domain.

And once I started to overcome physical [00:59:00] things, like I proved to myself that I can go over the scale, I think prove to myself that I can go longer than I did before or faster than I did before it had a reflection in the way that I started to feel about my abilities as an artist, as a human being. And so throughout the trip, I kind of wrestled with the idea of writing a book.

And at first it was this little tiny seed of a book for children. And then it’s dominated into this idea of a novel. And now, you know, I almost have finished a book. That’s more of a I don’t know, a bio and a bike trip reference points. I don’t even know how to call it, but it’s, you know, it’s a story of my life building the story.

Of what happened in the past year. And [01:00:00] yeah, this trip just creatively changed so much because I started to go out of my comfort zones. I started to think that I don’t need to have a certification to validate my abilities. I don’t need to tell, I don’t need anyone to tell me I have to do the thing and that, that, or some way, like I can actually make decisions for the mile.

So those are the most amazing lessons from, from the trip. And my favorite part about it is that they all, it’s, it’s a tree that Thanksgiving. And so I stopped the physical movement, but mentally I’m still going back and forth. I’m still learning and relearning and realizing certain things that happen.

And as I wrote about that I get a better understanding as well. So it’s just definitely the best thing that had ever done in my life. [01:01:00] Yeah, it’s true. You, you find that sometimes the small things that trigger you in a sense suddenly become, you’re just like why, why would I worry about that? Your, your sort of grounding in your understanding, your process, your thought process is so much clearer that all the rest is just noise.

And I think there’s just nothing that can give you that then spending a little bit of time on your own. Like I’m really such a huge fan. And, you know, I just tell everyone so wonderful to be okay on your own or even a couple of days. It just, it makes all of you. Very true. And so finishing the trip, you, you have round Italy just for people you went round to Italy, then [01:02:00] Slovenia.

Yes. I also ended up, I went to, I went to Sicily, so I did cycle around the island as well. And then the initial plan was to go over to Greece and then I wanted to go through Balkans, back to Poland, but then things changed because I found a furry friend that just turn everything upside down. Where did you find this furry friend?

Friends was on the side of a very busy road in the south of Italy, quite close to was Sicily people pointed, appointed. And a very friend being a phenol, a little cat. I was, I was writing was the end of the day. And, you know, on the corner of my eyes, see something black enough in the grass. And I remember just stopping the bike and [01:03:00] just putting it on the side.

And I literally said, said it out loud to myself. Like I said, this is the point of the story where I find a cat and I think it will make phone, but that’s exactly what happened. God has amazing and say, what is that, how the sort of story changed was you had this cat and then it was used cycling back home with the cat.

So it was a little bit more complicated than that because believe it or not, but I was not prepared for traveling with a brief, hello. And so I did have to adjust the bike a little bit and the cap was it’s called a wounded. There was something wrong with the tail. I couldn’t tell the time because it was just like all blood and scabs and it looked very nasty.

And that, that was obviously on their fed and not in a great condition. And so I, I took him [01:04:00] to the vet and the vet told me that the cat needs to, well, the cat needs antibiotics. The cat found the Biotics and the antibiotics need to be refrigerated. And so, you know, here I am, it’s not really the, the weather is like pretty much almost 40 degrees every, every day.

And they tell me that the the drug has to be refrigerated and I’m like, I just have to stop somewhere. And so I did, I, I made a lot of friends and stuff that really sounded good. It was probably one of those. Most favorite places on, on that. So I went to this amazing EcoFarm where I stay for two weeks with a, and you know, I fatten it up a little bit and I kept giving him the medicine.

And so it’s gotten a little bit better and I got myself prepared better for that. And yeah, once I’ve gotten on the bike with a cat I knew that it wasn’t perfect place for [01:05:00] cats to be on the cats. Agreed. It did not like being on the bike. First three days were terrible to the point that I was just kind of questioning everything myself.

It’s a funny thing, but I’m a vegan and so I was just feeling so guilty and like, so, so guilty of like abusing animals. I’m like, what am I doing? I’m thinking to slow creature and you know, what am I doing? But at some point, the cat got used to being a bike. I had a little net over the basket, that button for now, for her, it’s a nonbinary cats.

It has a, it’s a, it’s a female biologically, I guess, but it has a male name, how it goes with me. And so and so the cat got used to being on the bike for the most part, it would be cupboards, you know, under layers and layers of their comfortable sweater, my Cape and my favorite spider. This is the sign of love here.

And so the cat was in the, in a basket and I was just [01:06:00] like, I’m going home. I hadn’t slept. I had probably a little over 3000 geometers to go and I did not sites do any sightseeing along the way. I was just very focused on returning home and the weather was going at that point as well. You know, at the end of the summer, it just still beautiful in the summer.

Really. I knew them well that the summer will end very fast. And in Poland and saw I was trying to get home really fast. So within very short span of time, I, you know, I did kind of smooshed through a lot of countries. So sort of once the sort of trip sort of took a massive changed the direction of just trying to get home as quickly as yes.

And that, as I said, because the cat didn’t have the papers, you know, the Kathleen, the more papers than I did. Yeah. I knew that vaccination a trip and the [01:07:00] passport is something and it would just take too much time and I didn’t want to waste time. And so, you know, I was already positively criminal, so I’m like, oh, I’ll try to smuggle the, the border.

See now because of the ferry that would most certainly check. And that would most certainly here, because little fellow is not. Quiet. It has a very Saturn temperaments and lets people know that these here, so side it’s kind of, you know, I flipped my trip. I had to adjust which wasn’t the first time that I needed to adjust my church and I just went with the flow.

Well, it just seems like absolutely incredible. This sort of trip taking you all over the place. I mean a, well, when of emotions and experiences you’ve had, it’s just been absolutely amazing sort of lesson two. There’s a, where are you going to say? It’s just very [01:08:00] heartwarming to hear that kind of reaction from, from people who are doing it now.

Cause I’m still like waiting for someone to come up to me and say, well, you know, she’s a gospel sport, but like you fake, like you’re not doing it, you know? Yeah, I’m still waiting for someone to be like pointed after their trip. Wasn’t real because I just, I, I don’t have it in my resume and I’ve never done anything like that before.

And not that I care that much, what people are going to say, why do you care what you think? Because you’re legit. And I was like, well, actually, because you know, so many people who think that they know more, you know I just saw this picture online the other day of like two people pointing fingers at this other human just sitting down on the, on the street and you have kind of like the scan of their brains.

Right. And the one sitting that’s being laughed at his brain is like nice and big, right. And the two that are making fun of him, [01:09:00] they have little brains. Right. And it’s kind of, it happens so often that someone who has no credibility, no knowledge to criticize you is going to be the first in line to tell you that you’d be doing something wrong.

And so. You know, if I have someone who actually has the experience and ability to criticize me and to, to tell me like, oh, this was cool, this wasn’t built, then you know, I’m going to take your compliment and bathe in it a little bit. I think people, they, they, they it’s Shimon psychology is like, you’ll hear a thousand times people go, wow, what you did, it’s incredible.

But if you have one person, no matter what background they have, if they’ve said, oh, you’re fake, you will listen to that. And it’s annoying, but that is sort of human psychology. And what you’ve got to do is slightly drown out those people, because, you know, as I say, it’s amazing what people do on sort of online when [01:10:00] they know there’s very little repercussions about happening.

I remember one of my trip. At the end, I decided to be very open and honest about my feelings towards it. And some guy decided to write good. I’m glad you suffered, you deserved it. And I was like, ah, what a Dick. But and, and out of like the entire trip where people are being really nice and complimentary, that’s the one that sort of, I remember, and that’s terrible, but you know, that’s that unfortunately as human psychology and once you sort of learn, I mean, it’s easier said than done in a, to, to sort of forget about that sword and just move on it’s yeah.

People, people just like, like to do it.

[01:11:00] Yeah, exactly. Well, there’s a, there’s a part of the show where we ask the same five questions to each guest each week with the first being. What’s the one gadget that you bought on that you always take with you on your trips and adventures? You know, I suppose the bike wouldn’t, wouldn’t count as one.

If it does then definitely the bike, but except for the bike for me, it’s always the, the journal. It’s just, you know, so many times I go through the notes that I have taken entries that I’ve written and I just get so into the story that I’m telling. Cause I like to tell stories a lot of details.

And so when I write them down and when I go back to them, there’s just knowing how that I will be able to remember all these details. So for me, it’s just also, I think something happens like maybe there’s a connection. From the hat to the, to [01:12:00] the hands. But from the hearts to the hand that doesn’t involve the head that sometimes I just don’t think about what I’m writing and the most beautiful things come out of it.

And it’s just, yeah, I’m not doing it for anybody else. It’s just like, my notes does a very personalized something that the added value tremendously. Nice. What about your favorite adventure or travel book? So I have one that I’ve been obsessed about the years now. It’s Sheryl sprayed wild. It was a movie made out of her.

It’s about this lady who goes on a PCT Pacific crest trail in the states. She does it after her mom had died. And it’s a very personal story. It’s a story that’s packed of though with the past it’s frankly, the best [01:13:00] inspiration that can get from my book, because unlike any other trouble book, well, maybe not any, but certainly out of the ones that I have I have read is the one that just stands out among everything else, because it’s not just I did this and I went there and it’s just, you know, just telling things as it is, she goes into depth to explore the emotions that were driving at the time she connects it with the past and she kind of thinks about the future.

So it’s just intertwined in such a beautiful way. That for me, it’s like a full dimensional story of a human being. That’s a human that you could be very vulnerable and. It’s very honest, also about the mistakes that they they’ve done in the past and the person camera

[01:14:00] and a person who thanks themselves with a little bit of you know, they’re not too serious. They can make fun of themselves. And I really appreciate that. And I have those self appreciating a huge type of humor as well. And I kind of, I kind of liked to make fun of myself. I don’t like the life to be too serious and I really very much admire that in her work.

Why are these adventures important? Oh, sorry. Why are adventures important for.

Most of the people. They’re not doing it to show up. They’re not doing it to, to just post a nice picture like Alice here and not feel the place not to be in the [01:15:00] place. I really hope the trip is almost like this embodiment of a symbolic life journey that will take on. And so I see it as a tool of self understanding, and I think they’re very special because you go in with the mindset of a beginner, right?

You’re just so hard to get in our regular day-to-day life. And so I really think that we are so lucky to have this opportunity to have that option for us because it never really, it never goes, it never grows old. It never goes away. And. All the people who are thinking about doing something major, something that might change your life.

The beautiful thing about it is you don’t have to go have 13 months long bike [01:16:00] expedition. You can just take some time off work. And I think a week is like a decent amount of time. You can it’s it’s you it’s possible for you to get that time off of work. If you are to fully support yourself on naturally during that week even if it bees eating only oats and bananas and peanut butter as I did, it’s financially doable.

If you want to, you should camp. I would recommend people to go and camp for that week. And you can even like bore the camping gear from, and anybody that you know, from REI or second one, and then return it later. Even hear that advice from you, by the way. And. And just, you know, spending time with your own self in the middle of wilderness can be just so transformational.

And I think that’s the, that’s the beauty, that’s the juice of, of taking trips of taking the time off, taking the time for [01:17:00] yourself, you know, and really disconnecting. I think that’s the beauty of it. Yeah. Very true. Why, what is your favorite quite? I actually I’ve, I’ve written three other three because I don’t know.

They’re just different people, very different people, but talking about a very similar thing and I thought it was quite interesting. The first one is from the book wild and let me read it. So I won’t put her in for for the listeners. I goes, I walked into a walkie, became unbearable until I believe I couldn’t walk even one more step.

And then I. And I love this book because it really speaks to this idea. I don’t know if you’re familiar with David Goggins, but I’m a big fan and I, I love his 40% in which he claims that, you know, when you reach your full, when you think you’ve reached your full capacity, you only at 40% of youth can really do.

And I think Cheryl really talks about the same thing, [01:18:00] but in a more correct or attic way there’s just so many layers of your capabilities of your potential that we still haven’t even tapped into. And it’s almost like the beautiful thing about it is that it’s unlimited. There is, there’s no way that you’re going to get to the end of it.

And you got to be done. Like, as you evolve as a human being, there’s always gonna be more that is kind of hiding somewhere in the bottom of your heart. So whatever you want to call it, but yeah, you always get worse, have more, you know, that’s why I love. The second one is from the one and only Carl, Carl, you people would do anything no matter how absurd to move facing their own souls.

Love his quotes because I love the guy who kind of marry psychology with spirituality. So when I quote him, I feel a little bit more [01:19:00] validated, I guess, but you know, the guy really all about exploring your shadow. So not only talking about the good, beautiful sides, but how, what, what goes on in the deepest depth of your psyche, the darkest sides of it.

Like, let’s explore that. Let’s see what’s in there. It’s scary. But once you, once you dig deep enough to get to those. Your life is going to be transformed because it’s like, it’s like an a Matrixx, you know, you finally going to wake up and you’re going to be able to maybe sometimes face a very uncomfortable truth, but it’s, it’s the truth.

Nevertheless. So obviously, you know, it was brilliant to take for me. There’s a question. I’m going to go through that reality check or to slap from the universe and yeah, I want to know at all, and that’s why I want this book. And the third one, just to close out from something strong, David Goggins [01:20:00] you are in danger of living life so comfortable and soft that you will die without ever realizing your true potential.

And just this court gives me chills. You know, it’s just so powerful and it speaks to the idea of embracing the discomfort, you know, embracing the discomfort and really encourages you not to miss out on your. Suffering in a sense that, you know I’m, I’m from a household that’s been problematic. My dad has been an alcoholic is sober.

Now. He’s been sober for about 10 years. And so I carry this happiness, this kind of a burden that I put on my, on my bag. Oh, that has been put on my back when I was a child. And [01:21:00] the way I think about it, those difficult things, it’s almost like carrying a backpack with a build with heavy stones. Right.

You carry it through all your life and you’re like running this distance and it’s so hard because you’re carrying this backpack. Right. And it’s just like, we think it’s unfair because you have this alone, this burden to carry. But think about the moment.

Not only don’t have anything on your shoulders anymore. Let’s think about the strength, the mental strength, the spiritual strength that you gained through the suffering that you now have. And, you know, you’re, you’re at advantage now, you know, so it kind of flips the suffering and just to kind of make it clear.

No trauma is okay, you know, period, but I think you can choose to see the negative things in a [01:22:00] positive light, and it can really transform your, your life. And you start to think that way about your life. And if you start to think about the unlimited potential that you might have, then you just gonna start to employ that suffering that discomfort.

Like there’s just so much. Information about your own self and that suffering there’s just so much worth and value in it. So I really, again, try to hold its own in this idea of embrace is comfort. You know, it’s, it’s your best friend embrace failure. Those are all the things that are there for us to let us know about something that we need to work on, or I need to let go.

Yeah, very true. I think with sometimes with these trips, you discover so much about yourself and the sort of possibilities of how [01:23:00] far your potential, your mind your body can actually go. Sometimes it can be quite scary to actually realize how far but you, you suddenly, once you break out of that sort of comfort zone, you do sort of experience so much.

What about people listening are always keen to get started and maybe go on like one of these grand adventures. What’s the one thing you would recommend to them to get started? I said taking a long ass trail, getting a tent and just being out there for a week. The other like a week is such a wonderful kind of testing ground because even if you’re not going to eat, so you’re not going to die in a week, get out, even if it’s going to be like quite extreme, like nothing major is likely to happen.

You know, it might happen, but like, it’s pretty safe to go on a [01:24:00] week without, without anyone and I currency you, you know, it’s so much about your own self and that you are more about your own self and that week that you wouldn’t have learned in the, in the past, you know, five, like there’s just something about quieting that’s outside noise.

That changes everything. And it’s also a good way of testing. How are we going to feel if you’re not going to take a shower for a week? I don’t know if everybody wants to go that extreme, but I think there is a beauty and simplicity, and I think there is a beauty of, you know, having everything with you and not having, not living in a house that, you know, you only use 10% off because it’s just too damn big, not having all of the devices, expensive devices that you worry about losing, [01:25:00] not having to impress anyone and look a certain way because you just, in the middle of nowhere, there’s just so much volume of that, that I think it’s a shame that more people are not using that option.

Very true. And finally, what are you doing now and how can people follow you in the future? So I would love people to either find me on my, on my website. Again, I’m trying to not use my social media as much, but it doesn’t mean that I’m completely unreachable. So I’m there every so often, it’s just on my, on my terms, you know?

So I’m there and I post every so often and currently I’m facing, I think the biggest challenge so far in my life. So writing my life story, talking about the difficult things that happened in childhood talking about, you know, being away from home for six years. And what does that feel and [01:26:00] what does that do to you?

And I connect everything or I try to connect everything with kind of the skeleton of a, of a. Because this is kind of how it felt to me going on the trip. I’ve gotten a lot of flashbacks from the past. I’m connected with what I want to happen in the teacher. And I, I put it in a hopefully slightly funny story.

That’s not that serious, but I really, my goal is to like, create this word that would really encourage other people to be vulnerable. Because as I said before, I just see so much stress in sharing your own story. And even though it might be so uncomfortable for a lot of people, it’s just so powerful and just, there’s no question about it.

There’s no denying it. So yeah, that’s and I’m a, I’m a proud mama now. I’m [01:27:00] my, they want to see Bridget.

Oh, Oh, yeah, maybe it’s my boy for four people there. Things is sweet. Black cat. He’s just, he doesn’t do anything. He just, we ever saw him, he wakes up and then he’s up, he’s a minutes. And he runs around, jumps everything. And my mom has to hide every flower in the house because he’s got to get to it.

So he, as I said, very Southern impairments gone. And what’s the sort of motto that you sort of live by now. You got to risk it to get them biscuit. It’s ridiculous, but I love it, but yeah, I’m, I’m really, you know, I think I’m in a very interesting time of my [01:28:00] life where. I’m still living off my savings.

I’m going to be very honest about it because I want to walk the talk. Okay. So when I say, oh, listen to your intuition, like risk your life and be courageous. I’m not just saying it’s for the sake of it. I’m putting my ass on the line because I just decided, you know, I had this moment where I was very certain that I’m hearing the same voice that spoke to me in that shower scene.

And it said the right book. And I don’t really know where this is going to take me. And it’s like, isn’t it exciting in this? Isn’t it beautiful to, to not know not to be certain and just to trust your guts and like go all the way in, even if it needs that you’re going to lose all your savings. Money is just the money, you know for me a life that’s built with purpose.

What a blessing, what a blessed life. [01:29:00] And so what is next? Well, it is nice. Like for me, it’s definitely finishing the book and honestly I would lie if I said I haven’t thought about anything else, because it’s kinda like once you start, once you experienced this feeling of freedom it’s so invigorating that you want to continue it.

You want to check out more things and see what’s out there. But also for me, the major lesson is I have uncovered something in me that I get the same high, and I’m talking about like a real high from going to the pores that I would get from being. TMI, but this, this past new year’s Eve, I took something for the first [01:30:00] time in my life.

I’m like a family, like 31. I can finally buy something and it was in a very safe environment. It was an MTA MBMA on DMA. And and here I am with like on the, on the bed with my best friend and he’s like my soulmate and I love him to death and we’re laying down feeling, you know, feeling and it comes over and, you know, tears come out of my ass and I hold his hand and he said, how is it?

How, how is it? And I say, and I said to him, this is how I’m more really funny. He’s like cracking up. Cause like, I don’t know what it is. I don’t know if other people experience it and I don’t have it all the time, but that hard, some moments. No, I’m just, I’m getting higher life. And I, I don’t really have much, I don’t it’s it’s it doesn’t, it doesn’t matter what the weather is.

Like. It doesn’t really matter. What’s kind of happening, [01:31:00] but like every so often, like I go to the forest and it hits me and it hits me in nature. It doesn’t, I don’t see anywhere else that hits me in nature. Like I think my, my body likes with whatever is happening with those fine trees in the forest.

Well, it’s been such a pleasure listening to your stories and I cannot thank you enough for coming on today. It’s been such a pleasure and you have the gift of listening, which as should probably learned from you. And it’s.

No, it just it’s, it’s, it’s been wonderful because also, you know, my friends from America that I say hello to right now, I, to be very excited that they will finally have an interview that I, that they can understand. That’s every, a mature pensman in, you know, in this indecipherable Polish. And finally, now they can understand [01:32:00] amazing.

Well, thank you so much for coming on today. What a pleasure.