Discovering Europe: Keukenhof, Scheveningen and Oostende

Discovering Europe has always been a great adventure,  and visiting Keukenhof, Scheveningen and Oostende was no exception.  Somewhere between tulip fields and lovely shorelines, one thought struck me: Europe’s full of surprises. Since I was born and raised here, it was always familiar and eventually lost the vibe of adventure floating in the air.  My weekend getaway trips helped me to rediscover Europe, taste it, befriend it and have a wonderful time.
Since I was living in Luxembourg for some time, travelling on weekends was relatively easy. After all, Luxembourg’s in the heart of Europe, and both Holland and Belgium are just a stone’s throw away. Letting opportunities slip away has never been my style, so I packed and there I was… getting the best of Europe. What did I see in Keukenhof, Scheveningen and Oostende? Do these places deserve to be called “wheelchair accessible”? I am going to spill the beans below, so please… bear with me!

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Sunshine and fun in Fuerteventura, The Canary Islands

“Sunshine” and “fun” are probably two words that sum up my stay in Fuerteventura perfectly. Only five hours away from Warsaw where I was living, the Spanish island seemed to be everything I needed for wonderful summer vacations. The Canary Islands are definitely very close to the idea of paradise: sunny beaches, perfectly blue waters and high temperature. What else could you possibly ask for?

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A Tale of Two Cities: Macau and Shanghai

A Tale of Two Cities is full of surprises and awe, and it includes two interesting places: Macau and Shanghai. I visited both of them during my trip to Asia, along with Hong Kong and Taipei, and it was truly one of the most interesting experiences in my life. Shanghai and Macau are both Chinese cities, but they are like fire and water. Each has its own distinctive flavour, completely different from one another. Shanghai is racing up towards the future like there’s no tomorrow, and in Macau, the past and the present blend together like watercolours.

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10 reasons to have an assistance dog

Assistance dog Coco, Blumil wheelchair

Out of all friendships I have been blessed with throughout my life, my friendship with my dog – Coco – has been always incredibly special. The bond between the human and the animal is rich in trust and devotion and extraordinary in its nature. Coco doesn’t need to understand my words to understand me, and that makes all the difference. The day she entered my life with her enthusiastic, black elegance was a beginning of something new and lovely. It hasn’t been always rainbows and the sunshine, but at the end of the day, we are a team. We win together, we lose together – no exceptions to the rule.

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Breathing the history in and out in Berlin

Breathing the history in and out in Berlin, Germany, Milo's accessibility rating, Blumil wheelchair

Breathing the history in and out is inevitable when you visit Berlin. At first sight, the city seems to be a chronicle of the tragic and the ugly, the divided and the hurt, but that’s just one face of Berlin. It is a place full of variety, pulsing with life, and it showcases a thousand years of German coming into fusion with modernity. Clean streets and great accessibility should make it one of my favourite destinations, but Berlin has never made it to my top 5 list. Everything about it screams “Top notch quality!” but the city doesn’t have “the spark” for me. I can appreciate its flavour, but I would never choose it over cities like Barcelona, Hong Kong or Rio de Janeiro. It still makes a nice travel story to tell, so bear with me. What to do in Berlin? Is it accessible?  The answers are waiting below!

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FALLING IN LOVE WITH BARCELONA: PART II

Falling in love with Barcelona felt natural, as I entered the city for the first time… in 1992. Barcelona was preparing for the Olympics, which were soon to transform a fairly unknown place (outside Spain!)  into a popular tourist destination. I looked at the skies above the city and the sea, painted in all shades of blue, and I knew there was no turning back. Parts of my heart stayed in Barcelona, never to come back. Since 1992, I’ve visited the city numerous times, and I never get bored of it. White Christmas is exactly the opposite of what I came for to Barcelona, and I got what I wanted. The weather was absolutely wonderful – it was sunny and warm as if it was the middle of September, not December. If you want to finish your year with a big bang, Barcelona is a way to go. What to do there? What to skip there? What to know? More about it below!

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Diving into the future in Brussels

Diving into the future in Brussels was the best moment of my entire stay in Brussels. The monument I had in front of my eyes – the famous Atomium – seemed to scream “future”  like no other building I’d ever seen before, and I couldn’t turn my eyes away for a minute or two. When I finally did and started to explore the city, everything else felt uneventful. It, to my surprise, turned to be nice and pleasing to the eye, yet completely not exciting.

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BURNING BRIGHT IN HONG KONG

Lights are always burning brightly in the city of Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee. Hong Kong illuminates at night and comes into thousands of different shades, diving straight into the future. When I visited the city in 2008, it was like a busy beehive, as China was preparing for the Olympics. Everything felt hectic, modern, and impressive. I’m more in love with outdoors adventure than city exploration, but Hong Kong managed to grasp my full attention and made me go “woah” a few times. It felt as if the future was just within the reach, somewhere among luminous skyscrapers. The concrete jungles like Hong Kong never lose the sight of tomorrow.

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FALLING IN LOVE WITH BARCELONA: PART I

Falling in love with Barcelona was one of the easiest things I’ve ever done. Finding a more loveable city would be the ultimate challenge, so Barcelona isn’t going to lose the title of my favourite place anytime soon. I try to visit at least once a year: a year without Barcelona wouldn’t just simply feel right. The last time I was exploring Gaudi’s city was in December 2016. I wanted to finish a year with a big splash, and nothing screams “eventful” more than Barcelona. My parents agree, so we said yes to “fun” and took a plane straight to Spain. I was there for about two weeks: Christmas and New Year’s Eve included, and just as expected, these were some of the nicest weeks of 2016. What to see, what to do, and how to fall in love with Barcelona? More about it below!

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