I am a Blogger or See Bloggers – 24-26.07.2015, Gdynia

July weekend, the height of the vacation season, and we tell everyone around us that we are going to Gdynia for the weekend.

Those who know us well do not want to believe. Only when we say that we are going to See Bloggers then they calm down :) And it’s not that we “abhor” the Polish sea…. there are no such places in the world! It is the tourists and the local community that can make the case that some places should not be traveled to in the so-called high-season.

But back to the topic – See Bloggers – welcome to our objective coverage of the event!

See Bloggers – what is it anyway?

See Bloggers is an event, a gathering for bloggers, where you can attend a number of workshops and lectures under different thematic zones. In addition, and perhaps most importantly, you can finally meet other bloggers in person, network and integrate a bit :)

We found out that we were going to See Bloggers in mid-June. First things first, we bought accommodation in Gdynia, which was already a challenge. Few vacancies and astronomical sums of money for accommodation in a decent apartment showed us the daunting face of Baltic holidays in high season. Since we didn’t care about a spot right on the sea, we chose something as close as possible to where the lectures were held. We had a small studio with a kitchenette, bathroom and clean bedding – what more do you need? :)

Pendolino to the Tricity

We got to Gdynia by Pendolino – we were among the lucky ones who caught a free round trip between Warsaw and Gdynia. So far, we have not had the opportunity to ride PKP’s pride, and probably until they finally let some IC through Lodz, there will be no opportunity. And it’s a pity, because the train very comfortable, plenty of legroom, tables, sockets…. the trip can be quite pleasant.

But to be enjoyable it must be on time :) So what if the Pendolino can go fast when it is late approx. 30 min? Unfortunately, there was no WOW-effect episode on our route that knocked us into our seats (however, still no. 1 is the Shinkansen). Nonetheless, PKP Intercity really welcomed us warmly and we remember our trip very fondly :) The food was also quite quite :)

A bit of sightseeing in Gdynia…

Still on Friday we went for a walk in the evening (as it turned out later, it was our only free moment ;)). We went towards the sea and along the beach to the center of Gdynia. Right at the beginning we were positively surprised by the numerous and very well marked walking paths. It’s also not a bad area for two-wheeling.

It’s been a long time since we’ve been to our venerable Baltic Sea. Maybe it’s a matter of the hour, maybe the weather, but there were few people, and the walk along the beach was very pleasant. Worse when we reached the main beach – lots of people, noisy, pub on pub.

Since we were already very hungry we moved away towards the center and looked for something else. We ended up at a very interesting place: Moment of the Grill – nice food (delicious fish&chips and falafel burger), super drinks, nice service, only the music a little too loud.

This day was very active (out of nowhere we did more than 7km on foot), and See Bloggers hasn’t started yet in earnest ;)

See Bloggers meeting

This was our first participation in See Bloggers, so we don’t have a comparison with previous editions, and we didn’t quite know what to expect either. Before leaving for that we did our homework so that no one would be in any doubt about what kind of blog we represent :)

We signed up for various workshops, not only related to Photo&Travel. As it happens with this type of event and such a number of participants (about 600 people), it is impossible to please everyone and provide an adequate level of lectures, and hence we sometimes left disappointed and sometimes positively surprised. Some of the classes were substantive, some were workshops, and unfortunately some were purely commercial.

Nevertheless, we evaluate the event as a whole, very well – we met a lot of interesting and inspiring people, we learned how they lead and what they are guided by the old-timers of the Polish blogosphere. The greatest value of this type of event happens behind the scenes. Of the classes, the most noteworthy was the photography workshop with Tomasz Tomkowiak.

We also took part in a small fitness workshop ;)

What would a bloggers’ convention be without integration? On Saturday evening there was a closed party, during which this whiskey was poured in streams. And I mean that literally! For the more picky there was still cider :) Let me tell you, whisky can even taste good :)

On Sunday after classes we had to return to Lodz, which turned out to be more complicated than we thought. All seats on trains and buses bought out (in different combinations, through different cities – well, peak season), so we were left with BlaBla Car, which turned out to be the most comfortable and cheapest option :)

We came back to our Lodz full of energy and motivation to act, we have a lot of new ideas and we are going to implement them :D

Thank you to the organizers, speakers and participants!