The time has come to bid farewell to 2021 and prepare the traditional summary of the year. This year has shown us even more how important health is. It also showed how beautiful and undiscovered we have not only our country, but also our immediate surroundings. 2021 also showed how much we already long for more travel….
Well, and most importantly: it also showed that it is worth taking a step forward and publishing books! How did we do with their sales? :)
In our summary of 2020, we wrote that if we can fly a plane somewhere at least once in 2021, that would be great. We managed to do it as many as twice! Also, it can be written that 2021 went outstandingly ;)
Table of contents
What was 2021 like?
However, it was not easy. Putting aside all the restrictions related to the pandemic, this year was full of events in our lives that limited our travel in one way or another. And it started with a bump. We literally entered the New Year with a positive result for coronavirus. It was not easy, but fortunately there were no major complications. Quarantine, however, had to be done by the whole family, although we also had to repeat it several times in the past year for other reasons.
We also limited further travel due to pregnancy :) However, this allowed us to travel more in our immediate area, getting to know central Poland even more. And finally, in June, our travel team expanded with the addition of the youngest traveler – Anna! Still with a newborn on board, we set off for northeastern Poland, arriving in Szczecin, and a month later we escaped to hot Turkey and relaxed at pools and on the beach. Further sightseeing in full swing took place in the fall, when we flew to London.
Unfortunately, the second half of the year was more limited due to Paul’s“injury” and necessary back surgery. Fortunately, it was possible to get the operation quickly, which took place in early December. Now a quick rehabilitation and let’s fly on ;)
However, this does not mean that in 2021 there was little happening on the blog, oh no!
Because if we had to define 2021 in one word it would be very difficult. It could be: UNCERTAINTY, CHANGE, BOOK, DEVELOPMENT. However, the most fitting is just CHANGE – this year was full of changes and twists for us :) Changes that brought uncertainty, but also opportunities for growth. Changes that involved stepping outside one’s comfort zone, but carried enormous potential. Changes that were to turn our lives maybe not upside down, but by several dozen degrees for sure.
Changes and news
By far the biggest blogging change and news was our book. Or even two. Actually, it’s ebooks, too, because that’s where it started :)
We decided to publish ebooks, but it was thanks to you that we published the first book, because you were the ones who often asked for it, for which we thank you mooooocantly at this point! On the wave of positive reception and your comments, we also published a second book and so it went :)
Just a year ago, if someone had asked us if we would publish a book, we would have emphatically said no. And yes, we already have two of them to our credit (plus a few ebooks), and in 2022 we will certainly not leave you without our publishing news :)
Modestly because modestly, but we are also adding more and more video content to our Youtube channel. Here we are definitely limited by the amount of our time (and pandemonium), because we have a lot of materials. However, we hope to see more and more of this content there and to appear more regularly.
We still travel everywhere together, and we can’t imagine it any other way, because we can already see even from our five-year-old Olive how super travel affects her development, learning and understanding of the world.
We also continue to run our blog on our own. We even set up the store ourselves, and we also prepared the book, published it and send it to you ourselves. We have only used an external proofreader to proofread the final text for the books and have had the book design adapted for printing at a particular printing house, or we have also outsourced the editing of some videos. And modestly writing we are awesomely proud of it :)
A few digits from 2021
From our perspective, we can say that it’s great (as well as with the number of flights per year, which we wrote about at the very beginning ;-)). We like to see the numbers grow, and these grew very nicely in these difficult conditions.
The specifics look like this:
As for the number of users on the blog, this year we have already returned to the time before the beginning of the pandemic, thus in 2021 alone we had 1,000,000 people reading us! Thank you!
Our Facebook continues to gain new fans, there are already more than 125,000 fans! In total, there are already almost 150,000 of you on all social media channels!
We are also developing our YouTube channel. This year we crossed the barrier of 900,000 views of our videos, so the first million is getting closer and closer :)
And what you are probably most interested in :) Last year we sold almost 3,000 books and that’s just from our own distribution! Add to that half of that the ebooks themselves. Looking at the fact that it was only practically half a year we are mega proud (and altogether surprised) by these numbers. And we want to emphasize it again, these numbers are literally thanks to you, for which we thank you again! :)
The travel numbers look abysmal compared to previous years, but they don’t count for us that much, but we leave them here for reference and memory. The most important thing is that despite the limitations, we managed to collect a large number of shared memories :)
To our credit, we have 4 flights together (2020: also were 4).
We visited 2 countries (2020: also 2 countries).
We were at 4 different airports (2020: 3 airports).
In total, we flew 6,428 kilometers (2020: 20,546 kilometers).
We spent less than 10 hours on board the planes (2020: more than 27 hours).
We flew with 2 different airlines (2020: 2 airlines).
We traveled an immeasurable number of kilometers across Poland ;-)
Below we bring you our top travel memories of 2021. Contrary to appearances, there were quite a lot of them, and as standard, quite a few (or even most) of them are not yet described on the blog ;) Also, choosing the Top 10 was not easy, but we tried:
Hortulus Gardens – or more precisely, two gardens, the Hortulus Theme Gardens and the Hortulus Spectabilis Gardens in Dobrzyce near Koszalin. Why were they ranked as high as number one? Because, in our opinion, it is really a beautiful place where literally everyone will spend a nice time. In addition, we are strongly surprised, because we did not expect such a beautifully groomed and planned place in Poland. Even more so (almost!) by the Polish sea ;)
Museum of London – we have been to London many times before, often visiting well-known and free museums including such hits as the Natural History Museum, the Science Museum and the National Gallery. On our last visit to London, we also visited these places, but it was at the Museum of London that we first visited. It captures the history of this city beautifully and in great detail. Recommended to everyone, the oldest and the youngest. No one will be bored here. And it’s a wonder that there is nothing about England and London on our blog yet :)
Mandoria City of Adventures – one of our two most anticipated developments in Poland. Mandoria is a great place for families with children to visit all year round. It’s not cheap, but it’s definitely worth it, especially if you’re an amusement park lover. Oj lacked such a place on the Polish map. You can read more about prices, attractions and who Mandoria is for in this post.
Nikiszowiec, Katowice – an incredibly atmospheric neighborhood in Katowice. We feel all the more sentimental about it, because it is very reminiscent of our Lodz Księży Młyn (which, by the way, we must also write about one day ;-)). Nevertheless, if you are in Katowice or the surrounding area, in our opinion, you absolutely must go there, at least for a while, and stroll through the streets of Nikoszowiec.
POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews – we’ve had this museum on our radar for a long time, and we finally got it right. Although we admit that our feelings are mixed. It is definitely one of the prettiest museums we have seen, however, it is, for us, too overloaded with written content, completely all over the place :)
Open-air museum in Sierpc – this is also where we went for a long time. When visiting other open-air museums, someone always wrote us about the open-air museum in Sierpc, and it’s good to finally get here. It is definitely one of the best open-air museums we have been to. We were there in autumn, will have to return there again in spring or summer :)
Steam locomotive depot Skierniewice – a very interesting place, which is taken care of by a group of railroad enthusiasts. Available only a few times a year, but it’s worth hunting for a bargain, because the vehicles you can see there (as well as the place itself) are worth it.
Bałtowski Tourist Complex – we were supposed to go only to Jura Park Bałtów (having previously known the similar JuraPark in Krasiejów), but it turned out that it is part of a larger complex which is the Bałtowski Tourist Complex. The place is ideal for families with children where you can quietly spend a whole weekend and still be little. In addition to JuraPark, you’ll also find a petting zoo, amusement park, miniature park, museum, assessmentarium and many other attractions.
Whale Park – Our second very positive impression of the Polish sea this, year. A much smaller place than the Hortulus Gardens described above and definitely more for families with children, but still one of the more interesting attractions we saw this year. It is a beautifully manicured educational place, created by passionate people, from which young and old will take away a good dose of knowledge and fun. We wrote about the Whale Park here.
Museum of the Borderland in Działdowo – This museum is divided into two parts, which are located in two different buildings: “Działdowo – City and People of the Old Frontier” in the Teutonic Castle and “Interactive Exhibition of the State of the Teutonic Order” in the City Hall. The latter is actually very interactive by Polish standards, and you can easily spend 2-3 hours there even with children. The first, on the other hand, impressed us as being perfectly in keeping with the character of the castle on which it is located. It is a small exhibition, but very nicely arranged, the interiors themselves as well as the castle also look very interesting.
(bonus) Going out on the hill below the block after the January quarantine to enjoy the snow and sledding ;) And we ourselves don’t know what we enjoyed more – whether getting out after 3 weeks in confinement or the fact that it finally snowed a lot in Lodz.
The target for 2022?
As before: survive ; ) This time, however, with more ambitious plans, as we are already looking forward to further travels. Admittedly, we don’t have any airline tickets yet, because even more so now trips are planned even shorter in advance, but we have almost bought one ticket to another continent. We are just waiting for approval from the doctor that everything is ok after the surgery and we are off! So keep your fingers firmly crossed for us!
You can also expect more books for sure! Which ones? We will definitely inform you about it on social media well in advance :)
Finally, traditionally, we wish you the very fantastic moments in 2022! Because that it will be better than the passing one is almost obvious this time ;)
...having traveled almost all over Europe in her youth, she inherited her love of travel from her parents. Despite this, together we discover many places anew. She doesn't like to sit still and tries to get the maximum out of each trip. She is responsible for finding the places we go to and making ... More about us >>.
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