magor65's VirtualTourist Home Page

'A gentleman knocks on his son's door.
-Jaime, he says, wake up!
Jaime answers:
- I don't want to get up, Papa.
The father shouts:
- Get up, you have to go to school.
Jaime says:
- I don't want to go to school.
- Why not? - asks the father.
- Three reasons, says Jaime. First, because it's so dull; second, the kids tease me; and third, I hate school.
And the father says:
- Well, I'm going to give you three reasons why you must go to school. First, because it's your duty; second, because you are forty-five years old, and third, because you are the headmaster.'

Wake up, wake up! You've grown up. You're too big to be asleep. Wake up! stop playing with your toys.
Most people tell you they want to get out of kindergarten, but don't believe them. Don't believe them! All they want you to do is to mend their broken toys. "Give me back my wife. Give me back my job. Give me back my money. Give me back my reputation, my success." This is what they want; they want their toys replaced. That's all. Even the best psychologist will tell you that people don't really want to be cured. What they want is relief; a cure is painful.
Waking up is unpleasant, you know. You are nice and comfortable in bed. It's irritating to be woken up. That's the reason the wise guru will not attempt to wake people up. I hope I'm going to be wise here and make no attempt whatsoever to wake you up if you are asleep. It's really none of my business, even though I say to you at times, 'Wake up!" My business is to do my thing, to dance my dance. If you profit from it, fine.; if you don't, too bad! As the Arabs say, "The nature of rain is the same, but it makes thorns grow in the marshes and flowers in the gardens."
Anthony De Mello - "On Waking Up"

I discovered Anthony De Mello a couple of years ago. Since then I've been coming back to his books again and again. His thoughts helped me out in many difficult moments. But have I woken up? Probably not yet .... but I'm trying not to expect others to mend my broken toys...

I can't say I have always been keen on travelling. The turning point was meeting my husband-to-be, who at that time was a student of geography. He made me realize that travelling 'does broaden the mind' and is worth all the efforts and sacrifices. And so it started ...
First we visited the countries of so called 'eastern block' : Bulgaria, Rumunia, East Germany, Czecholovakia, Hungary. They weren't very expensive so for a couple of years we spent there all summer holidays.

The city I visited most frequently was Budapest. I used to spend there my summer holidays. For a long time it was at the top of my private list of most beautiful places I had visited. What a pity I haven't been there for at least 15 years now.

In 1979 we went to 'the West' for the first time. We bought ferry tickets to Dover and for a month hitch hiked all over Great Britain going as far as Edinburgh. Now it's hard to believe that we managed to survive having only 100 dollars each. On the way back to Poland we stayed in Paris for a couple of days.

In 1989 I spent a month on Guernsey, one of the Channel Islands. It seemed like a paradise to me. Beautiful nature, smiling people, shops full of all possible goods ... After grey reality of Poland in the 1980's this colourful world came as a shock.

The 1990's were mainly the time of family vacations in Italy, France and Spain. With the political situation different in Poland it was much easier to get a passport and go abroad. We stopped feeling 'the second category citizens'. Not predicting the hardships that capitalistic system was to bring soon, we joyfully spent money and enjoyed life. Our beloved destination was Italy, and especially Gargano.

In 1996 I discovered for myself Barcelona and fell in love with it. This unique place with Gaudi's spirit present almost everywhere is for me the most beautiful European city. Although I have visited it several times there is always somehing that delights me anew.

In 1999 I went to Asia for the first time in my life ( not counting several crossings to the Asian part of Istanbul on different occasions). For a month I and my sister-in-law with a small group of other people were travelling in Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. It was an unforgettable experience which made me desire for more...
Of course, there were many other journeys and trips in these past years, and I hope there are still many to come.
Plans? Unlike some VTers I think that there are no dull, uninteresting places. It's enough to make an effort, open your eyes wider, and you will find something unique or exciting in things seemingly unattractive. So I'll be happy to visit any place - 20 or 20 000 km from my home.