As the closest possible – tender, attentive, and addictive.

To get our act together. Immediately.

I think it was taking part in a cycling relay tracing the route of Kazimierz Nowak across Africa (2009–2011). First of all, it gave me the impulse that you can take a bike on expeditions even to the ends of the earth, and thanks to that, just a few months later I was cycling solo across my dream destination – Alaska. Secondly, throughout the project, dozens of enthusiasts took part – people interested not so much in ordinary trips, but in exploration and large expedition projects – which laid the foundations of my travel bubble and raised the bar for my ambitions and goals. Thirdly, the project was based on the idea of following in the footsteps of the forgotten Polish traveler Kazimierz Nowak, with the aim of restoring him to collective memory. It was then that I understood I expect more from my travels than just ticking off places, and that travel should be merely a pretext for talking about important things. Fourthly, the project took place in my early twenties, when I was just shaping my expedition path, which is why the above elements had a stronger and more lasting impact on me.

In most cases, I travel solo and I really enjoy it! But if I do go with someone, they definitely need to be a unique, interesting, and non-complaining person. And on more demanding projects, also for safety reasons, they should be at a similar skill level and, crucially, able to stay calm in crisis situations.

Mango Lassi, 100%!
It’s a huge motivational boost and a reward – a moment of pure, uncompromising pleasure. I always save it for the end of a project and use it to celebrate! Because food isn’t just about filling up, it’s about celebrating flavor!

I’d be a marine biologist.

Because since childhood, it has been the most natural thing in my life – first in the form of spending entire holidays in a tent, in the forest, in the mountains, and on kayaking trips; later going farther, for longer, and usually into colder places. During my studies, I spent more time traveling than in lecture halls (though the nature of journalism studies meant I had my lecturers’ blessing, since I would bring back reports). All of this felt so obvious and natural to me that for a long time I didn’t even realize it could be classified as expeditions – I still remember the look on a friend’s face when I tried to explain that spending several months alone in Alaska, cycling and camping, was just a vacation and that everyone does it, not some kind of “expedition.” So I simply do what has always come most naturally to me – and what has always made me happy.

Moreover, today, seeing what is happening in the world and being unable to look away, I believe that since I have the privilege to live and travel this way, I also have a responsibility to use it for more meaningful purposes – to tell stories about the world in the voices of those I meet, who often don’t have one: local communities, nature, minorities; places that are not heard about in the media, along with their challenges and struggles. (Perhaps despite all those absences, I did take something from my journalism studies after all…). Today, a report from an expedition – which I later publish as an article, podcast, or talk – is the most important and powerful value I have and can pass on. And that is why I continue to bring back stories from the ends of the earth.