Norway Sailing

Vlado Porvaznik is a Slovak adventurer by heart. Previously a passionate climber, he found his love for sailing in his later age. He has sailed around the world with his yacht Civetta II in 2 years. He has written several books and made films about his sailing adventures, which have also been broadcasted by Slovak Television. But the most important of all, he is an inexhaustible well of jokes.

I met Vlado last winter by a coincidence in Schladming. After exchanging for 5 minutes, I expressed my wish to document such a sailing trip. "Then come with me to Norway in Summer." was his answer. Vlado is an open-minded, witty guy who really understands what carpe diem means. 

The plan was to sail from Stavanger to Orkney and Shetland islands, but due to the wrong wind direction, we had to change the plans. We sailed into the Norway fjords and passed along the coast to Bergen. Seeing the fjords from a sea level perspective was a great experience. Norway is a beautiful country and if you want to, you can easily find solitude or get lost into the unknown. Every night we stopped in a marina, which is a kind of campsite for ships. Vlado has two bikes on the ship and we could also explore inland.

Sailing is rather different to other means of transport. You are very much dependent on the weather conditions. With the wind we have reached 10-15 km/h. It is a slow way of travel. More meditative, quiet, in line with the natural elements. One has lots of time to observe the landscape from an unusual perspective. 

Living on a yacht means freedom that is paid for with solitude. To cross the Atlantic you have to sail at least 3 weeks with no land in sight. Captain has to be ready for everything. If something gets broken, you have to fix it by yourself. Therefore Vlado has for every possible equipment a spare part on the boat. It is important to know your boat in and out and have a plan B for almost everything.

Good food is part of Vlado's mantra. He bakes fresh bread regularly on his yacht, and man, it is delicious. We have switched turns in the kitchen, and enriched our lives with new recipes. BTW cooking can get pretty wobbly during sailing, therefore the oven is oscillating on an axis, to be leveled up. 

If you would like to discover more about sailing guru Vlado, check out its youtube channel (some of the films have also english subtitles)

Thank you Vlado for this amazing adventure, you are fine fella, may our paths cross in the future again. 

Almabtrieb Achensee - Lonely Planet

Lately I was commissioned by Lonely Planet to document an Almabtrieb: a traditional cattle drive from the alpine pastures, down through the valleys, and into barns - where the cattle spends the winter. They usually happen in September or October, and if there were no accidents in summer, farmers decorate the cows with flowers and religious signs. I visited the Almabtrieb in Gramai Alm, close to Achensee with my dear colleague journalist Emily Schultheis. Despite the rainy weather, we were lucky enough to spot some sun in the mountains. Usually the cows walk, but this year for some reason, the cows ran. Running among the cows in the crowded streets of Pertisau was an adventure of it’ s own. Luckily nobody was injured, and the cows are resting in their winter residence.

Big thanks to Emily for organising this trip and to Erin, Lonely Plane’st photo editor, for entrusting me with this project.

Iceland

The last two weeks we spent in Iceland. Regarding nature my TOP1 location is New Zealand, but Iceland is very close. It has great variety of terrains and provides many breathtaking views. On top of that, it offers many mineral hot-tubs, that I got addicted to. The number of visitors exponentially rose from hundred thousands to 2,2 mio last year. Taking into account Iceland population of around 300 thousand, the disparity is obvious. On the main sightseeings the tourism is strictly controlled, no free camping, walking only on fenced paths, no droning, …

The area of Westfjords is far less populated and the tourism havent boomed yet here. Driving on the gravel roads in a jeep is an adventure by itself. I spent the last 3 days here and I am planning to come back here next year. If you havent been yet I can strongly recommend to visit this beautiful country, with flights under 100 EUR and 4 hours flight time from Europe, it is good destination worth visiting even for 1 week. If you have any questions regarding Iceland just post them in the comments bellow. But now buckle up and enjoy colourful Iceland through my eyes.