Hi from Croatia!

I left Basel, the Swiss city where the highest-ever temperature on the northern side of the Alps was recorded this year – 39.7 degrees Celsius.

With places like Lugano experiencing 50 tropical nights (lows above 20 degrees), this is officially becoming the hottest summer ever.

All of Europe is warming up, raising the heat death toll to 25,000, with Germany making up almost half of this sad number.

One of the worst droughts emptied Lake Brenets on the Swiss-French border, and the once-mighty Danube revealed everything from World War shipwrecks to cars dumped in the river’s depths in recent years.

So, here I am standing before the Adriatic Sea, the cooling agent for millions of tourists looking for an escape on the Croatian coast. This time, they can refresh themselves by taking seabed walks on Krk island, diving in an underwater museum near Trogir, or even swimming with horses on the island of Brač.

When the sun sets over the sea horizon, just experiencing the views above the sea surface can already boost one’s soul. Well, not everyone’s.

“Centoquindici fotografie!”, tells me the Italian passerby as his wife stands on the sea promenade, filling up her phone’s memory with sunset pictures.

I do wonder how he’ll escape this evening’s views, when the solar eclipse will draw our attention to the sky again. Plus the Perseid meteor shower. Plus the planetary alignment. A lot of wonders scheduled for tonight!

Sometimes, however, the powerful nature of this planet surprises us with small miracles of beauty even without an announcement. Whether it’s rainbow clouds over Indonesia or a fire rainbow over West Virginia, natural phenomena above our heads can brighten up a bad day.

As you prepare to watch and take pictures of our shortly darkened Sun this evening, remember that not all stars are created equal.

There is one, actually, that almost nobody is allowed to draw. But that’s a whole ‘nother story.

Have a starful rest of the week,

Ivan Kralj    
Pipeaway.com

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The post 🌞 Tonight, the Sky Has Plans – Pipeaway Newsletter #228 appeared first on Pipeaway.

Hi from Europe!

I wish the concerns about the streets becoming moral battlefields expressed in my previous newsletter were just paranoia. But after I clicked “send”, wishing you a non-violent weekend ahead, darkness prevailed.

Berlin, where ten years ago a rejected asylum seeker from Tunisia rammed a truck into a Christmas market, killing 13, now experienced another attack by an Islamic State admirer during the Berlin Pride. Abdul Ballout, a German citizen with Lebanese roots, drove a van into a crowd, taking one woman’s life and injuring 29 others.

With extremist terror threatening the European “way of life”, scenes of thousands of Moroccans illegally crossing into Spain, risking life to find a better one, reinforce the fears of cultural clashes.

Can people learn and adopt the rules defending different values once they cross a border?

Not necessarily. What happens when Europeans go to Asia, for instance?

Last week’s incident on a Bangkok train, when a group of loud Italian students harassed a local commuter who only asked them to lower their voices, ended up with fines, apologies, and even police protection.

Between insulting gestures and condescending sneers, one especially entitled statement could be heard during the altercation: “Sorry for bringing money to your country.”

If that rings a bell, it’s because, just a year ago, an Israeli tourist brat refusing to remove her shoes at a restaurant in Thailand caused a similar public outrage when she said: “I’m sorry, but my money built your country.”

The semantic structure is practically the same: starting with a fake apologetic intro (sorry, but not sorry), and then expressing a racial/ethnic supremacy with a suggestion that a doubtfully thicker wallet makes you privileged.

The Tourism Minister Surasak Phancharoenworakul had to inform visitors to Thailand that their bank account doesn’t make them special: “The money tourists spend may buy goods and services, but it certainly cannot buy privileges over Thai citizens.”

He was not the only minister who had to remind people of their whereabouts last week.

During a crackdown on unauthorized foreign businesses, a man in the inspected Chabad House in Phuket said: “Don’t you know this is Israeli territory?”

Deputy Interior Minister Polapee Suwannachet, leading the operation, had to reject the idea that this Jewish community house would somehow be exempt from legal scrutiny: “This is Thailand. Everyone on Thai soil must comply with Thai law. No one has the right to claim sovereignty over Thailand.”

In a push for “quality tourism”, Bali also cracks down on foreign businesses operating without proper permits. The recent one to fall is Entourage Bali, a silent-disco run club, which came under scrutiny after accusations of accepting Westerners while refusing the applications of Indonesians. Two Dutch organizers have now been blacklisted from reentering the country.

The same way we expect others to follow our customs and rules within our country, once we cross its borders, we should respect locals and their regulations, no matter how different they are.

That means lowering your voice when someone kindly asks you to do that on public transport, taking your shoes off at a temple or a restaurant where everyone does the same, or obtaining all the permits needed to run a business in a foreign territory.

That also means not to pack a loaded magazine with bullets for your honeymoon – looking at you, IDF holidaymaker. And no, it cannot happen to anyone.

Have a respectful weekend,

Ivan Kralj    
Pipeaway.com

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning if you click on them and make a purchase, Pipeaway may make a small commission, at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting our work!

The post 💸 Sorry, But My Money Grants Me Privilege – Pipeaway Newsletter #227 appeared first on Pipeaway.

Hi from Switzerland!

I’m back in the tri-border town, and the first thing I see in the streets is the Basel Tattoo. My friend was planning to get some ink done during this annual convention.

That reminded me of those two girls traveling “to Nice” on a flight to Tunisia (TikTok video with 4 million likes). Another acquaintance bought a ticket for Riga (Latvia) and ended up in Rijeka (Croatia), a story I retell in the collection of destination mix-ups that happen more often than you’d think.

Basel Tattoo has nothing to do with tattooing. It’s a military music festival!

Now, I understand fetishes come in many forms. But to me, 130,000 people lining the streets (that’s more than what Eurovision‘s Turquoise Carpet in the same town attracted) to celebrate anything related to armed forces in today’s world is somewhat bizarre. On the other hand, it’s better to see men dressed in kilts armed with bagpipes instead of rifles.

Strangely, weaponry can be an uninvited guest on even the most innocent parades, such as, for instance, nude bike protests, which I recently wrote about. My experience of the London event was very positive. The crowd was cheerful, and despite the impression tabloids could distill from online comments, there was no expression of hostility from the onlookers.

That was not the case at the World Naked Bike Ride in Los Angeles, where a man in black (this one with a real tattoo on his face) opened fire at the participants.

At a similar charity event in Chelmsford, England, two men on an e-scooter kicked the cyclist mid-ride.

The naked bike ride in Buffalo, New York, had to be canceled this week after organizers received threats of being hit by cars, being thrown at with bricks, and other assaults. All in the guise of making America moral again.

Taking violence to the streets makes us no different than monkeys. Literally. In Lopburi, Thailand, home to the famous Monkey Buffet Festival and a town that has an actual macaque prison, a hundred of them escaped the enclosure earlier this month. They ran loose through the neighborhoods, damaging properties, and even breaking into the local police station, not for the first time.

There are violent outbreaks among primates at Basel Zoo, as well. Just days apart, Yeba, the 14-year-old silverback gorilla, has taken two young lives in his harem – first biting a younger male on the genitals, prompting euthanasia, and then accidentally biting the chest of his newborn. Nature conservation organizations started calling on the zoo to stop breeding gorillas in captivity.

Although we don’t live in a jungle ourselves, but freely roam our western civilized streets, we still breed violence whenever we feel others will endanger “our way of life”. Well, the way of life that resorts to violence whenever it feels threatened by other people sharing the same coordinates is not the least dangerous lifestyle choice, is it?

Living in today’s society, among folks with various sets of beliefs, perspectives, and life ideas, requires us to employ tolerance. Unlike gorillas or macaques, humans have evolved to control their primal instincts. So when provoked by different concepts in life, instead of emptying our arms, we should rather arm ourselves with empathy.

Have a non-violent weekend,

Ivan Kralj    
Pipeaway.com

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning if you click on them and make a purchase, Pipeaway may make a small commission, at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting our work!

The post 🦍 The Streets Are Not a Battlefield – Pipeaway Newsletter #226 appeared first on Pipeaway.

Hi from my bed!

Well, as sexy as it sounds, I am not literally in bed. But I’ve been more horizontal than usual these days (hence, newsletter on Friday!). My immunity fell apart, and in the middle of a hot summer, I had all the symptoms of a common cold – sore throat, runny nose, weak muscles…

While England and Wales were counting 2,700 heatwave-related deaths, I’ve been chilled in a radically different way.

I have no idea where I could have picked up the virus. Maybe on a plane? Maybe as I hopped on the crowded London tube, where temperatures could kill cows?

Well, in a city as grand as London, it is hard to reach cooler places, such as Hampstead Heath, without getting in contact with other commuters.

If you’re fine with swimming in muddy waters, encircled by resting gulls (they do poop in the lake, so beware of the dropping bombs), Hampstead Heath ponds are a great place to chill down.

You’ve got Kenwood Ladies’ Pond, Highgate Men’s Pond, Hampstead Mixed Pond, and even an unnamed dog pond. Unlike humans, pets don’t have to pay 5 pounds to enjoy their dedicated city beach.

There are quite a few additional ponds in North London’s green oasis, siren-calling you in summer heat. Some locals responded, ignored the rules against disturbing wildlife, and decided to cool down in the lakes reserved primarily for swans and ducks. Even the police had to be called. When confronted with the pressures of climate change, we are capable of breaking the law.

Years ago, people could enjoy single-sex ponds even without clothes. So, when three summers ago the authorities banned a century-old tradition of nude sunbathing in the open-air changing room, it naturally sparked an uproar among their regular visitors.

Nowadays, the warning sign that sunbathers should “dress modestly and wear family-friendly swimwear” still hangs on the walls of the Men’s Pond dressing room, but it seems that the rule enforcement is not so strict. After all, nobody can regulate the speed of someone dressing up, and some visitors truly take their time.

Resistance is understandable. Whenever public authorities try to regulate public morals in places that have certain established traditions, the heat will rise.

For instance, in Budapest, the capital of Hungary, a discussion on a dress code change in one public bath got rather steamy.

Instead of wearing one piece of clothing, the visitors of a popular Turkish bath now need to cover their intimate region with another one – all to protect against “inappropriate behavior”, like some magical electric fence between two adults.

You should read all the details about the Rudas Baths apron controversy, as it shows how public moral debates may sometimes be used to achieve goals that have nothing to do with skin exposure.

Wherever you are, go vertical if you can, get out of the house, enjoy some sun while it’s there, and cool down at some lake, when available.

That’s my goal as well. Having a cold in a heatwave is no fun.

Have a sunny weekend,

Ivan Kralj    
Pipeaway.com

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning if you click on them and make a purchase, Pipeaway may make a small commission, at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting our work!

The post 🛀 Steamy Debates in Hot Summers – Pipeaway Newsletter #225 appeared first on Pipeaway.

Hi from the United Kingdom!

Pride Month is behind us, but London‘s flagship parade is always held on the first weekend of July. As I’m in the UK capital for a month now, London streets seemed to be precisely the place where I thought I should be this Saturday: at an event that unites the kingdom in supporting and celebrating diversity.

Some 30,000 marchers and 300 floats snaked through the city, from Green Park to Whitehall, with over a million people lining the route of London Pride.

Coming from Croatia, a country that religiously approaches catholic conservatism, it’s been refreshing to see that London has spiritual oases that blend traditional liturgy with progressive theology.

The clergy of Southward Cathedral, Swedish Church, and other representatives of the Council of Lutheran Churches, a company of those from Great Britain, Nordic, and Baltic countries, all showed up waving rainbow flags and carrying signs such as “Making Space for Love”, “God is Love”, “You are Loved”…

In the courtyard of the welcoming and inclusive St James’s Church at Piccadilly, a drag DJ played music, standing behind the banner “God Loves You, Just the Way You Are”.

Seeing ‘love’ in practically every message of religious voices at the Pride in London was just what you’d expect from theological doctrines being taught in the 21st century.

The parade also included members of the army, firemen, healthcare workers, public transport staff, as well as families with children… A true United Kingdom, thousands marching as one.

I especially liked seeing the youngest kids making their first steps against discrimination, following a humane approach to life practiced by their parents.

That might not be London in every family, but it was certainly London I chose to recognize this weekend. Not just at the Pride.

In the evening, after a delicious dinner at an Italian restaurant (Café Amisha – check it out, this is not a paid ad!), I escorted my disabled friend to the Bermondsey Spa Gardens. At one of the street workout bars, I did a few pull-ups, trying to burn some calories from those creamy Ravioli ai Porcini.

Just as we were ready to leave, several young girls showed up, jumping on the workout equipment, to play.

I rolled my friend’s wheelchair out of the park, and suddenly, I saw a woman running after us. As the mother of one of those kids, she wanted to make sure that the girls didn’t push us away from working out, apologizing for literally nothing. Seeing a parent go the length of running after people, just to teach their child the importance of kindness, love, and consideration for others, was rather moving.

The more I see the world, the more I recognize that its most valuable worth lies in the kindness of strangers. Their hearts can radiate with a warmth that shows no calculation. In our societies that increasingly connect through nepotism and corruption, doing something nice for a person we are not related to in any way is probably the most divine thing a human can do.

As Joan Osborne would sing it three decades ago: “What if God was one of us / Just a slob like one of us / Just a stranger on the bus / Tryna make His way home?”

What if, indeed?

Help someone make their way home today.

Have a divine week,

Ivan Kralj    
Pipeaway.com

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning if you click on them and make a purchase, Pipeaway may make a small commission, at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting our work!

The post 🌈 The Gospel According to Ordinary People – Pipeaway Newsletter #224 appeared first on Pipeaway.

Hi from England!

This newsletter arrives with some delay, but the heat got me.

As you surely know, record-breaking temperatures have disrupted life across Europe, with data showing that this continent is warming faster than any other.

It’s not much different in the United Kingdom. As temperatures rose to the high 30s, just like this newsletter, trains were also late. In the London Tube, readings in the carriages of the busy Central Line showed highs of 39.4ºC. Even the event on the extreme heat had to be cancelled because of, well, extreme heat.

So, my escape to England’s southern shores was supported by a survival instinct. Temperatures in Littlehampton, the Sussex town where the heat is mostly raised in the pans that fry fish and chips, and poison pen letters, were at least bearable.

If you’re wondering how they refresh themselves in the birthplace of James Bond, the answer is: Littlehampton Beach. Oh, how helpful those chilly shallows were! Cooling in the sea and walking over the long promenade against the breeze were tactics that saved my sanity.

In this quiet coastal town, I even marked my birthday. Well, I don’t celebrate those things much. But my friends made sure I had a nice time.

Their old neighbors invited them for lunch, and I tagged along, despite having reservations about spending my “special day” in the company of people I’ve never seen, and maybe have nothing in common with.

But the welcome of these strangers was extremely heartfelt. The lady in her 70s made an incredible BBQ feast, with burgers, sausages, teriyaki chicken, chicken satay, cheese-filled potatoes, three types of salad… The list hardly stopped.

And then, as the sun still chased us around the parasol, we moved from the garden to the shade of a shed. While I sipped on a glass of bubbly, the lady of the house surprised me from behind with a raspberry tart and a small dessert glass with homegrown cherries and a lit candle on top – the inevitable “Happy birthday” song broke out.

I’m not the greatest fan of birthday surprises, but experiencing kindness from strangers always touches me. Generous ladies impressed me from Cambodia to Hungary, and this one in West Sussex, taking the time to go the extra mile just to put a smile on the face of a person she had never met, was equally moving.

But what struck me here happened when we were already packed to leave, squeezed in the smallest car imaginable. She approached my friend to whisper goodbye, and then I heard words that tore apart: “They were giving me five years. Now, I’m in seventh. But I feel good. They say you feel the best just before you go. We shall see…”

On the day I was supposed to celebrate life (my birthday coincidentally gifting me with the horoscope sign of Cancer), this kind lady, who had battled a real cancer and seemingly had not much life to celebrate, showed up with extreme positivity.

Hearing all the sincere laughter, camping adventure anecdotes, and excitement for upcoming cruises with her equally retired husband, while enjoying a feast she selflessly decided to share with a complete stranger, I would never have guessed that this was a person who would, at that moment in the car, tell us possibly her last goodbye.

My father passed away after battling the same disease, but in the case of my unexpected birthday host, there was something rather encouraging – this energy that says life is worth living fully in every little moment, shared with those you love but also those you’ve never even met before, came with a smile and laughter and common joy.

That was the energy of living in the moment, today. There’s no tomorrow. There’s no next month, or next winter, or next year. Well, except for that planned cruise.

As we are putting an effort into managing how to survive the heat, we should double those efforts into ensuring that selfless kindness as an approach to life not only survives but flourishes, in every moment we share among ourselves.

Have a kind midweek,

Ivan Kralj    
Pipeaway.com

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning if you click on them and make a purchase, Pipeaway may make a small commission, at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting our work!

The post 🌡️ Survival Tactics: A Lesson from a Stranger – Pipeaway Newsletter #223 appeared first on Pipeaway.

Hi from Littlehampton!

London has become unbearable these days, due to both extremely high temperatures and high pollution levels.

I already felt the burden of the upcoming heatwave last week when, with a Celsius reading in the high 20s, I ambitiously went cycling around the Thames for four hours. Even the view of the UK capital’s freshly opened, first swimming pool with natural water, floating between the skyscrapers of Canary Wharf at a chilling 16 degrees, couldn’t console my air-gasping.

While London struggles with the hottest June in recorded history, with temperatures expected to reach 40 degrees, I hopped on a train to Littlehampton, a seaside town on the English Channel, just 80 kilometers to the south, and many miles away from the tropical red alerts.

Being away from the burning roads of London for a week seemed like a smart choice. What else is there to do when you can fry an egg on the asphalt? Beach call sounds like a siren one shouldn’t ignore.

Another option is to just disrobe, wherever you are. Like those cyclists from the previous newsletter, who, unlike me in my own London bike adventure, didn’t need to sweat through T-shirts and pants, simply because they didn’t have any.

In the expectation of my grand Littlehampton escape, I prepared a detailed guide on the World Naked Bike Ride, so if you want to know and see more, head to the article.

Inside, you’ll also learn that the London nude bike tour is not a lonely event of that type in the calendar. This very week, you can ride your bicycle fully naked through the streets of Los Angeles and Cardiff.

Find all the upcoming dates and major locations (Bristol, Edinburgh, Chicago, Montreal, Amsterdam, Cambridge, Helsinki, etc.) in the guide, and do some sports like the first Olympians did – naked.

On a very serious note: hydrate yourself, wear sunscreen, and befriend some shade this week. It will be a hot one.

Despite touristic locations selling you the sun all day long, sometimes literally, like a Sardinian village that banned parasols for people aged 10 to 65 (sic!), remember that even nice things should be consumed with measure. Respect the sun, and embrace the shade when the respect starts burning.

Have a chill week,

Ivan Kralj    
Pipeaway.com

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning if you click on them and make a purchase, Pipeaway may make a small commission, at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting our work!

The post 🍳 Too Hot to Handle: Fleeing the Frying Pan – Pipeaway Newsletter #222 appeared first on Pipeaway.

Hi from London!

It’s been an entire decade since I last visited the UK‘s capital.

I remember it as if it were yesterday, standing on the Southwark Bridge, admiring The Shard overshadowing all other skyscrapers in the country.

It was April 21, 2016, and Her Majesty, the monarch formerly known as Queen, was still alive, celebrating her 90th birthday. On the same day, His Majesty, the artist formerly known as Prince, was found dead in an elevator, overdosed on fentanyl.

Royals come and go. Upon departures, they continue to live in memories. Sometimes, in monumental ones, and occasionally, in just memory shards.

Four years ago, the United Kingdom crowned a new head, King Charles III, whose “official birthday” was celebrated this Saturday, despite the fact that he was actually born in November.

As someone who rarely changes currencies twice, my preserved, now dethroned banknotes featuring Queen Elizabeth, traveled with me to England, so that the polymer Charles can rule my wallet, too.

But before I headed to a post office, to save my 80 quids from going down the drain, I saw the king himself in the most unexpected attire, as he was rushing toward Buckingham Palace. At Lincoln’s Inn Fields, surrounded by the cheerful crowd, the emperor rode a bicycle – buck naked!

I’m not talking about The King’s Birthday Parade, celebrated five months before the actual birthday cake candles will be blown, but about the World Naked Bike Ride, an international event promoting cycling in London since 2004. Imagine more than a thousand riders exposing their skin on the streets, as a part of a worldwide campaign against car culture… Or even better, see it for yourself.

What I like about London is that in a highly serious ceremonial society (a democratic country that still believes in the power of a bloodline anointed by a crown-holding archbishop), one can witness events such as the nude bicycle ride as perfectly normal, positive-mood gathering.

Coming from Croatia, a country where a rather innocent edition of a Gay Pride can make the most salivating haters show up in a counter-protest, with strong police forces needed to guarantee order, seeing that there are places that show the world won’t fall apart if we provide a megaphone to someone’s opinion, no matter how radical it might be, is refreshing.

I would have loved to be able to show you this atmosphere in a video, but let’s be honest, it would’ve been reported and removed faster than you could mutter ‘censorship’. Unlike the evident hate speech comments that show up under the footage of events such as Zagreb Pride, sometimes literally celebrating nacism – I have reported a dozen, but after a weeklong process, Facebook didn’t find anything problematic in terms of violating their “community standards”.

In a way, it’s saddening to see the role social media plays in degrading our societies. While we are just feeding the monstrous machines producing billionaires on our saliva exchanges, I often wonder what the point is in being active in any such “network”.

The world is hard as it is. And yet, the greatest monopolists of the internet are simultaneously destroying the journalism of the real media and giving a free, bianco stage to the most extreme voices. The world is going wrong.

And all I wanna do is, as my favorite Queen would sing, “bicycle, bicycle, bicycle”!

Have a rebellious cycling week,

Ivan Kralj    
Pipeaway.com

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning if you click on them and make a purchase, Pipeaway may make a small commission, at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting our work!

The post 👑 Freddie Was Right: All I Wanna Do Is Bicycle – Pipeaway Newsletter #221 appeared first on Pipeaway.

Hi from Basel!

I didn’t come here to pay respect at one of the memorial sites of an incredibly patient – and a slowly dying patient – Eurovision.

My arrival in Switzerland was motivated by pragmatics. Since my laptop’s screen decided to quit its duties back in March, I’ve been working with an external, plug-in monitor. This was fine as an emergency measure, but it couldn’t be a sustainable option for traveling around. The repair shop was sourcing replacement parts for weeks, yet it couldn’t find any. So, the only solution was to buy a new device.

Switzerland is, that’s a fact, one of the most expensive countries in the world. But, somehow, the price of my desired laptop, if I ordered it to Croatia, was higher than in the Helvetic state, so I decided to travel to the heart of the Alps to collect my order. Okay, it was also on my way further west, but more on the continuation of my journey in the next newsletter.

I was late for Fantasy Basel, the famous anime convention and cosplay contest, but early enough for a summer happening that’s so informal that it doesn’t even require a special outfit.

Indeed, the swimming season on the Rhine has already started, and some Basel locals make a very special fashion statement on the riverbank: wearing no clothes at all.

That’s right. You could work hard for an entire day, exit your fancy office building, and swap your business suit for a birthday suit in the middle of the city, without anyone blinking an eye. Here’s everything you should know about Basel’s FKK beaches.

You see, to experience nudist holidays by the calming water, you don’t need to travel all the way to the beaches of the Greek Cyclades or the Croatian Makarska Riviera. You can rip your clothes off in a landlocked Central European country, at one of the most chilled rivieras in Switzerland.

What do you think? Could you try to strip off the socially-approved layers for a change?

Have an unbuttoned week,

Ivan Kralj    
Pipeaway.com

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning if you click on them and make a purchase, Pipeaway may make a small commission, at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting our work!

The post 🏊‍♂️ From Broken Screen to Bare Skin – Pipeaway Newsletter #220 appeared first on Pipeaway.

Hi from on the move!

I took an international flight the other day. It felt like I  hadn’t been at the airport in ages. I even asked whether I had to take the laptop out of my carry-on at the security check!

My previous flight, the return from Gran Canaria to Zagreb, was in January. Just four and a half months later, even packing a traveling bag seemed to be a challenging task. How in the world did I manage to fit things in before?

I attributed my quick fallout from a habit to being a human, a highly adaptable creature. Without challenges, we lazily stay in place and see little progress.

For instance, the last few weeks, I spent time with my mom. Besides a couple of half-day mountain hikes I did, and an occasional walk in the neighborhood, it felt like a lazy all-inclusive stay. My muscle work was reduced to lifting a spoon filled with mom’s always-available homemade soup. There’s no proper lunch in the Balkans without eating something with a spoon.

Tomorrow, June 3rd, is simultaneously Global Running Day and International Bicycle Day, both “holidays” stimulating us to get our ass up from the couch, and move. June is the Great Outdoors Month, after all.

How much do you move yourself? Travelers, nominally used to being on the go, are not active people by default. Just like in a sedentary at-home lifestyle, sipping cocktails by the pool and waiting for hotel staff to cook our lunch can quickly switch off our own mechanisms of taking care of ourselves. Once we remove cars, buses, trains, planes, and rockets moving us around, how much time do we truly invest in physical activity in our daily lives?

Forming new habits is easier with pairing, such as moving to a new place as a clean start. So I used the opportunity of an international trip to remind my muscles what they were meant for in the first place. Somehow, I found the energy to exercise at home the last couple of days, I go for regular walks, and I even swam in a river over the weekend. My friend, whom I’m visiting at the moment, has a rowing machine, so I plan to jump on that as soon as I upgrade my stamina a bit.

Bad weather ahead means I’ll be spending more time indoors anyway. But that doesn’t mean that my sports activity should be reduced to playing chess on the Duolingo not-only-language app, my newly discovered obsession. Even if I have a hard time focusing on constructive online work, I do end up spending too much time in front of the screen.

Well, let me know if you have strategies for staying active and fit on the move. I’d love to hear them. And hopefully steal one or two.

Have a sporty week,

Ivan Kralj    
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