Giving Getaway, Kalampáka (2026)

22/12/2024

☞ "𝘓𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘯 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥." (Confucius)

𝗔𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝗢𝗳𝗳 𝗠𝘆 𝗕𝘂𝗰𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝗟𝗶𝘀𝘁 ✔️

In September I finally managed to visit the Meteora monasteries in Greece. Right before I visited the animal shelter on Thassos (feel free to check out my last post for that), Meteora was my first stop in Greece. 🇬🇷

However, it wasn't my first time in Greece and not my first time I tried to visit the Meteora monasteries. Already in 2021, I planned to visit them when I moved from North Macedonia to Bulgaria. Unfortunately, the weather was horrible in those days and I decided to pass on it.

If you've been there before, you might know how foggy it can get there, and if that's the case, you pretty much see... nothing. 😅 Just 20-30 min before I took this picture, I could see absolutely nothing. But fortunately, the fog cleared up and I could enjoy some incredible views.

If you've never been there, I'd highly recommend you to visit the Meteora monasteries. But be aware. It must have been the most crowded place I've ever been to. 😂
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🇬🇷

08/09/2024

☞ "𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘢𝘴 𝘸𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘐𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨." (Albert Einstein)

𝗦𝘂𝗿𝗽𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗹𝘆 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗧𝗿𝗶𝗽𝘀 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗬𝗲𝗮𝗿 👀

When I think about this year and the last months, I mostly think about the countless of hours I spent in front of the computer. This year, I started working for an AI company - full-time. I've enjoyed it very much so far, but it's also quite demanding.

So demanding, that I kinda forget that this year was even much more travel action then in my recent years! Hungary, Denmark, Germany, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, and country no. 7 which you can see in this picture - Malta. 🇲🇹

In Malta it was the first time that I drove a car on the left side. Damn, was nervous. Believe me when I say that it's so weird to sit on the right side of a car and drive on the left side. 🤣 Well, at least for me. I'm pretty sure some of you don't know it the other way. 😁

Anyway, it all went well and seven days were enough to explore Malta and to take the ferry to Gozo. Unfortunately, it was rather windy and surprisingly cold at the end of April, so beach days were not really an option.

But that was reason enough to take advantage of the car and explore the rugged coastlines and picturesque cities of the world's tenth smallest country. By the way, in this picture you can see the famous basilica of Valletta - the Basilica of Our Lady. 🙌
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29/08/2024

☞ "𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘺. 𝘞𝘪𝘭𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘯𝘰 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘶𝘴, 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴, 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘰𝘢𝘥𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘴." (David Attenborough)

𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗮 𝗥𝗼𝗮𝗱 𝗧𝗿𝗶𝗽 𝗧𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝗥𝗼𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗮! 🇷🇴

My last post was about Budapest, a city I had planned to visit for such a long time, but it took me years to finally end up there. The same goes for Romania. It was pretty much right in front of my doorstep for years, but eventually I always ended up in different places for various reasons. 🤔

Not so this year! A couple of weeks ago, it was finally time for that Romania road trip, and what a trip that was! I've been dreaming of seeing bears in North Macedonia, Bulgaria, and Turkey, but it never happened. In Romania, I saw 20 bears in 2 days—the first 14 bears in just 70 minutes! On the roads, next to the roads, bear cubs with their mothers, the full package. 🐻

And the best thing is: just a few minutes before the first bear encounter, I mounted my GoPro on the roof of the car, and it recorded EVERYTHING! All 14 bears in just 70 minutes. 😄

If you would like to see it, feel free to click on the linktree in my bio, visit my brand-new YouTube channel, and watch my first video there. And when you are doing that, I'd appreciate it if you could subscribe, leave a like and comment under the video. 🥳🙏
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17/04/2024

Discover 15 hidden gems in Barcelona beyond the tourist crowds. From secret gardens to stunning viewpoints, uncover the essence of Bercelona!

21/03/2024

☞ "𝘛𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘯𝘫𝘰𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴, 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘻𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘪𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴." (Robert Brault)

𝗛𝗲𝘆 𝗵𝗲𝘆 👋🏻

You haven't heard from me in a while, so I thought I'd show you a sign of life. 😁 My last post was from Serbia, where I lived for three months until the end of September, what happened since then? Things got rather wild and busy 👀

I flew to Germany to stay with my family for 3 weeks, then flew back to Bulgaria to celebrate Christmas and New Years with my girlfriend and her family. There we made a trip to Kardzhali in southern Bulgaria over New Years. And then in January we decided to go to Germany again, but on our way there, we had two city trips to Budapest (here in the picture) and Copenhagen. 🇩🇰

And as if this wasn't enough travel action, after 2 weeks in Germany we took the car and my cat Muki (which I left at my parents place when I went to Germany in December) and together we drove aaaall the way back to Bulgaria, with a stop in Zagreb to visit the Croatian capital city. 🇭🇷

Now, for one and a half months, I'm enjoying life in a quiet village in Bulgaria, not knowing yet if or when I have to leave the country again.

Anyhow, Budapest was amazing and I also like Copenhagen very much, two beautiful cities I planned to visit for a long time qnd I'm glad I finally managed to do so. 🥳
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20/09/2023

☞ "𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨." (George Bernard Shaw)

𝗛𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗼, 𝗶𝘁'𝘀 𝗺𝗲 𝗮𝗴𝗮𝗶𝗻 👋🏻

It's been a while since you heard from me, almost half a year without posting anything on Instagram. And while time has changed, not much has changed about me changing places every few months. My current location and destination until December: 𝗕𝗲𝗹𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗲, 𝗦𝗲𝗿𝗯𝗶𝗮. 🇷🇸

This picture is not from Belgrade though, I took it in Novi Sad, a beautiful city just an hour away from Belgrade. If you ever decide to come to Serbia and look for a bit of a calmer and more peaceful place than Serbia's capital city, then Novi Sad is just the place for you. ✌🏻

Apart from the new place to live, also other things have changed. First of all, I'm not traveling solo anymore and ended up in a relationship with the beautiful girl in the yellow dress you can see in the picture above. Obviously the most significant and best change that happened to me this year. ❤️

And second, as you might have noticed, I spent less time on social media. Instead, I focused much more on writing and publishing blog posts on my website. As a result, traffic on my website is increasing, and bookings with Giving Getaway are getting more frequent, hopefully allowing me to organize another charity event sometime soon. 🎉

Keep an eye on my blog where I'll publish about different topics every now and then, and if you do plan a trip (no matter where), feel free to consider using Giving Getaway to book hotels, flights and more. It won't cost you anything extra and instead gives me a commission of which I will 𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗲 50% 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆. 🥳
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26/03/2023

☞ "𝘓𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘴𝘺 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘴." (John Lennon)

𝗦𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗷𝗲𝘃𝗼 - 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗝𝗲𝗿𝘂𝘀𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗺 𝗼𝗳 𝗘𝘂𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲 🇧🇦

Not in my wildest dreams I would've imagined that I would end up in Sarajevo this year. Just a month ago in my last post I announced that I would go to Romania. But as so often, life doesn't care about what I planned and announced. 😅

A week before I was supposed to go to Sibiu, my host tripled the price which forced me to look for something else. With those few other options I had, the hosts wouldn't respond. And so I expanded the search radius and Sarajevo it was. 🕵️

This was the first trip without my car, just a backpack and my cat in the box, and luckily it worked out surprisingly well. 8 hours by train to Sofia, from there carpooling to Belgrade, and from their carpooling to Sarajevo. 🚗

And as soon as I arrived, the flu hit me pretty hard, but in the last days I felt better and finally took a walk through the beautiful old town of Sarajevo. I'm already in love with the city and look forward to see more of it and of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the next months! 🤩
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08/01/2023

☞ "𝘈𝘴 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘷𝘰𝘺𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘫𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘺 𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘦." (Jack Kornfield)

𝗛𝗮𝗽𝗽𝘆 𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗬𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲! 🎉

The winter wonderland you can see in this picture is not where I'm living right now. Fortunately, here in Bulgaria I have sunshine every day and 10 to 15 °C (50 to 60 °F).

This picture I took in Cappadocia in March last year. And that view in particular was absolutely incredible, with this ancient city on one side, a huge canyon on the other, and snowy mountains all around. 🏔️

But here at the Black Sea coast in Bulgaria, no snow. Maybe I'll get to see some next week (although I highly doubt it). Because in exactly one week I'll enter a plane and return to Germany for the first time in 2.5 years. I must say, I'm pretty excited! 🎉
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22/12/2022

☞ "𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘶𝘭, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘴 𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘤𝘬 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨." (Mandy Hale)

𝗛𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗼, 𝗕𝘂𝗹𝗴𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗮! 🇧🇬

It's been a while since my last post, the biggest news is: I'm in Bulgaria now, again. After spending two months in Plovdiv last year, I am now living not far from Varna.

The journey here was quite an adventure though. I only made one stop between Bulgaria and Samsun in Turkey, that was Amasra, the beautiful coastal town at the Black Sea which you can see here. After that, it was supposed to be an 11 hour drive, which turned out to be 15 in the end.

The border police claimed that my car wasn't supposed to be in Turkey for more than 3 months, so, a 200€ fine it was. Since they wanted cash and didn't allow me to use my car to drive back 30 km to the city to find an ATM, I left my cat in the car and took their exclusive taxi driver. That alone took almost three hours.

At the Bulgarian checkpoint, approximately 300 meters further, they made a Hollywood movie like search of my car, expecting to find drugs within the car doors or under the engine cover. After all, I'm a single guy with long hair and a guitar, I have to have drugs somewhere they must have thought. But I didn't.

After that, things went quite smooth and once even the police helped me by using hands and three languages to tell me where to go, thanks again guys! 👮

But two days later, on a quick drive to Varna, I was stopped again and got fined for three delicts, all of them driving with no vignette, two times from the last year. The system never forgets. But unlike Turkish police, they were nice and relaxed, and after all it was clearly my mistake. 😅

Now I'm not leaving the house, since I don't want to get fined anymore. Just kidding, it's over, I guess, I'll find out tomorrow when I go to Varna again. Wish me luck! 🤞🏼

Besides that, the new place is nice and super quiet, the first quiet place since I left Germany in 2020. And I love it 🤩
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20/11/2022

☞ "𝘕𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘵𝘰 𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘳-𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘦." (Angie Weiland Crosby)

𝗔 𝗠𝗶𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗹𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗡𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲

In my last post I mentioned Şahinkaya Canyon, the last place I wanted to visit during my stay in Samsun in northern Turkey, and here it is! 🏞️

And what an adventure that was, lots of hours of driving, crossing a river by car on what must have been one of the smallest ferries in the world, getting lost on dirt roads, running from dogs and almost getting stuck with my car. 🚗

But in the end, after I let all that behind me, I managed to find this incredible view spot. Just me, this canyon, and a beautiful sunset. On December 9 it'll be time to leave this beautiful country, and this trip was an epic end of an epic year in Turkey! 🇹🇷

Keep an eye on my stories where I will share more pictures of this trip. ☝🏻
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18/10/2022

☞ "𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘴 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘰𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯." (Ziad K. Abdelnour)

𝗕𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗼𝗼𝘁𝘀? 👀

There's a good reason why for todays post I chose a picture of my home country Germany. Yesterday, I booked flights from Bulgaria to Germany in January! Then it'll be almost 3 years that I haven't seen my family and friends, and I thought it's time to change that.☝🏻

So I basically wrapped two news in one, because now you also know that my next stop will be Bulgaria (again) for some months. I don't feel like making any big steps now, so I prefer something close and familiar. 🤔

Visiting my family is the other news. I wouldn't have thought I'd be able to do that any time soon. My cat makes it difficult to simply fly there and visit them, at least I didn't wanna do that to her. And driving all the way there would've been quite a trip, one the car probably wouldn't survive anymore. 🚗

But since my parents plan to make a vacation in Bulgaria, we came up with the plan to meet up there, spend a few days together, then they take care of my cat Muki while I spend 9 days in Germany. 🥳

The other good news is that I used my own website to book the flights. Some of you already used it to book hotels, flights and other things, and I'm happy to say that everything works perfectly! 🤩

Check the links in my bio and try it yourself, because of all commissions partners like Booking.com, Jedradar, GetYourGuide and many others pay, 50% will be donated to charity. 🙂

(Burg Eltz, Germany, 2019)
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