Sequoia National Park and Death Valley were our main 2 destinations. Sequoia with its giant trees was fairy tale like. Look at every image with a giant tree, there will be little girl at the bottom of it- that’s me. It was first time I saw a bear where either he wasn’t in the cage or I was in the cage (car). We celebrated mom’s birthday there. She was very happy to be able to to buy Polish sausage in the middle of nowhere. Death Valley was a different story. Now I understand why it is called that. It is the hottest and driest place on earth. We stopped at the Jedy Transitions where US F15 fighter jets were flying in the canyon below us. 45 C says it all, sleeping in that temperature was unbearable – but I saw lots of shooting stars since I couldn’t sleep:). Second day in Death Valley, dad went for a long hike on Dunes (person far on the dunes, that’s him). Mom went for a long walk to Badwater Basin – 828 feet below sea level. On the way to the LA airport we stopped at The Getty Museum to get some culture after being in the wild. 10 minutes ride to the airport for the museum took us 1 hour, LA for you there.

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Nicaragua was hot and colourful with a crazy border crossing. It fell like a war zone with the army all equipped with shields and shot guns. I got over 4 stamps in my passport for 1 crossing. Masaya and Granada were beautiful. Lakes, volcanos and colourful crafts filled my memories. Enjoy!!!

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Costa Rica was full of surprises. It looked like either Zika or 38C temperatures scared all the tourists away. National parks, beaches, roads (off roads as that was mainly the option) were empty and all for us, sometimes it felt spooky.
In two weeks grandparents, aunty Lidia, mom and myself we went on lots of adventure trips, ziplining, boating, swimming next to waterfalls, exploring black, gold and white beaches and playing in volcanic mud. You can see more pictures of monkeys, cows, crocodiles and iguanas than me, but thats ok as my mom was in photography heaven. We visited: Llanos de Cortez Waterfall, Palo Verde National Park, Playa – Flamingo, Ocotal, Tamarindo, Hermosa, Panama, Manzanillo, Del Coco and Volcan Miravalles. Enjoy 6 pages of photographs!!!

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My dear aunty Yvonka, mom and The Greasy Thing (it appeared at night and we are not sure what it was) came up with a trip 12 hours before the flight, no wonder my grandpa called them “Rozbrykane Kozy” ( Polsih if you wonder). This time we went to the Dominican Republic to join hundreds of Canadian teenagers released from their cages for Spring Break. After a few days we got used to their behaviour and after all it was fun watching them; I learned some bar tricks ( more details in person).

The seven days in Punta Cana felt like a month. We visited small towns, villages, and farms, I learned how cocoa beans are turned to chocolate, I tasted raw sugar cane and I took part in a coffee roasting process. I wasn’t impressed with cigar factory, but i guess it is part of the culture. In Santo Domingo we visited Columbus’ house and the very impressive Cathedral. We did a trip to Saona Island where the Atlantic ocean meets the Caribbean sea, the water was so turquoise, it can’t get more turquoise than that!

Most of the time at our resort was beach time, swimming in the sea in long dresses and wearing gold tattoos – it was supposed to be exotic

We met lots of interesting people from different parts of the word, some liked kissing kids on the forehead, others liked offering cigarets to the local kids. Some of the people we met became my uncles in a day, and others became my private life guards, so I could jump on the highest waves. I had chance to play with some local kids and that felt priceless.

My eyes turned to mangoes and Yvonka’s eyes to passion….fruit.

My little tip to all seeking a boyfriend is: “When you meet a man on a bus, the first thing you ask him is NOT which books he reads” (inside joke)

Enjoy.

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The Caiman Islands, Roatan in Honduras, Belize, and Cozumel City in Mexico

We had a blast on all the islands. My favorite was on the Belize reef, a tiny little island 30 by 80 meters with white sand, pelicans and turquise water so warm – it was 30 degrees!. The dolphins in Cozumel were super fun too, mom had to do research first to see if they are kept in good condition, but it looks like they pass mom’s test. We drove around Roatan in Honduras and were amazed how green and lush the island was.
So it was yet another amazing trip!!!

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We had a great time, if you do not count being attacked by the dreaded Darth Maul!
I felt like a little Lego person in the Lego world of bricks around me.
And it finally got warmer – see for yourself

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We really wanted to visit NASA on this trip, since I watched “Interstellar” and “The Martian” many times. I had the chance to have lunch with Astronaut Jerry Ross, the only astronaut to be in Space seven times!! We took a tour to the three platforms where the spaceships take off. We also saw the platform where the take off to Mars will take place! Now I have one mission – to convince my mom to come back in 2018 for the take off of the new spaceship “SLS”. It looks super sleek.

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Everglades National Park Florida

A boat tour among dense mangroves was nothing compared to walking between alligator tails and vultures, which were eating rubber from our windscreens. Not sure who we were more scared of: alligators with open jaws or locals with gold teeth. (you can email mom for full details). An abundance of birds, mosquitos 😉 and inhabitats was impressive. Enjoy.

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Animal Kingdom is one of the largest theme parks in the world.
There was nothing better than a Safari; we went twice as we were lucky as there were no line ups. It was nice seeing all the wildlife roaming on the savanna grass land, and us in a super cool safari track crossing rivers, driving on old squeaky bridges and through jungle. Animals are kept in very good conditions, with lots of space. I learned a lot about animals that are close to extinction and Animal Kingdom is putting lots of effort into repopulating them in their original countries.
We loved Expedition Everest, Maharajah Jungle Trek and Pangani Forest Exploration Trail with Gorillas. We learned that Gorillas have already had 7 babies in Animal Kingdom which is so impressive as breeding in captivity hasn’t been that successful in other places.

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For Daddy’s birthday we took off to Tofino, taking perfect weather with us for 3 days. Three full days of running around Chesterman beach. Everybody was super happy, me going crazy with sand, water, and ice. Mom with photography (this is why there are not many pictures of her as the camera was glued to her). Dad was happy exploring beaches and looking for “bad lads” (bugs by Daddy).
My parents had some free time too, Dad reading and Mom playing with her new split camera app which made multiple Gingers on demand. The last day was epic. We built a massive ice castle, I almost lost my fingers from cold and Dad didn’t feel his for the next few hours. On the way home we stopped in the frosty forests to take even more pictures. You can see that all the photographs are either sunny-orange or snowy-white 😉

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