Travel

In January of 2004 I went to a conference conveniently located on Madeira Island. I had a couple of extra days to briefly explore the island and I have some pictures from the trip posted here.

The nature in the vicinity of Seattle is really breathtaking. It is not surprising that I spend a lot of time hiking and exploring the area. I have compiled more detailed information about some of my trips as well as some basic information about hiking and camping in the area.

In July of 2002 we spent a couple of weeks on Iceland crossing the largest glacier of Europe.

In October of 2000 a small group of us went canoeing in La Maurice national park in Canada. It was a great trip -- especially given the beautiful foliage. The need to portage the canoes every day, sometimes even for long distances, left one rather tired. Canoeing in the snow on the last day was rather extreme, too.

See also Robert's report and pictures from the trip.

The summer of 2000 I traveled in Peru and Bolivia with a number of my friends from Poland.

Every January, MIT Outing Club organizes its "winter school" -- a series of lectures and short trips into the White Mountains designed to teach people how to deal with wilderness in winter.

Matthew Reagan has written a report from one of the trips that I have taken part in, on January 17, 1999.

The summer of 1999 I spent in China and Tibet. Most of my time was spent in Xindu near Chengdu in the Sichuan province where two of my friends and I taught computers and internet at a local high school. After we were done with the course, I took some time off to travel to Tibet.

In August of 1997 I went to Colombia and Ecuador. It was a rather ad hoc trip, curtesy of an ariline that a few months earlier decided to bump me in exchange for a free ticket valid anywhere in the Americas. One day I may put my pictures from this trip on the web.

In 1996, after my first year at MIT, I spent a wonderful summer at an A Rocha nature observatory station in Cruzinha in southern Portugal (province of Algarve). Having little relevant experience, I worked as a volunteer handyman. I spent my days mending their electronic equipement, fixing walls, showing off my lack of skill in woodworking, and doing a whole bunch of other little useful things. At nights, we would often go to the sea shore to catch Storm Petrels.

At the end of the summer of 1994, after my first year at the Atlantic College, I went for a week long lonely trip through the Yorkshire Dales in north England. It was my first independant trip in Britain. I didn't do anything terribly exciting -- when I tried to hike up one of the highest mountains (or hills by some people's standards), I had to turn back half way because the fog reduced visibility to just a few meters...

I have taken very few pictures during this trip. Some of them are now available here.

In the summer of 1992 I took part in the Cutty Sark Tall Ships' Races on board of S/Y Orion. It was just a couple of months after I got my helmsman's licence and I was very keen to log some practice hours on the high sea. Although I had sailed for nearly a decade at that point, all of my experience came from lakes and rivers. This trip was a rather tough introduction to the "real" sailing. Less than 24 hours after we set out from Gdynia on our way to Karlskrona, a storm broke out...

I have a short report and some pictures for those who want to know more.