Justyna Śnieżek is your true “off the beaten path” traveler. Trading television for travel, Justyna prefers to experience her dream destinations rather than being content with watching them on TV.

Never content with merely seeing “the sights”, she likes to fully immerse herself into each new culture to truly disover a destination – a philosophy which has seen her offroad hiking in Salzkammergut region of Austria, break down in the middle of no-where during a trip through the Alps, and wind up in Tel Aviv during Yom Kippur – a religious period of time where the whole town completely shuts down.

She travels for the freedom, for the memories, and so that once she hits 70 she can say “I’ve seen and done everything I ever wanted”. Justyna Śnieżek is this week’s inspiring traveler.

What do you love the most about travelling?

#1 The feeling of freedom. Freedom of choice and going wherever and whenever I want to. As I usually travel alone, I also love meeting people on my way – other travellers or locals – everyone is inspiring in their own way!

#2 Collecting memories. This is one of the greatest things. I love going through my old blog posts or pictures, reading my notes, and all these just to remind myself how many things I’ve achieved in life so far.

Collecting memories: Offroad hiking in Salzkammergut region, Austria.

What inspired you to start travelling?

It’s difficult to say and I can’t really answer this question, but as far as I can remember, I enjoyed “being on the way” since I was very young. My family never used to travel a lot, but when we did, we were paying a visit to Polish mountains, where one part of my family lives, or Western Poland. Those places are both very close to nature which I really enjoy.

What is ‘One Penny Trip’ all about?

Good question. I started One Penny Trip back in 2012 when I was setting up my New Year’s Resolutions. At the very beginning it used to be just a diary I didn’t really share a lot. It became something more when I left Poland and moved to Austria.

After a few months of living abroad I decided to have a proper domain and started writing in English (that’s why posts older than July 2013 are no more visible on the blog).

Most of the people think One Penny Trip is all about travelling on a budget, but the truth is, it’s only one of its faces. There’s also the second one, having more significant meaning to me. It’s presenting stories from my travels. Besides all this fun, adventures and great memories, I try to encourage people to look around and see something more than that which is at top of their nose.

Exploring Little Petra, Jordan. Experiencing more than just that which is at the top of your nose!

Your New Year’s Resolution for 2013 was to visit a new city every month.  Did you achieve this?

Yes! I reached even 16 of them – London, Oslo, Cologne, Vienna, Salzkammergut region, Bobec, Budapest (twice), Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Eilat, Aqaba, Wadi Mousa (Petra), Munich, Prague and Paris.

Reached the Louvre in Paris.

Wow, how do you afford to travel that much – are you rich?!

Rich in memories – that’s for sure! But money…well, everyone has different priorities.

Some people spend them on partying every Friday (it’s Friday today and I’ve been working on the blog the whole evening), some spend them on doing shopping every weekend and some, like me, buy a plane ticket whenever there’s a chance. I think I’m subscribed to all possible cheap flights aggregators!

I use a lot of Couchsurfing, hitch-hiking and local providers. It all cost less and brings more fun.

You have a pretty strong opinion about TV – can you tell us a little about this?

Is it really so strong? The only thing I say is that’s it brings you more value when you experience things than when you see them on the TV and believe everything they say, like if you were brainless and not able to verify information creature.

TV shows facts in a very distorted way. We barely see good things – it’s everything about war, conflicts or death. World is not like this and travelling is the best way to make sure about it.

The world is a beautiful place. Turn off the TV! Sunset in Wadi Mousa, Jordan.

One thing which you don’t like about travelling?

Going back home.

One of your philosophy’s is that travel is about people and moments. Who is the most memorable person you have met on your travels?

Hmm, I’m not sure if I can really point one person, but the first who comes to my mind is the Argentinian guy I met in Austria. He sold all his goods, bought a ticket to Europe and started travelling spending not even a single cent on accommodation or transportation.

Hitch-hiking and using only Couchsurfing or his tent, he travelled country by country. He was also the one who opened my eyes a little and showed such life is really possible! You don’t need to be a millionaire to do this – really.

Biggest cultural shock you have experienced while travelling?

It happened when I was in Israel during Yom Kippur – the most important Jewish holiday. The experience I have from taking part in religious holidays in Europe is far away from what I’ve experienced in Tel Aviv.

Western people don’t care that much about spiritual and traditional matters. We are a mixture of many different religions and when some of us celebrate, others may have fun in a club.

During Yom Kippur, Tel Aviv was simply dead. No shops open, no cars on the streets, no people eating. All you could see were bikes and groups of tourists walking along the boulevard. It looked like if someone had closed the city for cars. I was really surprised these times people still stick to their tradition on such a big scale.

Israel. View of Tel Aviv – the whole city closed down with the exception of a few tourists.

Funniest or most embarrassing travel moment?

In July, together with my two AuPair friends, we organised a trip in the Alps. One of them had to be back on Sunday morning to baby sit, but we all really didn’t really feel like going back so we started coming up with some stupid excuses she could use for not showing up when she should.

One of us mentioned something like “Tell her the car broke down in the middle of nowhere!”. You can believe it or not, but 15 minutes after it was said, we were standing on the roadside trying to catch a ride. The car really broke down. So here comes my tip: be careful what you wish for!

Three things you can’t travel without?

My camera, a notebook (a paper one – it never runs out of battery) and music.

Which destinations are at the top of your bucket list?

It’s New Zealand, Iceland and Ethiopia, which I will finally visit in May!

What kind of wisdom can you share with others from your own experience travelling?

Don’t plan things in details. Planning is good for school or work, but not for travelling. Enjoy whatever your journey brings you.

Enjoy whatever the journey brings. Wadi Rum dessert – view from the bedouins’ camp.

Why should people travel?

A book could be written in this subject! I just think it’s an amazing experience which creates you as a person – your way of thinking, personality and resistance.

You become more open and start think brighter since you know how great and surprising the world can be. It’s all also for having memories and being the one who, turning seventy, will be able to say “I’ve seen and done everything I wanted”.

I’ve seen and done everything I wanted!

Justyna is a Polish travel lover, a little bit of nomad soul and the owner of OnePennyTrip.com. In May 2013 she left her country to see more and experience live in different places.

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