What About Me 70°

Author

Micael Balioni
May 16, 2026

WHAT ABOUT ME?

Micael

Żyli długo i szczęśliwie

Hello tanamesars, hope you’re doing well.

I just returned from Poland, where I attended the wedding of a very dear friend from my ING trainee days. This was my second wedding in six months — and the question is becoming increasingly hard to ignore: am I entering the wedding phase?

She's Polish, he's Greek, and the whole thing was full of Dutch people, because she lives in Amsterdam. Plus a generous handful of other internationals, because of course. I spent the day feeling genuinely grateful — not just because the wedding was beautiful, she looked stunning, the food was fantastic, and Polish vodka is absolutely one of the best on the market (confirmed, personally, multiple times). But grateful for the rare experience of spending a day where so many cultures just coexist. We had traditional Greek dancing, Polish games and traditions, and I learned to dance like them — which should surprise none of you, given my well-documented reputation as a very talented dancer.

  • After the wedding, I continued the trip with a couple of friends. We spent a few days in Gdańsk before heading to Kraków, where I wrapped up my visit while they carried on to do hikes and couple things. As one does.

It had been a long time since I visited a country for the first time. My recent trips have mostly been to places I already know well — and there's something genuinely wonderful about arriving somewhere completely new. Learning about the food, doing the walking tours, absorbing the history. You won't remember everything… but if you retain even 20% of what you see and learn, imagine how much that adds up over a lifetime of travel.

Poland, it turns out, is a country that has spent much of its history disappearing and coming back — and somehow never losing itself in the process. It was divided between Prussia, Russia, and Austria in the 1700s and vanished from maps for 123 years. It regained independence in 1918, only to be invaded again in 1939 from both sides — the Nazis from the west, the Soviets from the east. (Gdańsk, by the way, is where the Second World War began) After the war, decades of Soviet-era communism followed, until 1989, when Poland became independent again — and hasn't looked back since.

Today it's one of the fastest-growing economies in the EU and, honestly, one of the most underrated travel destinations in Europe. Kraków in particular feels like a city that got away with something — deeply historic, incredibly beautiful, and somehow still affordable.

My version of experiencing all this involved eating an irresponsible amount of Pierogi, drinking things with a high alcohol content while talking with my friends, and wandering through the old city debating how many famous people were actually born in Poland that we had absolutely no idea about. (Names are in the newsletter subtitle. You're welcome.)

It was a wonderful trip, with wonderful company. I can't wait for the next one.

Who's coming with me?

With love,

Micael.