Hi! I'm Elena! Welcome to my travel blog Creativelena.com.
For me, it is all about “life-seeing instead of sightseeing”: Join me as I create, eat & live my way around the world. Curious?
*Check out my book, “The Creative Traveler’s Handbook”, for learning more about what we mean by creative travel. Travelling means the world to me, makes me fit for everday life and sometimes, I trust, also calmer on the inside. Read this blog with a smile, share what you love and remember to check back regularly: After all, when was the last time you did something for the first time?
Running. You either hate it or you love it. I most definitely belong to the latter, having been “on the run” since my early childhood days. For me, jogging or running is the perfect sport for a traveller, especially a #foodlover like me! All you need is a good pair of shoes. Socks to match, if you wish. Light, practicable sportswear. And […]
Landscapes. Light shows. Sunsets. Moai. Whatever makes you happy, really. With travel photography being one of my big passions in life (see my Flickr Photo Gallery with 15.000+ travel photos published from around the globe in the last two years!), I have gathered all your feedback from my Instagram travel photo feed during the course of my recent #CreativElenaRTW trip. […]
How should I even begin to relate the incredible human warmth of Nepal? I wonder, a smile spreading on my face. There is so much good to share about the “roof of the world“. In the face of an ever challenging political situation and against all odds of Nepal being a developing nation, the reality […]
Ko te Reo kia tika .. Ko te Reo kia rere .. Ko te Reo kia Māori. “It is important to us as Maori people, to continue, and perpetuate, our unique ways of understanding the world around us. In the past, our efforts have gone into instilling Maori language & cultural learning as early as […]
In the beginning, there was darkness. Papatuanuku, the Earth Mother, cuddled up against Rangiori, the Sky Father, and in between them lived there many children. It was then that Tanemahuta, the strongest among their offspring, decided to separate his mother from his father and bring light into the world. Rangiori and Papatuanuku, however, loved each […]
“As the track sinks in, I am reminded of its magic … Walking, feeling the land … Charging my bone carving with all the ‘mana’ ( = Maori for status, power, achievement) possible … in what I call the ‘eternal, ephemeral dance of the universe’. Feeling home. Coming home. Doing what I love most. Being […]
It is my third day here on Easter Island, and I am drawn out of bed early: At exactly 05.30 a.m., my sleepy gaze meets the shiny morning stars of the “Great Waka”, or Great Canoe, as the Maori people in New Zealand call the “Belt of Orion”. I look up into the clear sky with a happy […]
We laughed. We ate our way through. We got creative! We enjoyed. We connected with nature. Here in the Upper Waldviertel. And now? Now’s the time to tell you all about the actual hiking trails here in this hiking district of the Upper Waldviertel. After all this eating & gourmet-style travelling, we are now face to face with … … hiking along […]
The hiking trail along the Lainsitz river is a brand new long-distance hike in the upper Waldviertel district of Lower Austria. Come to think of a hiking trip there, you might, like me, be tempted to think of pretty forest-clad hills, some nice huts & one or two good places to stay. However, the Waldviertel has far more to offer […]
Finally. Again this year. And indeed, each and EVERY year, the creative mountain destination Altenmarkt-Zauchensee brings together like-minded souls and creative talents as part of the so-called “Natura.Kreativ” – Creative Mountain Travel during the last weeks of August. For the fifth year in a row, Altenmarkt-Zauchensee has proven to be a true “hot spot for creativity” […]