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?
Have you ever thought about visiting Vienna as a capital city for crafts rooted in centuries of tradition? We have recently experienced the Austrian capital through its factories, and met the families who for many generations have contributed to shaping the city’s renown for excellence in manufacturing productions, such as silver, shoes or glass. Before visiting […]
One last trip into the “adult area” of the Vienna Spa “Therme Wien”. One last time of undisturbed snoozing, of reading magazines, of lolling around on your spa chair. One last day spa as a couple. The notion of taking a final break before a totally different routine is especially attractive to us as expectant […]
“Am Brunnen vor dem Tore, da steht ein Lindenbaum …” Gently, I recall the famous melody to this traditional Austrian folk song written by Franz Schubert, Austria’s famous 18th century composer. We follow in the footsteps of our host, Irene Moser, who leads us around the historical Höldrichsmühle hotel. A property close to Vienna, yet still […]
During the past two months, I enjoyed giving four different speaking gigs at various tourism high schools, universities and colleges in both Krems and Vienna, my home towns here in Austria. We discussed hot topics such as influencer marketing, the latest developments in the tourism industry, as well as how best to (net)work with travel […]
The phone rings. It is a Wednesday evening. That is, three days ahead of the annual Austrian travel trade show “ReiseSalon” at the Palace of Schönbrunn, a truly beautiful venue for an equally unique conference. “Elena … Care to participate in our travel blogger slam still? We know it’s last minute but … we’d really appreciate your presence there.” Can’t […]
“The first, the very first, Austrian Travel.Blogger.Slam … Held at the ReiseSalon in the Vienna Hofburg Palace!” Christina, my friend & head of the organizing committee of the travel trade show ReiseSalon, is over the moon with delight – and anticipation. What is it going to be like, this “slam of a kind”, asking bloggers away from their computers […]
Have you ever experienced Vienna through the lens of a polaroid camera? I haven’t! “Really, you like Polaroids?!”, I can hear my mum smiling at what must be a distant photographic memory to her, but an entirely “new and exciting” technique for us! Here we are in the year 2015, rediscovering an ancient style of photography […]
Winter showers bring May flowers … or March flowers, as it is. Vienna’s Hotel Capricorno has really managed to blossom anew, following a complete overhaul all of its 42 rooms for the comfort of a modern, contemporary Vienna city hotel. And yet, it still manages to preserve the typical “charm” of the Viennese tradition: Large black & white photo […]
The year 2014 marks my third visit of the prestigious Vienna Travel Trade Show “ReiseSalon” held at the Hofburg Palace, one of Austria’s top event locations. Entering here, you immediately feel enchanted, lured away to meet high-end travel partners spell-bound by the imperial ambiance of what used to be, Franz & Sissi’s very own palace. Add tweeting […]
“First, you hold your glass of wine carefully over a white surface in order to check its colour. Then, you sniff at the wine, not too strongly otherwise all the tender aromas will not reach you fully. And only then comes the tasting test.” *Slurp*. What my dear friend & “winesome” blogging colleague Anna Zell […]