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?
Arrive. Revive. For some time, the Austrian National Tourist Board used this slogan to describe the feeling of arriving in Austria. Recently, I have felt just the same when travelling near the border to the Czech Republic, past the wine town of Retz, and into Thayatal National Park: Arrive. Revive. Taking that deep, wonderful, fresh breath […]
Did you know that the earliest signs of spring can be found in the very (north)East of Austria, in the Pannonia plains of northern Burgenland, near Lake Neusiedl? That as you travel here and stay in one of its cozy accommodation units (either B&B or hotels), you will receive the so-called Neusiedler See Card offering you many attractive […]
Just near my little home town Straß im Straßertal, you will find a true gem of a place in Rohrendorf near Krems: The Bed & Breakfast of the Krappel family. Stay here if you prefer a home-cooked meal, as well as home-made brandies, to the often impersonal service of a hotel. Gerda & Christian really know […]
To fasten: A voluntary abstinence from food in order to gain … well, what exactly? Spiritual freedom? A new physical sense of wellbeing? My most recent quest has been to find out just what to experience on a fasting journey, and to share my thoughts with you here, should you ever consider to do something like […]
Feels like Christmas. Really. The same kind of sensation, the same kind of feeling, “I-really-can’t-wait-for-it-to-be-here”. The first trip this year is so very unlike any other trip I’ve ever told you about on my travel blog. The closest I can gather, is perhaps having been a pilgrim these past two years, both a spiritual and […]
“But .. What do you mean, Elena, building your own ski?!” I must admit I’ve caused a bit of a stir here, telling everyone around me that I was soon going to build my own ski in Tirol, Austria. “Is that even possible?” Well yes, it is. In less than 48 hours, actually. Design, cut, layer, […]
A company called “Christkind Ltd.”, a Christmas post office and a museum called “Welios”. “Why, Elena, the things you discover on your trips throughout Austria”, my mum muses, before we both start to laugh. And realise that great stories lie waiting virtually everywhere, not just at the other side of the world. Even, or especially, […]
Gazing out the window, I can see all the way until “the end of Tirol”. At least, this is what it feels like what with the vast swath of the river Inn down below, stretching out miles and miles further West. Not any kind of window, of course, but the panorama windows at the spa area […]
Morning mist lifting, we can see Admont Abbey rising like a beacon from the dark forests surrounding it. Some of the best views of this precious Baroque jewel in Austrian cultural history, including the world’s largest monastic library at well over 70.000 books on display, is from Hotel Spirodom in Admont. Would you believe that some […]
Standing in front of the national park centre “Weidendom”, I draw a deep breath and close my eyes, allowing the rushing river Enns behind me to fill me with its thundering noise. Ah, the clean air, the merry colours of nature, timeless it seems, yet touching us with their every fibre. As my gaze follows the […]