New year usually brings new plans and objectives to be accomplished. Often such plans are converted into real events, experiences and successes. But as often ambitious intentions remain just a trace in our memory. How to convert such concepts, ideas, dreams into projects that could change us and our surrounding we talked at the author’s meeting at the Olivia Business Centre with Marek Kamiński, a traveller, polar explorer, businessman. The event took place on 13 January at O4 coworking space of the Olivia Business Centre within the interdisciplinary OBC project, Olivia Cooltura.

The book “Trzeci biegun” (“The Third Pole”) and the film “Pilgrim. Camino by Marek Kamiński” directed by Jan Czarlewski, are excellent sources of knowledge of the expedition, a “pilgrimage between the poles of faith and mind”, as Marek Kamiński calls the space between Kaliningrad and Santiago de Compostela. This is an extraordinary tale on the way, people, contemporary Europe. The story happened in 2015. Marek Kamiński walked then 4000 km in 100 days following the legendary Camino pilgrimage route, called St.  James’s Path.  Kamiński calls the travel “a journey inside himself”, “the most important expedition in life”.

The numerous audience at OBC (a record number of guests, over 130 people!) listened to Marek Kamiński’s lively account in his mental preparations to the expedition that gave the traveller a different, new dimension.  At the beginning, when he started to think about the route (over 13 years ago), he had only one goal in mind: “Go to Santiago”. Afterwards, a strong need for personal development arose – during the trip and conversations with the people he met on he way.

In a conversation with the moderator of the meeting, Monika Bogdanowic of the Olivia Business Centre, Marek Kamiński told us why being active physically and mentally is our internal choice and that it is worth following your heart in life. As usually, very vividly and in an interesting way he spoke about his thoughts concerning Camino. He revealed that the trip was not only a great adventure and an opportunity to meet magnificent people but also a unique lesson of history, humility, patience, resilience.  It turned out that the most important experience and the most important lesson Marek Kamiński learned from the trip was a spiritual lesson, the realisation that the trip gave him what he had been looking for, gave him sense and peace of soul. Finding new objectives and new roads to walk.

The route that Marek Kamiński intended to cover seemed uncomplicated at the beginning to those that he had already made. It led through easy lowland regions of Central and Western Europe; however, finally it proved to be for Marek Kamiński as exhaustive physically and mentally as his polar expeditions. Due to the fact that the pilgrimage was demanding, the traveller was able to fully live through his spiritual transformation.  And find a sense of a real pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela.

During the expedition, Kamiński met many interesting people: students who supported him with finding a place to stay overnight, shared their modest resources or supported him on the route accompanying him for several kilometres, people associated with science and church, to other enthusiasts, travellers and pilgrims.  The meetings gave a lot of good things to the traveller, unselfish help and interesting and inspiring conversations.  

Full photo report from the event

We invite you to the next meeting in the Olivia Cooltura cycle to be held on  20 February at 6 p.m. at the Olivia Sky Club. We will host Maciej Kosycarz, a photojournalist, associated with Gdańsk and Pomerania.

Enrolment at  events@oliviacentre.com