Do you know the book “How? Where? When?”?
It was my favourite book in primary school. Short paragraphs gave answers to these three basic questions about the world. I liked the how? and where? questions most :) I stared at those colourful images on the shiny pages. And it was there where I saw IT. Rocks, like pillars joined together, a bit like steps, vanishing in the plumes of sea waves.

I remember vividly what I said to my mum just then: “I’ll go there, I sit on those pillars and watch the splashing waves”.
That place seemed totally unreal and exotic. So different from what I had seen before. I found it fascinating that it was all made by nature, not by human. I remember how surprising this fact was for me. Moreover, it looked like a track for some kind of giant, which stimulated my imagination as a child.

Years later the book went walkies and I couldn’t recall its location... Whoever I asked about the rock pillars of hexagonal shape, they couldn’t tell me, so I chucked up the sponge and forgot the promise I made to myself.

In spring 2006 I started planning my next trip. I didn’t know what the not-to-miss places were in the area of my choice, I had a lot of homework ahead of me ;)

I typed the name in the browser, I started looking through the pages and suddenly I froze. Goose bumps spread all over my body and I couldn’t get my eyes off the picture that had just appeared on the computer screen in front of me. And in my head the memory of the event from over dozen years ago woke up. My heart was pounding, I found my mythical location and it was just there on my route. Can you believe it?

The closer the day of my departure came, the more complicated things became. The things related to finances, dates and the personal ones. Eventually, a week before leaving, it turned out that I am the only one who has enough motivation to - against all odds - go for that trip.

But how? On my own? With a huge backpack? ...as this journey was going to bring a closure to a period in my life, I would have had to carry 25 kilograms of my life possessions with me. I would have had to plan everything myself and travel on my own, and muddle through it all by myself… with my so-called English and with ridiculously low budget.
Then I asked myself the most important question.

Do I really want this? But seriously? The answer was YES. And if it’s a YES, then everything will be fine. And it was.

This journey was a kind of ceremony of transition. An initiation. I discovered that travelling solo you get a clearer vision, you meet more friendly people, that you get to know yourself better. It was the time before Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat. And it was really hard for me at times, when I was not able to share the beauty I was seeing and the moments I was living with anyone. Today I remember this time as one of my most beautiful journeys.

On the 17th of July 2006 I sat on the basaltic rocks of The Giant’s Causeway while the waves were gently splashing against the rock pillars. I was there...