When I first heard that the next SteemFest is going to take place in my homeland it was a shock! And Kraków? The city which from I have so many great memories? My imagination just exploded preventing me to even think of not showing up to this event.

There is just one little obstacle on a way. I'm away from home. Currently living in Iceland, where I try to save some money to make my dream come true. In 2019 I am planning to start my hitchhiking trip around the world, which will be fully covered here on Steemit. I'm doing this with my friend with whom we started @steem-hikers blog.

So here I am, in the land of fire and ice, Vikings, volcanoes, wind and one of the most expensive beers in the world. Working as a night shift receptionist (which by the way already got me into unexpected funny story somewhat SteemFest related!) with a pretty dense work schedule I had to take some measures to make it to Kraków in November. I had to take some days off, waiving some extra money I could save for the trip at the same time... Nonetheless, I have no doubt it will be worth it! These are the choices I had to make.

If you want to read Kraków like real Pole, try reading it "Crakooff".

I must say I am really excited to become - in some sense - a host for You, fellow Steemians. Even though I was born in so-called "recovered territories" in Western Poland, on a former German land which is rather far from Kraków, I can't wait to share with you some of our culture, history and experiences. And Kraków has a special place in my heart, as it has for many of polish people. It is an enormously rich place in means of both culture and entertainment. A place where different epochs of polish history interlace - middle ages with modernity, Renaissance with horrors of Second World War, and so on, and so on. It was always the heart of polish art scene and an academic centre with very long traditions. The vividness of this city is unquestionable, and it's really fun to read some of the expectations about Kraków from upcoming Steeminas. I can bet you won't be let down!

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<sub>Three fun facts about me:
1. I speak some Esperanto!
2. I once had the president of Liberland sleeping in my bed! (sic!)
3. I'm addicted to yerba mate</sub>

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My own expectation is to have fun and meet a lot of people I've met during my year activity on Steemit. Living here on Iceland I missed a few of meetups organised by different polish Steemians and now I will have a chance to meet some of them. However, I'm equally excited about meeting Steemians from all over the world, getting to know their passions and stories and having fun discovering Kraków with them in a completely new light. And I won't let @highonthehog go without tasting a glass of gin with me!

I cannot end this without a word about our polish Steem community. I truly believe it is one of the best out here! What other national community on Steemit can claim that virtually EVERY well-written and gripping post is appreciated and curated? Which other national community actually really reach to people outside of Steem, as we do, and even let them publish content on the blockchain without having an account created and still get a reward? Which one is that much effective in fighting spam, plagiarism and abuse? Which one has so greatly managed and widely spread tree of tags? Sure, we have our own problems, just like all Steem communities have, but I think the polish community could be a role model to many other places in Steem network. And SteemFest³ is a great opportunity to show that! I hope soon you will get to know us better through some more posts using #roadtosteemfest tag and also by spending some time with us in Kraków!

See you soon, folks!

P.S. A few weeks ago one of the greatest stars of polish rock music, Kora, died. She was such a great poet and vocalist of post-punk / new wave band Maanam, which can easily be put next to Joy Division or Russian Кино. She was born in Kraków and greatly involved in its bohemian scene. Let some of her music flow through you while waiting for the beginning of November!