There’s So Much Kindness in This World, in People’s Hearts

KRISTIJAN ILIČIĆ, a travel blogger and the founder of travel agency Nomadik Travel

There’s So Much Kindness in This World, in People’s Hearts!

“THROUGH MY TRAVELS I WAS ABLE TO ERASE ALL THE PREJUDICES WE HAVE ABOUT OTHER LANDS, CULTURES, AND CUSTOMS”

Interviewed by: Elma Zećo / Photo: Private Album

One trip to Asia before starting university was enough for Kristijan Iličić to realise that travelling is what he is most interested in. Before becoming a world traveller and travel writer, he worked for years at a publishing house in Zagreb, but once he opened the doors of the world and had a taste of foreign lands, and by that time he had travelled across Southeast Asia, had gone off on a road trip across the United States, and had explored the African states that changed his life, he could no longer just go to work, sit in an office, and spend precious time on corporate matters. He figured out that he would never be able travel the world this way and decided to open a new chapter in his life.

GETTING ENGAGED IN THE SEYCHELLES

You became the most famous tra‑ vel blogger in the region after you threw a birthday surprise for your girlfriend Andrea in America a few years ago, flying 10,000 km on that occasion. Both foreign and regional media wrote storied about it. People are happy to follow you. What is the secret of your success?

- That just might be it—what you said. Nothing’s hard for me to do. I do it from the heart and without faking it. I’d drive twice as many kilometres for Andrea, she is very important to me and I never thought that I shouldn’t do what I did. I just sought a way to do it. As for my stories, which people love to watch, I post raw material, so whoever likes it, they’re welcome to watch. I don’t feel like editing video stories. I always speak my mind, present things as they are—if I think something is beautiful and touching or if I don’t like it and it makes me angry, I say so. I don’t hide anything. I’m honest. I don’t try to mystify things. When I was in Varanasi where dead bodies were being burnt, I wasn’t retelling the mystical history of India, I was showing a man drying wet trousers next to a funeral pyre where the body of the deceased was burning.

What do you remember about the first location you headed out to?

- Andrea and I went to Madagascar and spent 20 wonderful days exploring all parts of the island. Travelling through Madagascar turned out to be a real adventure, driving on the worst roads in the world, traveling without any kind of plan. We then flew to the Seychelles. I chose the Seychelles because I always knew that one day, if I found the right girl, I’d get engaged in the Seychelles. I did find her, so I remember the Seychelles because that’s where Andrea and I got engaged.

You’ve travelled to a lot of places, more than a hundred. What’s the criteria for adding countries to your travel list?

- I set myself the goal to visit every country in the world, so for the time being the criterion is to visit the countries I haven’t been to before. Of course, at times I’m still quite happy to return to places that have left a strong mark me or impressed me in one way or another. That’s why I always go to Thailand and Ethiopia again and again, and I believe that I’ll make a road trip around the USA at least a few more times.

Whose customs, culture and traditions have impressed you in particular?

- It might be because we are all somehow full of prejudice against or fearful of them, or it might be because it was all so very strange and unusual to me, but I was most impressed by the countries of the Middle East, Afghanistan and Yemen. I feel that a lot of our culture, our ancient past, is buried there. Everything is quite unexplored, mystical. These are the routes that Alexander the Great rode along. Many ancient buildings have been preserved and many testimonies of our common past have been kept there. I find the mismatch between what I saw in those locations and what we see in the media rather appalling. The situation in Afghanistan right now is ghastly. I was fortunate enough to see Afghanistan before the new situation arose.

MORE THAN 300 DAYS ON THE ROAD

You have also made some dangerous journeys. You have slept on the Nyiragongo volcano in the Democratic Republic of the Congo ahead of an eruption, passed through danger zones without military escorts... How do you typically respond to stress?

- I’d like to give you a smart answer, but I often don’t seem to know how to recognise that I’m under stress. I do know how I feel when I get an adrenaline rush, when I am overjoyed because I’ve achieved something that was difficult, even dangerous, but I don’t know how to recognise the signs of stress affecting me emotionally and physically. I can say that I felt a little worried for my own safety when we passed the Taliban checkpoints, but I also laughed uncontrollably. That’s basically how I put up with.

What experience do you bring from travelling during the pandemic, how many trips are behind you, and how much more expensive has travelling become?

- Since the outbreak of the pandemic, I’ve travelled around Turkey, Cyprus, Malta, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Central America, Yemen, a good part of Africa... I was on the road for a long time with a short break during the summer. Some destinations were cheaper because there were no tourists, while some tours were at half price. Overall, however, travel has become much more expensive. You spend a small fortune just on getting tested for Covid-19. It was a substantial cost for me in particular because I travelled around many countries where people thought that they could earn a handy extra income through such testing. Sometimes the testing took on a level of unreasonable and total insanity. And, you’ve got to endure it all. In addition, it’s now risky to travel if you go to just one place, and your plan was to have a two-week holiday, for instance. It can happen that you get to a country which has just imposed a lockdown so you aren’t allowed to go anywhere. A total failure. For any booking you make, you must pay for cancellati-

on insurance. You have to constantly monitor the situation on the ground. Travelling has become complicated, but not impossible. And you just have to make more of an effort than before. Instead of wasting time on why all of this has befallen us or immersing ourselves in conspiracy theories, it’s better to come up with a route, finish planning, and get on the road. It is what it is.

How many days a year do you spend travelling?

- Sometimes more than 300. This year I spent just a month in the vicinity of Zagreb, even though I wasn’t based there, and also wanderrd around the neighbouring countries. I spent less than two months at home.

Where are you right now?

- In Venezuela with a group of travellers. We’re here with my travel agency Nomadik Travel.

AN ADVENTURE OF A LIFETIME

You have used your tourist expe‑ rience to establish an adventure travel agency called Nomadik Travel in Zagreb. Who is your target au‑ dience?

- Most people think that I’m doing something that’s totally unattainable and that the destinations I go to are beyond their reach. Even those who’ve got the money to go to some of the more high-end destinations don’t actually travel there because they’ve got no clue where to start. That’s where my agency comes in: it takes on all these ‘very complicated’ things, from writing invitation letters, obtaining permits and visas, developing routes, and making arrangements with local people. Anyone who’s inclined to what I’d call an adventure of a lifetime can now go on such an adventure through our agency, because it’s run by two extremely experienced world travellers, my brother and I, who know exactly what they’re doing. We listen to people who follow us, who want adventure, so we don’t impo-

“I USE MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE TO SHOW PEOPLE THAT SOME THINGS ARE WORTH THE EFFORT, THAT YOU NEED TO STEP OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE, PHYSICALLY AND MENTALLY, AND THAT, AT TIMES, YOU SIMPLY NEED TO INVEST A LOT OF MONEY TO MAKE A DREAM COME TRUE”

se well-trodden, traditional routes on people; instead, we lead people where they themselves want to go. For example, a New Year’s trip to Thailand is probably offered by some other agencies, but we’re the only ones offering the option to stay much longer on Thailand’s beautiful beaches. Also, only until recently it was nearly impossible to organise a trip to Angel Falls in Venezuela, and yet, we’re in Venezuela right now with our first group. We’re determined to help other people go on an adventure of a lifetime and see the world in all its beauty. I use my personal experience to show people that some things are worth the effort, that you need to step out of your comfort zone, physically and mentally, and that, at times, you simply need to invest a lot of money to make a dream come true.

How much have you changed as a person travelling the world, and what are the most important things you have gained?

- The most important thing I’ve gained from my travels is that people will be people regardless of the location. There’s no us and them; there are only good and bad people—and the world is full of them. Through my travels I was able to erase all the prejudices we have about other lands, cultures, and customs. I shattered all my fears and learned that the world could be a perfect place to live if we didn’t allow a minority acting in their own selfish self-interests govern the silent majority. I came across, for the most part, very kind-hearted, loving and accommodating people. There’s so much kindness in this world, in people’s hearts! By living in one corner of the planet Earth we remain locked in our little box and we see threats and problems everywhere. We become frustrated and unhappy. I often see it in some of the comments I get on my posts. People who’ve never left their garden have got an opinion about everything. Travelling enriches and ennobles you, it adds quality to and brings good people into your life. It allows you to learn in a way you’d never be able to learn if you just sat at home all the time. I believe that travelling and getting to know the world beyond our limited horizon is the way out into a better world.

HOTEL ZOKU JE AMSTERDAMSKI PIONIR HIBRIDNE HOME-OFFICE

FILOZOFIJE S HOTELSKIM USLUGAMA.

POSEBNO JE ZANIMLJIV RASTUĆOJ POPULACIJI POSLOVNIH PROFESIONALACA,

RADNICIMA KOJI NISU DUŽNI DA FIZIČKI

PRISUSTVUJU NA RADNOM MJESTU I DIGITALNIM NOMADIMA

Svojim otvaranjem 2016. godine u Amsterdamu, hotel Zoku je s hibridnim konceptom kućnog ureda i nagrađivanim dizajnom Zoku Lofta uvrstio posve novu kategoriju u hotelsku industriju. Zoku Loft je pametan, privatan i prilagodljiv. Sadrži sve potrebne kućne i poslovne stvari, a može se personalizovati biranjem omiljenih umjetničkih radova koji će visiti na zidu. Za razliku od regularnih hotela, gdje najčešće dominira sobom krevet, ovdje je u fokusu veliki kuhinjski sto omogućavajući gostima da pozovu prijatelje ili kolege u svoj dom.

JEDAN OD 25 NAJCOOL HOTELA

Zoku tvorci su holandski poduzetnici Hans Meyer i Marc Jongerius, a ime je dobio po japanskoj riječi za porodicu, pleme ili klan. Među prvim hotelima u svijetu 2018. nagrađen je B Corp certifikatom. Njegova uspješna priča iz holandske prijestolnice prenesena je čak tokom pandemije na još dvije lokacije: Kopenhagen i Beč. Jednim od 25 najcool hotela u svijetu proglasio ga je Forbes. Zoku pruža home base za odmor i poslovne putnike koji žele živjeti (i raditi) u gradu bilo gdje, počev od nekoliko dana do nekoliko mjeseci. Ovaj hibridni home-office s hotelskim uslugama opušteno je mjesto za život, rad i druženje s ljudima sličnih svjetonazora u periodu uspostavljanja novih poznanstava u gradu. S razvijenim standardima koji podržavaju internacionalni život i rad, idealan je za rastuću populaciju poslovnih profesionalaca, radnike koji nisu dužni da fizički prisustvuju na radnom mjestu i digitalne nomade. Njegov odvažni koncept osvojio je brojne nagrade i dobio dobre kritike od gostiju. Krasi ga živahni društveni prostor i jedinstvena zajednica. Društveni prostor nudi toplu dobrodošlicu, tu su Kindred Spirits Bar, dnevni boravak, restoran Living Kitchen, Coworking Spaces, Green Spaces i mnogo terasa na kojima stanovnici mogu uživati. Otvoreni dizajn prostora olakšava stvaranje veze između stanovnika hotela, članova WorkZoku-a i lokalnog stanovništva. Održivost unutar Zokua nadilazi pravilno izoliranu zgradu, LED rasvjetu i sisteme za uštedu energije kao što su povrat topline i inteligentni sistemi upravljanja zgradama. Hotel je ponosan na svoj Green Key Gold certifikat i smatra da bi on trebao biti osnovni standard za svako novo mjesto u gradu.

ZOKU HOTEL IS THE

AMSTERDAM-BASED PIONEER

OF THE HOME OFFICE HYBRID PHILOSOPHY WITH THE SERVICES OF A HOTEL. IT IS PARTICULARLY

APPEALING TO THE GROWING POPULATION OF GLOBETROTTING

PROFESSIONALS, REMOTE WORKERS, AND DIGITAL NOMADS

Launched in Amsterdam in 2016, Zoku Hotel created a new category in the hotel industry: a home-office hybrid concept and awardwinning Zoku Loft design.

Zoku Loft is smart, private, and customisable. It comes with all the necessary residential and business facilities, and residents can choose pieces of art from the hotel’s own collection to personalise the walls. A four-person kitchen table is the focal point of each room—not the bed, which is usually the case in hotels. It allows residents to invite friends or colleagues over.

ONE OF 25 COOLEST HOTELS IN THE WORLD

Created by Dutch entrepreneurs Hans Meyer and Marc Jongerius,

Zoku was named after the Japanese word for family, tribe or clan. It achieved B Corp certification in 2018, becoming one of the few hospitality brands in the world to receive this recognition. From Amsterdam, Zoku expanded during the pandemic with new locations now open in Copenhagen and Vienna. It was also named one of 25 coolest hotels in the world by Forbes. Zoku provides a home base for holiday and business travellers who want to live (and work) in a city anywhere from a few days to a few months. It is a hybrid between a home and an office with hotel services, and it is a relaxed place to live, work, and socialise with like-minded people while getting wired into the city. Moving far beyond the standard hotel offer, Zoku facilitates living and working internationally for the growing population of globetrotting professionals, remote workers, and digital nomads. Zoku’s bold concept has won numerous awards and received rave reviews from guests. It has lively social spaces and a unique community structure. Its social spaces offer a warm welcome, the Kindred Spirits bar, a cosy living room, Living Kitchen rooftop restaurant, Coworking Spaces, Green Spaces, and a lot of terraces for residents to enjoy! The open-plan communal living design facilitates creating genuine connections among residents, WorkZoku members, and locals. Sustainability within Zoku goes well beyond a proper insulated building, LED lighting, and energy saving systems like heat recovery and intelligent building management systems. Zoku is proud to call itself a Green Key Gold certified hotel. Its founders believe that this standard should be set for any new place opening up in town.