Fjords, ocean and countrysides: Norway

“Norway taught me to appreciate the company of nature in the form of snow and mountains,” says Janicke H Eckbo who was born in Norway and has since lived around the world. The beautiful backdrops of her fellow Norwegians and the large number of photographers among them (including Eswaran Arulkumar in our header photo) made it easy to see the beauty of the country not just in snow and mountains but in fjords, ocean, and countrysides.

This fun music video by the band No.4 and Widerøe airlines, compiles photos and videos from Norwegians all over the country. Enjoy some great music and beautiful scenery while you learn more about the Kingdom of Norway through our favorite Norwegians below!

A photographer, Anders Aa Hagen‘s compelling photo immediately drew us into his page to checkout his website with more of his amazing portfolio.

Bettina Wolmersen is a full time designer and hobby photographer who likes to capture all sorts of creatures and flowers.

Mats Gulbrandsen is a music producer and DJ based in Oslo, Norway. Want to hear and see him at work? Check out his Check out his YouTube app.

Artist, shower singer and frequent laugher, Guro Tolo is not your typical high-schooler.

Originally from Denmark, Morten Prom is a software developer with a passion for photography.

Fun fact Evgenia Egorova has kissed a wolf. She now inspires people to travel to northern Norway. Just seeing her Instagram feed, we’re inspired!

Eilif Kiland is a business consultant, passionate gamer, and blogger who writes on technology in both Norwegian and English.

A world traveler, Janicke H Eckbo was born in Norway, studied in Australia worked in the U.S. and now lives in the U.K.

Geir Bækholt is a serial entrepreneur, open source enthusiast, inventor, foodie and has a super power desired by every frequent traveler. He can sleep on planes.

Which country should we visit next week? Let us know on Twitter or the comments below.

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Clocks, Pilsen and Castles: Czech Republic

Say hello to professional Czech unicyclist, Adam Gerza in our header photo. His picture is initially what caught our eye and inspired us to do a post on his country, the Czech Republic. Then we found there were so many awesome people to feature, it was hard to choose just a few.

Before you check them out below, here are a few quick and fun facts about the country.

The Czechs invented the Pilsner beer, first produced in 1842 in the city of Pilsen
Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, is home to the oldest working astronomical clock in the world. It was built in 1410 and it’s functioning today.
There are over 2,000 castles and castle ruins in the country, one of the highest densities in the world after France and Belgium.
Czech chemist Otto Wichterle, invented soft contact lenses in 1959.

Now, without further ado, check out our favorite Czech pages!

We love Tea Šplíchalová’s page for its creative setup and her awesome bio. She talks about her love of pictures, social media marketing and organic cafes.

A self proclaimed internet freak, Mirek Molin uses his page to show off his skills as a graphic designer with his stunning picture and great layout.

A social media marketing fanatic, Bára Buchtová is also crazy adventurous. She spent 8 months in Canada just for a change of pace.

Co-founder and CTO of his own startup, Michal Kutil is all about efficiency and helping companies have more efficient production

Ivana Chodurová works in public relations and is passionate about marketing and creative advertising.

Pavel Tobias Vybiral is a marketing samurai with various marketing awards to his name. He is also a photography and TED talk lover.

Tereza Pecáková or Teresinha, is a translator and Harry Potter lover with an awesome blog that she links to from her page.

Not simply an IT consultant, Martin Bugner is an experimentalist, husband, father and life lover.

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Living the Dream: Diana Doroftei

The way to create a miracle is to believe that you can do it. The rest is easy.

~ Nicolae Iorga, Romanian writer and philosopher

A few weeks ago, in our post on Romania, we highlighted Diana Doroftei and her book on the country, which helped us learn about her homeland. Today, however, we’re learning more about Diana, her story and her life as an entrepreneur and author.

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Bienvenidos a Colombia

One of the most awesome things about Colombia is the great variety of climates and landscapes in the country which means you could go from snow capped mountains to trekking through the dessert within a day or so.

But if you have to choose just one place to visit, our local friend Edwin Reyes, recommends the Villa de Leyva. Located 3 hours away from Colombia’s capital, Bogotá, the small city is full of charm. From the stone streets to the houses, it’s a beautiful representation of the Spanish colonial style architecture. Its main square is said to be one of the largest plaza in South America and the weather, well it’s nearly perfect, always hovering between 23-28ºC (73-82ºF).

More than the architecture, sights and food (arepas, yum!) there are the people. Almost always when someone speaks about Colombia, they mention the kind and welcoming Colombians that made their visit so wonderful.

So without further ado, we invite you to get to know this great group of Colombians on about.me

Better known as Patton on other forms of social media, Rafael Bayona is a avid cycler and resident of Bogotá

Diana Carolina Torres Viasus is an engineer and incredibly passionate about her role as a Microsoft Student Partner.

A musician, photographer and graphic designer, José Vergara links from his page to the beautiful websites he’s designed for each different passion.

Liliana Neugebauer is a journalist, model and graphic designer who studied and worked in Germany and now splits her time between London and Spain.

Julian Martínez Arenas‘s passion for entrepreneurship finally led him to start his own company which helps other small businesses in Colombia.

Creative and observant, Yeimy Pardo is a publicist who loves movies and photography.

Andrés Barreto cofounded sites such as Onswipe, Grooveshark and Pulso Social.

Liliana Andrade is a journalist who founded El Parlante Amarillo, a network to help others learn about and share the work of emerging Latin American and Spanish artists.

Andrés Atehortúa is a developer, web designer and photography enthusiast.

Have a recommendation for the country or city we should visit next? Share it with us in our comment section.

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Singapore: An amazing mix of cultures

Did you know that the main language in Singapore is English? The country also has three other official languages, Malay, Mandarin, and Tamil. Not to mention the fact that over 40% of the residents are foreign born. It’s quite the unique mix for this small island nation which can be traversed in about an hour and a half.

Despite it’s small size Singapore is highly urbanized as Cesare Tagliaferri shows us in the header picture of Singapore at night. If you’re looking for some more historic architecture, however, our friend Anthony Chew recommends a visit Haji Lane. A historic area among modern buildings, it was once abandoned but has recently been revived by local designers and entrepreneurs.

Our local friends also emphasize that you can’t miss getting to know the culture through the food. With the mix of cultures here, it’s no wonder we hear such rave reviews about the cuisine. Some favorites to try are chicken rice, nasi lemak, satay and laksa. Yum!

Get to know more of our favorite Singaporeans below.

We love this action shot from one of the trips that Hajar Ali and her company put together for adventurous travelers looking to get off the beaten track.

Meet Kinmun Lee aka mrbrown aka The Blogfather of Singapore

Gina Romero is not just an entrepreneur, business strategist and community leader, she’s also a Star Wars loving geek girl.

A Myers-Briggs type INFJ Brandon Leong is a creative who loves helping others.

A children’s book illustrator and writer, Leila Boukarim writes about and for highly sensitive children.

A native of the UK, Hugh Mason is an author, entrepreneur and adjunct professor at National University of Singapore.

Tiffany Yong is an independent actress, blogger and fellow bubble tea addict.

Goh Hung Wei is a gamer and is loving his job with gaming site, Razor.

A Singaporean expat, Aresha Krishnan is a social media director by day and DJ by night.

Have a recommendation for the country or city we should visit next? Share it with us in our comment section.

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Gold, Yogurt and the Rila Mountains of Bulgaria

When traveling to Bulgaria, the Seven Rila Lakes located in the Rila Mountains (pictured in our header*), should be at the top of your list. These glacial lakes are connected by streams, each with a special name like the Tear, the Eye or the Twins. With such amazing beauty, it’s no wonder this place is said to have a special energy (or that it comes so highly recommended by our friend, Angel Milev).

But aside from amazing places to see, Bulgaria is a fascinating place. Here are a few of our favorite facts about it:

The country has both Slavic and Turkic origins resulting in a unique mixture of cultural traditions, beliefs and language.
Bulgaria’s history is one of the oldest in Europe. It stretches back to the 7th century when the country was established.
The oldest gold treasure in the world, dating from 4600-4200 BC, was discovered in Bulgaria.
Bulgarians eat a lot of yogurt and the country is the historical namesake for the yeast agent Lactobacillus Bulgaricus used to make yogurt.

Now, here are the pages of some of our favorite Bulgarians:

When Petar Svarc isn’t working as a mobile app developer he loves to spend time with his amazing wife and daughter.

Vassilena Valchanova likes to talk about her five year relationship with her blog and has a passion for towels and roast chicken.

A motion graphics designer, Grisha Strundzhev loves 2D and 3D animation and everything related to tattoos.

Boris Hristov runs a Google hangout for the SQL Server Community. Check out his YouTube app to see the videos and get some tips!

A photography enthusiast, Rossitsa Tsanova captured some amazing photos of a traditional festival in Etropole. Check out them out on her Flickr app.

We found Nikolay Angelov‘s headline both relatable and attention grabbing. It reads simply, “I love chocolate”. Now that deserves a compliment.

Sabina Panayotova is an advocate for animal adoption, a TEDxSter and a blogger.

We love the beauty and simplicity of Krassimir Dobrev‘s page. Have a look!

Thanks for coming along for our world-traveling adventure! Stay tuned for our next destination! If you have a suggestion of where we should visit next, let us know in the comments or on Twitter.

*Header image, “Pogled kum ezerata ot biloto.” Licensed under Creative Commons

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Aurora Borealis, Reindeer and Bread Cheese: Fun in Finland

There’s so much to see and explore in Finland that we can hardly fit it all in this post! Let’s start with a fun fact though, did you know that Santa Claus comes from Finland? Here he is in his home in Rovaniemi where you can visit him all year long.

Below are more amazing facts that Alexander Kuznetsov, of Hello Lapland, shared with us about his home country. He was also kind enough to send us the photo he took of Santa, his time lapse video of the Northern Lights and the picture of them in the header.

Finns enjoy everyman’s right, meaning they can roam freely in nature, even on private land. They even have the right to pick berries, mushrooms and fish as they wander. As a result they have the duty to protect nature and they take this task very seriously.
A great way to explore Finland is through its cuisine including: fresh whitefish from local lakes, mushroom soups and bread cheese, or leipäjuusto, for dessert.
There are more reindeer in Finnish Lapland than people.
Helsinki, with its wide range of cultural activities and events, is one of the most interesting places to live in Finland.
Finns are quite shy and often keep to themselves but are still very accommodating and warm people. Meet some of them below!

Sami Inkinen is on a boat right now. He’s rowing, unsupported, across the Pacific Ocean from San Francisco to Hawaii.

To see more of her amazing photography, check out Jenni Laaksonen‘s flickr feed.

We love Antti Poikola‘s photo which shows off his passion for cycling!

Mervi Eskelinen is a craftswoman and cat lover who blogs about blogging. Very meta.

Petri Viitala is a musician, theater technician and avid mushroom hunter!

A nonfiction writer and mother, Katleena Kortesuo loves rocking those dreadlocks.

Kristian Linnoinen must be quite the swimming enthusiast as the COO of a swim school and CEO of an aquatic exercise company.

Passionate about clean tech, Kaisa Hernberg is working to make the world a cleaner and greener place.

Antti Virolainen won a grant from the Chilean government to work on his startup there and is now back in Helsinki to continue developing ShareTribe

Thanks again for coming along for our world-traveling adventure, stay tuned for our next destination! If you have a suggestion of where we should visit next, please tell us about it in our comment section.

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Traveling with about.me: Romania

As Diana Doroftei (below), author of The Little Book of Romanian Wisdom tells us, most people associate Romania with Dracula and perfect 10 gymnastic routines. But as the above video shows, there is so much more to this country that birthed the inventor of the fountain pen, insulin, and the modern jet engine. There’s the natural beauty of the county which is prized by many, including the Prince of Wales.

And let’s not forget the people. Have a look at nine we’ve chosen below and search “Romania” on about.me to learn more about this marvelous country that we’re longing to visit in person!

Meet Alexandra G., a civil engineering student, social entrepreneur and fashionista.

Antonio Éram has the craziest commute we’ve ever heard of: Romania to California.

Meet Silvia Pintilie, interior design studio owner and Ph.D student.

A law student, Radu Odangiu is also a founding member of The Sustainable Diplomacy Project with Alexandra G.

We were inspired by Leyla-Denisa Obreja dreams of winning the Nobel Peace Prize and doing some recreational space travel.

Apart from being a lawyer, Alex Galan is a family man who is into cooking, photography, and literature.

Meet Diana Doroftei, author of The Little Book of Romanian Wisdom.

Alexandru Haidamac is a young creative who won gold at last year’s Cannes Lions creativity festival.

Meet Raluca Maria G. an aspiring doctor and former model whose sister heads up this post.

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Traveling with about.me: Australia

This week we’re traveling down south to Australia! Composed of the Australian mainland, the island of Tasmania, and several other small islands, the country is well known for its native species such as the koala, kangaroo and kookaburra. Today, however, we’re focusing on the large about.me community from Australia whose beautiful pages make use of pictures, texts and apps to tell their stories. As you’re having a look at the pages below, don’t forget to check out sometimes DJ and co-founder of the accelerator program at the University of Sydney, James Alexander. Explore all the pages here to learn more about Australia! Thanks again for coming along for our world-traveling adventure, stay tuned for our next destination! If you have a suggestion of where we should visit next, please tell us about it in our comment section.

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Traveling with about.me: Costa Rica

Come with us to Costa Rica today! As one of the final 8 countries remaining in the World Cup, we’d like to highlight the country and our about.me community members from there. Located in Central America, just above Panama (featured a few weeks ago), Costa Rica is known for being extremely biodiverse and having a strong commitment to protecting the environment. They’ve passed laws banning all recreational hunting and have plans to become the first carbon neutral country by 2021.

As you’re having a look at the pages below, don’t forget to check out Teresa Rivas‘s page (in our header image) which she uses to tell about both her professional and personal interests. Enjoy exploring all the awesome pages here and learning more about the country of Costa Rica!

Thanks again for coming along for our world-traveling adventure, stay tuned for our next destination! If you have a suggestion of where we should visit next, tell us about it in our comment section.

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