Welcome to the world of the globetrotters
You have reached the oldest and probably the most popular travel service in Poland.
Here you will find both experienced globetrotters and people who simply love the idea of travelling.
The service was founded in 1976 as BIT (the Tramping Information Bank), obviously not on the Internet, but at the Almatur student travel office in Krakow. It quickly developed into a major archive, storing information on trips made to all corners of the globe. In 1994 it was renamed TRAVELBIT and in 1997 it made its debut on the Web. Both BIT and Travelbit are the brainchild of Andrzej Urbanik (traveler and physician-radiologist; otherwise known as “Tourbanik”). Currently the website is written and maintained by its founder in collaboration with a number of other travellers and it functions as a community service.
It operates in a non-commercial way – it gathers and makes available information on travelling and serves as a focal point for the travelling community in Poland.
OUR DISCUSSION FORUM is especially active and its numerous thematic sections provide extensive sources of information. The services provided by www.travelbit.pl are completely free of charge. If you want to cite any materials, all you need to do is give the name of the author (first name, last name, or, if need be, a pseudonym and, if the author has given one, a website or e-mail address; copyright regulations must be observed) as well as a link to www.travelbit.pl. Nothing more!
The history of Polish globetrotting makes a passionate tale.
It all began quite impressively.
The first – if he can be called that – Polish globetrotter was Benedykt Polak (Benedictus Polonus) and he was one of the main participants in the biggest ever expedition to Mongolia organised by Europeans in the 13th Century (1245–47). The expedition was a pioneering event of epochal importance in Europeans’ discovery of Asia. The main goal of the expedition was to discourage Mongol attacks on Christian states and convert the khan and his subjects to the faith of Christ. Since Europeans’ knowledge of the Asian interior was sketchy to say the least in those times, one more additional aim of the expedition was to gather information about the lifestyle, beliefs, customs and organisation of the Mongol state.
The great khan refused to co-operate, and demanded that all of Europe’s leaders come to his capital to pay him homage. Despite this setback, the expedition was still a success, since priceless information was gathered for a number of later descriptions of these countries. According to research, three accounts were written. The most extensive, Historia Tartarorum (manuscript in the possession of Yale University), has been credited to Benedykt Polak.
One should bear in mind that Benedykt’s expedition took place a quarter of a century before the much better known journey made by the Venetian Marco Polo. Experts also contend that Benedykt’s Historia Tartarorum is a much more credible account than Marco Polo’s Le divisament dou monde (“The Description of the World”, better known as “The Travels of Marco Polo”).
In 2004 (June–September) an expedition from Poland followed in the footsteps of Benedykt Polak, taking the route described by their fellow countryman.
A great boom in globetrotting, i.e. travelling without the help of a travel agency, occurred after the Second World War. It coincided with major advances in world tourism after the first years of post-war economic reconstruction and the formation of new international links, i.e. in the 1950s. Tourism proved to be the fastest growing branch of the world economy, and for some countries – attractive because of their sea and sun – it provided a veritable boon.
The advent of motoring led to the glory days of hitch-hiking, a mode of travelling that provides even those with very meagre funds with a chance to see the world. Indeed, in the 1960s it became fashionable to thumb a lift.
Round-the-world trips became fashionable at this time. Globetrotters included a number of Poles in their ranks. In 1974, Marek Michel travelled around the world on a Polish WSK motorcycle, and in 1977–79 Andrzej Sochacki (a resident of the USA) circumnavigated the globe in a Volkswagen “beetle”.
One journey worthy of note is that made in 1957 by Tony Halik, who drove from Tierra Del Fuego to Alaska in a jeep, a trip which took him 1,536 days to complete. The journey was recorded in the film “The 180,000 km adventure”.
The Polish globetrotting movement has its roots in different sources.
To begin with, hitchhiking (“auto-stop” in Polish). This way of getting around became very popular in Poland at the end of the 1950s and the beginning of the 1960s and stayed so up until the 1980s.
In 1985, Piotr Chmieliński became the first person in the world to navigate the Amazon from its source to its mouth. He was mentioned in the Guinness Book of Records and the New York Times included his feat in its list of major achievements.
A major role in describing and bringing the outside world closer to Poles was played by Ryszard Kapuscinski, the legendary journalist of both national and global renown.
One amazing phenomenon during this period was “The Six Continents Club”, a television programme devised and presented (beginning in 1968 and lasting for 20 years) by Ryszard Badowski.
Also worthy of a mention were Bogdan Sienkiewicz’s productions on TVP Gdansk, including “The Flying Dutchman” and “Around the World”.
Another source of great inspiration for travellers were the films of Stanislaw Szwarc-Bronikowski, covering nature, ethnography, archaeology, geology and religious subjects.
Leonid Teliga’s solo voyage around the world (1967–69) in his yacht “Opty” made an enormous impression on all aspiring explorers (and not only those interested in water).
The second half of the 20th Century is full of amazing challenges undertaken by Polish seafarers, including Krystyna Chojnowska-Liskiewicz, the first woman in the world to traverse the globe in a yacht singlehandedly.
Another option was to travel on Polish merchant vessels, which voyaged to all the most interesting ports around the world.
In 1973 the Asia and Pacific Museum opened in Warsaw, founded by the traveller, diplomat and collector Andrzej Wawrzyniak, who donated his collection of ethnographic items and works of art from Indonesia.
A major turning point in student travel occurred at the beginning of the 1970s when students were allowed to organise what were called “environmental trips”.
In 1976, Andrzej Urbanik founded BIT, otherwise known as the Tramping Information Bank (since 1994 it has been operating as Travelbit).
In 1979 the Krakow branch of Almatur helped publish a brochure entitled “The Tramper’s Handbook” authored by Andrzej Urbanik.
In 1985 Andrzej Urbanik came up with the idea of organising national meetings for travellers called OSOTT.
The first Polish globetrotter’s guide appeared in Polish bookshops in 1987, describing countries in South-East Asia.
In the second half of the 1990s Polish travel websites began to appear on the net. One of the first (set up in 1997) was www.travelbit.pl.
