I'll admit that compiling the traditional iinuu planner Top has become even harder this year due to subjective factors - firstly, I am a quoted source of inspiration in one of the planners, and in my birth month at that (very close to home); secondly, I myself have been using the Remarkable electronic notebook for a year now, which works very well as a replacement for the note-taking functions of a planner. But let's return to the main point - my choice can hardly influence the planner landscape in Latvia, and this year again beautiful, creative, vivid and less vivid planners for 2024 have been created.
What is the charm of paper planners that electronic planners like Google Calendar, Calendly and similar cannot replace? Evidently they fulfil a much broader function than simply scheduling activities, writing notes or reminding us of important dates.
Taking it purely by trail length and number of points of interest, the most walked region is Kurzeme. And yet this list does not even include the many trips along the seashore, where every so often there is a little path winding through the dunes toward the sea, revealing fantastic views of the rocky or wind-felled-tree-decorated beach.
Each Latvian region has its own wealth and its own characteristic natural scenery. If it once seemed that a trip 100–200 km from Riga was some special event, everything now feels so compact, manageable, and reachable in a mere 1–2 hours. Get up on a Saturday or Sunday morning, have a sip of coffee, type a couple of keywords into Google Maps, get in the car, and off you go.
This year, like never before, we have made use of the opportunity to travel around Latvia, walking several shorter and longer nature trails. So I am happy to share information on what is worth seeing and at the same time getting some exercise on weekends.
To plan or not to plan - that is the question. This year 2020 proved that all plans can collapse due to certain external circumstances. Adaptability could be the word of the year. Yet what remains unchanged is the insight that successful people are still those who plan their success, regardless of pressure or disruptions from outside.
The essence of the ApturiCovid app is that it uses the phone's built-in Bluetooth to "greet" other nearby ApturiCovid apps. If a user whose app has greeted yours in the past 14 days tests positive for Covid, that user's app will send you a warning that such a contact occurred.
The last day of the journey, when from Spain we returned once more to the tranquil Portugal. One really must start thinking that the ocean's proximity cools heated minds and the land's mentality is much more velvety. We drove through a fairly hilly and sparsely populated region, through which the road wound like a lazy snake. Every so often the view opened onto valleys with streams, and then from seemingly nowhere on a steep hill a white-walled city appeared.
Currently a small patch of British land that connects the Mediterranean with the Atlantic Ocean, yet with a seemingly independent rhythm of life, its own flag, and the unusual-for-Britain traffic flow on the right side of the road. A coveted piece of land since ancient times - even today Spain has not given up hoping to reclaim it.
Have you ever wondered why some people enter your life quite by chance, yet leave fairly lasting impressions? Why a certain book lands in your hands unexpectedly, and its message touches the deepest strings? You will say nothing is accidental - it is the power of God, the Universe, or whatever one calls it. Or conversely, it is an ordinary coincidence of circumstances, because in the end we ourselves decide whether to let someone or something into our lives or not.
