Meet Domi & Zlatan Ziemkiewicz

Today we’d like to introduce you to Domi & Zlatan Ziemkiewicz. 

Hi Domi & Zlatan, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today.
We always enjoyed traveling, but being based in Poland and just starting our professional careers; our first trips were to neighboring European countries or Northern Africa, e.g., Egypt or Tunisia. Low budget, short trips that always gave us excitement but were a bit limited. We loved them nonetheless, however, our goal was to start travelling further with the US being our dream. Finally, after saving enough money, we bought tickets to Florida. Back in the day, we were pretty green when it comes to planning and organizing, so we reached the shores of Miami in the middle of… the hurricane season. About 2 weeks before Irma hit the peninsula. Luckily for us, the 2 weeks that we spent there were remarkable, and the ominous weather waited for our holidays to end. Florida was an eye opener for us – that an incredible, beautiful, diverse world was within our grasps. We loved Miami and Key West; we visited Disneyland for the first time in our lives in Orlando, and we totally got hooked on visiting theme parks. At the end of our trip, while all of the locals were boarding their windows preparing for the hurricane, we decided that our goal in life was to travel around the world. We basically found inspiration in the scariest circumstances. So yeah, Florida is to blame for that! 

As a married couple without any kids, we started planning our next travels. Firstly, we made sure that Zlatan’s dream of traveling to New York & Washington D.C. came true, and then it was Domi’s turn, so we went to Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Francisco. We’ve done both US coasts during our vacation, but we only spent 2 weeks per destination each year. While we were making our American Dream happen, we were planning our biggest adventure to date. We decided go on a yearlong trip around the world! By then, we were skilled planners, so we had no problem with turning our life upside down. We left our jobs, rented our apartment in Poland, sold our car, packed our lives in two huge backpacks, and bought one-way tickets to Asia. 

We reached Singapore, then Thailand and Malaysia, and after 2 months of South-East Asia, it was time for a new continent – Australia. Seeing Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, feeding kangaroos, and koalas was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Sadly, even though we thought we were prepared for everything, something really unexpected happened. The Covid outbreak in March 2020 and all of the countries closing their borders made us abandon our plans and return to Poland. In spite of the circumstances, as soon as European countries opened up again, we quickly ‘escaped’ from Poland to Italy, Portugal, and Greece, which was a bit of a consolation prize. 

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Covid was everything but smooth. Being one day in Sydney during the Australian summer, to find yourself in the midst of Polish winter the next day was incredibly hard to cope with. The flight back took 25 hours, and we couldn’t even leave our seats apart from bathroom breaks. Thankfully we had our shoulders to lean on. Maybe our biggest dream in life was dead, but we decided to make new ones. Year 2020 was heading towards the end, we burnt through our travelling money, so our next step was to get back home, get our apartment back and find work. We had a budget created for Asia and South America, and we spent twice the time we intended in pricy Australia and then took a 6-week trip through Europe. It was time to settle and reorganize. 

Looking for new jobs during the pandemic wasn’t easy because a lot of companies were struggling to keep their staff and were not thinking about hiring new people. The sheer number of rejections was overwhelming. Zlatan was the first one to land a job. Domi decided to follow another dream and change her career path entirely. Patience was key for her as the whole hiring process took around 8 months. Very soon after that, we realized that we need to finish what we started. We had to be agile. We couldn’t travel around the world in one go because of Covid, but we did it differently anyway after travelling was again possible. 

When opportunity arose, we traveled to Tanzania to see the wildlife in the breathtaking Serengeti National Park, where we spent a night in a tent with animals around us (Zlatan was up the whole night as he thought he heard a lion). After that, we visited the incredible Amazon, trekked the jungle at night in search of venomous spiders, and went fishing for piranhas. Seeing Colombia, Brazil and Peru was one of our greatest travel achievements in life, and by going there, we were able to scratch South America of our list. As of today, the last continent to visit for us is Antarctica. 

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar, what can you tell them about what you do?
Domi’s work won’t be a surprise to you, as she is working in the supply chain as a Planning Manager for one of the biggest corporations in the world. Planning is something she excels at, and that’s why all of our trips run like clockwork. Zlatan on the other hand is in the promotional products business, and he supplies corporations with merch, gadgets & welcome packs. He is the creative force behind our social media channels, and he just cannot be separated from his phone. Our work gives us flexibility to travel which is the key component. This year we’ve already been to South America, but we are still planning to go to Indonesia and then a month later to Mexico. What sets us apart from others? We reckon that we are stronger together, our skills complement one another, and thanks to that, we’re able to make all of our dreams come true. 

Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
Our families always were supportive about our dreams; however, we need to mention Zlatan’s mother above everybody else. When he was just a kid, she introduced him to traveling and made him fall in love with other countries and cultures. In a way, it was the greatest gift that she could have given him! 

Contact Info:

• Instagram: instagram.com/why_is_the_rumalwaysgone/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WhyistheRumAlwaysGone2020