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<p>Dear Steemit,</p>
<p>I've been thinking about writing my first post here for several months and I finally found the courage to do so. It would be appropriate to introduce myself first, I guess. My name is Jan and I'm originally from the lovely city of Prague, Czech Republic. I would like to talk about Prague in some of my future posts too, so if you're interested in anything in particular, let me know. Currently, though, I live and study in the Netherlands, enjoying the cold wind laced with weed fumes to the fullest. I can speak Czech, English, and French and I started battling Mandarin in January.</p>
<p> Unlike most of the users here, I don't have a great knowledge in tech and even though I try to follow news about cryptocurrencies, I still don't now how exactly they work. I have always been more interested in the political side of the coin and seen it as a chance to reinstate anonymity in our financial transactions. I tend to dream a lot, and an image of the world where you can pay by bitcoin everywhere is very attractive. It would be so much easier, safer and cheaper to travel without cash or cards. That brings me to my biggest passion, traveling.</p>
<p>Particularly, I have a weakness for islands. Any islands. It doesn't matter if they're barely inhabited or independent countries, surrounded by sea or ocean, there is just something special about them. Maybe, it is the remoteness, the feeling that you can't escape that easily. As contradictory as it may seem, I feel some special kind of freedom whenever I'm on an island. Also, the harder it is to get there, the friendlier the locals tend to be and everything is laid-back. <p>
Coming from a landlocked country, islands have always been like a different world to me and my parents were so kind to show me this different world for the first time when I was only 9 months old. Of course, I don't remember anything from the first couple of islands that I set my foot on, but I have been in love ever since then. Robinson Crusoe is one of the first books I remember reading, Survivor was the first reality show that I watched as a child and now, I explore islands on my own, as often as possible.
<p> In my upcoming series "Inspiring Islands", I would like to introduce to you few of my personal favorites. Here's a little amuse-bouche.</p>
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https://steemitimages.com/DQmbAUZyRzvQ11DcDignMbMXUEyHP53s3qqyqQZv2sYGShy/IMG_0849.JPG
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