“The score at the moment is, I think, 63, 64,” says Grzegorz Krychowiak. No, not a one-sided match nor even a game of tennis. The Lokomotiv Moskva midfielder has a bucket list of 100 places he wants to visit and, aged 30, he’s already almost two-thirds of the way through his dream destinations.
“I don’t know how it started but maybe with football because I travelled a lot when I was young. I moved when I was 12 years old to Szczecin, then to Gdynia,” explains the globetrotting Polish international, who was born in Gryfice in northwest Poland. “Then, I moved to Bordeaux for football. I discovered new places, new people, new cultures. I was happy to see that. Now, when I can, I travel around the world to see new places. And I’m always really excited when I do.”
Extensive travel on an almost weekly basis is the lot of a top-class footballer, but taking a trip for business or pleasure are very different things. Usually, the only souvenirs from the return journey from airport to stadium via the team hotel are an opponent’s shirt and snatches of a city through the windows of the team bus. On his own time, Krychowiak looks to take away a lot more from his travelling and, as a trip to the remote eastern Russian region of Kamchatka suggests, we are not talking fridge magnets.
“The score at the moment is, I think, 63, 64,” says Grzegorz Krychowiak. No, not a one-sided match nor even a game of tennis. The Lokomotiv Moskva midfielder has a bucket list of 100 places he wants to visit and, aged 30, he’s already almost two-thirds of the way through his dream destinations.
“I don’t know how it started but maybe with football because I travelled a lot when I was young. I moved when I was 12 years old to Szczecin, then to Gdynia,” explains the globetrotting Polish international, who was born in Gryfice in northwest Poland. “Then, I moved to Bordeaux for football. I discovered new places, new people, new cultures. I was happy to see that. Now, when I can, I travel around the world to see new places. And I’m always really excited when I do.”
Extensive travel on an almost weekly basis is the lot of a top-class footballer, but taking a trip for business or pleasure are very different things. Usually, the only souvenirs from the return journey from airport to stadium via the team hotel are an opponent’s shirt and snatches of a city through the windows of the team bus. On his own time, Krychowiak looks to take away a lot more from his travelling and, as a trip to the remote eastern Russian region of Kamchatka suggests, we are not talking fridge magnets.
“Everyone I spoke to said it was a great place, but none had been there. It’s like an eight-hour flight; it’s far from Moscow so it’s not easy to go there. It was something new for me. I come from a small city… but you go, you walk and you see all these bears. So, for me it was like: ‘Wow, how is this possible?’”
Wildlife– and not the wild life of the sun-seeking footballer-on-holiday stereotype – also featured heavily in one of Krychowiak’s favourite trips. “The place that everyone needs to go is on safari, because it’s natural,” he says of a visit to South Africa. “It’s not a big city, it’s not like beautiful Paris or New York. It’s something different.
“I’ve never seen that in my life, live animals five metres in front of you. You don’t have Wi-Fi, there is no communication. But it’s a fantastic place. Everyone needs to go once in their life. I know it’s difficult, it’s expensive, but if you can, you need to go.”
“The score at the moment is, I think, 63, 64,” says Grzegorz Krychowiak. No, not a one-sided match nor even a game of tennis. The Lokomotiv Moskva midfielder has a bucket list of 100 places he wants to visit and, aged 30, he’s already almost two-thirds of the way through his dream destinations.
“I don’t know how it started but maybe with football because I travelled a lot when I was young. I moved when I was 12 years old to Szczecin, then to Gdynia,” explains the globetrotting Polish international, who was born in Gryfice in northwest Poland. “Then, I moved to Bordeaux for football. I discovered new places, new people, new cultures. I was happy to see that. Now, when I can, I travel around the world to see new places. And I’m always really excited when I do.”
Extensive travel on an almost weekly basis is the lot of a top-class footballer, but taking a trip for business or pleasure are very different things. Usually, the only souvenirs from the return journey from airport to stadium via the team hotel are an opponent’s shirt and snatches of a city through the windows of the team bus. On his own time, Krychowiak looks to take away a lot more from his travelling and, as a trip to the remote eastern Russian region of Kamchatka suggests, we are not talking fridge magnets.
“The score at the moment is, I think, 63, 64,” says Grzegorz Krychowiak. No, not a one-sided match nor even a game of tennis. The Lokomotiv Moskva midfielder has a bucket list of 100 places he wants to visit and, aged 30, he’s already almost two-thirds of the way through his dream destinations.
“I don’t know how it started but maybe with football because I travelled a lot when I was young. I moved when I was 12 years old to Szczecin, then to Gdynia,” explains the globetrotting Polish international, who was born in Gryfice in northwest Poland. “Then, I moved to Bordeaux for football. I discovered new places, new people, new cultures. I was happy to see that. Now, when I can, I travel around the world to see new places. And I’m always really excited when I do.”
Extensive travel on an almost weekly basis is the lot of a top-class footballer, but taking a trip for business or pleasure are very different things. Usually, the only souvenirs from the return journey from airport to stadium via the team hotel are an opponent’s shirt and snatches of a city through the windows of the team bus. On his own time, Krychowiak looks to take away a lot more from his travelling and, as a trip to the remote eastern Russian region of Kamchatka suggests, we are not talking fridge magnets.
“The score at the moment is, I think, 63, 64,” says Grzegorz Krychowiak. No, not a one-sided match nor even a game of tennis. The Lokomotiv Moskva midfielder has a bucket list of 100 places he wants to visit and, aged 30, he’s already almost two-thirds of the way through his dream destinations.
“I don’t know how it started but maybe with football because I travelled a lot when I was young. I moved when I was 12 years old to Szczecin, then to Gdynia,” explains the globetrotting Polish international, who was born in Gryfice in northwest Poland. “Then, I moved to Bordeaux for football. I discovered new places, new people, new cultures. I was happy to see that. Now, when I can, I travel around the world to see new places. And I’m always really excited when I do.”
Extensive travel on an almost weekly basis is the lot of a top-class footballer, but taking a trip for business or pleasure are very different things. Usually, the only souvenirs from the return journey from airport to stadium via the team hotel are an opponent’s shirt and snatches of a city through the windows of the team bus. On his own time, Krychowiak looks to take away a lot more from his travelling and, as a trip to the remote eastern Russian region of Kamchatka suggests, we are not talking fridge magnets.
“Everyone I spoke to said it was a great place, but none had been there. It’s like an eight-hour flight; it’s far from Moscow so it’s not easy to go there. It was something new for me. I come from a small city… but you go, you walk and you see all these bears. So, for me it was like: ‘Wow, how is this possible?’”
Wildlife– and not the wild life of the sun-seeking footballer-on-holiday stereotype – also featured heavily in one of Krychowiak’s favourite trips. “The place that everyone needs to go is on safari, because it’s natural,” he says of a visit to South Africa. “It’s not a big city, it’s not like beautiful Paris or New York. It’s something different.
“I’ve never seen that in my life, live animals five metres in front of you. You don’t have Wi-Fi, there is no communication. But it’s a fantastic place. Everyone needs to go once in their life. I know it’s difficult, it’s expensive, but if you can, you need to go.”
“The score at the moment is, I think, 63, 64,” says Grzegorz Krychowiak. No, not a one-sided match nor even a game of tennis. The Lokomotiv Moskva midfielder has a bucket list of 100 places he wants to visit and, aged 30, he’s already almost two-thirds of the way through his dream destinations.
“I don’t know how it started but maybe with football because I travelled a lot when I was young. I moved when I was 12 years old to Szczecin, then to Gdynia,” explains the globetrotting Polish international, who was born in Gryfice in northwest Poland. “Then, I moved to Bordeaux for football. I discovered new places, new people, new cultures. I was happy to see that. Now, when I can, I travel around the world to see new places. And I’m always really excited when I do.”
Extensive travel on an almost weekly basis is the lot of a top-class footballer, but taking a trip for business or pleasure are very different things. Usually, the only souvenirs from the return journey from airport to stadium via the team hotel are an opponent’s shirt and snatches of a city through the windows of the team bus. On his own time, Krychowiak looks to take away a lot more from his travelling and, as a trip to the remote eastern Russian region of Kamchatka suggests, we are not talking fridge magnets.
