My first HiveFest experience

I’ve been reading all these nice stories from HiveFest this year, and I finally managed to put together mine. If you haven’t attended HiveFest yet, try to do you best to attend next year as it’s an event that all of us should experience. I was anxious for many days before the event and believe me when I say that it was for nothing. I had the best time, learned new things, met many amazing people, and made new friends!

Photo credit @awildovasquez

We arrived in Amsterdam on Thursday at 1 AM after a long drive from Switzerland when we spent almost 2 hours in a traffic jam. I was working on Thursday from the hotel room as I couldn’t get a day off and I was also worrying all day about the opening drinks. I was afraid that it would be weird, and I would feel uncomfortable among so many new people. I was talking to @zirochka during the day and she agreed to meet me in the lobby of Volkshotel which made me feel much better.

My husband dropped me off at the hotel ensuring me that all would be good, and I would have a lot of fun. I hoped he was right.

I entered the hotel and as soon as I saw @zirochka I knew I will have a fabulous time. She jumped out of her chair and hugged me the way you hug your family! I was so thrilled to meet her! All my worries were gone, and the event could start for me. She introduced me to @arcange who wouldn’t stop smiling during entire HiveFest. And it was not that kind of a fake smile that makes your face hurt. It was a genuine infectious smile that would make you smile back.

Once I picked up my badge, I met with sweet @brittandjosie. She has such a positive personality and is a delightful company. Sadly, we couldn’t say goodbye to each other as her child became sick and she wasn’t able to join the closing dinner on Sunday.

I also met @bil.prag who I’ve been talking to for a long time on chain and was really glad to meet in real life. I was happy to meet @oleg326756 who I know from my early days on Hive but haven’t heard from him in such a long time. I didn't expect to meet him there, so it was a pleasant surprise. Later, he also introduced me to his lovely fiancé @n2foodadventure and her sister.

I spent a long time talking to @tdctunes with whom we clicked instantly. I also met his wife and his adorable son aka spider-man! I wish we could spend more time together. I also had an interesting discussion with @elmerlin about his @liketu project.

The biggest surprise of the first evening for me was @awildovasquez - a newbie on Hive who comes from Dominican Republic and lives in Slovakia with his wife and three sweet daughters. He even speaks Slovak! He promised to teach me some salsa moves (I’m still waiting for those lessons) and we talked about his life in my home country. We will plan the first Hive meetup in Slovakia together!

Photo credit @oleg326756

Next day, the conference started with a cup of coffee and pastries. After that I enjoyed the presentations as well as I enjoyed the breaks. I must admit that I was excited to talk to all these interesting people from various parts of the world with various backgrounds. I finally met @soyrosa who greeted me as her old friend, which was so sweet, and @livinguktaiwan who is such a badass successful woman on chain.

I’ve talked to @martibis about his life in Georgia and now I know where we will stay with my husband when we go on vacation there. I met my dear @sjarvie5 who planned to visit more museums during her time in Amsterdam than physically possible and her brother @jarvie who is such a cool and fun guy.

Photo credit @sjarvie5

I also enjoyed my time with Portuguese huggers @pardinus and @xrayman, and admired Gandalf's @gtg hair which is so much better than mine (I didn't tell him that!) When I talk about hair I have to mention @tibfox. I didn’t get to talk to him, but I was impressed with his style! Hope to get to talk to him next time.

The day passed by quickly and suddenly there was the game and dinner time. Long story short, our dream team ‘Ladies of Hive’ lost the competition. But it didn’t matter as the evening was great!

Saturday was full of interesting presentations, but my highlight again were people. What a surprise! 😊 I got to know @blind-spot better. We didn’t get to really meet earlier, so we took some time together to talk about so many things. And I loved his bear hugs! He is such a sweet guy. I hope to meet him and @priyanarc soon. We plan to show them around the south of the country and take them to some places that we love.

I have enjoyed my discussion with @therealwolf about Germany and its culture, @lemouth about his science work, @artakush to whom I have to send names of places that sell vegan yogurt so that he can prepare a vegan version of cold beetroot soup, @rollie1212 who lives in Prague which will always have a special place in my heart, @solymi who suggested a house at the lake Balaton for holidays (I may act on this offer), @growandbow who might be the most open-hearted person that I know, @mynewlife with his funny Slovak words and @lordbutterfly who is truly passionate about the Freechain movie.

Photo credit @brittandjosie

After the conference day, we went for dinner with @zirochka, @sjarvie5 and @livinguktaiwan. We enjoyed a delicious 5 course menu, laughed a lot, and at the end of the evening we had a shot of orange liqueur (made from orange peel scraps) with the owner of the restaurant. I think he had the best time of all of us as he had a shot with each customer who was leaving the restaurant 🙂

Fun fact: I found a pack of cigarettes in my car when we arrived home in Switzerland. I told @zirochka and it turns out it's hers! Now, she has to come to Switzerland to pick it up 🙂 Or I'll bring it to her when I visit Kyiv one day again.

Photo credit: My husband using @sjarvie5 phone

We woke up late on Sunday, enjoyed breakfast, packed in our luggage and checked out from the hotel. As it was raining, we stayed a bit in the lobby and then went shopping.

The closing dinner was a blast, but it was just too short. I couldn’t make it for the closing drinks, so sadly I didn’t get to say goodbye to many of my new friends.

I have tried my best to tag all of you (hope you don't mind) but if you didn't find your name, please let me know in the comments and I will correct it asap.

There are so many people that I didn’t get to talk to as 4 days are simply not long enough, so I can’t wait for next year’s HiveFest to get to know more of you.

I would like to thank everyone who made it to the event this year. I really had a great time with my virtual family! My special ‘THANK YOU’ to @roelandp without whom this would not be possible.

I didn’t think it would be such a long post, so thank you if you made it up to here. I appreciate it!

Photo credit @mynewlife

PS: Another special Thank you to everyone who talked to my anti-crypto husband. You got him hooked up! He has already figured out his future content and is thinking about his account name. He also told me a few days ago that he is looking forward to the next HiveFest!

Cheers,

Martina