Beyond the map

Hi, I’m Richard.

Although these days plenty of people know me as Rysiek.

I’m a Brit from Oxford who moved to Warsaw by chance, stayed because I liked the life I found here, and somehow ended up with the mildly unreasonable ambition of exploring an entire country.

How I ended up here ↓ Explore Poland →

Living in Poland sinceFebruary 2018

Richard, the creator behind Brit in Poland, standing by the water in a red scarf — One Brit. One camera. An increasingly long list of places still to visit.

The accidental beginning

Poland wasn’t the plan.

I first came to Warsaw through work. I had been sent to the Polish office to train the people who were replacing my team — not exactly the beginning of a grand migration story.

Then I was offered the chance to stay. By that point I had made friends, I enjoyed living in Warsaw, and the decision became surprisingly simple: let’s see where this goes.

So in February 2018 I moved to Poland. I knew very little about the country when I arrived. That turned out to be one of the most important parts of the story.

How Brit in Poland began

A personal project that kept growing.

The channel came from a much more personal place. After a difficult breakup, I spent hundreds of hours on YouTube trying to understand myself a little better — watching self-development content, reflecting, learning and rebuilding.

Eventually I decided that simply consuming other people’s ideas wasn’t enough. I wanted to create something of my own, so I started a vlog.

Poland felt like the obvious subject. I was living here, constantly discovering things I had never known before, and there didn’t seem to be much British content exploring the country from the perspective I could offer.

I started sharing what I was learning, initially just to see where it went. One video became another, the journeys became more ambitious, and Brit in Poland gradually became something far bigger than the personal project I had first imagined.

It started as a way to create something positive. Poland gave the project its subject; curiosity gave it somewhere to go.

From Warsaw to Poland

The country got much bigger.

When Brit in Poland began, my Poland was mostly Warsaw. I had visited Kraków and Wrocław, but that was about the extent of it. I was talking about life in Poland while having barely seen the country beyond the capital.

That started to change during the Covid years. Leaving Poland was difficult, so exploring closer to home suddenly made a lot more sense. Agata, my girlfriend at the time, encouraged me to see more of the country, and we began travelling around Poland together.

She was also a fan of travel content on YouTube and suggested I try making some myself. That simple idea shifted the direction of the channel. The focus moved from primarily talking about what it was like to live in Poland to actually getting out and discovering it — one town, castle, museum, trail and increasingly ambitious trip at a time.

That was the point where Brit in Poland stopped being mainly a Warsaw-centred expat channel and started becoming the project it is today: an attempt to explore Poland properly and share what I find.

Why Poland?

“I knew barely anything about Poland before I moved here. Now I want to help other people discover what I didn’t know was here.”

I genuinely think Poland is not talked about enough. Internationally, people may know Warsaw, Kraków, Auschwitz or a few fragments of twentieth-century history, but there is an enormous amount of the country that rarely enters the conversation.

I’ve come to see Poland as one of Europe’s most interesting stories: a country that has transformed enormously within a generation, that continues to grow, and that retains a strong and distinctive identity.

My aim is to tell that story in a way that helps people understand the country better — its cities, landscapes, history, traditions, contradictions and people — while being open about the fact that I’m still learning too.

Exploring Poland properly

More than the obvious stops.

Brit in Poland is becoming a growing English-language guide to the country — built from places I’ve actually visited, stories I’ve researched and journeys I’ve made.

Places

All 16 regions, major cities, smaller towns, castles, museums, trails, mountains and plenty of places that rarely make the international guidebooks.

Stories

History, culture, people and the background that makes a location more than a pin on a map.

Perspective

The viewpoint of someone who arrived knowing very little, stayed, and has spent years trying to understand the country from the inside.

Meet the Brit in Poland

Prefer the moving, talking version?

Here’s a little more about me, the project and why I’ve spent an increasingly unreasonable amount of my life wandering around Poland with a camera.

Watch on Rumble ↗ Watch on YouTube ↗

Beyond the camera

There is a person behind all those map pins.

When I’m not filming, I’m usually still finding some way to turn curiosity into a project.

HistoryAncient history, modern Poland and the stories hiding behind places.

HikingMountains, long trails and the occasional questionable decision involving too many kilometres.

PolishStill learning. Still discovering that cases have apparently declared war on me.

CommunityOrganising events, trips and opportunities for people to meet in Warsaw.

TechnologyAI, digital tools and finding better ways to turn ideas into real projects.

GamingA lifelong hobby and a useful reminder that exploration does not always require a train ticket.

A family connection to Poland

The story I never got to ask Granny about.

I knew her as the grandmother who knitted me jumpers and a stuffed lion. Years after she died, I discovered her wartime service as a WAAF intelligence officer and the Polish airmen whose lives crossed hers. Mum’s photographs and the RAF archives have helped me begin piecing that story together.

Read Granny’s wartime story →

Behind the scenes

The project manager behind the travel project.

Away from Brit in Poland, my professional background is in project management, digital projects and creative collaboration. I’ve worked closely with branding and marketing teams, coordinated cross-functional projects and increasingly explored how AI can be used to make creative and business workflows more effective.

That interest in technology has naturally spilled into this project too — from building the website and organising a growing content database to experimenting with new ways of researching, planning and creating.

I also help organise community events in Warsaw, which has given me another excuse to spend far too much time thinking about logistics, communication and how to bring people together.

Project managementDigital projectsCreative collaborationAI workflows

Work with me

Good ideas are better when people build them together.

I’m open to collaborations that make sense for Brit in Poland and the people who follow the project. The most important thing is fit: I’d rather work with something useful, interesting and genuinely relevant than force an advert where it doesn’t belong.

Partnerships

Tourism & cultural collaborations

Destinations, attractions, cultural organisations, events and brands with a real connection to Poland and travel.

Media

Advertising & sponsorship

Website and content opportunities where the partnership is a natural fit for the audience.

People

Creator collaborations & interviews

Creators, experts and interesting people with a story, perspective or project worth sharing.

Voice

British voice-over work

English-language narration and voice-over projects where a British voice fits the brief.

Coming laterPersonalised Poland travel planning

I’m also developing travel-planning services based on the places and experiences I’ve discovered around Poland. More details will appear here as that takes shape.

Get in touch Have a collaboration or idea in mind?

If it feels like a good fit for Brit in Poland, I’d be happy to hear from you.

britlivinginpoland@gmail.com ↗

The wider mission

Building a community around Poland.

Brit in Poland is becoming more than a collection of videos and travel guides. My longer-term aim is to build a community of people who are curious about Poland, enjoy exploring it and want to share that interest with others.

Some people arrive while planning their first trip. Others already live here, have Polish roots, or simply want to understand the country better. The website, videos, social channels, newsletter and community spaces are different ways to take part — all connected by the same idea.

Bringing together people who love Poland — or are just beginning to discover why they might.

Everything

Support the journeyHelp me keep travelling, filming and improving the project.

Every contribution goes back into showing more of Poland to the world.

Buy me a coffee ↗ Patronite ↗ Patreon ↗

Keep exploring

This page is the introduction. Poland is the main character.

Explore the 16 regions →