There’s a kind of teamwork that only happens away from your screens – somewhere with mountain air, wooden chalets, and a giant pot of halušky bubbling away outside. That’s exactly where the itrinity team spent our latest company retreat.
A change of scenery
We swapped our desks for a cluster of log chalets tucked between the peaks. No notifications, no meetings running late – just fresh air, good company, and time to actually talk to the people we work with every day. We also traded the sunshine for something completely different and headed into the local Demänová Cave. Winding through the underground chambers and stone formations was a great reminder that the region around us is just as impressive below ground as it is above it.
Cooking, round one: halušky
No trip to the mountains is complete without local food, so we rolled up our sleeves and made halušky from scratch. Between the flour, the steam, and a fair amount of laughing at our own technique, it turned into the perfect team exercise: everyone had a job, and the reward was a meal we’d made together.
Cooking, round two: Rob’s pasta masterclass
Then we went from Slovak comfort food to a little taste of Italy. After the halušky, Rob ran a hands-on cooking course where we made fresh tagliatelle and a slow-cooked ragù from scratch. Rolling pasta by hand is harder – and a lot funnier – than it looks, and the payoff was a proper homemade lunch we’d earned together.
Building connections
We also hiked out to Štrbské pleso, the iconic High Tatras lake, soaked up the view, and squeezed in the obligatory group photo. These are the moments that turn colleagues into a team – the shared effort, the inside jokes, and the memories we bring back to the office.
Retreats like this are a good reminder that great work starts with great relationships. We’re already looking forward to the next one.
