BOOM FESTIVAL 2014 [BY NIGHT]

This is the second part of Boom Festival series, you can check the first part "Boom Festival by day" here.

Even though I prefer to sleep at night when "living" in Boom Land, there's a beautiful magic going on during night time. I prefer to sleep at night because usually the music in the dance floor is too agressive or too hard for me, they call it the dark psy trance. (why different kinds of trance? trance is one!) The other reason is that when I sleep at night 5 hours I rest better then sleeping 8 hours during the day, no time wasting at Boom! :)

WHAT I HAVE BEEN UP TO

Ready to see a bunch of beach and pool pictures? Wanna meet my close friends? This is what I've been up the last days, since I came back from Boom Festival.

Before heading to Portimão for João's Birthday Party, we (me, Ana - best friend - and Anth - her boyfriend - ) decided to make a quick stop in Praia da Marinha, one of our favourite beaches in South of Portugal. Seems that this beach is famous now, it was packed... Years ago looked like a desert beach. The water was super cold, what's wrong with the ocean these days? Climate is changing and it's our fault.

UNDER WATER PHOTOGRAPHY

Who said you need a Go Pro to take good pictures under water? To be honest, I never gave to much importance to the Lumix Panasonic DMC-FT25 my dear Bruno gave me on Christmas but the more I know about this camera the more I'm grateful I have it. 

THREE MOST BEAUTIFUL ROADS I EVER BEEN

Mostly of the times we are driving or catching the bus/train roads are boring, you feel like falling asleep, read a book, or drink 2 litres of coffee to keep you awake. Especially if you are traveling in highways, you don't get to see the landscape properly or you don't pass thru any villages. But there are roads out there in our World that make a big difference, they were special and can't take them out of my memory:

Great Ocean Road @ Melbourne, Australia - I almost missed this amazing "place you have to go when visiting Melbourne" because me and other couchsurfers organized 4 days camping but the first hour we got a flat tire! My dear ozzie cousins asked me if I wanted to go on Sunday all day long explore this place and yep! Better a day then nothing ;) It was a pretty trip with many stops, I took million pictures! (Post here)

BOOM FESTIVAL 2014 [DAY TIME]

I'm back with a Festival post! If you are around for a while you discovered my passion for festivals right? But Boom Festival is special, is more then a festival, it's a festival that turned into a village, where we live in harmony and sustainable for a week.

I had an hard time chosing the pictures for this post, I took around 200 and I wanted to post 50 haha don't worry I decided to divide one post in three, so you will read today Boom Festival (by day), Boom Festival (by night) and a special attention to the main dance floor, Boom Festival (Dance Temple). Besides showing my pictures I'll talk about this festival and you will understand why I set going to Boom Festival as a priority in 2014, including it on my Goals List 2014.

GREAT OCEAN ROAD IN MELBOURNE

 When writting this post about the most beautiful roads I ever been I noticed that I didn't post about the wonderful Great Ocean Road in Australia... and also, I didn't post any pictures of Melbourne!! What? Melbourne is on my list of "Cities I'd live for a year", that would be possible if portuguese could get the Working Holiday Visa for one year but sadly there's no agreement between Australia and Portugal. Bummer!

[CLOSED] MACRAME BRACELET GIVEAWAY

Hello pals!

Today I'm teaming up with Sherri from Knot Just Macrame to giveaway this beautiful bracelet using the technique of knots called Macrame. Sherri is super talented, she mix beads with micro macrame using different desings, I especially fell in love with these colors because they are Nature colors, so me! Such a pity I can't submit this form to get a chance to win :)

SHANTI FAVORITES #6

Tippi lived her first ten years in African Jungle. You can see emotional and pretty pictures of Tippi and her jungle friends here.

ECO FRIENDLY MENSTRUAL CUP

I heard about Menstrual cups (also known as Moon cups or Lunette) for a while, I'm always in the hunt for environment friendly products and if I can save money even better :) But what really made me go for it was the fact that I don't need to worry anymore in packing my favorite tampons when traveling, some places in Asia you cannot even find tampons and using pads is the same as wearing diapers.

I purchased mine from Ebay  (only 10€ and free shipping) one month ago. Brought it with me for this mini Euro trip and finally used it. I won't lie that I was in panic first time I tried it, it felt wrong but after 3 times using it I felt in love with this new friend. 

BACK TO THE MADNESS [AND A SMALL UPDATE OF MY LIFE]

 

Is it already middle of August? Common! Really? Do you have this same feeling that time flies during Summer time? So much to do, so many outdoor activities, parties, bbqs, picnics, beach, lake, hiking and the list goes on and on. 

I just came back to my hometown and I completly forgot how packed it can get with tourists during this season. It's a mess but I'm happy that income is coming to my neighbours, friends and family. I'm happy I came from a place where many people consider a paradise. I don't really need to go too far to enjoy a good beach or a enjoyable walk. Weather here is perfect!

FLEA MARKET IN AMSTERDAM

Everytime I'm travelling I always search for nearby Flea Markets to take a look what looks like antiques in the country I'm visiting. I also search for vintage shops, they usually have such a beautiful and inspiring decoration and I admit, I love to meet the shop owners or staff hah! I usually spend one hour or so exchanging information about vintage and I always bring something with me.

BASKET MADE OUT OF NEWSPAPER DIY

The other day I was bored at home and felt like create something with my hands. I didn't want to spend any money, just use what I have and recycle. I looked around and remembered to see this stall in a crafts fair that was selling necklaces made out of newspapers.

Immediatly checked pinterest for inspiration and then search for a video on how to make a neat basket of newspaper :)

MINIMALISM PACKING

Is it an headache everytime you pack? And when you are done with your travel do you figure out you didn't wear mostly of the clothes or use few stuff you brought?

Today I will show you how I travelled 20 days in Europe with a three kilos backpack. Sounds impossible right? But actually I survived and didn't need to buy anything extra!

My first advice is to use a small packback so you have small space, you cannot overload it because there's no space :) I found this militar inspired packpack in C&A store, I couldn't find the real militar backpack or something I liked second hand. This packpack came pretty useful since has four pockets outside and one inside to keep my important stuff like coin purse and personal documents: this is perfect for organization, each pocket has a zipper and they are separated by kind. Example: One has underwear, the other only chargers, other with notepad, pen, map and sunglasses.

Also what is really cool is that during the day I could bring the backpack with me with essentials: leggins, jacket, snacks, cameras...

Want to take a peek inside my backpack?

BEAUTIFUL SOULS WHO INSPIRE ME :: VIKTOR WAEWELL

One day I was in Romania, doing groceries in the local supermarket for Transylvania Calling Festival, we were about to arrive to Wonderland, a Festival is the high green mountains of Transylvania, wwooooww!

I was passing thru the wine section in the supermarket when I heard something like "This wine looks good" in portuguese language with a brazilian accent. This is how I met Fabi and Viktor from Brazil. The guys who love festivals as much as I do!

We shared a taxi and went to the festival. Needless to say they join our camping and we spent great and fun moments with this lovely couple who were doing a Round the World trip for a year. Can't wait to see them again, I guess is gonna be sooner than we all thought :)

Thanks a lot Viktor to spend some of your time writting for Shanti Free Bird blog. Obrigada irmão, até jah! 

MADE BY YOURSELF BOOK

While in my trip in Amsterdam I found this Stedelijk Museum but actually didn't go to the museum... I just saw this huge place full of books and had some time to kill until Ana was off from work. The truth is that I got too excited and spent way more time looking at books that I should :D I mean, I was in book heaven: arts, design, do it yourself, travels, cultures, tribes, hippie times, pretty agendas, oh dear!

This book "Made by Yourself" by the stylist, designer and photographer Peter Fehrentz caught my eye in two seconds... I'm really into anything that teaches you to create with your own hands. And come on, you cannot go wrong with such pretty book cover! The sad new is that I didn't buy the book because I was backpacking and it's extra weight for more ten days... and it was hardcover. I will buy it in the future though!

CURIOSITIES ABOUT LUXEMBURG

I told you guys before that we decided to make a quick visit of four days in Luxemburg because we had no idea what was this country about. Besides these sisters I used to play in the street during Summer time when I was 8 years old, I never ever met someone from this country.

I could read a book about Luxemburg or search for facts using our dear friend google but noooo this is not how I work right? If I want to know more about a country, I'm simply going there. Certainly locals have interesting stories you cannot find out on books or internet.

EIGHT REASONS WHY I ADOPTED TRAVELING AS MY LIFESTYLE

There are many people out there who think I'm crazy just because I don't have a routine, a 8 hours job, own a house and car. I completly understand that traveling is an alternative lifestyle and it's weird just because not a lot of people do that. This is the way I choose to live my life! This is the way I feel happy!

:: The feeling of real freedom :: I wake up whenever I feel like and I go wherever I want at the time I want. There is no boss telling me what I have to do and how I have to do. Also I don't have to worry about paying bills or car insurance, I have total freedom to decide where I'm going to sleep the next nights: renting a house, camping, hostel or CouchSurfing.

:: No routine :: I'm not a routine person, I get bored easily when I follow a routine with timings or when doing every single day the same thing over and over again.