2015 IN REVIEW

We are in that time of the year when we look back and remember all that happened during the year. I know a bunch of people on my age - thirties - say that now they feel time flying big time. I don't feel the same way. I have done so much this year that I feel it was slow. Yeah guys, traveling gives you this feeling because you are always learning new things, making new friends, exploring new places. 

Grab a nice hot tea or coffee, a blanket, popcorn or cookies and get ready, this post is gonna be large and exciting :)

MAGICAL CHRISTMAS LIGHTS IN LISBON

Christmas is not a big deal for me but I'm still fascinated by the smell, lights, smiles and joy. I don't really care for gift swapping because I don't like the feeling of obligation, I dislike spend a whole afternoon looking por possible gifts for my friends and family. It's too much pressure! When I'm inspired I make some gifts but I need time and motivation. I still give my beloved ones presents but I do it during the year, when I come back from a trip or simply when I'm walking and I find something I know that person will love and need. I probably should buy the gift and wait for Christmas but I can't wait to see the person reaction :D Maybe next year I'll do it differently and just give my gifts away in Christmas time. 

TEN TRAVEL BLOGS I LOVE

I'm glad this post came to life, I meant to share my favorite travel blogs for ages!! To be honest from the hundred blogs I follow only less then twenty are about travels. I dislike to read about the same subject over and over again, even about travels, my passion, my lifestyle. Yeah guys I actually have many other interests, ya know :)

I divided my list in 3 languages: english, spanish and portuguese. You know I'm a very cult person :D So here we go...

[CLOSED] TRAVEL STATIONERY GIVEAWAY (NUTS FOR PAPER)

Christmas is around the corner and I want to give a gift to my dear readers for being so supportive and friendly, I truly appreciate your comments and emails, thank you!

I'm collaborating with Mafalda from Nuts for Paper to bring you more papers in your life! But wait, I'm talking about something incredibly special, handmade with love in Portugal. It was love at first sight when I saw these beautiful Travel inspired illustrations in notebooks, journals, magnets, postcards, that feeling "I want them all!"

It's inspiring to write our daily notes, what to do lists or our thoughts into books like this. Every time I go on a travel I bring a notebook with me to write about my stories, people I met, what are my feelings in the moment... it's a great exercise to reflect about your life. After one or two years, when you find this journal/notebook again and start reading it, all those moments come back. You remember how beautiful life is ♥

TEN CITIES I WOULDN'T LIVE

Even though I'm not a city person I collected ten cities I'd live for one year and now, one year later, I'm living in Lisbon, one of the cities in my list. Does it mean I will try all of them? 

When I travel I enjoy to visit mountains, sea and cities. I believe all places in the World have something beautiful to show you and teach you. My love for cities are mostly building architecture, especially historical or with an unique design (Hello Gaudí), parks, events & activities and PEOPLE. For example I really enjoy New York's people: cultural diversity, good vibe, smiley and friendly, inspiring clothing with unique styles... Well, at least this was my experience. 

During my trips I experienced cities I fell at home whenever I got there (San Diego, USA or Curitiba, Brazil) and some cities I wanted to get out there as soon as possible. All of these cities I'm listing here have their great qualities but they aren't good enough for me to pack my stuff and move. 

New Delhi :: India

BACK TO THE ROAD

Exciting news! I finally booked my flight to Asia next month :) It's going to be a different travel because I "retired" from my backpacking life so I will bring a suitcase ahah Also I will travel only 5 weeks so I have to make the most of it. I usually don't travel less then three months so this time I gotta plan a little bit. And the most exciting thing: I will share this adventure with my best friend Ana :))) I love to travel with my partner Bruno but for a long time me and Ana wanted to go to some different country and explore together. Hopefully we will survive 24 hours together for so long! As a matter of fact we only get to see each other once or twice a year which is not a lot so this time we will make sure we will be sick of each other in a good way, of course. I feel I've been missing a bunch in her life. 

So, where are we going? 

STREET KITCHEN RESTAURANT IN QUARTEIRA, (ALGARVE-PORTUGAL)

I was about to leave to California and couldn't leave without a dinner out with my closest friends. We spent hours sending sms back and forward trying to find a restaurant that all liked. We actually wanted something new in the area, so we didn't have to drive much and could have some glasses of wine. 

Since I arrived from my South America trip in March I'd pass thru this place I had no idea what they were building but I had a feeling would be something different and special. In the meanwhile they opened and it looked all nice. All Summer long I wanted to go there to have lunch and kept forgetting. 

When Rita had the idea of trying Street Kitchen I said "Yeeesss" right the way. The other girls just trusted us. And they never regretted :)

DIY NATURAL SHOWER CREAM

Hello friends,
I know how much you like natural beauty products so I invited my dear friend Catarina from Joan of July to share one of her magical recipes with you guys :)

"Are you a fan of natural soap as much as me? I prefer naturally and handmade soap to any other alternative to wash my skin. By using natural soap you’re not putting any nasty chemicals or parabens into your skin or system.

I even learned how to make my own natural soap a few years ago and I love making them! I mostly use olive oil and sometimes soy wax in the base, then add some essential oils to give it a nice smell and to make it more appropriate for my skin type.

But… what happens when you find yourself with a bunch of old, unused soap and other pieces of used soap that are now looking less than fresh so now you don’t feel like using them anymore?

TAG: THAT'S TRUE - ANSWERS

While ago, I posted about me, in a tag game. I listed 25 things about me but 5 were false. Nobody really found out about all the false ones... and how would you? Not even my closest childhood friends will guess, so yeah, not really mad, it's ok :) 

Instead of just tell you which ones are wrong, I will go, one by one point and describe it, this way you'll learn more about myself. 

SEVEN REASONS WHY I AVOID INTERNET WHILST TRAVELLING

Image Source

When you travel, you want to keep in touch with your dear friends and family you left at home and internet is no doubt the easiest way to contact all these people. But did you ever thought that while you are skyping 2 hours with your mom you might be missing out your travel?

I try to find a balance between visiting the new country, meet new people, connect with locals, take pictures and internet. After years of traveling I figured out there's one way to do this: once a week staying at the hostel/home and catch up with internet. This way I also rest from all overwhelming walks and visits here and there, take time to myself and do tasks like laundry or reading a book. You might be thinking "What if I travel one or two weeks?" Then yep, take half an hour to be online per day but leave the great and long stories whenever you get home. I usually travel slow so I can have a day off traveling :)

SAPA: THE STUNNING HIGHLANDS OF VIETNAM WITH A SPECIAL TRIBE

For the first time in my solo backpacking trip I was craving to be alone. It sounds silly because I'm traveling solo but as a matter of fact during those almost 3 months traveling I had mostly of the time company: either I was couchsurfing or connected with a traveler(s) in the bus or met friendly locals. 

It was the last week of the year (2011) and I wanted to be alone to reflect about my life, to try to organize my mind with all these last weeks of learning and meeting new people who gave me interesting information that would change my life forever. 

I HAVE A PLACE TO CALL HOME. YES, ME!

Since May I have a feeling I don't stop. For a long time I didn't work this long (5 months in an irish pub and 1 month in California) and now that I'm on vacation gotta go to the moving mission. I don't even remember how is it to pay bills, have my own fridge and bed, home keys, have some kind of routine. But I can make it! Anyway I already planned in my mind my next trip in January :) Did you think that with an home I'd stop traveling? Nope. Alright I said before I was tired of traveling all the time but this time I'm traveling couple months.The thing is that I'm going to use braces and the dentist said I can't be away longer then a month so I guess I'm going on a three months trip, put the damn braces and then will travel for maximum 3 weeks. Problem solved haha 

INTERVIEW WITH FAMILY TRAVEL BLOGGERS :: WE3TRAVEL

Hey pals!

I know how much you love this new series so here goes another one :) 

This time I want to introduce you Tamara who gently answered all the questions, her husband and 11 years old daughter. Although Tamara and her family travel very often, they consider themselves as part time travelers since they aren't on the road all the time. But that's awesome! So we have different points of views here, in the blog. And this might be the situation of mostly of the readers: they don't want to travel as a lifestyle, they just want to go away to their family sometimes per year. Take your notebook and pen and write notes how to do it. Tamara said she wish to started earlier so... what are you waiting for?

ROUND UP :: SUSTAINABILITY

As I'm working on my way to live as independent as possible I struggle many times, especially with the system we are currently living in. It was made for consumerism: to buy new when it's broken ("why fixing? A new one is so much cheaper and well... it's new"), to buy new because it's trendy, to buy knew because I had a terrible week so need to go shopping and relax. 

I'm trying my best to find solutions, instead of buying new. I have been trading as much as I can, buy second hand, if buying new buy Made in Portugal or Spain or France, no China or Vietnam or Cambodia or buy handmade or from a single person instead of a huge company. But still, I'm in a loooong process. Being sustainable is also living with quality of life that includes food, daily necessities and experiences (travel, travel, travel). 

The last two years I've been posting about sustainability and today I wanted to share all those posts, to inspire you to have a more sustainable life as well. 

This Summer I mostly used my bike to go shopping, see a friend or go to work. It's pretty safe where I lived so I could cycle at 3 am :) If I drunk more beers I should a bike ride was all I needed to get fresh air and do not get a ticket from police hahaha Read some benefits of riding bikes here and use less as possible your goddam car. 

WHAT HAPPENS TO A NOMAD SOUL WHO SETTLES DOWN?

This is my story for this Summer. I was tired of traveling so I thought to stop for a while. The first 2 weeks resting is alright but after that time you feel useless and don't have nothing to do. Your bank account goes down until almost zero because you are only spending and not earning. Let's try to find a job now! 

Luckily is not that hard to find a job during Summer in South Portugal, if you are not so picky of course. Mostly you will find jobs in hotels, restaurants and bars and many of them in front of the beach :) I deciced to work in a pub in Vilamoura Marina, I worked there several times: Cds Store, Irish Pub, Bella Italia restaurant, Toys Store so I know my salary would be something like 700€ but in bars/pubs you get great tips, sometimes another salary. This means I could live well during Summer and save for my next trips. (Also for the first month in Lisbon). 

ONE WEEK IN HANOI (VIETNAM)

Vietnam belongs to the group of countries that was not in my travel list but I ended up there because so many travelers tell great stories about it so I had to go check. 

This time I had the hard decision of one entire month in Vietnam or 15 days in Vietnam and 15 days in Cambodia... I picked the first option since I didn't want to rush in my solo backpacking trip, I wanted to travel slow and emerge in the culture. Also, Vietnam is not big but is really long and I only travel by land inside the countries so I had no option :) Now a days I understand why I didn't go to Cambodia (on my travel list since ever): to go with my best friend Ana, we will probably spend our birthdays in a cambodian island next year. 

IT'S OFFICIAL: I'M MOVING TO LISBON

I have this clear moment in my mind last year in California when my beloved Bruno wakes up and said directly: "You know what? I want to study Psicology... in Lisbon". In that precise moment my heart started bitting pretty fast and I had to pinch myself like 5 or 6 times. "I'm still sleeping, this is a nightmare." 

When I was a kid I used to fantasize with my best friend about moving to Lisbon, every now and then we'd go visit CASA store (all for your house) and pick up kitchen ware, decorations, blankets for our future new home. Yes, our dream was to move together to Lisbon just because we had a crazy passion for this beautiful city. Years passing, we forgot about this idea, we definitly didn't want to move to a busy place, crowded with people who only cares for their lives. We both went to College close to our homes so we didn't have that need of moving to the capital anymore. 

EIGHT THINGS I STILL WANT TO DO THIS SUMMER

It's true that Fall is around the corner (10 days left already?), my favorite season. But there are still few things I wanna do Summer 2015. 

Here goes a list:

(Could also be a list of things to do in South Portugal) 

1. Explore an island 

We have paradise islands in South of Portugal that I never been before. It's incredible I have been in Highway 1 in USA but some incredible spots closed to my hometown never been seen by me. I have been in Armona (in this picture) with ocean in one part of the island and river water in the other. Now I want to spend all day in Ilha Deserta (Desert Island) walking around and relaxing. Look at this crystal water wow!

WHAT I'VE BEEN UP TO

Haiiii! Heya yo! Aloha! 

Guys guys I'm alive, really IAM! It's been such an awesome Summer with sun shinning, beach every other day, party, cocktails and bah work. 

This blog moved twice this year and that's really time consuming. Decided to migrate to Wordpress, learned the basics until I decided to move to blogger again, since it does the job I need. Actually it's Ana's fault, she makes such beautiful blogger blog designs that I couldn't resist. Also, paying for host every month is not for me, in blogger you pay 10€/year and have your own domain. Oh boy how much I love simple things in my life. BTW, isn't Shanti Free Bird looking so but oh soooo pretty? Grateful Ana, you are so patient and great assistant, loving you and your amazing job ♥

Best way to publish a post when you are silent for a month? An update of my life lately.

REVIEW: NICE WAY SINTRA PALACE HOSTEL

Funny that I talk about my travel stories and give you guys my personal traveling tips but don’t share much about my accomodation or didn’t write an accomodation review before. Does it make me a bad travel blogger? :P As a matter of fact, many hostels, hotels, campings I stayed before really deserve more love from me for being so awesome. What I enjoy most about the places we sleep is the feeling of being at home.

When I posted about our fabulous weekend at Bloggers Camp I noticed I picked a bunch of pictures of the interior of the hostel that hosted us. Bang! It’s about time to share my prespective from this hostel using both words and images.

WHAT’S IN YOUR BEACH BAG?

Since I’m not traveling right now and don’t think I will be traveling the next months (OMG! I feel so good in my home enjoying each bit of this Summer) I think would be cool to share my daily life. Who doesn’t like to take a peek in a girl’s bag? Let’s see what usually I bring in my beach bag!

:: Backpack :: I bought a handmade handbag that turns into a towel in Festival MED, I love this 2 in 1 items but I can’t leave my backpack at home. It’s so useful with many hidden zippers and easy to grab place in the back. Backpacker for life, yeah!

:: Pareo :: Do you still use a towel? Oh boy you are missing out. Pareos are just so light, perfect size and pretty! First I thought I’d mess up with the sand and then would be all wet but no, actually it’s pretty cleaned all the time and quick to dry.

100 WORDS FOR NOW

compliments | lazyness | gratitude | focus | volunteering | bali | cocktails | melon | mess | moving | exchange | cycling | Chin Chen | bikinis | tereres | playful | guacamole | daydreaming | swimming pool | love | heat | gift | hosting | hello | dancing | learning | africa | curiosity | you and me | tattoos | nag champa | why | ice | irish | keep in touch | instagram fever | waffles | vintage dresses | long conversations | lace | pastel colors | give | sunsets | boat party | coloring | bliss | sunnies | road trips | mint | capirinhas | chillout | cold showers | california | lake | sustainability | ask | vikings | strips | bonfire | silent | go with the flow | clouds | civilizations | polka dots | simple | second hand | believe | reading | pallets | projects | shooting stars | crazy | garlic cheese bread | learning | sharing | festivals | make | education | shanti | swing | nail polish | blogging | didgeridoo | friend | innovative | revolution | try | choice | palm trees | change | passion | attitude | tags | mandala | full moon | creativity | ice tea | jump |

Inspired by Bianca, I’m sharing this present moment in my life with hundred words. What are your  words of now?

BLOGGERS CAMP 2015

When I heard about the possibility of a Bloggers Gathering in Portugal I jumped of happiness. The last couple months I’ve been thinking about joining an event with other bloggers but lost hope in Portugal because… well… let’s face it, no one wants to have the hard work of organizing something big like this. So I thought about joining a Bloggers Conference in Romania but my budget wasn’t enough.

But when Catarina sent me an email about a Bloggers Camp my hope started increasing and in few months we were together!! It all started with Catarina from Daydreams, she had this “crazy idea” and asked Catarina and Ana their thoughts about it. Of course, they said “Yeah let’s do it!” If you meet them virtually you’ll believe that anything can happen with these 3 girls. Happily Doreen accepted to work double shifts during the weekend and that meant the World to me. I was able to join the Bloggers Camp 2015!

SHANTI FAVORITES #11

Heya there, how is everyone doing? Melting like an ice-cream? This Summer is soooo hot, I wanna travel somewhere below 30ºC in August. Any suggestions?

I don’t post a Shanti Favorites since February, as you can see I’m pretty consistent #badbadblogger. To be different, I decided to post about other blog posts I saved in Bloglovin (btw, have you added me already?) only. Ready, set, go!

I have this goal that until the end of this year I will stop buying beauty products in supermarkets full of toxic ingredients, terrible for my skin and myself. Also, I’m more aware about what we throw in the nature and since I need Mother Earth to live I decided to only use organic products. Oh is it cheaper? Bonus! I wanna try all these Five Natural Beauty DIYs especially the toothpaste, it looks super easy! Anybody out there who tried to make their own toothpaste and/or deo?

FESTIVAL MED 2015

If I’m in Portugal in the end of June there’s no way I’m gonna miss this Festival. It’s a World Music Festival where bands and singers from the 4 corners of our Planet come to share their talents and culture. It’s also the perfect meeting point for friends that we don’t get to see for a long time. Yep, it’s in my hometown Loulé.

Old Town is pretty well preserved and the festival organization closes this area for 3 days so we can travel around the World with delicious cuisine and drinks, amazing music, inspiring crafts and so on. My fave program here is to arrive when doors open at 7pm, walk around the narrow streets for an hour and admire the stalls with handmade goodies directly from the World. Then, go for some dinner, usually a greek vegetarian kebab. After my stomach is happy, it’s time to get ride of all those calories and energies accumulated during the week and dance! There are 6 stages going on at the same time, sometimes is so hard to choose only one. This year my heart went to Babylon Circus and Skip&Die both palyed on Thursday. Usually my favorite day of the festival since there’s not many people and somehow musical bands are better.

WHY IMMIGRANT LIFE IS NOT FOR ME

When I lived in United States for one year, soon I understood that I couldn’t be an immigrant. I was able to stay another year living there, ILEX program would give me another year visa but I denied. But why? So many people struggle for a USA visa and I was simply saying no? It was an awesome experience, but was it, I didn’t feel like moving there.

LIVING SIMPLE IN LAOS VILLAGES

Exploring is my favorite thing to do while traveling. But exploring small villages is the best of the best. Usually tourists didn’t find out about them so the essence of the place is not changed. But hey we need hostels to sleep so good thing there are a bit of tourists there :P

I talked before of Laos Towns so now it’s time to know more of my feelings about Laos villages. Sorry if I completly forgot the villages’ names I have been but there are plenty to choose from. I went to a travel agency in Luang Prabang and checked all tours and wrote down the villages names ;) I booked my bus to Vietnam with this agency so I was able to leave my big backpack and bring only a small bag with essential stuff for a week. It’s so awesome to travel ultra light!

THAT YEAR I LIVED IN UNITED STATES

My USA Photo Album was lost for years, I emptied my house before leaving to Central America and left all boxes in my grandma’s basement. It’s true that I’m in a forever process of simplicity and live with less but there are few things you just can’t get ride – Memories. I saved all my USA Year pictures in 4 Cds, I always found cds safer then usb sticks… countless all college documents and works I lost in floppy disks and usb sticks pffff. I couldn’t find them in all boxes, everytime I’d go get something from the basement I’d look for the damn cds but never sucessful until last month.

These cds are not only my life in USA, also contains my travels in Toronto, Jamaica, Rio de Janeiro and that East Coast Road Trip I will never forget. Since my memory sucks I refuge myself in digital images so you can imagine how over the moon I was when finally found this little huge treasure.

INTERVIEW WITH FAMILY TRAVEL BLOGGERS :: 1 DAD 1 KID

First Monday of the month is Family Travel Bloggers Series here in the blog! Yey! I’m so excited with these interviews, I’ve been learning so much and connecting with such beautiful souls out there. One of the families I contacted even interviewed me :D

Let’s read about Talon and his son story! Please feel free to ask anything in the comments below.

BOOK REVIEW: HOW TO QUIT YOUR JOB AND TRAVEL THE WORLD BY KATE JORDAN

My travel story is not the usual “I quit my job to travel”, I always been fascinated by different cultures and stunning landscapes so travel the World would be something predictable. I didn’t need to quit any job, I graduated and went on a InterRail, then lived in USA for one year (post coming soon) and worked my butt off to save enough money to travel Asia alone.

I found this book title pretty awesome, countless people come to me saying that they want to be like me and travel with no fear. This book is truly an inspiration source with “tools” that will show you that is not an easy path but it’s possible if you really want it, if it’s what makes you happy.

"This book was not written a daydreamer to discard on a book shelf; it was written to push you to achieve your goals and show you how to do so."

JUNE POSTS RECAP

Alright! This is the last day of the month in the blog (if you didn’t figure yet I’m trying to post every Monday, Wednesday and Friday… trying!) so let’s make a recap of the month around these parts and a bit offline too!

* I the only one or do you also feel this Summer is flying away? I’m making the most of it but hey don’t go so fast Mister Summer, could you just change a day for 30 hours? At least, just partied my butt off 4 days in Festival MED ^_^ (post here)

* I can’t believe July is around the corner and Bloggers Camp is soooo but sooooo close :) It will be a weekend full of workshops in one of the most beautiful sposts in Portugal: Sintra. But the best of the best? I will meet all those bloggers I’ve been connecting for a while, leaving comments in their posts or exchanging emails. Can’t wait to meet ya all!

THINGS TO DO IN FARO [PORTUGAL]

Low Cost flights with Ryanair brought even more tourism to the South of Portugal, where I grew up. The airport is situated in Faro, capital of Algarve (province of the very South of Portugal), so many people stay for one or two days to visit, before heading to the touristic towns: Albufeira and Portimão.

I studied 4 years in Faro University so I know well the streets and lifestyle of this city. I’m going to be honest here: I don’t like Faro. Everytime someone ask me what to do 4 or 5 days in Faro I have no clue, since I think one entire day is more then enough. Thru my eyes the city is not pretty but there’s always some spots you gotta visit and experiences you gotta take everywhere you go.

BIZARRE STUFF FOUND ON THE ROAD [PART II]

To start a brand new week full of new projects and ideas, happiness and joy, I decided to share more bizarre stuff I found while traveling for the last 4 years. Incredible that the country I posted more pictures was India, does it mean my favorite countries are the most bizarre?! Hmmm… If you wish to check the part 1 of this post,click here. Let’s have a good time?

LUANG PRABANG AND VAN VIENG [LAOS, ASIA]

Last month I went thru all my travel photo folders and found out there are several countries I never talked about here in the blog. If you click Destinations Category and then Asia you’ll find out I didn’t post much about asian countries and the reason is that I backpacked Asia 7 months in 2011 + 2012 and this blog born in 2013 after my Central America trip. I just can’t keep these amazing World pictures in folders I want to have them in my blog, I want to share them with you and the World.

This being said, Laos is one of those countries I didn’t mention here yet. But how? This is the purest and more genuine asian country, it was such a relief from all the crazy traffic and busy life in Bangkok. Actually I was only two weeks or so in Thailand when I woke up and decided to get a bus ticket to Vientiane, capital of Laos. I was dying to explore North Thailand but I can’t explain, I think Laos was calling me. But I fell asleep in the bus and missed Vientiane, when I woke up I was surrounded by giant green mountains and curvy roads, I was heading to Vang Vieng. “Hmmm? Never heard about that place!”

ECUADOR CITIES ::CUENCA::

Cuenca could easily be part of my Ten Cities I’d live for 1 Year List. It’s a laid back town with low buidings, life here goes slow and with the flow. I had a great feeling wondering in the streets of Cuenca with no plans or destination. We got so evolved that we didn’t visit the touristic attractions around the city like Incapirca (Ecuador’s largest inca ruins) and Chorro de Giron (beautiful nature hiking) . Oh does it mean I gotta come back? :D Great excuse Marta!

FIVE TOURS YOU GOTTA TAKE IN SOUTH AMERICA

If you are around for a while you know I’m the kind of backpacker who will try my best to go everywhere by myself: find out how locals get there and try to do the same, usually spend way less money and is more fun. But I have to agree that if you don’t have much time in your vacation you better go on a tour to certain places… And sometimes you don’t have a choice, you have to book a tour to visit that place.

This is a list of places you cannot miss while traveling South America. We were on a budget and still managed to pay for some tours and we aren’t a tad regreating. You know what? I’d do it all over again!

INTERVIEW WITH FAMILY TRAVEL BLOGGERS :: TRAVEL EXPERTA

Today I’m bringing a brand new series to the blog called Family Travel Bloggers. I’ve been brainstorming for ideas to bring you this topic: how is it to travel with your kids… I mean, is it even possible? Every now and then I receive post comments and emails asking me these questions and I always answer as a outsider who met few family travelers on the road and found their stories pretty inspiring.

Even though mostly of my readers think I don’t want to have kids so I can go on with my travel lifestyle, the truth is that I want to have kids (biological and adoptive) since ever and can’t wait to share my travel adventures with them.

These series are a collection of interviews from full and part-time travelers who didn’t stop traveling just because they had kids, they simply decided to find ways to incorporate the new family members in this kind of lifestyle. Every first Monday of the month you can read a new interview from a different family. Funny that the first interview is live in Child’s Day :) Enjoy!

MAY POSTS RECAP

May was something between crazy and insane!

– I finally finished my migration from blogger to wordpress, it was taugh and still is but I love to learn so wordpress, you don’t scary me anymore. Alright, gotta admit that uncle google and antie youtube were there for me. Sarah from the blog Xo Sarah and Regina from ByRegina were a big help… I’m adoring blogs that talk about blogs, you guys have a place in paradise! [And in August I decided Wordpress wasn't for me so migrated again to blogger... Goooo Marta!]

– It’s not Summer yet but Beach season started already! Is there better place to be in Summer time then South Portugal? Sorry, but nope. I’m gonna stay here until the end of September/October and then who knows? I have some secret plans but don’t be so curious, you will know more details in the next months. In the meanwhile come for a visit, you will love Portugal (and our traditional food nhom nhom nhom).

TAG: THAT’S TRUE.

The other day Catarina from Joan of July tagged me for a fun game. Did I mention before I love this tag thing?

So, I’m going to list 25 facts about me but 5 are fake. You have to tell me which ones are not true. I’m so curious to know your answer. I will let you know the answer later. Ready?

ANDRESA LIVED 1 YEAR AND 11 HOURS WITH TRADES + 1111€

"Believing is to see life with other eyes"

I’m known as the “Trade Girl” since I started a challenge of living during 1 year, 11 days, 11 hours and 1 minute with 1111 euros, in 2011. Trying to be someone healthier, sustainable, economic and ecologic, soon I discovered that what I really wished for was to be more human and also happier. When we have a fixed job, from 9 to 5, with lifetime contract, without possibilities of growing in the career, we think that’s the place we want to stay for the rest of our lives.

MOROCCO: MY FIRST TIME IN AFRICA

Last year, exactly this same time, me and Bruno were backpacking and hitch hiking in Morocco for 5 weeks. This is our almost neighbor country and we didn’t have the chance to visit? That’s it, let’s go in the beggining of 2014, our first travel of the year.

The cool part of Morocco is that you can go by boat so we didn’t have an exact date. We decided to leave 2 days before, it was weird. Basically we packed a mini backpack, our friends drove us to Faro for a drink at night. We partied until 6am and left to Spain by bus to then get a ride from a ride sharing website to Algiras port. We arrived Morocco late afternoon, a completly different continent, actually my first time touching Africa.

BIZARRE STUFF FOUND ON THE ROAD [PART I]

This morning I wake up with a brilliant idea: to share with the world wide web crazy stuff I have seen when travelling. Very important to mention that I’m not making fun or whatever with other people’s cultures, I took these pictures because I thought they were weird, according my culture, life experiences and education. Please don’t take this post too serious ;)

Searching for images for this post made me go thru all my travel folders bringing back tons of beautiful memories that make me smile.

WHAT TO DO WITH OLD NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINES

Since 2015 started I’m trying to reuse instead of separate products for the reclycle bins. Reusing is even better for the environment and for our pockets. I’m always looking around the house to see what I have and could do something amazing with that stuff.

I arrived from my trip in South America in March and collected a bunch of maps, postcards, notes, contacts that I’d like to keep with me to bring all those happy memories and to show my kids one day. I could buy a nice cartoon box but I have this habit of personalizing everything, I love to be unique :) A great way to achieve that is to build something with your hands.

ECUADOR CITIES: QUITO

In our travel plans (which are always changing a bit here and a bit there) we didn’t expect to travel one month and an half in Colombia, since we only had 4 months in South America. The truth is Colombia is huge and once we started traveling to the North we had no way back so we traveled in a circle and visited pretty much all the most important and beautiful places in Colombia.

WEBSITES WITH FREE AND CHEAP STUFF TO DO IN SAN FRANCISCO

San Francisco is not a cheap place to live at all, but is on my Ten Cities I'd live for a Year List because I'm into the lifestyle, the atmosphere, a place for artists to express themselves, multicultural, the diversity: beach, bay, wildness and city. You probably need a well paid salary to afford to live in this city but it's so worth it!

For travelers who will spend a long time in San Francisco and want to be part of the city instead of spending 2 weeks visiting touristic spots, this post is for you :) Also for those people who just moved to San Francisco and is a little broke or don't know what to do, this post is for you! Actually this post is for anyone who wants to go to San Francisco or just fancy the city. Ready to write some notes?

MY ULTIMATE GUIDE FOR CONSCIOUS SHOPPING

First of all I want to make clear I'm not judging or pointing at anyone's life or consumerist choices. If you have a good salary and are into big brands like Gucci and Dolce and Gabbana or if all your shopping is made in the Mall is not our business. You are free to do anything you want with your money.

I'M MOVING TO JAPAN!!

 

All countries I never been are my dream travels but Japan is for sure that country that I'm really passionate about, the people seems to be so nice, the costumes so different, the food so delicious, the landscapes wonderful. Overall such a different country from all I've seen!

But it's an expensive country and so far I couldn't afford going to Japan, I didn't want to go only one weekend or a week, I wanted to explore the corners of the country.

Not so long ago I applied for a backpackers magazine of Japan, after a longgggg skype conversation I started dreaming about the day I'd move to Japan and have the experience of my life. But it was a far away dream. Today is not anymore!!! Yes, you are right, I was selected to work as a writer for the magazine. Am I excited?? Over the moon!! :)

I will tell more details later on, I just couldn't wait anymore and had to share this fantastic news with you guys.

Happy Fool's Day! :D 

NEW YORK NOTEBOOK

When you travel and move so many times it's normal that you lose a photo album here, kitchen ware there. I was pretty sad I couldn't find the cds I burned with my USA pictures, when I lived in Maine for a year. It was such a special year and I want to see the pictures again, I just couldn't find in all those boxes at my grandpa's basement.

Few days ago I went to the basement to get my Summer clothes and to collect clothes and stuff I don't need anymore to sell in the Flea Market this last Sunday and guess what? I found an unopened box, first thought was my USA cds were there and yessss they were :) Now I can go back on time with beautiful memories and also can share my experience there and give you travel tips about New York, Boston and a special East Coast (From Maine to Florida) road trip. Together with the cds I found this amazing book I'm going to talk about now and show the beautiful pages.

I'M A DEATH ROAD SURVIVOR!!

I'm not sure if you have heard about the Most Dangerous Road in the World. This sounds silly because how do you know is the most dangerous? Are there many accidents? Did a lot of people died there? To be honest, so far, I never seen more dangerous roads then Nepal's. The kind of road that is so tiny that you wonder how is it possible 2 cars passing thru at the same time? Or the ones with many deep holes. Or worse, that ones you look thru the window and you think "We are going to fall anytime" Then you close your eyes, you take 3 deep breathes and start thinking about something else. It's an adventure riding buses in Nepal my friends, but so worth it!

But today I'm not here to talk about Nepal. I still have a bunch of South America stories and tips to tell you about. During our trip I didn't hear anything about The Death Road close to La Paz, Bolivia. One day I was bored in a boat trip and asked a backpacker his Bolivia Travel Book. I found out there was a road from La Cumbre until Coroico that we couldn't miss, because of the high green mountains and beautiful scenery. I kept that in mind.

MY LAST SOUTH AMERICA TRIP MOMENTS IN PICTURES

Hello beautiful people!

I feel like the worst blogger in the World, being silence for so long, when I have so much to tell you and amazing travel pictures to share. No excuses but I really wanted to enjoy the very last weeks of my South America trip, so yeah, I'm back in Portugal after 6 months backpacking the Americas. Also I don't have a computer so I couldn't type anything during long bus trips to copy/paste into a blog post.

I have zillion ideas for blog posts and they are all written for later with great tips for your South America adventure one day and stunning nature and colonial cities to show you but the next days I'll be focusing in this blog organization. I have this big need of organizing my content to be more visible and easy to find. Get ready because I'm super excited.

Today I'd like to share some photos of this last month of travelling. I can tell you it was pretty intense, we'd stay max. 3 days in the same spot. Basically we were in Cuenca (Ecuador) and had to arrive by land São Paulo in less then 6 weeks! If you go to a map you will see the large distance :)

This was our Welcome to Bolivia, wow couldn't be better. A lot of travelers I met on the road said their favorite country in South America is Bolivia and now I understand why! In the other hand these travelers told us about the rudeness of bolivians and we felt it in the first hour in Copacabana.