Homesick

Koh Phi Phi turned into something amazing, and since then I had the most amazing experiences since I'm traveling. From seeing someone smashing a motor bike into a shop, to the most amazing sunsets I've ever seen in life. I'm really glad I found someone to share that with, and now all I can think about is that soon I'll need again to say goodbye and to meet someone new again.
Now I'm in Koh Lanta. Probably one of the most relaxing and easy going places I've been at, since I started traveling. I feel as if every day is like a big lazy Saturday but without the feeling of having to work in about 2 days.
I never felt like this before, and it's like a sort of mixed feelings between homesick without having a home to feel that for. It's strange to know that I can't attach myself to anything because it won't last for sure, and this is one of the biggest problems because I'm not sure when to return.
One thing I'm sure of. In February I'll be in Belgium to start a new life. I'll miss traveling for sure, and actually I'm already thinking about it. I don't know how I'll cope with the feeling of not traveling anymore.
I'm a pioneer of my own soul and mind. But sometimes you need to settle down and search for different things.
As someone said once, "Instead of searching for new landscapes, start developing new eyes".

I'm back

After 74 days traveling in South East Asia, I finally get to my 2 last weeks of traveling. I've spent my last 2 weeks at a woofing place nearby Bukit Tingi in Malaysia. Food was great, people were kind and and they had a big big heart. I'm aware of some misunderstandings once in a while, but still in the end I feel I left some friends behind.

Singapore and Malaysia were kind of a breath of fresh air. It is amazing how different this is from Thailand, Laos and Vietnam. Prices are still low, but today I saw Porsches, Ferraris, among other power cars, which makes this country, an Asian city that actually forgot who "she" is.
I've tried hard but I can't seem to find a specific identity in this place. There are Indian, Chinese, Malaysian, among many others, filling the country and painting the city.

I took 2 weeks off, to work on a woofing farm, mainly because I wanted to have a place to call "home" for more than 4 days. Packing and unpacking, were actually stressing me in a way I could actually feel it on my body.

I admit that I don't miss Vietnam at all, mainly because of the people. They were nice sometimes, but not all the time, and sometimes that became stressful.
Now I'm in Malaysia, after 75 days, more than 19000 km, 5 countries, many borders, some money already spent, and many friends left behind.
It's time to reflect a bit about life. Now I actually think about my couchsurfers, and I think about the people I left behind.

Beside my mother and father that I miss the most for sure, I've noticed how much I miss people like Amanda, Malle, Aneta, Zorana, Inês (I know they are all girls but it means nothing) and Ricardo and Nuno. They were and still are so but so important in my life, that in the end I don't have words to thank them enough.

Ok, I don't want to be unfair, mainly because there are lots of others who helped me a lot, and who were there for me, but this ones particularly, were there when nobody else was.
I still don't know where to go, what to do, and how to do it. Now I'll have Thailand to relax, swim and do amazing things I've never done before. I have Australia and many other friends to meet, leave behind, and in the end make then part of who I am.

This is I hope the returning of my blog, and even being difficult to write every day, I'll do my best to keep it updated.

Today is the 13th of November.The 74th day of my round the world trip.

2 months after

I got to Asia and almost nothing went well. I got sick, my mind got sick, I lost people, worried people like hell, and did other nasty bad things that I've never did before.
But then I met amazing people. I met friends, saw amazing things, did amazing things, and in the end I think I'm stronger than before.
Next week I will make a sum up of all of my travels since I came, as I've been just writing on Publico website. So I'll do my best to write small posts about it.
Now it's late and tomorrow I'm heading to Singapore where I'll be hosted by a new Couchsurfer. I'm quite eager for it, and well I'll have more things to tell really soon.

Lariam/Mefaquim – How I almost got stuck inside my mind

 When I first decided to start taking this medicine against Malaria, I listened to the doctor recommendations, actually to several doctors, and I never thought I could get to this point.

It took precious days from my life, where vivid dreams, extreme anxiety and even some paranoia, took my mind to places I never thought I would go to. I wasn’t the only one going to this dark place created by this drug. Unfortunately a friend got caught in it too.

In the beginning I believed that I could get over it. And most of it I thought I could manage the dreams, and all the strange side effects. After all, my dreams and my thoughts would never control who I am. 6 weeks passed already since I started traveling, and I feel I missed a big chunk of it. Whenever I was with someone I felt happy, I even had lots of fun. But whenever I was confronted with my own thoughts, everything was lost. I’m aware of the difficulties brought by traveling, still as many of you know, most of the times I managed to deal with things even if they weren’t in the best way possible. This time, I could do nothing to avoid this dark veil covering my eyes and poisoning my mind.

I can’t even explain how it changed who I am. I forgot why I came here, I forgot to look around and see these amazingly beautiful places surrounding me. I stopped loving food, wishing for chocolate, enjoying a nice warm coffee. I stopped being who I always have been.

Now that I’ve stopped this terrible thing, all I can say is that I will do my best to enjoy these 5 months I have left. Dark times they were, and now I need to see a brighter future ahead. Vietnam has still lots of things to offer and I’m here to enjoy them. 

All I can do is to thank my friends who never let me down, and who always stood there for me.

For you

Finally in Dalat. This is one of most beautiful places I saw since I came here. It's impressive how beautiful the mountains, the lakes, and even the bakeries are. People are different and even the air smells different.
This post won't be like the other ones. It passed one year since you left, and here reminds me of you. I'm feeling to start slowing down.The barrier is breaking and soon I hope I can get in touch with my thoughts.
We all take things for granted and in the end all the plans we make, all the things we go for, can go with the wind.
For quite a while I never had time to relax, think about my limits, or fears, about my hopes or wishes. Slowly here I'm starting to realize what they are, where I stand, what am I made of.
Now it's time to sleep.

Sweet dreams.

1 month after - Vietnam

I've started traveling 1 month ago.
I despaired so many times that I can't even count them.
I cried, laughed, had really dark thoughts on my mind, and in the end well I met this girls. Emily and Marleen. Jan I won't forget you either :). I would never guess how they would find a place inside my heart, and in the end this is the thing about traveling.
In one month I did zip sliding, visited amazing caves, relaxed with tasty cakes and fruit shakes. Laughed and cried with strangers. Shared my deepest thoughts, and listened to their funny or serious stories. I've made friends that probably I'll never see again that brings a strange kind of emptiness I was sort of running away from.

I met this 2 girls in the 4000 Islands. Well they were probably just 300, because the rest was totally flooded, but still I must surrender to the beauty of it. From bike riding, to happy spaghetti stories, or from crossing rivers, to having a 3m snake on my bedroom.
We've spent some time together after that, and again we never had a dull moment. One of the scooters broke in the middle of nowhere, and we got lost a couple of times. I've realized that with this I'm probably the worst person to trust when it gets to reading a map. We actually slept right next to one of the waterfalls we wanted to see, but we only realized that after riding our scooters, for 30km on the next day.

Well, in the end I miss Emily and Marleen, and I feel sorry that I couldn't say a proper goodbye to them.
I will miss you girls, and I send you both a big big hug :).

Where we stand in the end

I look now into my dorm bed, covered with almost all of the things I possess right now. It's funny, confusing, and scary to think that all I have now, fits into a 48L backpack.
I'm scared, sometimes hungry, tired, and in the end, many were the times when I asked myself what was I doing here.
I came here with someone who actually was way more than a friend, and now all I have is some friends I meet for 4 days. It's exhausting to think that every time that happens, I need to say goodbye to someone I just started to see as a friend.
Life is this. Meeting people, sharing stories, crying, laughing and feeling what fills your heart even after something stupid that happened in one more day.
I'm always afraid I won't meet more persons like this, and that I won't be able to continue as I should. In the end I meet people like Emily and Marleen, that filled my heart with things I can't put in words. They made me realize how beautiful this bug of traveling is, and how things could be. I just feel sorry for those who spend so much time trying to find something in them, traveling or not, and in the end they can't see that this was never about us. It's about those flowing into our lives.
We live for 60, 70 years, and in the end, all I have and all I will have is this minutes where we shared laughs and tears with a complete stranger you met on a day like many other ones.

Correr o mundo

I've been posting sometimes in this link http://blogues.publico.pt/corrermundo/author/filipeteixeira/. It's hard to post things in both blogs, but I'll do my best to keep them updated. Laos it's not the best place for blogging in the world as the internet is not always available.

Day 5

Plane to Brussels. I'm still not sure when I will feel what Sarah warned me about. Probably this is me. Two persons told me already that I'm not Portuguese at all but a citizen of the world instead. I love traveling and I'm almost sure that after this 6 months I will feel that I can't stop for too long.
For now I have several challenges ahead. Meeting Malle, Sarah and to start this trip. It's strange for me to understand and see how I am reacting to life changing things, like this. I might be crazy, smart, or I might even have a problem. In the end I'm more scared of other things than actually for this crazy trip.
I don't want to repeat myself too much, but I'm sure that this log will be about what I'm experiencing and never about the usual things you can see in travel guides.

Day 3 - Porto

One more train. I'll be in Porto and strangely I don't see any midgets flying or alcoholics shouting in German, or even pink elephants on the train. I guess this time I will have a normal train ride somewhere. Boy is playing on my iPod, and my heart is pumping blood, filling me with adrenaline. The train rushes and swivels, swinging through the tracks. Two ladies chat loudly right next to me.
Then I feel it. Goosebumps make me realize at last that for the first time, since some time ago, I'm almost ready to travel. I'm happy, excited and thrilled to start this trip but I must say that I'm also a little bit scared. It's impossible for us to realize how big the world is out there, till we make the first step to go around it.

Day 1

I started my trip traveling to Aveiro to meet my dad. As usual I found strange things on the train, such as a drunk guy talking in "English", and shouting to invisible foreigners, while he was punching the windows.
I think that it was there when I started to realize some things about this trip and what was about to come.
Today I don't have much time to write, but I wanted mainly to talk about the anxiety that slowly grows inside me.
It's a strange feeling, as I never had it before, and I never had this kind of pressure on my chest. I guess that not even when I presented my master thesis and so on, I felt like this. For now, all I can do is wait. My next stop will be Brussels where I will meet Malle, and where I'm sure I will have more time to write some things.

(not so) boring stuff

Traveling sometimes gives us lots of work and it needs a lot of preparation.
The most difficult thing was for sure the travel insurance. Either too expensive or not covering enough, I struggled all the time to find a nice insurance that would make me feel comfortable while traveling.
Thanks to Bonsai Viagens in Coimbra, I've managed to find the proper one without killing my bank account.
And well it's never too much, when it gets to thanks to the couple in this travel agency. They were for sure amazing and always helpful in a way I never saw before.
I don't want to spend time writing about boring stuff, but in the end I know that lots of travelers make the same question to themselves. What should I bring with me?

So for the next 6 months I'm packing.

48L Osprey Backpack (pretty amazing I must say)
20L Northface daypack
Duffle bag (for the flights)
Sea to summit compression bag
Packing cube (for underwear etc)

Clothes:
4 T-shirts (one with buttons)
2 long sleeve shirts
1 fleece (New Zealand will be cold)
1 Jack Wolfskin really light rain jacket
1 bandana (wellllll summer in Australia, ouch)
1 scarf
1 pair of quick drying pants
1 pair of shorts
1 pair of swimming shorts
1 pair of jeans (for colder days)
6 pairs of underwear

Gear:
Small netbook
Camera
Cellphone (just in case)
2 Moleskines
1 book (I still need to decide which I will bring)
Chargers, etc etc

There are still some things missing but well I will write everything as soon as I finish packing.

Don't forget some medicines if you are traveling to countries where it won't be easy to find them. Mainly for allergies as you never know what you might be allergic to on a foreign country.
I also bought a small padlock and a small emergency kit. Electrical duct tape it's always useful to fix things, and a small rope will become handy too.

Well but in the end, have fun, and don't forget to keep some things close to you. Passport, money, flight tickets, and most importantly a big smile wherever you go.

(The links are affiliated to Amazon. It's just something small to help me with my trip.)

Find me somewhere

From Iceland to New York, from Belgium to Ireland, from all the amazing hosts to all the amazing couchsurfers that made me tinkle some tears, it was without any doubts an amazing year.
I've made perfect, life lasting friends, got an amazing girlfriend, and I've changed my life forever.
Quite often people ask me why have I decided to leave a good work place for the sake of travelling for 6 months with someone I've only met 2 months ago. It's difficult to give them an answer, and it's even more difficult to show them the big picture of all of this. Travelling is something that you do for yourself, and never for someone else. But from the crowded cities of New York, till the isolated landscapes in Iceland, travelling is never travelling if you don't have a good friend to share those moments with.
I'm sure I'll never forget the moments I've spent with friends like Flávio and Nuno, just travelling, and all the amazing things we've seen and done.
I can't deny that travelling alone is and will be always an amazing experience, but after a while even when you meet people on the road, you feel the eagerness of having someone to share all of your experiences with. Every time I talk about New York with my friends, and Nuno is present, I always feel that only me and him, fully understand what we've seen and done during those days. There are always those silent moments where only me and him can share without saying a word.
Now it's time to share those moments with someone else and for a longer period.
Travelling is something more than just a big holiday, and people tend to confuse that quite easily. I've spend more money just with preparations and I will spend way more with other things during my trip. From insurance till gear, travelling is not cheap, but still it's possible to make it low budget.
In the end I truly hope I'll have something more than just photos on my camera or posts in this blog. I hope I've become more humble, patient, that I'm not returning alone, and mainly that I've learned how to love this world from the crowded city to the poor village, from the beautiful animal till the annoying mosquito, from the beautiful to the unspoken word.

Amanda - Part 1

I was having some really rough days, and after hosting Sarah Kaiser, I thought that it would be impossible to host someone as nice as her.
With no cellphone or no other way to contact Amanda, I was starting to feel slightly nervous as I was running to take Sarah to the bus station.
After some minutes of waiting and trying to guess how she would look like, Amanda came. She was carrying an perfectly amazing smile, and I remember that she hugged me as if we were old friends. I guess I will never forget that warm feeling I felt inside with all of that. In the beginning I kind of thought that she was nervous, till I realized that it was more than that. Amanda carries all the time an amazing energy, that fills up a room and it's contagious to everybody standing right next to her.
Sadly I said goodbye to Sarah, but well lots of things were yet to come, and we were just about to start what were the most amazing 24h I've had till now, sharing an amazing salad made by Amanda, and Apfel Strudel made by the lady at the Botanical Garden.

Couchsurfing: A couch love story

All started with Cori, Piotr, Gozia and Milda and Kristina. I never thought that happiness could come from strangers, but since I started this amazing trip, at home or while travelling, I met the most amazing persons I could ever asked for.
I shared laughs, tears, played Viking Cup, took jumping photos, ate Frituur sited on the side-walk, listened to Amanda playing guitar, listed to an amazing couple singing a lullaby before they went to sleep, and many many other amazing things.
When I start thinking about this, I can't even see my life without these persons I met during the way.
Now that many things will change on my life, I look back and even not wanting to repeat myself, I see that I lived a really really good life. It was perfect even with all the ups and downs.
But the trip has just began.

Something inside

Yesterday I was talking about couchsurfing, on the radio. It was difficult to put everything in just 8 minutes, as I feel that I could talk for ages. Still I managed to focus on what it was important. Couchsurfing it's always way more than just about travelling. It's about friends and persons like you, that you meet on the way.
It's amazing the amount of special persons you meet thanks to this, and in the end sometimes I still feel something creeping inside showing me that something is really missing.
I miss all those moments I've shared with them for sure. Sometimes it's like being someone you always wanted to be, but that you can only be for some moments.

The eagerness of travelling

It's something that grows and grows inside us. Sometimes it's even more than that.
It's someone who's there to taunt us, and to tell us where we don't belong to. It's life mixed in a big bowl full of all the amazing persons we met during our travels.
We feel so lost and empty. We spend all the time knowing that something is missing but we never find out why. Then we jump out of the chair, buy a flight ticket, kiss that person one last time with a smile in our face, and we leave. So lost and still we do everything we can to get even more and more lost. Lost in a distant country, lost in our thoughts with trains and butterflies in our hairs.
This is it we think, while the train slowly make us fall asleep.
One day, two days, three days, four days. One more train, one more amazing view or one more delicious coffee. Another tight hug, and another missed kiss. We continue travelling, hoping that tomorrow we will find the answer.
We find millions of answers, but then we come back home and we know. It wasn't enough, it's never enough. We need the people, the tight hugs, the beautiful landscapes. We need to have the feeling of being lost in our bodies and not just in our minds.
And probably tomorrow will be another good day to leave.

Sleep tight

Sarah

There was no pasta for 3.5 euros, but there was a crappy Subway sandwich. But now there's Sarah.
It's strange to meet this girl, now that I feel so lost. I'm listening to "Down in the dark" from Cody. Beautiful lyrics that have a huge meaning for me.
5m ago this girl was telling me how she decided to travel for 7 months, leaving almost everything behind. Hummm let me correct, carrying only what she could carry. I think that most of the time, we carry an heavier backpack that we should. I'm not just talking about when we travel, but in everyday life. We should only carry what we can carry and leave the rest behind. I couldn't be happier to meet someone like Sarah.

After a couple of hours talking with her all I can say about her is, God what a girl. We often meet amazing persons, but this one I won't forget. She had the same feeling I was carrying with me, in her eyes. It was special to meet her for sure, and I already miss her.
I gave her a tight hug and I left trying not to tinkle away some tears.
It's always so difficult to meet this persons and then just leave.
Anyway it was time to head to Antwerp but first it was time for breakfast.

Brugge

I still have a strange feeling inside. I feel kind of lost, but there's also the feeling that someone or something is about to come. This city is more than beautiful. With it's mediaeval look, there's a nostalgic feeling that is brought to this place. The buildings are beautiful and the parks are even more. It's getting cold but still everybody is standing outside.
One of the waiters is pressuring me to leave. I think that here with so many tourists they don't feel comfortable with a guy carrying a huge backpack, red jacket and greasy hair. I would love to travel all the time. Yeah I know how stupid it sounds to say this but probably I'll need all my life to figure out what to do.

Adele sings now "Daydreaming", and in this amazing place that is something totally possible to do.
I close the zipper from my jacket. It's getting colder and colder but still I can't stop smiling. Today someone told me that I Europe is my home. I love the feeling of not knowing what to expect. Just go with the flow. Now it's time for another walk and for pasta for 3.5 euros.

Ieper

After something that could have gone bad, I headed to Ieper. No idea where it was on the map, and no idea where I was heading to. My stomach was still complaining about that Subway sandwich I had on my way to the train.
I decided to write a little bit more. It calms my inner ghosts as they come in times like this. The train continued its ride to Ieper and I smiled. It was so strange to think how I got there, that I didn't even know what to say or think. My hand kept on writing and writing.
Ieper comes then on the board, while a voice repeats both in Dutch and French, that we arrived to this city.
Eva's mom, message, "I have arrived", send. My thoughts were still blurry by Gent. After not even 5m I see them. The same amazing smile Eva was carrying, existed in her mother. I was immediately feeling full of hope and good thoughts again. I decided then to talk about Portugal and the differences I was finding in Belgium. Inside I was feeling kind of strange and sad, because I couldn't say a single good thing about my own country. My mind was just letting everything go.
"I hope you don't mind we walk, but Eva told me you needed to talk a little bit." - Eva's mom said.
I smiled and continued walking with them. In the end, beautiful parks, beautiful stories, ending with an amazing dinner in a local pub, and funny street performances.

I couldn't ask for more, and there I was again saying goodbye to Eva, knowing inside that it wouldn't be the last time I was going to tell her goodbye.

Life brought me a little bit of hope in something really simple. Then I would never guess that those moments would tell me so much even in other adverse moments, even in distant places.

The violin maker

After spending an amazing night eating the unhealthiest fries in the world (but still really tasty and with an amazing girl), I went for a picnic with Nele, and after that we headed to the Violin Maker. It sounded almost like something from a movie. Still I was trying to picture him on my mind.
After a bumpy ride, we got to the shop. It was full of beautiful polished violins, among other instruments. Slowly from the back room, the violin maker came. From the dark, a small figure wearing a lab coat greets me and Nele.
After asking him something, the violin maker carrying the wisdom that only someone like him could carry, he brings from an old shelf a black leader suitcase full of beautiful violin bows.
Slowly, Nele pulls one of the bows, and starts playing. Amazed with her beauty, I closed my eyes and started listening to her while she tested bows from all shapes, sizes and materials. She looked like an angel playing such a beautiful instrument.
After some minutes the violin bow finds her. The violin maker breathes and closes the suitcase, like someone who just did a good job.

Eva

After waiting in Le Pain Quotidien, I went to wait for Eva near the university benches. When she came I was immediately embarrassed with her. She was carrying something in her smile of such beauty that I can't even describe by words.
After that, all the time I've spent with her was more than special. With such joy and with such a beautiful way of laughing she became in less than 24h someone important in my trip.
I could never say this too many times, but thank you Eva.

Le pain Quotidien

After riding my bicycle through Gent, I decided to find a café or so to write and rest for a while. This is kind of perfect even if it is really expensive.
Chocolate and a nice coffee, were all I wanted right now. The day was amazing and fortunately now it's getting colder and colder.
Even feeling that now I'm realizing what I'll face in a nearby future, I feel free. No strings attached, no problems, nothing. I feel happy in a place when people don't judge others because they do different things. I saw students seated all around, setting tables and chairs in the streets, ridding their bikes everywhere. This is for sure where happiness stands. It's a strange city whenever I think that in a certain way it reminds me of Münster.

A family stands now in front of the beautiful table where I'm at. A father with a small baby and a young girl. The baby stares at a book called "Konijintje". He smiles while he pretend to read the small phrases lost in the middle of the colourful drawings.

An amazingly beautiful girl with short blond hair, ask me with a beautiful voice that causes me goose bumps, if I need something else. Without her noticing it, I cover my arms to hide the goose bumps.
 It's difficult to understand what's real or not, when you're running away.
This is it, I think to myself. Going from here to there, staying here and there, falling for one girl and another, total lack stability. This is probably the best way of being stable. Living peacefully with my inner ghosts. But I admit that it's kind of strange to thing that after searching for perfection all the time, and stability, all I need is to stop trying to be perfect all the time and just go with the flow.

While I wait for Eva, I continue thinking till they kick me out of there.
They are about to close, and outside it's getting colder and colder.

Hot, hot, hot

Hot, hot, hot. This is how my trip starts. It's around 33 degrees here in Portugal, and I must say that it feels like I'm dying. The trip started in a kind strange of way. I'm now on the train and I don't know why but there's a girl shouting like a parrot every 5m. I'm sweating and this amazingly weird things happening make it feel like a strange video from the 80's. I'm eager to meet everybody and to give a big big hug to Monika and Nele.
Finally I'm inside the plane. Ryanair with its stupid 1 bag only policies made me almost destroy my camera. After some really stressing weeks, I feel a huge relief about making this trip. I was getting too much stressed all the time, and after the last events it's good to relax and to take some time to think. Even knowing that tonight will be to relax, tomorrow a lot of things will happen. I'll meet my first couchsurfer in Belgium, and I'll meet Nele.

After a nice hour of sleep I've realized one thing. Life it's never about the path we follow, or about what happens during it. It's all about what we take from it. I still feel strange, although I think it's just anxiety related to everything that will happen tomorrow. The 3 meetings and a lot of other things make this day yet to come really important.

Porto

Almost 1am and I can't sleep. I'm not sure if I'm just tired or if it is the enxiety before a big trip. My body is wasted, my mind is kind of lost, and in the end I'm just sitting back and trying to relax. Lets see what the night brings and what answers will come.

Less than 24h to be in Porto. I have no idea about what will happen, and for the first time I'm travelling really light. In the end I just hope I'll find a place I can call home.

Say it three times. Packing packing packing.

There's still one week before I start my trip and I've already decided to start packing. I started to become anxious some days ago, and something inside me is asking me to start travelling as soon as possible.
I was never a light packer, and for the first time I've decided to travel as light as possible.
I started by buying a Osprey Kestrel 48L and it's an amazing backpack I must say. You can adjust almost everything, it's water proof, and it fits amazingly well. If you pack it correctly you can still check it in the airplane in low-cost companies like ryanair or easyjet.
In the end the backpack it's one of the most important things on which every backpacker should spend money with. If you feel comfortable  during your trip, you'll be much happier than if you spend all the time feeling pain.
Then, thanks to my couchsurfers (thanks Amanda and Sarah :p), I found the silk inner sleeping bags. They are comfortable, and you don't need to carry an huge sleeping bag if you carry those things. My advice is for you to find a small and light sleeping bag, and then add the inner sleeping bag. It's a great combination, and it's ideal for camping or even when you stay in a hostel or so.

Everybody faced at least once, the question about what to take with us. If it is too warm, or too cold, or how many sweaters should we take. First rule is, never pack for more than one week, even if you intend to travel for 1 year or for the rest of your life.
Then there's something really useful. A good rain jacket and a softshell. I'm not even going to explain the rain jacket, but the soft shell is water repellent, and extremely breathable.
I don't want to make you fall asleep with all of this advices so I'll stop here.
For now all I can say is that I'm really eager to leave, to start writing again on my moleskine, and to meet amazing friends and new people.

See you soon

Is it packing already travelling?

Today I decided to start planning my trip. It will be a short one for sure, and really really low budget. The first thing I've started asking myself was if I can check this backpack in to the plane.
It's never easy to think about what to take with me while travelling, but in the end I'll stick to the basic stuff, as I want to make this as easy as possible. Thanks to all my couchsurfers, I'm feeling more and more happy about travelling as light as possible.
But now it's time to cook something for lunch :).

New York City

While I was still flying the Atlantic Ocean, I started thinking if all of that could be real. I planned and waited almost 10 years to go to New York and now my dream city was just a few thousand km away.
I wasn't really sure about what to expect from that city, but I was quite sure that it would be more than great.
After landing in Newark International Airport, all started to get kind of blurry. Things were faster, and all the adrenaline running through my veins was making me feel dizzy. Like a weird dream, amazing things started to happen. Since meeting Safiatou, a French girl studying in NY, who helped us getting to Manhattan, till meeting a weird nice guy who found our hotel for us. But I must say that jetlag wasn't helping that much either.

After getting out of the subway, I felt a huge emptiness in my heart once I saw Ground Zero site. I kept my thoughts away from my friend, but deep inside I was crying. You can cut the air with a knife down there. It's huge, it's dark, and the energies you get from there make you feel the biggest emptiness you'll ever feel.

After that, New York was just one of the most perfect places I've ever been to.

Cried in Central Park while ice-skating, peed to a bottle in Times Square during the New Years Eve, met Milda and walked through the city with her, saw the sunset over Brooklyn, took photos, laughed, cried, wet my feet in ice puddles and in the end I had the best time of my life.

Then there I was, flying back home, flying back from a dream. In the end I'll always have New York in my mind and in my heart. I'll always have that special place where I had a great time with Nuno, and with Milda.

Everything starts here

I started actively as a couchsurfer in April 2010, and since then it changed my life for ever.
This blog will be like my personal Moleskine. I'll write here all my experiences travelling or with hosts. In the end I want to spread the word about something that changed my life, changed the way I'll live, and that made me realize what's worth in this little big planet where we live.