I blame it all on my parents. I don’t know what happened to them, but after living in Angola for around 10 years, they came back to Portugal to never leave the country, and barely my hometown. So I was always jealous of my friends, who spent their summer holidays in South of Spain or some other further destination. I guess they could afford it. But I was tired of going to the same places every year. This kind of built inside of me and I developed this urge to go abroad and see all that was out there – only thing missing was a bit of economic independence. And finally it happened. I was 20 when I first stepped into Spain. Not that deep into Spain, it was Badajoz which is just by the border, but I always imagined it as this mystical place where my uncles used to go and bring me caramels. Actually I didn’t like those caramels that much, but they seemed special because they were foreign. Continuing: At 21 I saw snow for the first time (on the ground and still in Portugal, but it was my first time). And at 22 I flew for the first time. I went to Tunisia during “Spring Break”. It was suppose to be a college trip for all the seniors, ended up being 4 people going on vacation. But it was nice and exotic and helped create an environment for the virus to be installed and do its thing.

Later that year when I finished my studies I had the opportunity to go to Budapest, Hungary for 7 months to “work”. Yeah, right! So it was Hungary and its surroundings, and then back to Portugal again. Didn’t take long for me pack by bags again and go for 9 months to Seattle, WA – USA to “work”. After leaving Seattle, a bit forced (damn you, visa!), back to Portugal. Spent 7 months in Portugal with a 1 month break where I traveled around Argentina and Chile and then, remember that part about economic independence? Needed that , so I moved to Ghent, Belgium to work (now without quotes) where I have been living happily ever since for the past 2 years. Of course, during all these hops I didn’t stay put in the same place, but that will come up later.

Plans for the near future? I was thinking of buying a car (environment friendly one). Since Belgium is so central to Europe, I bet there are a lot of cool roadtrips to do around here.