Countdown: 9 days to go!

Hey there, everyone! First of all, I am truly sorry for not posting a single thing since April, but this blog was created a little bit sooner than what it was supposed to – and you will understand why in the next paragraphs.

Mid-May and it felt like Winter, in London. Just 2 weeks before returning to Portugal for the Summer holidays.

As you probably know, I am a Portuguese guy who moved to England  (roughly) a year ago to start my bachelor degree in Sport Science. In the first semester I’ve heard of this study abroad programme, which caught my attention right away – argh, traveling is definitely my weakness. After doing a quick research, I found out I could go abroad for a whole year, but I only had 3 places to choose from: Australia, Canada and the USA. I don’t know if it’s obvious or not, but I applied for Australia. When I found out I had been accepted I was so excited I had to tell everyone about it. I mean… It’s Australia, after all! The other side of the world. One of the most livable, stable and happy places on Earth.

So, after applying for a visa, choosing my modules, signing endless documents and buying my flights, I am almost ready to go. Almost, because I don’t have a room yet and I have two modules missing. But hey, nothing that I can’t solve in a couple of hours in front of my laptop. I am definitely not going to stress out over these small details!

In Stockholm, January/2016, at the Fabrique bakery.

With this being said, I created this blog with the intention of having a place where I could share my experience in Australia (and in all the countries nearby that I hope I have the chance to visit while in the Pacific) – not only travel wise, but also the emotional struggles I may go through, my sports and eating habits, my routine when it comes to University and (hopefully) a part-time job; endless things I would like to share with you all.

BUT I also want you to participate. To comment and share your own experiences when going on Erasmus, abroad or even the simple act of moving out from your parents house to somewhere else, even if it’s inside your own country – how did you adapt?, was it difficult to meet people?, did it match your expectations?, would you do it again?. I want to hear from you!

And for those of you considering studying in another country or moving somewhere on your own, please feel free to ask for any tips or help. I am not the most experienced guy but I already had the experience of moving from Portugal to England, which may be helpful for some of you, I hope!

Apart from this blog, I am thinking of starting a YouTube channel with weekly vlogs, to make it a little bit more dynamic – also because I am buying myself a GoPro once I arrive in Australia (believe it or not, it costs 100€ less than in Portugal), and record my hikes, travels, cooking and landscapes when doing sports. If I decide to move on with this YouTube Channel idea, I will share it here so you guys can take a look at it.

Ohhhhh, I almost forgot about telling you where I was going: Bond University in Robina, Gold Coast. I fly on the 31st of August, from Lisbon Airport, to Brisbane, via Dubai, a 24h journey – wish me luck!

Have a nice week and enjoy these last days of August, as September is just around the corner!

André.

The short story of how I got a free plane ticket to Copenhagen

Last year, on the day I was taking my flight from Tromso to Lisbon, via Oslo, the weather was terrible. It snowed a lot during the morning, and the wind was so damn strong! When I went to the airport, right after lunch, it started to rain and, as you can imagine, snow became ice and everything was a complete mess.

It was a matter of 10 minutes, more or less, until every single thing was completely covered in white. It ended up slowing down a little bit, but it was still a lot of snow. Honestly? I loved it!

I don’t remember at what time my flight was, neither at what time I was supposed to have arrived in Lisbon, but I would say around 9:30pm. My flight from Tromso had more than 1h of delay. To be honest, I considered myself as a very lucky guy, because there were several flights being cancelled to and from Tromso, from all over Norway. I spent the whole flight to Oslo looking at my watch, crossing my fingers and hoping that I would make it on time. When I landed in Oslo, I started running like crazy (keep this is mind: I absolutely hate running in airports!), until I noticed the gate was already closed. I missed it for 5 minutes! I never felt so frustrated. I went to the Scandivian Airlines customer service and I explained them the situation; the plane was still at the boarding area, so they tried to contact the pilot, who refused to wait five minutes for me to get to the plane.

So, this is what happened during the next few hours: I spent the night in the Radisson Blu Hotel at Oslo airport (for free!), where I had an amazing dinner (also for free!) and a big breakfast (guess what… free as well!). I had a flight early in the morning, via Frankfurt, and I arrived in Lisbon 6 hours later. Oh… plus a 4h drive back home. Great!!

The day after, I sent an e-mail to Scandinavian Airlines, the company I flew with from Tromso to Oslo, explaining the situation and mentioning that they could have minimized the delay – we had an extra 30 minutes delay because they wanted to wait for the last two people that did not show up on time (ironic how it didn’t work for me, right?!). So, out of nowhere, they just gave me a voucher worth 150€ to travel with Scandinavian, valid until February of this year.

As my budget was down to nothing after coming from my Scandinavian trip, I had to wait for 2016 to be able to pay for accomodation when visiting Denmark’s capital city, if needed (couchsurfing is always on my mind). And so I did; I booked my trip to Copenhagen for May/2016, and I will be staying there for 6 days, with Malmo being also part of my to-do list while there!

What I’ve learned: missing flights is good when it’s not your fault and complaining in a very nice way will bring you some rewards.

Have a nice Sunday!

The place where I come from.

Somewhere in the south-east corner of Portugal, there is a city called Vila Real de Santo António. Right on the border with Spain, there is only the Guadiana river separating us from our Spanish neighbours, who are 10 minutes away by car. A small town, where the sun shines 300+ days a year, where Winter is defined as a day when maximum temperatures don’t go above 15ºC and with tons of fresh fish.

I could write a whole post about it. I will, eventually. However, for now, I believe this video says it all.

Enjoy!

I do not own this video.

The Northern Lights (Feb.2015)

As a kid, I grew up with the idea that travelling to northern Europe was pretty much impossible, due to the long distance and the pricey lifestyle that characterizes Scandinavia. This idea of impossibility got stuck in my head for many years, reason why the only thing I had left was to dream about going there. You got to admit: the farther north you go in Europe, the more mysterious it becomes, right?
When I first started to think about visiting some places out of Portugal – I was probably 15/16 years old -, the north was one of the first locations I thought about. I am passionate about winter wonderlands, filled with breathtaking landscapes. Snow makes everything extremely beautiful, doesn’t it?

After my first solo travel to Amsterdam, in 2014, all my savings were down to zero, reason why I had to focus on saving money… Again. In October of 2014, I started to search on the internet about things to do in Europe during Winter and the Northern Lights came up. I had forgotten about it, because of all the reasons I mentioned before. Surprisingly, and I have no idea how or why, plane tickets were not that expensive, and neither was the accommodation. After a lot of research, I finally booked the tickets for one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had!

I flew to Stockholm, the city where my adventure initiated, and I stayed there for approximately 4 days. I will write about this amazing city in another post; there is a lot to say about it. From Stockholm, I took a flight to Tromso, via Oslo, and the view from the airplane, when landing, was unbelievable. I literally felt I was on top of the world.

I stayed in Tromso for 3 days, in the SmartHotel. I did dog sledding (so much fun!) and snowshoeing (the views…!) – I will write about both as well, but in different posts. My last activity was watching the Northern Lights.

Hunting the Northern Lights is something you can do on your own. All you have to do is to rent a car and go search for them; just try not to get lost. I would have done it alone, but as this was my first time, I wanted to be guided by someone who knows the best places to have a good Aurora show and how the lady works (that’s how they call it). I booked everything with Enjoy The Artic (the cheapest I could find).

My guide’s name was Andrei and we were a group of four: two dutch sisters, a german guy and me. Andrei drove us to a bay half an hour away from Tromso and there we stayed for almost 5 hours. The weather was against us: even though there were no clouds, it was full moon and the sky was too bright, making it difficult to spot any green lights. I knew that if we were not successful in that location, Andrei would drive us to another place (sometimes he goes all the way to the Finish border), so I was not worried at all.

It was a cold night. The temperature was bouncing between -12ºC and -14ºC. Even though I was not cold, my boots were definitely not made for those temperatures and they kind of froze. My feet were so, SO cold!! Luckily, we had a bonfire and I managed to keep them warm.

The view was an eye-candy and I couldn’t stop admiring everything that was surrounding me. We were given reindeer sausages and hot dogs, as many as we wanted, as well as coffee and tea. Long, cold nights ask for some warm drinks.

We were chatting and eating when, all of a sudden, I see a flash of green somewhere in the horizon. Everyone stood up and started looking up, trying to spot some more dancing lights. It didn’t take long. Right above us, a green wave started to show up – very shy at the beginning, but it then became thick and bright and started to move so gracefully above our heads.

Everything was quiet. Everyone was paying attention to the Aurora. For one hour, the Lady owned the sky and the Earth. No one dared to interrupt the show with a single word. Nature delivered an outstanding show. There is something in the way the Lights dance; something words can’t describe. They move so gracefully, so organized. An abstract dance. A never ending painting. We stood there, absorbing every single move. And then, without warning, they just left.

It was not the strongest or the brightest show, but that is not even a problem when you get the chance to witness one of the most amazing spectacles nature has to offer! Being there for so long and with freezing temperatures was completely worth it.

I strongly advise you to try to go all the way to Northern Europe and watch this amazing show! I promise you won’t regret it.

Have a nice day.