• Europe,  Greece

    IF LOVE WAS AN ISLAND…

    My heart skipped a beat and my eyes travelled back and forth, looking to be an ultra-wide-angle lens in order to take it all in. It wasn’t until Michael let out a wow, that I realized I was also holding my breath. And just like that I knew I was falling in love with the island of SANTORINI!   I arrived in Santorini already excited to finally explore the island that had for years featured at the top of my bucket list (if you can call a bucket list a I-want-to-visit-every-place-in-the-world’s list). It was early May and we landed in a very windy island. At first this was quite disappointing,…

  • Asia,  Thailand

    Pai, Northern Thailand

    More than a destination, a lifestyle The river is refreshing but not that powerful. The mountains are curvy but not that steep. The waterfalls are hidden but not that full. So what is it that makes Pai a destination that compels travellers to stay longer than they had originally planned?! I originally booked for 2 nights, stayed for 5 and then wished I could have stayed longer. I wasn’t alone in this feeling. It was a recurring theme that people initially came for couple days but ended up staying for several weeks or even months. Travelers who had flexible schedule found they had a difficult decision to make… when to…

  • Asia,  China

    The Language of the Heart – Yangshuo

    Sitting on small wooden stools, the silence was only broken by the sound of heavy rain and the vigorous brushes the woman gives to the soaked clothes in the red round plastic container. The husband astutely maneuvers the knife removing the tip and the stringy bit from the side of the green beans, separating those into a different container. Their son, maybe 6 or 7 years old, oblivious to us, holds a pencil in his hand, scribbling mandarin characters on his dusty notebook, determined to finish his homework. The silence isn’t disturbing at all. It only gives space to contemplate the question “how could they trust us, such strangers, and…

  • Brazil,  South America

    Copacabana Beach, hut 143.

    “In your country, people never give you anything for free?” Do they?! – People from Portugal are friendly, kind, but the general rule is if someone is too generous they want something from you that you might not want to give in return. This rule becomes stronger being a girl traveling in a foreign country, on my own. Yet, this stranger, afro-brazillian, chubby and sweaty, stands hands on knees leaning over with the friendliest smile in his face when he invites me to take a seat in one of the chairs his hut is renting, but for free. Here, at Copacabana beach, in Rio de Janeiro, I was quite happy lying…