The tale of the world before the pandemic.

Nothing is or is going to be the same anymore. The moment I’m writing this I was supposed to be somewhere on the west coast of the USA, but I’m not.

Very shortly before all the borders were closed, we managed to escape to Portugal for 12 days. We booked the tickets in December, hoping for a nice winter break. And it was great, despite everything that happened afterwards.

Going to Portugal in winter (it’s been our second trip) is the best decision you can make. Very few tourists, no parties on the beach, the coast looks abandoned. It’s just you and the nature.

This time we decided to visit the coast in the south – the Algarve region. My favorite place was Ria Formosa Natural Park (near Olhao). If you want to see the wildest part of the park avoid going to it’s official quarters for tourists, go to a little town Cacela Velha, park your car for free, go to the beach and enjoy the nature.

As always, I’ve collected too many shells. People often ask me if it’s ok to put the shells into your luggage when flying. If you do not bring hundreds of them, they are not pieces of endangered or protected species, parts of the reef, you shouldn’t have any problems. I’ve brought shells from all over the world (Australia being the exception – I didn’t want to go to prison) and it was fine.

Can’t wait to start travelling again (the plan is to start in August, yaaay!!!)