So... A new blog? Why?

I'm a traveller. I don't mean I'm part of the Irish community with the same name... it's just that I love visiting new places, meeting new people, seing what's on the other side of the border... or just behind that hill over there.

Portugal was the first country I ever visited. I can't remember the first time I went there, I was too young... but I was 6 the first time I can recall. In the place where you can find a tourist information office now there was a customs house, and a few guardinhas checking the passport. Back then nobody had ever heard about the Schengen Area. I remember stretching my arms, competing with my brother to see who got there first on our way to Freixo de Espada à Cinta.

Freixo de Espada à Cinta's medieval tower.

From that moment, I've been to Portugal on yearly basis. Even if it's just for a quick coffee just across the border. My grandfather is from Saucelle (Salamanca), a village right on the border and deep in the heart of the gorgeous Arribes del Duero. The village is on the edge of the Castilian Plateau, at about 650 metres over the sea level, but the river Duero (the natural border) passes 450 metres lower. The natural landscape is just impressive. 

Former customs house right on the border. These days serves a much nicer purpose: bi tourist information office.

With the time, I got used to travelling... and now I actually need it. Getting information from a new places, discovering its history, its culture, its people... and finally getting on a boat or plane and seeing it for yourself. Stamina rushing. Heartbeat rising. Imagination flowing aimlessly. Undescriptable emotion.

I guess part of the blame is on my parents. No, don't misunderstand my words. I don't actually BLAME them.... I THANK them for what they did. When I was a kid I was just a shy and nervous little boy who wouldn't go to a summercamps because parents were not allowed (I don't know what I thought a summercamp was back then). Moving to different towns because of their jobs and hence forcing me to start all over again, helping me apply to summercamps in England in order to improve my English skills... encouraging me to travel abroad, to apply for my Erasmus scholarship. I guess that made me what I am now: a travel freak -I'm 26 and I have lived in 7 different towns in 4 different countries and have visited almost 20 countries of this world. 

Ok, ok... calm down, dear readers of mine! I know you have been to more countries than I have, but this is not a competition. And even if it were... this is my blog, anyways! 

In September 2012, and after a long time abroad, I moved back to Spain. I feel... erm... what's the opposite for homesick? Abroadsick? "Spain hurts me" as Miguel de Unamuno used to say, and the economical and political situations do not make it easier either. So, dear reader, don't worry if you are not there, if you don't follow me or read me: this blog is just an excuse to remember and reorganize my photos, anecdotes, travel diaries as a means to make my stay in Spain easier.

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Besides my own private travel journals, I also wrote some public ones, including:

Fotolog (in Spanish): here I wrote about my daily life in Australia between January and December 2008.

Ja sam lektor (in English and Spanish): an abandoned blog (with just a few entries) about my life in Croatia.

And well, if you happen to be fluent in Spanish, I recommend you to read the Spanish counterpart of this blog: La maleta sin rumbo (A suitcase with no destination)