Departure date? August 3 2005. Arrival date? November 2008. Yes, 3 years latter! Used to be at July 2007, but we stretched for another year. Check out our entry
The planClaudio (Left):
I have two sayings that guide my life:
1 "Desta vida não se leva nada, só a vida que agente leva. (From this life we don't take anything, just the life we live)"
2 "Its worst to regret of something that you have not done, than something you have done".
Born June first of 1981 in Brazil. Graduated in Computer Engineer in 2003. Worked since graduation as a Bussines Consultant in projects in different countries of the world. - "I finally decided that instead waiting my carrier give me time, I would take time and make my carrier wait. I quit my job and joined my brother in a world trip for 2 years... at least this used to be the plan... hehehe".
Fernando(Right): I...
...love all that's new: new places, new people, new experiences.
...like the extremes, everything that's just normal doesn't attract me. Has to be the heat of the Sahara or the cold of Siberia, the vibe of a party or the peace of a island.
...am not attached to material things (not anymore), I need only what is in my bag.
...am always in a different place, so I make new friends very easily.
...can communicate by signs with anyone who doesn't speak one of my 5 languages
...go to inhospitable places just to know how it is.
...don't plan. I go with the wind, so don't have date to leave or to arrive.
Freedom is very good, but nobody said it's easy. I had to learn many things to make it possible.
For knowing what is going on, don't forget to visit:
The plan · PEOPLE WE MET · Invite us!!! · F.A.Q. FAQ is in Portuguese to help our fellow Brazilians in their traveling project.Safe Journey, Claudio and Fernando
The idea of this blogg is to guide kitesurfers on a trip for kitesurfing in Cumbuco. I plan to describe here a bit about the village itself, some gesthouses (Pousadas as they are called in Brazil), spots, and daily life. I work as a kitesurfing instructor in Stockholm and heard from our custmers, lots about Cumbuco. It is one of the best kitespots in the world. Sun, amazing beaches, warm water, waves, lagoons, and wind, wind, wind! When I started searching for more informations about it I had dificulties to find good "guides" on the internet for Cumbuco. All I could find was some visit-Cumbuco websites with adds for hotels, and some pages from the guesthouses. After reading all of it (in english and portuguese) I still had a very wrong idea about what to expect.
... read moreIt has been long since we last posted something here. There is a reason for this: The brothers are not on the road any more, but it doesn't mean we don't travel at all! So let's go for one more trip! Since we split in Berlin, October 2008, Claudio has been in Puebla, Mexico. He moved in with his girl friend, studied spanish, started to work as a math teacher and study a master course on business administration at the same time. Fernando went to Brazil for a few months to fix some papers and moved to Stockholm with his girl friend. He started to learn his 5th language moved to a small apartment, worked as a dog watcher, painter, waiter, construction worker, photo model, applied for his dream job and now will start another university
... read moreDo you believe in the MEDIA? The classical Greek philosopher Plato describe in his work "The Republic" a fictional dialog between His Teacher Socrates and his brother Glaucon. In this dialog Socrates uses the Metaphor of the Cave to describe that the reality is not always what you see. He exemplify with Prisoners in a cave that can only sees shadows during their whole lives, not knowing they are shadows, themselves start thinking the images they see are the actual reality. Plato lived 1500 years ago, but these metaphor still up to date. Television is wide spread throughout the world now a days, people use it more and more as their source of information. People believe what television says and less and less verify for themselves the information, people don't realizes that TV programs are edited.
... read moreOnly a couple of minutes waiting in the special Hitch-hiker spot at Vilnius and we got a ride. We were happy. Our destiny was showing it's bright side. It wasn't until afternoon it started to show it's dark side. The couple in the car took us a few kilometers ahead and dropped us off, a few minutes latter they passed again by the same spot and decided to take us further. We were advancing very quickly and were amazed with our luck. We were dropped off in the main highway to Poland, it couldn't be a better place. The excitement of the good start, disappeared little by little every hour we waited for a new ride. (Claudio after the second hour started complaining as he always did and swearing to the drivers that passed by and
... read moreOur ride took us to the center of Vilnius, just next to an Internet cafe that we could use to contact our host. (Thanks for the ride!). We checked our host phone number and and went for a night walk trying to find a public phone. The city center at night was beautiful, the weather was great (wasn't raining and wasn't very cold), but the public phones were calling card only and we couldn't buy any cards. Technology can be a blessing and can be a curse at the same time. We saw the cursing side before, but soon we found the blessing side. A drugstore sold SIM cards, for 5 dollars with 5 dollars credit. Saved from sleeping in the streets. Our host came for us in a few minutes, he was just a few
... read moreWe always heard about students backpacking around Europe in very low budget (below 10 Euros a day). Even thou we heard all this stories we could never understand how they did it, since Europe has the most expensive costs for transport and accommodation we have seen. So what is the enigma? Only after 90000Km traveled in 3 years on the road we finally found out! We left Tallinn early in the morning, took a local bus to the "hitch hike hotspot" and within a few minutes we got a lift, taken by a guy who used to travel a lot, always hitch hiking. As soon he saw us he stopped and gave us a ride. He wasn't going far but he knew that every kilometer is good enough! Now driving his own car he wanted to
... read moreWe approached the border frightened, was only when we got on the bus that we thought about the visa for Estonia. We checked the requirements for Latvia and Lithuania, but not for Estonia!! A friendly girl on the bus called some friends to ask, but couldn't get any information. If we needed a visa we were going to be in trouble! Russia for sure would not let us go back and we would be locked in the no-man land unless we could somehow get to Finland. We were desperate and as we we arrived at the Estonia border we saw the E.U. flag hanging side by side with the Estonian one. Was that possible? If Estonia was part of E.U., we would be safe! We asked and the girl told us they signed the Schengen agreement
... read moreEarly in the morning we ended our transsiberian journey. After 3 days in Irkutsk near lake Baikal and 4 great days and nights in the train, enjoying beautiful scenarios over the windows we had to come back to real life, or more precise backpacking life. As soon as stepped out of the train in Moscow we had a mission. Find a cheap place to stay. Soon we discovered why Moscow won the title of one of the most expensive cities on the planet. The hostel/Hotels/Guest Houses prices here are just absurd. Floating from 25 to 40 dollars for a dorm bed. We tried since Mongolia to find some accommodation in the couchsurfing and hospitality club, without success. With out pockets almost empty (easy to guess after 3 years traveling) our only chance was a last try
... read moreThe Transsiberian Train is a journey by itself. There are many travelers leaving their countries just to take the longest train ride in the world. To be precise we didn't ride across the Transsiberian line, this one connects Moscow to Vladivostok. We crossed the Transmongolian line, from Beijing in China over Mongolia finishing in Moscow (The Transsiberian and Transmongolian join they journey around half way near lake Baikal in Siberia). There are so many ways to do this trip. From a nostalgic direct, super luxury coach to a cattle-class hop-on hop-off vodka filled adventure. It all depends on you (and your budget!!), what exactly you want and expect from the trip. The direct train from Beijing to Moscow or Vladivostok to Moscow are the most well known, but that's not the only way you can do
... read moreI'm sorry Mongolia. I know you offer so many beautiful places to visit, your people are so hospitable, your plains so vast, your lakes so clear, in the summer horse riding festivals and in the winter ice skating on the lakes. So much to do, so many square kilometers to enjoy. But, after so long on the road we are tired, with the expectancy of arrive home and re-starting our jobs we have our minds focused on other place that's not here. If we missed most of your attractions is because we took the opportunity to sit inside the hostel and work on our blog. This is a task we would have to do anyway. From now on our schedule is very tight and this was the best opportunity. We didn't miss 100% thou. We did
... read more