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From dream…to reality

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PPangeia
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How did we go from dreaming of going to Patagonia, to actually going there?


This post is a short description of how your regular Sunday afternoon talk ended up in a crazy adventure, in the last few days, months and hopefully in the year to come.

It’s truly liberating to plan something which – albeit based in a very tight budget, filled with constant compromises, permanent dialogues and comfortable silences – is all about discovery, adventure and self-realization. Clichés aside, from what we have discussed and knowing one another as we do, all we care about right now is…to leave ASAP!

How did the idea to grab two 40 liter backpacks and travel to 21 countries in 365 days come about?

There is nothing better than to spend an entire, mildly depressing, Sunday, eating freshly baked bread with butter and talking about nothing. Not only can this give way to brilliant, challenging ideas, but it also feels damn good. As I recall it, this is how we got to the “Round the World Travel” subject. The brainstorming started off with a “Hmmm, I think I would like to spend some time abroad, sometime during next year”, but the “abroad” was neither ordinary, precise in terms of location, nor was it precise in terms of timeframe. So, without giving way to our individual desires, we gradually evolved into a more flexible, mutual perspective and definitely more adventurous such as “why not take the whole year off and get to know one country or two?”. If memory serves me right, this mythical conversation took place during November 2011.

Going from the post-carbohydrate overdose Sunday conversation, to actually digesting the idea…

The “google it” moment was a part of the brainstorming. Typing “Gap Year” in the search engine and bamm! At least 10 tabs open with words such as “roundtheworldtrip”, “worlds nomads”, “legal nomads”, “fruitpicking” and a few others that could boost our huge expectations that we might actually pull this off, and get to travel the world for one year, knowing in advance that having very light savings, the fact that we had recently met and the non-existence of Working Holidays VISA agreements from Portugal with other countries, were not the most favorable of conditions.


We were at it for weeks and weeks, opening tab after tab, ingesting carbs and more carbs (something rather annoying since it was mid-Winter and I was doing very little, or should I say no exercise at all), trying to devise our trip business plan. The first few weeks it looked as if it was an unbeatable idea.  The truth however is that during our searches, the information we got was not always as we had initially foreseen and we couldn’t pull off some of our ideas. This really slowed our research pace. However, the objective of departing mid 2012 was still held, thus assuming that within months we would have to communicate our resignation intentions, warn our families, save every single euro possible, etc, etc. We couldn’t pull it off. Maybe because the attachment to the cause wasn’t totally there yet, or simply because it wasn’t the best timing. We weren’t able to move forward with the idea. So, during the Spring and Summer we agreed to leave the “adventure planning” on standby.

Almost one year after having this “carbohydrate-overdose Sunday conversation” and, whilst having lunch at “Bosque” restaurant in the middle of Maia, we started to entertain the idea of going nomad for a year. Why? Because everything (family, friend, work,…) was going well. Neat daily routine. Everything was lining up for us to continue doing what we had been doing so far, and maybe consider taking bigger steps between the two of us, after a short while. Realizing that we were living that point in life where we can just sit back and kind of enjoy a daily routine, which can be pleasing on most days, also made us wonder if we shouldn’t rock the cage and rethink the “going nomad” path.

We went through a few weeks of pondering, going through pros and cons, cost-benefit analysis and so forth. No doubt everything was/is great here, but in reality none of us really felt accomplished and that feeling deep down to kickstart Pegadas em Pangeia was still very much alive, therefore…we sealed the deal and finally…digested the idea!

Consulta do Viajante

By
PPangeia
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0

Um dos primeiros passos para quem se prepara para fazer malas, independentemente do destino, é averiguar a necessidade de marcar a sua consulta do viajante.


Bula do viajante

  • médico: consulta efectuada por médico especialista em doenças infecciosas e em medicina tropical;
  • para quê: aconselhar as medidas preventivas a adoptar antes, durante e depois da viagem (vacinação, medicação preventiva da malária, higiene individual, alimentação e hidratação);
  • vacinas obrigatórias: febre amarela, poliomielite e meningocócica (específica da Arábia Saudita);
  • outras vacinas: cólera, difteria, encefalite japonesa, hepatite A, hepatite B, gripe, raiva, tétano e febre tifóide;
  • localização: consultas e centros de vacinação espalhados por todo o país.

Para mais informações consulte o site: consulta do viajante.

As nossas pegadas (a nossa consulta do viajante)


Dar uma voltinha pelo mundo. First thoughts?! A Índia e o Immodium, o Nepal e os Himalaias, a Ásia e a Malária…! Ok, não é bem isto, mas acreditem que, a meio dos preparativos, a vontade de levar umas piquinhas para prevenir certas maleitas é certa!!

Convém começar a pensar na marcação da consulta do viajante com alguma antecedência (1 mês, mês e meio) e os contatos para realizar a marcação podem ser encontrados neste link acima enunciado.

No nosso caso, fomos à consulta do viajante no Porto de Leixões, no dia 16 de Abril.  A entrada é do lado de Matosinhos, perto da rotunda que dá acesso à ponte.  Por dia, é atendido um número fixo de pessoas, sem conseguir precisar ao certo arriscamos dizer que não mais do que 20. Após efetuar a sua reserva por telefone, é importante lembrar que o atendimento é por ordem de chegada. As consultas começam por volta das 9h e, se quiserem estar entre os primeiros, é ideal chegar 30 minutos antes (chegámos 10 minutos antes e tínhamos com 5-6 pessoas à nossa frente).

Devem levar o cartão de cidadão e o boletim de vacinas atualizado (a verdade é que não levamos o boletim, mas é recomendado que o façam, especialmente se não tiverem bem presente que vacinas já tomaram no passado).

Depois de preenchermos uma ficha simples com os nossos dados, eventuais problemas de saúde, alergias, medicação e países que vamos visitar, entrega-se o processo e pouco tempo depois vêm chamar-nos para a consulta.

O médico confirma os dados do nosso processo e começa por identificar se há riscos de saúde nas zonas para as quais vamos viajar.

Core da consulta

As principais advertências, dada a lista de países que pretendemos visitar (de entre os quais Índia, Vietname, Cambodja e Laos), recaem sobre a malária:

  •  profilaxia diária ou semanal, consoante o período de estadia (dado não existir vacina contra a malária);
  • momentos do dia nos quais o ataque do mosquito é mais perigoso : períodos de transição – amanhecer e anoitecer;
  • roupa que devemos vestir : trapos que tapem os bracinhos e perninhas;
  • uso obrigatório de repelente (pelo menos 50% DEET; compra-se em farmácias ou na amazon.co.uk);
  • ideal, ideal é dormir em locais com A/C (os micro sangue-sugas não gostam do frio), garantir que o quarto está bem vedado (atenção às frinchas na janela e portas) e, muito importante, cobrir a cama com uma rede de mosquitos (compra-se na Decathlon);

Outras advertências, valiosas quando se visitam países em desenvolvimento, passam por só consumir água engarrafada, evitar sempre gelo na bebida, evitar consumir marisco pequeno (camarão pequeno, amêijoas, entre outros).

No final da consulta do viajante o médico dá-nos os contatos disponibilizando-se para responder a qualquer dúvida durante a viagem, por telefone ou e-mail , o que nos permite obter atualizações de saúde e eventuais epidemias antes de entrar em zonas eventualmente problemáticas.

Todo o staff foi muito profissional e simpático, e saímos com uma sensação de tranquilidade, o que é especialmente confortante quando nos preparamos para visitar locais com algum risco.

Pelas 10h30 já estávamos despachados da consulta do viajante, munidos dos nossos boletins de vacina internacionais, desejados pedaços de cartolina amarela que nos viabilizam a entrada em boa parte dos destinos que pretendemos visitar!!

consulta do viajante

Travel Vaccines / Health

By
PPangeia
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0

One of the first steps you should take 4-6 months prior to embarking on a RTW is schedule your appointment with the doctor (in Portugal we call it “consulta do viajante”) and dentist. No matter where you’re going, you should have all the necessary information to ensure your health is protected and you’re travel vaccines up to date.


Traveller’s Health Dictionary

  • doctor: get your consult with a doctor with expertise in contagious diseases or tropical medicine; in Portugal we have a specific appointment for travellers (“consulta do viajante”) that is with a doctor specialized in attending travellers;
  • why go? to get advice on the best prevention measures for the before, during and after trip (travel vaccines, malaria prophilaxys, personal hygiene recommendations, eating recommendations, among others);
  • mandatory travel vaccines: yellow fever, polio, meningitis (specific to Saudi Arabia);
  • other travel vaccines: cholera, difteria, japanese encephalitis, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, flu, rabies, tetanus and typhoid fever;
  • where to get it: local health facilities or your personal doctor.

For more information on the subject, if you live in Portugal, go to: consulta do viajante.

Our footsteps


Take a small tour of the world. First thoughts?! India and Immodium, Nepal and the Hymalayas, Asia and Malaria…! Ok, not exactly like this, but trust us that, in the middle of your preparations, the will to get a few needle stings (aka travel vaccines) on our skins to prevent certain diseases is certain!!!

We recommend you start thinking about your doctor’s appointment with some time in advance (we had ours 3 months in advance).

In our case, we went to the traveller’s appointment at Port of Leixões on April 16th, 2013. The entrance is on the Matosinhos side of the canal, close to the roundabout that enables a driver to cross the bridge. Everyday they only receive a fixed number of travellers, probably around 20. There are other places where you can book the appointment in Porto, we simply found this one to be convenient. You need to call or e-mail in advance to pre-book your appointment, but there is no fixed hour for the appointment, it’s on a first come, first served basis. The appointments begin at 9 am and if you want to be among the first people to have your appointment, you should plan to get there 20 to 30 minutes in advance (we got there 10min in advance and already had  5-6 people ahead of us).

Don’t forget to bring your ID and vaccine card with you. You can have the appointment with this last document, but it is highly recommended you take it with you to avoid getting travel vaccines you don’t need or not getting a vaccine that they can assume you’ve had in the past (tetanus for instance). If you can’t find your vaccines card, get it at your local health facility, they can get a copy for you in no time at all.

After filling out a simple form with our personal data, possible health conditions, alergies, medication and countries we plan to visit, you hand the form to one of the nice staff members there and a few moments later they will call out your name.

The doctor will confirm the information you filled out in the form and starts by identifying health hazards in the intended travel areas.

Main recommendations

The main things to be on the look out for us, given the countries we plan to visit (such as India, Vietnam, Cambodja and Laos) are about malaria:

  • take your daily or weekly prophilaxy, depending on how long your stay is for (since there are no travel vaccines against malaria yet);
  • moments of the day when the mosquito carrying the disease is more active (therefore when you should avoid being exposed); usually transition periods – dawn and dusk;
  • what clothes to wear; clothes that adequately cover your arms and legs;
  • the mandatory use of repellant (at least 50% DEET content; get it on pharmacies  or Amazon);
  • ideally look for places to sleep where there is AC (these little blood suckers hate cold), ensure the room is well sealed from the outside (mind the window or door cracks) and last but not least, cover your bed with a mosquito net (we got ours at Decathlon);

Other important recommendations, which apply to most developing or under developed countries, are to consume only bottled water, avoid ice on your drink, avoid small seafood/shell fish (small shrimp, clams, among others), which are more dangerous.

At the end of the appointment, the doctor will give you the contacts of that health center and he will let you know that anyone on  the staff is available to answer your questions or doubts during your trip, by phone or e-mail. They can also quickly send you health updates regarding potential hazards before entering given countries or specific areas within those countries.

Everyone in the staff was extremely professional and helpful and we got out of there with an inner feeling of peace, which is what I suppose anyone would want, when you’re preparing to visit high-risk locations!

By 10.30 am we were already done, we had our international travel vaccines cards, which are very important to cross some borders and even get VISAs in some of the places we hope to visit!!

segueaspegadas_200

Ponto de partida e ponto de chegada esperamos!

By
PPangeia
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0

“…tem muitos que trocam os bês pelos vês, mas poucos que trocam a liberdade pela servidão.”   frase de Almeida Garrett

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PORTO

“Da Ribeira até à Foz” iremos sentir a falta da nossa mui nobre Invicta nos próximos (God forbid!) 365 dias.

Não é fácil deixar uma cidade a que já estamos tão acostumados por um período tão longo de tempo. Ficam para trás as rotinas, mas acima de tudo a família e amigos. Claro que teremos muitas distrações numa base diária, mas não queríamos deixar de assinalar, se dúvidas houvesse, a importância que têm “os nossos mais chegados” nas nossas vidas.
Tentando por de parte estes pensamentos, fizemos um exercício simples de quais são as rotinas, sítios, coisas-a-fazer, que mais iremos sentir a falta. Quase em jeito de mini-guia Lonely Planet da cidade, só que este é o nosso mini-guia! Ora aqui vai:

  • Passeios pela Ribeira e Foz/Matosinhos – Sem dúvida das melhores atividades para relaxar e esquecer;
  • Brunch no BB Gourmet e jantares no Pasta Caffé;
  • As inolvidáveis saídas à noite nas Galerias;
  • Corridas no Parque da Cidade;
  • Visitas Estádio do Dragão – Ok, esta não é consensual, mas tinha que estar presente!

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Start line and finish line…we hope!

By
PPangeia
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0

“…tem muitos que trocam os bês pelos vês, mas poucos que trocam a liberdade pela servidão.”   frase de Almeida Garrett

free transtation: “…there are many of us that choose to use “b” instead of “v”, but few that choose servitude over freedom.” by Almeida Garrett

Note: in Portugal, as in many countries, each region has its own particular accent. In the city of Porto, it is common to hear folks pronounce words that include a “v”, as if they were spelt with a “b”. Imagine someone pronouncing “wabe” instead of “wave”.

 

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PORTO

“From Ribeira until Foz” (translated transcript from Rui Veloso’s “Porto Sentido” in English “Heartfelt Porto”), we will greatly miss our beloved and noble “Cidade Invicta” (Unvasquished City) for the next, hopefully, 365 days.

It’s not easy leaving a city to which we’ve grown so accustomed to, for such a long period of time. Leaving behing our daily routines, but above all family and friends. Although we’re sure we will have plenty of daily distractions, we had to somehow and somewhere mention  how much our loved ones will be missed over the duration of this trip.
Setting aside these longing feelings, we tried to summarize in this post the things we will miss the most: routines, places, stuff-to-do and many others. Almost as if this was a mini Lonely Planet Porto guide, except this is our very own mini-guide. Here goes:

  • Taking long walks along Ribeira and Foz/Matosinhos – no doubt one of the best things to do to get some rest, relax and forget your daily worries;
  • Brunch at BB Gourmet and dinners at Pasta Caffé;
  • The unforgettable nights at Galerias de Paris (Porto downtown);
  • Jogging at the city park (“Parque da Cidade”);
  • Visiting the Dragon Stadium – ok, this one is not consensual, but simply had to be here!

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