Travel off the beaten track and experience

I’d wanted to do an Azores road trip for years. I have a thing for rugged and wild islands, the kind that you feel you could have been shipwrecked on centuries ago. And smack dab in the middle of the Atlantic 1,400 kilometers from the nearest continent, the Azores certainly fit that description. Though, to be fair, these islands are so beautiful you certainly wouldn’t mind being shipwrecked there. Created by volcanoes a mere 15,000 years ago – a blink in the geological timeline – traveling the Azores is unlike anywhere else I can think of. It’s most often compared to the Hawaii of Europe. But lacking Hawaii’s massive resorts, body slam of tourism, and huge price inflation (seriously, the Azores are about as affordable as Lisbon, which is to say they’re not expensive at all), I find this comparison doesn’t do the Azores justice. My friend and I had a limited amount of time to travel the Azores, so we focused only on Sao...

The Black Hole of Europe So after about 11 days, Jon and I finally escaped Lagos’s suction. It was hard but as some of you have heard, Jon got mugged at gun point a couple days back…This made it easier to leave. He is OK and very lucky to be. He had been using the phone across from the hostel, as he did almost every night. He got everything important taken but fortunately they tossed his passport, visa and debit card and someone turned them into the police. So he lost his Euro rail but we do have a protection plan that will reimburse him for a portion. Again, just lucky he did not get hurt bad. Too bad that happened as I’m sure Lagos was Jon’s favorite place. We met a lot of cool people while staying at the “Rising Cock hostel” A definite party place and it will be missed, as will the black hole of Europe. But time to move on. In Seville Spain now and are going to take it easy for a couple days. Need a vacation from the vacation. It was 31 degree...