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Travel

London: How to Get There

London: How to Get There

London. Who doesn’t want to visit this modern city that’s full of history and old world charm? I am in a few travel forums and often people ask for information on the best or most inexpensive way to get to London, what to do in London, if the London pass is worth it, Harry Potter […]

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When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves

Victor E. Frankl
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People take different roads seeking fulfillment and happiness. Just because they’re not on your road doesn’t mean they’ve gotten lost

Dalai Lama

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  • Built in the 18th century and covered with 15,947 Portuguese tiles (azulejos). in English, the name is Chapel of Souls. This centre scene depicts the death of Saint Francis. ⠀⠀ To those celebrating, have a blessed Easter weekend 💙💙
  • Porto. See the dude snapping the passing tram? Did you also notice the nice cafe and the possibly abandoned and derelict building to the left and right? ⠀⠀ Due to the 2008 global economics collapse and the local rental law that was too favourable to tenants, many buildings were not regularly maintained and/or abandoned by owners (about 1/3 of residents moved out of the city). ⠀⠀ Slowly and surely, partially due to the recent influx of tourism the buildings are coming back to life. ⠀⠀ My only hope is that the city doesn’t become Venice where only developers or the very wealthy can own property in the old town and the centre is mostly tourists. While the buildings with its dilapidatedness are very photogenic and I can’t say no to a cute cafe, it’s the local folks and culture that makes it special. ⠀⠀ Today we fly back but really hope to be back in Portugal again within the next year or so. The country is a gem with so many beautiful natural and historical corner, amazing food and drinks and the most friendly of people. It’s been a huge privilege for the girls and I to be here. ⠀⠀ Take care!
  • Porto right now reminds me of England: wet and grey 😬 After dinner I dropped the kids at the apartment and I explored our new neighbourhood. Look what I found!! I had coffee and a bit of port at this cafe. Too bad it’s wet out or I’d definitely be outside people watching. Such a peaceful and gorgeous spot!! ⠀⠀ The nice thing about traveling with an older teen is that I can now leave the kids in the apartment for a little bit and wander solo. They’re happy, they can be on their gadgets and chatting with friends or watch movies, and I am also because I can walk, snap, walk, wait and snap some more. While I don’t spend a lot of time with my photography, I don’t really like too empty of a street and I have to sometimes wait for somebody/something to wander by. While the girls put up with me, it can be a bit boring and I got to balance it out. ⠀⠀ Hope you all are enjoying a fabulous weekend. Take care!!
  • Highlight of the day: I met @sardinesplease!! And she’s just so nice and bubbly!! ⠀⠀ A short and sweet meeting. I think we talked IG for a minute and the rest of our time was spent talking about other stuff. My kind of chit-chats 😊 ⠀⠀ As much as I love social media and this platform of ours, it more important, in my humble opinion, to stay within the real stories of our own lives. ⠀⠀ As an influencer, it brings me great joy when somebody messages me and said: hey, I booked a ticket to so and so because of your photos. I love each of those messages! At the same time, we have to remember that what one sees on social media may not be what it seems and real life is most important. ⠀⠀ Sintra on a beautiful albeit slightly chilly day. ⠀⠀ We bought round-trip train tickets at Lisboa-Rossi train station (closest to our apartment) and a short 40-min ride (there is a direct train about every 20min or so), we were at the Sintra station. Once there, we queued for bus 434 and bought the €6.90 loop ticket. This got us to the Moorish Castle, Pena Palace and old town. If you want the bigger loop (if you stayed the night in Sintra or got there super early), it’s €15. For me, with kids, the small loop was enough. If you plan on training about, I recommend downing the Portugal train app. You can book long distance tickets and most importantly, you can see when train leaves each station. ⠀⠀ Driving up to Sintra isn’t recommended. The parking is limited and when you do get a spot, you better park as close to the wall as possible or you may get swiped by a bus. Some of the winding streets are super super narrow! ⠀⠀ Sintra... really magical!! Worth the time and cost to enter. Have a great weekend, all ❤️❤️
  • The busy street of Lisbon. ⠀⠀ The girls and I are in love with this beautiful city. We decided that we can live here forever. Now to just convince the hubby/daddy 😜😂 ⠀⠀ Not only is the city beautiful, it also has a little bit of everything we love in terms of lifestyle. ⠀⠀ We have a couple more days here and then off to Porto. More exploring and I really hope I can convince the girls for more seafood. Until next time!!
  • Cute alley of Faro. ⠀⠀ Wednesday I bought tickets to this beautiful coastal city. As of today I train tickets and lodging to Lisbon. What to do once there, 🤷🏻‍♀️. 🙈😂 ⠀⠀ Suggestions? Any good food, caffe, or places to must visit? ⠀⠀ Our Airbnb host recommended this cafe but we ended up eating at a (very delicious) local seafood fares restaurant instead. The if you are ever in Faro, check out Cidade Velha. The fish stew is sooooooooo good! ⠀⠀ Follow my Stories to see what the girls and I do this week!
  • This photo doesn’t show it but, it really was sunny yesterday in Heidelberg! Light jacket weather and sitting comfortably outside. ⠀⠀ I haven’t wander around much thus the lack of posts. I decided that I rather go for quality than quantity. What I mean is, I rather wait and share new contents than posting later grams after later grams just to keep my feed busy. ⠀⠀ I started driving/training about and I have seen many pretty blooms (besides enjoying many awesome cafes) but so far, not many pretty old (aka ancient) facades with pretty blooms. I appreciate modern buildings. We live in one, but in terms of photography and what I enjoy looking at, you all know I like them old. The older the better... ideally with a ghost story 😜 ⠀⠀ This is the major downside of moving to Germany from England. Compared to the UK, the cities, towns and villages that have survived time and a few major wars are at least 40min away from me. I can’t just nip to the grocery store and en-route snap my favourite cottage and share here with you. In England I was able to capture Norwich and Cambridge area frequently due to Emma’s gymnastics. Living just outside of Cambridge also helped. Now, all their activities are within 20min range and newer buildings don’t make my heart skip a beat and get excited about photographing. They’re just not wonky enough 🤷🏻‍♀️😬 ⠀⠀ The weather is nicer, the day longer and the kids have less after school activities. Hopefully this will help me in my wandering further afield and snapping. Take care!
  • The weather hasn’t been warm and I see snow flakes for next week on my app. But, my app (what Apple pre-installed) isn’t reliable and so we’ll see. ⠀⠀ What’s your part of the world like weather wise? ⠀⠀ Rothenburg when it was covered with a light dusting of snow. Pretty ain’t it? ⠀⠀ I love this photo because while not super busy with tourists, what you see is a small sampling of this super popular tourist destination. ⠀⠀ On selfie sticks... I am glad you don’t see so many nowadays. I am always happy when somebody ask me to take a photo of them although a few times it felt never ending. I mean they asked if I could take their photo, I said yes, was given the camera, I was then directed for a pose and then it went to another pose, and another, and another. Many many poses later I asked if they’re done 😂😂 ⠀⠀ Have a great one!
  • I love capturing daily life. ⠀⠀ Street photography and architecture was not my thing. But, I figured I’d give myself a challenge. ⠀⠀ It was hard at first, as you can see from my earlier photos, and I found out that flowers helped quite a bit in developing my love for photographing buildings, in particular English cottages. As I got more comfortable with buildings, I added life into it. Sometimes by those with me at that time, a staged stride-by, but as I got more comfortable and also acquired a vision of what I find interesting, I started shooting regular life. ⠀⠀ This is Maastricht one beautiful evening. The cafe scene, the people scene and to the right is one of the most fantastic book shop. It used to be a church. ⠀⠀ Have a great one!

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