We made it!

Hello reader of my blog,

we made it! After about 500 kilometer of cycling I can proudly announce that I arrived safe and sound at the final destination "Faro". I already hit the target about 3 days ago, but really haven't had the chance to state news earlier - the sun shines strongly every day and after 2 weeks of wearing a shirt while cycling I got that kind of a "farmer tan", which I am hardly trying to compensate right now...
Nevertheless we totally nailed it! I also received another donation today, which brings us to an amount of 1410 EUR in total. It's simply amazing to see what we've been able to accomplish!
Another adventure comes to an end as I have to take my flight back home tomorrow... I'm grateful for the moments I shared with the people that came across my way on this journey. I'm happy for the new memories that will always be a part of me, for the experiences and lessons I've learned. Moreover I'm truly amazed by the people who followed and helped me to raise the money for this project. A huge THANK YOU goes out to all of you guys! Seriously, I'm touched by the support I received from all around the world when I put this project to life, which helped me a lot to keep up the daily motivation I honestly needed to get all through.

For now, this is going to be the last post about my time in Portugal, but believe me, new projects are already in mind!

I leave you with the best wishes and of course, never forget to stay awesome!

Dom 😊 ✌

Pure camping experience in Lagoa

Another day, another story!

Back on the road again I started yesterday cycling on my own from Lagos to Lagoa, probably something about a 30 kilometer ride. It didn't take me too long to get there. Now that I am by myself I can go my own pace. Not saying it was too slow with Pedro and Eduardo...
Lagoa is a place I can highly recommend to you guys. Great atmosphere. Small alleys filled with a variety of restaurants. Nice to lay back for a while. A hidden beach based between the rocks and an absolutely stunning sunset walk straight on the cliffs. I'm already about to head off, but this place is truly one of the highlights on my journey so far. Will happily return one day, for sure! Okay, after dinner (tuna with noodles) and the sun set I was forced to find a place to stay for the night soon as daylight disappears quite quick during that time of the year. I was so fascinated about the scenery that I just decided to stay near the cliffs (only needed to find a hidden place), with the rewarding sound of the ocean in the background, despite the fact that someone could have seen...and well, what can I say, it happened to be the most beautiful spot for camping so far. I opened my tent and I had this incredible few of the cliffs and the ocean just in front of me. Epic!
I'll make it today until Albufeira and will hopefully find another camping spot like this. Let's see what's coming next!

All the best from Portugal!
And don't forget to stay awesome guys!

Dom 😊 ✌

In love with Portugal

Hey people,

how are we doing?
Well, I'm doing fine here in Portugal! Having a great time so far and no complaints at all! Landscape is beautiful and everything else pretty much fits in as well. The Algarve with its cliffs and in general is simply amazing and in combination with the rough sea a breath taking experience which absolutely worth a visit. Although I have to admit it's a bit tricky to find a quiet and moreover a safe spot to set my tent, because of the crowded areas even during winter time. People everywhere...very different to the west coast earlier. That's why I decided to stay at a camping ground yesterday.   Unfortunately I also had to say goodbye to my travel mates just yesterday. It helped me a lot to have Pedro and Eduardo on my side the past days as they were Portuguese and knew the secret spots. Apart from that I just really enjoyed being with them as they were such nice company. Great characters!
Yeah, which means I'm all by myself for now and I still have 6 days to go...

Right now I'm sitting at a restaurant called "Casa Baia" in Lagos just in front of the port. I ordered a chicken ham toast and an orange juice, only to use the WiFi to be honest...the sun is strong, only a few clouds in the sky and a decent breeze from the ocean is shaking the palm trees on the esplanade. It's fairly busy and a lot of people are passing by. It's quite noise already and that's why I'm going to pay the bill and will head further east in a bit...

Stay awesome!
Dom 😊 ✌

Arrived in Sagres

Hey there,

yesterday we finally arrived in Sagres. It was fairly bit of a mission to get here as the roads got quite steep and cycling the entire way didn't really make it a lot easier for us. Well, you always have in mind that when cycling uphill there must be a part of downhill...
Sagres is the place where you can find the most south western point of the European main land. A place that offers an incredible scenery of the coast line including huge cliffs and a rough ocean. A beautiful spot to watch the sunset and to reflect on the happenings the past days.

I already managed it to get all the way south and to explore a bit of the Algarve. From now on I will go east until I reach Faro. I've plenty of time left, so I guess it will be easy going. I might leave my travel mates Pedro and Eduardo today, because their main goal was to reach Sagres. Traveling together made things a lot easier especially for me. I'm excited about the things ahead and will leave you guys with some impressions of the journey.

Stay awesome!
Dom 😊 ✌

Still cycling!

Bom dia reader of my blog!

You probably won't believe it, but YES I'm still cycling and we are making good distance towards the final destination "Faro". We are getting closer and closer, paddle after paddle. The days are extremely hot - the temperature easily hits the 30 degrees mark which is quite exhausting at times, but still, we make good progress. Yeah right, I'm still with the two friends from Portugal. I'm very happy to have met them. Great company can be hard to find - this time I truly got lucky with both of them.
Last night we camped at a hidden spot just in front of the beach. Another perfect spot for the night and to have dinner. Guess what - of course cooked noodles with tuna (the 4th day in a row I assume - I also will have some later again haha). I recon today was the hottest day so far and yet we managed to leave approx 25 k's behind. Awww by the way - obviously the board computer I just bought recently is a piece of shit! Bugger! So I'm doing this trip without one - that'll do! Well, sorry for not being able to state the exact amount of kilometers I did. However, basically everything is fine and the coastal line of Portugal is seriously breath taking which absolutely worths a visit!

We already settled in for tonight. It has been a tough day with ups and downs.
But definitely with more ups today!

I guess that's all for now.
Wish you guys a peaceful night and regards from Portugal!

Dom 😊 ✌

Making progress!

Here we go guys!

Okay, starting from Lisbon making my way down south I first had to take two ferries to get on the main road where the adventure began. People seem to be very friendly and helpful at the same time which gave me a positive feeling about the whole trip 😊. The language barrier here isn't quite as hard to manage as at times I was traveling Vietnam. Well, as a matter of fact, I'm still in Europe right!

My first day of cycling turned out to be a decent one! Got some ups and downs on the road - no dramas at all! I also found a great place to settle for the night, near the ocean between the dunes - a marvelous spot to have dinner and to watch the sunset. Oh hang on, how about that: I bought a bottle of gas for my cooking equipment (I brought the cooker to the shop and to make sure I'm buying the right one I also asked the service). Well, I guess you know what's coming right!? Of course - I was just about to prepare dinner somewhere in the middle of the dunes when I noticed that I bought the wrong gas can for my camping cooker! Yeeees! Crispy noodles with tuna isn't actually too bad!
After a long night with a bit of rain I got up fairly early to make distance before midday as I realised the sun gets quite strong and I got a bit sun burned the other day already...back on the road again I bumped into two Portuguese guys basically traveling the same route as I do. We straight got into conversation and they are really nice company for the journey. Right now I'm sitting on a camping ground in Milfontes and I'm still with the guys. We are having a good time and just about to hit the road again...

We will see what's coming next - for sure you will hear about it!

Dom 😊

Back on the road again!

Hey people,

as I already mentioned earlier I am going to keep you updated during my next adventure! So, stick to the blog if you want to see how I get on or just check out my Facebook account to stay informed!

Okay - how should I start? Well, right now I'm sitting on a sofa in the hostel where I checked in for tonight...

The day started out to be pretty good. No stress at the airport, got all my luggage, no issues with the bicycle and even the first "conversation" in Portuguese went well (said "Hello my name is Dominik and I'm from Germany", when ordering a chicken baguette). So far so good!

After carrying my bicycle all stairs from the metro I managed to arrive in the city center of Lisbon! Great feeling to embrace the atmosphere which hit me right through! The only thing I yet needed to do was to find a hostel...that's where I had some problems with - well, you might think I could have just pre booked one, but come on, traveling is more fascinating if you have absolutely no idea where you end up, right!? It turned out that the first 4 hostels I asked for a bed where fully booked. I got lucky with no. 5 and here we are - sitting on a sofa at 1 o'clock with relaxing music in the background, trying to find the right words for my blog 😊.
It couldn't have been a more exciting start for me in Portugal and I'm even more excited about cycling the coast down south!

I want to finish with another life lesson of today: I met this guy just before taking the flight from Eindhoven to Lisbon today. He was confusingly asking me if this is the right gate he was standing on. Well, it wasn't and I kindly helped him out and told him where to go as he had to take a different flight to Lisbon at a later schedule.
Hours later in Lisbon when I needed to buy the ticket for the metro I realised that the ticket machines weren't working properly. There was a huge queue in front of it and waiting probably would have taken me like another 30 min...
Well, what should I say. Just in front of the queue was that same guy I helped out earlier the day. Apparently he was Portuguese and knew the lady at the service desk. He was returning the favor and bought me the ticket so I haven't had to wait 😊.
When spreading kindness and helping people, it's like a circle, sooner or later it will return to you! 😊 ✌

Dom