Yeah, that’s right, I’m writing a blog now. You probably have heard about this idea hundreds of times if you knew me before. Or, as a slightly sarcastic procrastinator would say, this blog has been postponed due to more urgent projects that shall remain nameless. Anyway, for better or worse, it is finally here: a place where I can write about my travels, life, the universe, and everything else.

If you didn’t know me before, I have been on and off traveling for a few years by now. And, as it turns out, getting to know places and people, and learning new things is what I love about life. Or at least it came to be after I spent many years at university or work. The life-changing step, however, was only taken in the summer of 2021 (not 1969, sorry), when I left my ‘normal’ office job and decided to see and learn what else can be out there. Now, almost one and a half years later, I’m starting to write about it. With some delay, of course, but better late than never?

So, PenguingAround! Some more attentive readers might note that with a name like that, a blog could literally be about anything, from a March of The Penguins-like wildlife documentary to chronicles of penguin-looking aliens invading Earth and roaming around without much idea of what to do (it would be an awesome idea for a movie script, but unfortunately aliens in real life are more likely to be crabs and possibly more lethal). Instead, this is about my impressions of the world and how I’m trying to live my life. It will probably include some life hacks I learned while visiting places, tips for travel itineraries and how to find them, some ideas against consumerism, and comments about irrational ways modern life drags us into unconscious patterns. If I were a good writer, I’d say this is my (first?) attempt at creating some piece of reflective and realistic literature. But I’m not, so this will be something between a travel blog and a travel journal, a bit more focused on the latter. I do promise to talk about penguins eventually, though.

But I digress! My first attempt at writing a blog happened almost a year ago, after what turned out to be a particularly awful couple of days in Sicily, about five months after I left my last fixed home for the last time. Somewhat suddenly, when walking alone along the beautiful sand-colored streets of Palermo, I had a fixed (and surprisingly good) idea: I had been through a lot of strange and unexpected situations. Maybe some people might find it useful to procrastinate reading about my experiences instead of watching cat videos. I can’t compete with them in cuteness (or humor… or arguably hunting skills), but there might be someone out there who still likes to read about alternatives to a life behind a desk and a computer screen, and might appreciate some information about the places I’ve visited, how I manage to travel relatively cheap, and what I am doing out there.

The beautiful sand-colored streets of Palermo, but at night.

Ideally, I might even be able to explain using a limited number of adverbs why experiencing the world is so important to me and tell a story about traveling solo and living out of a backpack. Not ideally but still good enough, writing a blog will keep me occupied during rainy days and long, wifi-free bus rides. More realistically, this blog will keep some bits of advice and ideas from being lost forever in the void of social media, as I tend to forget details of my trips if I don’t write them down. Finally, and very importantly, this is not supposed to be a travel blog with tips on where to stay in a given city or how to survive traveling with 10 dollars a day for a lifetime. Google is full of those made by people who have seen many more places than I have. They are probably capable of giving you recent updates on prices, opening times, and trendy nightclubs everywhere. Still, I do want to share tips and tricks I’ve learned about travel routes and how to live with relatively little for months or, hopefully, years (as it will become hopefully evident, I’m not a big fan of owning or carrying a lot of stuff – I do believe the cliche saying that happiness comes from experiences). That said, most of my nights have been spent in hostels or cheap Airbnbs, in case I happen to be traveling with friends. Which reminds me, I have been mostly traveling alone, although I have met incredible people and made good friends (some of those are penguins, but definitely not all). Solo travel is becoming increasingly popular, specially with the spread of ideas of remote work, but it’s still a bit of a mystery for people who have never done it. And if you happen to fall into this group but are still kind of curious, I hope this blog can answer some of your questions. If it doesn’t, then maybe you can ask me here directly. You’d be surprised how many times I’ve been asked about this on social media (something around three or four!).

Now, not to finish a potential travel journal in an underwhelming tone: I do write this from a sunny city in Mexico, at the beginning of another European winter I’m lucky enough to be able to avoid. I plan, however, to write posts more or less not in chronological order, so I have a built-in excuse in case things get out of control or stop making sense. But then again, wouldn’t it be a good picture of life itself?

Finally, if you are still reading, nice to meet you, dear reader! I promise a world of maybe entertaining but hopefully useful posts every now and then! And a few penguins, of course! Here is the first one:

Here is the penguin that inspired it all, in all its backpacking glory!

See you around,
Bruno