In the past, and sometimes still today, grapes for wine were crushed under joyous stamping feet. I imagine it like a raucous, and somewhat messy, expressive dance party. For the most part, those stampers, as I’m choosing to call them, have been replaced by these mechanical alternatives, pictured above. I took this picture and heard the sad tale while exploring the Douro wine valley in Porto, Portugal.
“You’ll get your results in eight days.”
That was Friday. Since then, I’ve been doing all I can to forget about the small hole in my thigh that mustn’t get wet. Read more
There was something familiar about San Pedro de Atacama from the moment we arrived. We struggled to put our fingers on it until suddenly it became clear: the oasis in the middle of the desert was a little like being at Glastonbury festival in the UK. Here’s why: Read more
If you had a superpower, what would it be? We’ve been asking this and other revealing questions to people around the world since we started our journey back in March. We’ve spoken to a chocolate seller, a horse whisperer, the owner of a restaurant in Rio’s favelas, and many, many more. We used to post the interviews on our other blog, If I had a Superpower, but we’ve decided to start putting them on Bridges and Balloons instead. It’s such an important part of our journey – talking to the people we meet – that it doesn’t make sense to keep the projects separate.
We’ll post our first interview soon, but for now, here are some of our favourite answers from the past seven months. Read more
When I first went travelling to Tanzania 12 years ago, I used to go to the post office each day to check for letters. There was one computer with internet in the local town of Lushoto, and my uncle was one of the only people I knew who had an email address. When I sent him an email, it would take at least an hour to put together over the rickety modem connection. This cabin, on Isla del Sol in Lake Titicaca, made me think back to those days. It exists in one of the most remote locations on Earth yet I was barely surprised to see it. Perhaps I sound like a Grandma, but my how things have changed.
Back in July, I received an email from Kate McCulley, better known as Adventurous Kate. She was replying to an email I’d sent, and in it she mentioned an event she and a group of other experienced bloggers were running in September. They were offering a group of new bloggers the chance to stay with them in a villa in Spain and pick their brains on everything blogging. It was an amazing opportunity with one glaring pitfall: I was in Argentina and it was in Europe. Read more
We are Victoria and Steve, a writer/yoga teacher and filmmaker from London, who decided to start living the life we want to rather than the life we thought we should.
We’ve been working and travelling around the world since March 2012. Follow us for travel tips and inspiration as we journey, write, film, volunteer, couchsurf, retreat and ponder our way round this planet.
