My Life Introduction

Hello community,

Me and my sweet ride for the tourists and digits; TukTuk in Lisbon, Portugal

I want to introduce my self as much as I can with this post.Although you will get to know me better as time goes on, for now, I can introduce you shortly to my life changes and changes of my perspective on presented „lifestyle“ itself by society.I am from Croatia, Split but at the moment I live in Portugal for about year and a half so far.

It all started spontaneous

Last year in October I made a strong promise to myself to change my monotonous and depressed life I lived each day since I was 16.So I started researching what can I do to spice it up.
I found Camino the Santiago, the pilgrim walk of 30 days through east France to West Spain finishing in city Santiago de Compostela.There are many different tours to start from of, but you can check more information on http://santiago-compostela.net/

Photo of possible pilgrim ways to reach Santiago de Compostela and other cities/villages.

Scallop shell or Jacob's shell - an iconic symbol of Camino de Santiago and today it is used, along with the yellow arrow, to guide pilgrims heading to Santiago de Compostela along its many different routes. Painted on trees, sidewalks, tiles, etc…

Surfing and Portugal

Since I was considering of doing it in October, conditions for it were not so good, so I had a suggestion from my brother to go to Portugal in a surf camp instead, and postpone the walk for next year.

RipCurl WorldSurf competition during my surfcamp; Peniche, Supertubos

Peniche, Portugal;One of the top spots in Europe for surfing

So there I was in Peniche, Portugal for 2 weeks learning how to surf.There was a bunch of people from Croatia, and one of my close friends.They all had their airplane way-back tickets already bought.
I didn't buy mine because I didn't want my mindset to change, and I Like the feeling of being free.Not having a date on ticket determine my choices.Just being free for opportunities, if something opens up I can take it, and so its how it happened.
Last day of the surf camp, I went to the center of the city, walked into the first hostel I saw.
I had to wait for the boss for an hour, but it was worth it because they needed volunteers for their hostel and I was a perfect fit.I stayed there for 9 months all in total, but I also traveled from there to the south of Lisbon, in county Algarve, city Lagos.

Porto, Portugal; Dom Luis Bridge

Recently before going to Lagos while I was in Peniche, I met a girl, blindly fell in love with her.She was from Porto.After we got together, I went to surprise her, and hitchhiked from Peniche to Porto, slept on the street 4 days to be with her, cuz I was broke and she lived with her parents.I remember I drove 70 km afterwards on new years eve towards her with zero lights on the road,(I rented a cheap-ass car and got cheap-ass car without lights, my bad) we were practically invisible on the highways, from Porto to Braga, most stressful ride of my life,but we were lucky I guess.Anyways it didn't end well between us sadly.I believe all shit happens for a reason, you're just gonna realize later for what it was.

Anyways
It was after 5 months of volunteering in Peniche.I was broke(volunteering is nice but only if you are prepared from before, but I spent all my „vacation“ money like an idijot first 2 weeks so I was struggling for months, but all cool heh) and the season was starting, so I wanted to take a bite of it if I can.

Lagos, Portugal - paradise for vacation and work

I remembered one guy mentioning Lagos how is good for work, party, and surf, so I packed my bags and went there.Also, later on, I've been told Algarve is good with tourism so I had to try.I had 15 euros in my pocket after I gave 10 euros for gas I hitchhiked, and a tent I borrowed from my friend because I was planning to squat in a deserted building and live in a tent inside.To keep the story short, it got much better then I expected afterward and I didn't have to squat after all.Struggling was over for that time heh xD

My favorite spot to take a dip n chill in Lagos, Algarve; Portugal

After Lagos, I came back to Peniche for a few months, and then afterward moved to Lisbon to explore him too.At the moment I am still there and working as a Tour Tuk-Tuk driver.Pretty fun job, released me out of my comfort zone and changed the image I had about myself. You gotta push yourself extra (competition is strong) if you wanna have food at the end of the day, but that's another story.

I hope the introduction is not too long, I tried to narrow down with bits and pieces from my recent happenings.

Thank you all for reading and I hope you can share some experiences and thoughts too .

Peace, Jacob