Posts from a Flashpacker

nged person. I've been traveling full time since then! In 2018 it was Southeast Asia: Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Nepal, Bali, Singapore and Malaysia. Later that year found me in Tuscany for 2 months as I enjoyed some time house-sitting (at a haunted 15-century villa!) Next, a road trip through Croatia, then visiting Turkey, France... and an exotic trip to Madagascar!

2019 was magical as well - I walked the Portuguese Camino with a friend, explored the Andalusia region in Spain and hiked the Fisherman's Trail in Portugal and ended the year in Australia snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef, exploring the coast from Cairns to Sydney, and spent 3 weeks on the Sunshine Coast housesitting then hopped over to Tasmania and the north and south islands of New Zealand. Although 2020 was a Covid mess, I didn't let that stop me! I bought a VW Eurovan and drove up the east coast for the summer, (very socially distanced!). In the fall, I headed south of the border to Mexico for 3 months enjoying Oaxaca, CDMX, Guanajuato and more. Next, a Spanish immersion school in Medellin, exploring Colombia for a few months.

2021 didn't slow me down, either! After Colombia, I road tripped in Tilly, my VW campervan, up the West Coast of the USA, being blown away by Big Sur and the Redwood Forest. Then in August, I headed to Italy to explore my ancestral village and did #vanlife with the Frenchman through Italy, Switzerland, and Provence. A quick jaunt to Macedonia, then back to Spain for a month, Portugal for a few weeks, and ending in Turkey for a month to see the incredible Pammukale limestone terraces, Oludeniz on the Mediterranean, and Fethiye, Izmir, and Istanbul.

#dontstopwontstop!! A busy 2022 - a month in Tbilisi discovering the food, ancient wine techniques, and charming villages of Georgia, then a month in gorgeous Cyprus, where you can ski in the morning, be on the beach in the afternoon, and stop at a UNESCO archaeological site after dinner! Then off to Porto, Portugal to prepare for moving there in the fall to get residency with a D7 retirement visa. After almost a year living in and loving Portugal, I learned I could move to Italy and get citizenship recognition through ancestry ! So...off I went, to live in a small hilltop village in Umbria, Italy to apply and 5 months later, I was officially Italian. I now am the proud owner of a maroon EU passport. Very grateful for this, as the requirements and rules have sine changed and I would no longer qualify if I had waited! I've been living in Palermo, Sicily, since October 2024. This city is just magical! The energy, life, history, food, sunshine - I am truly enamoured! I've found a gorgeous apartment and I signed a lease - I've got a home base in Europe now! Along the way, I met a handsome French paraglider in Nepal - we have explored more than 20 countries on 6 continents together! We enjoy hiking, drinking wine, and being immersed in the local culture by doing Workaways and staying for longer periods of time in cheap accommodations to experience regular life. I hope you will come along and the journey with me as I learn, get lost, drink lots of wine, enjoy and explore.

-Cindy