About me
Ciao! I am Elena and I am the lil' nomad behind this blog.
I am Italian by birth but call Scotland home and have lived in a bunch of different countries.
Travel is what has defined my whole life and I can't imagine ever being happy without it. I am addicted to exploring the world, listening to its stories and capturing them with my camera. I am passionate about nature and the outdoors but also about history and heritage. And if a destination has any kind of street food, you bet I will want to try it.
I am strongly supportive of an ethical and sustainable lifestyle to make our impact on the world a positive one, and I alwaysh make an effort to behave accordingly on the road too.
I hope that by sharing my travel and life experiences I will inspire you to venture out there and explore the world, whether that means flying to a foreign country where reading street signs is a decoding effort, hiking in the national park a couple of hours away from your house, or finally visiting that street market in your very own hometown.
Every time you leave your comfort zone and keep a curious and open mind, you give yourself the chance of a new experience, and experiences are what life is all about, right?
What you can expect from this blog is a mixture of:
practical travel information and guides to help you plan your own trips
stories and impressions from my first-hand experiences of the world
reports of hikes and other outdoor activities
This blog will continue to grow as I transition back into a more nomadic life. So stick around if you are curious to see where I end up next. It may be where life decides to take you too.
A little armchair traveller
I was born in Italy near Venice and grew up surrounded by my country's abundant beauty.
Venice is a city of old stories which fed my fervid imagination and made me hungry for more. It wasn't long before the familiarity with Venice canals and calle's led my curious mind to long for new horizons and new stories. I read books set in foreign lands and lost myself in my dad's old atlas.
My parents worked long hours, we lived in a small two-bedroom flat, and as an only child I spent most of my afternoons home either alone or under a babysitter's watch.
But I can't recall ever feeling lonely or claustrophobic. Books gave me escapism, and in my mind I was often in some exotic land where people spoke some strange language and buildings had original architecture.
When fantasy turned into reality
Before turning 20 I almost only visited my home country.
My parents used to take me on a yearly summer vacation to Southern Italy. I have some core memories from those holidays - the big blue slate of the sky, the fiery sunsets, the lazy days at the beach, the loud singing in the car during road trips, and the memorable dinners under the stars. I also remember long motorway queues in 35°C heat to reach our destination and people stepping out of their cars-turned-ovens to socialise. Yes, that was before all cars had a/c.
The only other country I visited before turning 20 was the UK. In my early teens I spent part of my summer holidays at a college in the English countryside to learn and practice the language.
A topical moment in my youth was my first visit to London. At that point I was a young girl mainly accustomed to small Italian cities and towns, and the huge multicultural metropolis filled me with wonder. I remember vividly the sense of awe for those grand buildings, the surprise at fully suited businessmen speeding past me on their bicycles, the almost hypnotic appeal of new food aromas spilling out of restaurants and combining in the streets. Riding the Tube or catching a double decker bus was as exciting as riding a rollercoaster. People looked different, spoke in a way I barely understood, and had an unfamiliar body language. That was my first culture shock and I immediately knew I wanted more.
And then the world became my oyster
After turning 20 my life focus became travelling.
As a university student I saved every penny to go on as many trips as possible. I hardly partied or spent money on non-necessary things: my priority was to hit the road or hop on a plane at each semester break.
Towards the end of uni I took things further and moved with a friend to Dublin, Ireland, for the whole summer. There was a lot of partying, sure, but there was also a complete immersion in a city and a country I had never visited before. I held a full-time office job, acquired a group of regular friends, gained access to precious locals' knowledge, understood the culture and embraced the customs of Dubliners. No week-long trip could have ever allowed me to experience all that. And being non-native gave me the considerable benefit of not taking any of that for granted and to relish every moment.
Nothing was the same after Dublin.
I had learned that to fully understand and appreciate a place I had to become part of it as much as possible. Holidays could give me a view of the surface but what I craved was insider knowledge. I wanted to know the history of a place not just by reading about it and visiting historical sites, but by hearing the stories of its people. I wanted to taste the local food not just by eating at typical restaurants, but by eating what locals ate in their homes. In other words, I needed to reside there.
A nomadic life
Following my uni graduation I found myself in a different country every year for six years in a row.
I started by using working-holiday visas, which took me to Australia, New Zealand, and Canada.
Australia
I went to Australia first because I had started a long-distance relationship with an Aussie guy. As soon as I arrived, his family welcomed me with open arms. I now even had a family away from home. To this day I miss those people and I will be always grateful for how they shared their lives with me, making me forget about my 'foreigner' status.
Core memories from Australia include:
pinching myself as I crossed the Sydney Harbour Bridge on my work commute to the city centre
eating the best morning bacon-and-egg roll cooked on a rudimentary barbie after a night spent camping in the bush
undressing clumsily while running at full speed across scorching hot sand to dive in the epic waves of the Pacific Ocean
marvelling at the mesmerising sunsets offered by the vastest sky I have ever seen anywhere in the world
New Zealand
In New Zealand I worked full-time for twelve months in Wellington and spent the following three in a van touring the country with the insider knowledge I had accumulated. Of all the countries I lived in, this was the hardest to leave. Not only did I fall in love with its sheer natural beauty, but I was inspired by its people and their inclusive culture. Here I also found some deep, soul-nourishing friendships.
Core memories from New Zealand include:
laughing hysterically at the people who, like me, battled the infamous Wellington wind on the waterfront on their way to work
the sense of freedom upon waking up in my van and deciding where to go next during my first van-life experience
spending an authentic kiwi Christmas with my dearest friend's family
waking up in my tent to birds chirping during a memorable three-day hike on the Queen Charlotte Track
Canada
Canada was a challenge on the work front, as the working-holiday visa for Italian citizens is only valid for six months. Due to this very short timeframe, I only managed to land very temporary and unexciting jobs, which made it somewhat difficult for me to feel integrated. On the other hand, I had the chance to see majestic wildlife and some jaw-dropping landscapes. Also, Canada gifted me with Tyler, my life buddy. I guess that more than made up for the work struggles!
Core memories from Canada include:
spotting the first bear as it strolled right outside my window just a few days after landing
experiencing the coldest winter of my life in Calgary from the comfort of my cosy condo
introducing Canada to my parents during our first ever family reunion on foreign land
enjoying the food scene in Vancouver. From some of the best sushi in the world to finger-licking bannock (native fried bread) to hearty Ukrainian fare and more, this city is second to none for food choices. My food knowledge expanded like never before.
By the end of my time in Canada I had shed a fair bit of my Italianness. I only spoke my mother tongue when calling my parents, had fries more often than pasta, and could even bear to go grocery shopping in non-matching colours.
Landscapes aside, cultural similarities outnumber the differences between Australia, New Zealand and Canada, and after three years in what felt like one country, my life started getting a tinge of predictability.
That comfort zone was feeling a little constricting and I was missing the sense of wonder brought by unfamiliar horizons. So, after meticulously saving for a year, Tyler and I had enough to be on the road for a while, and we took off for more exotic lands.
Southeast Asia
We spent the following 9 months backpacking in South-East Asia and this was a deeply enlightening time.
We started in Vietnam, and the moment I set foot in the narrow streets of Hanoi's old quarter I knew I was in for a treat. The nostalgia-inspiring crumbling colonial architecture, the manic scooter traffic noise mixed with the loud chirping of birds, the succulent and ubiquitous street food that was available for fractions of a dollar and whose fragrance invaded the streets and made me peckish at all times of the day, the chaos of black cables knotted around street poles and house corners. All of these unfamiliar things both woke my senses up and roused my curiosity for this magical city. I was travelling again!
Vietnam is wired for backpackers and visiting the country North to South was logistically easy and stress-free. We ended in Ho Chi Minh City and from there we moved to Cambodia.
I had heard lots about the temple complex of Angkor but I wasn't prepared for the kindness of the locals and the heavenly cuisine. One taste of aromatic amok (a thick Cambodian curry) and I almost vowed not to eat anything else for the rest of my visit.
I also fondly remember Cambodian markets, with the kaleidoscope of silks hanging and the shimmer of beautiful jewellery.
A core memory of Cambodia was visiting the famous temples during the rainy season, and seeing the crowds dissipate at a short-lived thunderstorm that left the whole Temple of Angkor empty for us to explore.
Cambodia was another fantastic discovery.
A ‘quick’ two-week visit to Thailand that mainly saw us eating pad thai in Bangkok and lounging on the beaches of Koh Tao, and we entered Malaysia.
Malaysia was perhaps the biggest surprise.
Penang and its phenomenal street food captivated us to the point that we struggled to leave it even after ten days, we hiked in the humid Cameron Highlands jungle, relished the green views of far-reaching tea plantations while sipping fresh mint tea, joined in Kuala Lumpur's nightlife and snorkelled among tropical fish in the Perhentian Islands.
And through all of this embraced and appreciated the way of life of a truly multicultural country.
I particularly enjoyed visiting during Ramadan, and seeing towns come to life at night, the squares taken over by street food markets, and dozens of families happily congregating under the stars to break their day-long fasting.
Singapore was a week-long visit mainly spent in its fabled food markets. However, its comparatively high prices made us long to move to our next destination: Indonesia.
Navigating Indonesia was logistically trickier than previous countries. But that was a healthy reminder that no matter how long you've been on the road, you should never be complacent about your travelling skills. Information on how to reach destinations was patchy and delays were regular and often lengthy.
However, I fell head over heels for the country, perhaps even because of its being slightly challenging. I visited majestic temples, witnessed life-affirming sunsets, stared right into the smoking mouths of volcanoes, ate some of the best food of my life, lost myself in colourful batik markets and fell in love with Balinese architecture.
Our 30-day visa limited our presence to the islands of Java and Bali, but I know I will need to go back to visit at least Sumatra and Lombok too.
During the previous months an idea had grown in our minds to tackle a major bucket-list item, India! So when we had to leave Indonesia we felt ready to take the plunge and booked our flights to Delhi.
I remember feeling that a dream was coming true.
But our India trip started off more like a nightmare.
If it was easy to reach New Delhi via the modern airport line of the metro, covering the last 3.5km to our hotel was a long stressful task. All tuk tuk drivers gave us a shared line that there was a festival in town and that we could not reach our hotel due to road closures. Upon our insistence, one of them ostensibly agreed to take us as near as he could, but instead drove us to a travel agency in a different part of town where they tried to sell us alternative accommodation. Clearly they were all part of the plot. We were exhausted and disoriented but walked away and had to bear more tuk tuk drivers approaching us with the same scam as we walked around trying to gather our bearings. Finally we found an honest rickshaw that took us to our booked accommodation. At that point I was ready to hop on the first flight out of the country!
But instead we stayed for almost four months, and in the process learned how to appreciate this incredible, complex country.
In India I found beauty in so many forms: in the mind-boggling heritage, the colours and glitter of women's sari's, the piercing dark eyes of the people, the experience of waves of flavours hitting you as you savour the heavenly cuisine.
But I only became able to enjoy India when I managed to suspend my judgement towards a culture that challenged some of my values. Unless you spend your time in the removed setting of a resort or an ashram, there is probably no place in India that won't make you work on yourself. And for me that was the single most important gift I received from the country.
The fondest memory I have of this time is making friends with a lovely family in the pretty town of Bundi. We ate at their authentic little restaurant every night, and spent hours talking about our lives and learning about each other's cultures. Their daughter would practice her henna skills on my hands and I had the privilege to be accompanied by her and her mother to shop for an authentic salwar suit. The shop was just a hole in a wall and I would have never seen, let alone entered, it without their guidance! They also gifted me with bangles and started calling me 'Indian girl'. I will always be grateful for meeting such generous souls.
In four months we visited a lot of the country and ended our India trip in Goa. In a twist of events, I had started craving some stability and comforts and, as Christmas time approached, I longed for a reunion with my parents. We bid farewell to Goan sunsets and hopped on a flight to Italy.
A nomadic heart longing for its previous life
Fast forward a few years and I was a home owner in Edinburgh with a 9 to 5 job!
Tyler and I chose to settle in Scotland after ten miserable months in London, ended up in busy office jobs, and I convinced myself that I would be happy with a few holidays during the year.
But I was wrong, and when Covid brought home how far I was from my family and friends and how important travel is for my ability to experience life to the fullest, I knew something had to change.
So here I am, trying to restructure my life so that I can achieve a better balance between work and fun (aka travel). Or even put the two together!
As a homeowner I may not be able to be constantly nomadic but with the event of smart working I can be on the road for longer.
I now travel with an even stronger emphasis on absorbing as much as possible from each destination, researching in depth before, during, and after visiting, and aiming to capture with my camera the beauty that surrounds me as well as I can.