Vila Nova de Milfontes

The past couple of days have been spent in what we thought would have been a sleepy little town, south of Lisbon, only to find out that everyone from Lisbon (and the rest of Europe, it seems) vacations here in the summer. It's a cute, picturesque fishing village along the Atlantic, with a charming town center, close proximity to beaches, and a laid back atmosphere. The surf has been pretty rough this week, so we hung up the boards and have been vegging out on great seafood and large cauldrons of wine on the beach, as seen below. Aymen has been wonderful company to spend our trip with. He's incredibly kind, warm, intelligent, and just generally connects with Niko and I very well. Given that we have traveled well together so far, we decided to scrap our previously held loose plans, and continue north with Aymen, until he goes back to Berlin at the end of the month. We spent

a couple of hours yesterday on our computers, researching and planning our route. We ultimately concluded on meeting up with Aymen in Lisbon on Sunday, heading north to Sintra on Monday (in a rental car-wish us luck!), staying a night in Coimbra, and ending up in Porto on Tuesday, staying through Friday of that week, when Aymen leaves. Niko and I are currently working on our plans thereafter, contemplating driving through Northern Spain and into France, specifically Biarritz, and back down, but we have not worked through all of the details. As a notorious planner, this trip has been a great lesson in letting go and just going with the flow. Had Niko and I been more rigid in our plans, we would not have gotten the opportunity to travel, form a friendship with Aymen, and experience Portugal all together.

On a more philosophical note, Niko and I have really been contemplating the idea of 'home' lately. We've been engaged in some pretty deep, (and admittedly, quite self-deprecating, on our end) conversations with all of our new European friends about the United States as compared to the rest of the world. Despite the myriad of problems we see the U.S. as plagued by, it is still our home, and ultimately, I can't see us living away from it in a long-term sense. There is something to the idea of a shared culture, of a people who all speak your language, who share your history, for better or for worse. I used to think I wanted to live abroad forever, but as I have gotten older, and have traveled throughout the years, I have been able to gain a new appreciation for the United States, as messed up as it is, often. This is nothing but a general musing on my part, we are not seriously

contemplating moving abroad (don't worry, anyone), but traveling and interacting with people from other countries always sparks a little introspection in me.