This blog wasn't written like a glossy travel magazine. No sugar coating the journey, no soothing sunset descriptions, and most importantly, no pretending the visa process wasn't a challenge, and it absolutely was. What you will find here are honest stories from the road, sometimes hilarious, sometimes humbling, and always worth telling.

 

My coming to Portugal took a lot of effort, a strong will to succeed, with a dream and hope for something better. After all the research, the paperwork, the appointments, the bank accounts, the tough rental market, the language barrier, I found it was more than worth it. I'm calmer, healthier, and I started writing, something I have wanted to do for as long as I can remember.

 

I started with the writing of this blog containing posts that detailed this new adventure. Then I thought about a guide for people that wanted to do exactly what I did. With no clear instruction manual to follow, I decided to write one, because people really need one and I have all my notes detailing every move I made in detail. After that I started writing stories for my nephew, that turned into a children's picture book that I self-published on Amazon which reached the top 100 in two categories, #17 on the Easter Picture Book list.

 

My path has taken me to places I never thought I would go, and to do things I always wanted to do. I am telling you this because you can do the same with a little effort and the right direction. If I can do it, you can too.

 

How it All Got Started

 

It was 2001, the morning after a 4th of July celebration, and I was sitting at home staring at an upcoming mortgage payment with no job to pay it. I'd just wrapped up the long and demanding years of raising two teenage boys on my own and I felt completely unsettled and exhausted.

 

Is this what freedom feels like? I thought. On the 4th of July of all days?

 

My answer was loud and clear. Hell no. There's more, a lot more. So I went looking for it.

 

First I asked myself a question that most people never get around to asking themselves: what do you actually want to do with your life? And then a harder one: where do you want to do it?

 

Over the next few weeks a wild plan took shape. A year long European adventure through Ireland and beyond. Sixty cities. Fifteen countries. A pint of Guinness at St. James's Gate in Dublin, a walk in the Scottish Highlands, tripping around London on the Tube, and running with the bulls in Pamplona Spain on my birthday. This was only the beginning and I knew it.

 

Fast forward to today. The political chaos and economic grind back home started feeling less like background noise and more like a reason to leave. I was treading water to pay bills that made no sense for the life I actually wanted to live. So I sold everything. What I couldn't sell I gave away. I packed up two large suitcases and a small backpack and set off for Portugal to pick up exactly where I left off years earlier.

 

The crazy American is back. Phase two just got started as the Wayward Drifter.

 

"Enjoy the journey as much as the destination."

 

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