spain

Mirador Del pantà de Cuber Mallorca

Mallorca by Scooter: 9 Days of Freedom from University

Iris Veldwijk

During my final year at university, I sometimes had a week-long vacation. Just like normal people, Jonas and I would use that week to fly to a different country and do something cool. From Wednesday the17th till Thursday the 25th of October 2018, Jonas and I drove a scooter around the Spanish island of Mallorca. These were the most memorable things we saw. Far des Cap de ses Salines (Lighthouse) This was the first lighthouse we visited with our scooter. The path is quite accessible for beginner drivers. Unfortunately, all side access roads were blocked and privatized. This means you’llContinue reading

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Experiences of 2015, #3: Tarifa’s Digital Nomad Scene

Iris Veldwijk

#3.Tarifa’s Digital Nomad Scene This story about Digital Nomad life in Tarifa is part of a series on the epic experiences I’ve had of 2015. Part 1 is about Albania and Part 2 about hitchhiking an airplane over Malta. I wasn’t even planning to make a stop here until I knew this place is also the Southernmost Point of Europe on Land, but I’m more than happy that I did visit the beach town of Tarifa in Spain. My Samsung tablet had just broken a day prior, so I was “blind” hitchhiking from La Linea, close to Gibraltar, to thisContinue reading

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Canary Islands, beware of the Hitchhiker

Iris Veldwijk

Just five days until I hit up Las Palmas in the Canary Islands! I can’t wait to wear summer clothes again and walk in flip flops or barefoot. Wow, I’ll miss the beautiful autumn colors here in my hometown though! Such wow… I hitchhiked to my hometown again today to see more family and friends. Jonas and I have taken the train from Maastricht to my small train station Hollansche Rading. There’s no bus, so we hitchhiked from the roundabout to my mom’s house. This was Jonas’ first time hitchhiking. I think he liked it 😍 I’ll also need to startContinue reading

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I’m Going to Brazil! By Repositioning Cruise

Iris Veldwijk

Visiting family and going to the beach with friends is a rare opportunity nowadays. Sharing a bottle of wine together and watching the amazing sunsets is not so rare. But why am I downing an entire bottle of cheap wine on the beach in The Hague with Jonas? Okay, I can’t hold it any longer… So I’m just gonna tell you that in a week I’m going to the Canary Islands and then I’m boarding a boat to BRAZIL! 😀 This is terribly exciting stuff. Jonas invited me to come aboard this repositioning cruise ship that will leave Las PalmasContinue reading

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hitchhiking gibraltar solo female travel spain la linea adventure

Gibraltar: Tech Problems and Blind Hitchhiking

Iris Veldwijk

I’m back in the UK! Last night I found a last-minute couchsurfing host in the Spanish border town of La Linea. He was so kind to drop me at the border today. So now I can go hitchhiking Gibraltar and explore the monkey rock. The guy who took this photo is a born and raised Gibraltarian. He organizes some of the concerts for the national week here. Many people in the streets dressed in the national colors in anticipation of this week. It culminates on the 10th of September when it’s their national day. The border crossing to Gibraltar wasn’tContinue reading

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Yurt-Surfing in Andalucía, Spain

Iris Veldwijk

How life gives you awesome people: what began as a spontaneous one-night freecamping invitation after a bad ride, turned into a three-day yurt-surfing adventure with my new friend from Hungary! Turns out she lives at this awesome place hidden in the woods with alternative housing. Housing such as yurts, caravans, and other ‘outdoor furniture’ (Spanish law is strange). The first night I pitched my tent next to her caravan, from where you could even see the Rock of Gibraltar! After that, we crashed at a yurt (i.e. yurt-surfing) at her neighbor’s place, because the winds were too strong. Yurts areContinue reading

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Hitchhiking the Scenic Route in Andalucía

Iris Veldwijk

On the move again! I just left Málaga to hitchhike the scenic route towards Granada. Though I might go to Ronda or Gibraltar directly to catch some speed again on my way to Portugal. We’ll see what happens. I’ve no idea where I’m going, but it’s fun to pointlessly hitchhike in some direction just because of a nice mountain pass, though in Spain you can’t be picky. So far the average of 50% rides with foreigners and 50% with locals holds up, which is the highest I’ve ever experienced. I even caught a ride with some Dutch people in thisContinue reading

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My Evolution of Packing: A History of My Baggage

Iris Veldwijk

I wasn’t always a backpacking traveler. Being from a tiny affluent country in Europe, it’s pretty normal to go on holidays abroad (privilege!) and I personally don’t know any of my fellow same-passport holders who haven’t been abroad. Travel has been a part of my life since birth. Normally, we’d travel by car, giving us plenty of room to bring Stuff™ and sometimes we’d go by airplane. Packing light or efficiently wasn’t a concern for the car trips Only for the plane, we’d have to really think about what to pack as there are limits to how much Stuff you can bring. 0. The Carry-A-Corpse Suitcase Amsterdam Schiphol Airport,Continue reading

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karma guen tibet in spain buddhism stupa hitchhiking solo female travel adventure

A Little Tibet in Spain: Karma Guen Buddhist Center

Iris Veldwijk

Oh my, this mountain vista from the stupa of the Karma Guen Buddhist center in Vélez-Málaga is stunning! Yes, I didn’t spontaneously leave Spain for Nepal or Tibet, although I’m hoping to visit in the future. I visited this Buddhist retreat center in Andalucía with my sort of spontaneous Couchsurfing guest from Russia. Lots of the people at Karma Guen are actually Russian, so we received a tour of the place in Russian and English from one of the people that’s involved there. The whole demographics of this center was very international. We got our blessing at the main hallContinue reading

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