Hi, I’m Daniela
AKA Dani or Azzip
I was born and raised in the countryside of Portugal, expected to grow and live a life next to my family and friends, just like everyone I knew. My parents never travelled and our holidays were spent at home, working in the fields.
I did not know what the world out there had to offer and to be honest, I didn’t really care.
I had no idea how other countries where apart from what I would see in the news, and all I knew about Portugal was what I visited during school trips.
At 20 years old I travelled for the very first time.
Due to a health condition I developed when I was 11 years old, I got told I could not swim for the rest of my life. I wanted to pursue Sports Science, but on my first year, my swimming teacher told me I would have to swim if I wanted to complete my Bachelor’s.
When I heard about Erasmus, a student exchange program in Europe, I studied the possibility to exchange that subject with a different sport I could actually do, and so,
I applied to study in Poland.
I had no idea, but that experience would completely change my life, and my perspective on everything.
I did all the paper work, got accepted in AWFiS Gdańsk, and took my first flight to the north of this amazing country I would call home for the following 6 months. It was winter, and my boots were sinking deep in the layers of white snow across the roads as I walked to the student dorms.
I was terrified.
I remember falling asleep in my bed, crying like a baby, wondering if this was a good decision, and asking myself how would I be on my own, in a completely strange country, with no friends, no one to lean on, and a language barrier.
My mum, my friends, and my boyfriend were all well over 3000km away from me. The first week was tough, but soon, I started to meet people and make friends.
Ocasionally, I would get asked if I was considering visiting other places in Poland and my answer would be “no”. I wasn’t interested in travelling nor learning Polish, as I didn’t see any point in doing so. That is, until I visited Warsaw.
Since I was on a budget, I decided to give Couchsurfing a try.
As a new member, with 0 reviews, I struggled to find someone who would be happy to host me, and the time of my journey was close. Less than 24h before departure,
a guy on his 30s offered to pick me up and let me stay at his place. Having no other option, I accepted. Not knowing what to expect from this whole situation and very unsure of what it would happen to me, I went to Warsaw on a night train, and finally met this guy in the morning.
He was respectful, thoughtful and helpful. The weekend went by quickly as I visited most of what I could and it felt great seeing all of those different places, while meeting people along the way.
I came back to Gdańsk, and started planning my next few months.
Bought two travel books about Poland, spoke to locals, and decided what I wanted to visit. On a very detailed Word document, I planned weekend trips and a whole month of backpacking before heading back to Portugal.
I explored more of Poland than many natives ever did and added Germany, Austria, Czech Republic and Hungary to the list.
I travelled mostly solo, met many people along the way, did Couchsurfing, stayed at friends’ houses, used Google Translate many times and even learnt the basics of Polish. There were crazy situations and amazing coincidences, but it was surely one of the best times of my life.
During this time, I discovered my passion for travelling, and I found “freedom” and “fulfilment” on mountain hikes.
After 6 life-changing months, I came back to Portugal, finished my Bachelor’s, and started working for a company that required too much of my time, and paid me just under enough to survive, like any other gym in the country.
I realised I was falling again into the trap of living life for the sake of surviving, instead of experiencing it. I started exploring other possibilities and quit my job to move to London, where my best friend was now working. I just wanted to be free – have time for myself, live life, walk in the park, travel the world.
I left friends, family, and boyfriend (who I was dating for 4 years at that point) in Portugal to move to a completely different country, and start a new life in one of the biggest metropolitan cities in the world. Me, the countryside girl who didn’t like big cities.
I hated it in the first two years – I felt lonely and had to start from scratch more than once. My Bachelor’s was not accepted, and I had to work in a bakery while I was studying AGAIN.
But that was surely, the best decision I ever made after studding in Poland. After 2 years of hard work and doubting myself for leaving everything behind, I gained my freedom again.
I became self-employed, built my own business and slowly, things started to get better. I was finally able to sustain myself, and travel the world when I wanted. London eventually became home, and 8 years later, I became a British Citizen.
I look back and I see how naive, and single minded I was, but I am not ashamed of it. I understand that people’s vision of the world differs from what they see and experience, and there is nothing wrong with those who are happy to live a simple life next to their family, without ever seeing how it is to be over the clouds.
But one thing I know for sure:
sometimes we have no idea of what truly makes us feel fulfilled, because we never got the chance to experience it. We never knew it was possible, we never knew it could be done.
You might not know what it is to travel the world, and that’s ok. It’s never too late.
If you want to know why I decided to create this blog and what motivates me to do what I do, you can read about it HERE
Anonymous
Dani, hi, I am a great appreciator of your work. I wonder if you have considered adding Malta to your portfolio of destination reviews? As a half-Maltese half-Brit living in Essex – but having visited Malta about 33 times – I'd be thoroughly interested to see what you'd do with your trip.
Daniela Azzip
Hi, thank you so much and apologies for being so slow at replying! Definitely! Malta was actually one of the trips I ended up never doing thanks to the pandemic in 2020. I have always loved the images I came across from Malta and can't wait to visit one day!