2022 Year in Review
As we launch into '23, it’s time for a quick reflection on '22, which was an about/face on '21. A busy year of renovating + social catch-ups
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The Blog
Short essays on Portugal, our travels & tea,
random musings and writings
and galleries of our photography
Cameron Highlands, Malaysia
Welcome!
You will find, from Elizabeth:
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An ever-growing series about the Teas of the World
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Travel essays and our musings on country and place
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Our experiences and adventures as we make our new home in Portugal
And from Vientiene, galleries of his photography.
We try to publish every few weeks so subscribe to avoid missing a post!
Enjoy!
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- Dec 31, 2021
- 11 min
2021 Year in Review
What happened and didn't happen in our 2021 as we continued settling in and exploring Portugal. Golegã, renovations in the Alentejo + more
- Dec 9, 2021
- 12 min
In Our Face: How Travelling for Tea turned our teashop climate positive
In the last month or so, we finally finished the research, thinking and calculations to take our teashop MatchaAlternatives.com, carbon...
- Aug 15, 2021
- 3 min
Gallery 30: Christmas in Manila, Philippines 2019
At the end of 2019 we had just spent two months in Phnom Penh, Cambodia in a serviced apartment to focus focus focus on launching our tea...
- Jun 29, 2021
- 5 min
The Sounds of the Alentejo
What is the Alentejo truly like? Take an immersive sound journey to this beautiful rural region covering a third of Portugal
- Dec 31, 2020
- 11 min
2020 Year in Review
2020 was a year to end all years. Here's what our 2020 was like, starting out in the Philippines, Brunei & Malaysia, then on to Portugal
- Nov 27, 2020
- 2 min
Gallery 28 Animals of the Gers, France 2019
The second part of our Gers or Occitanie album from our 6 months in South West France in 2018-2019. All animals all the time!
- Nov 5, 2020
- 13 min
Moving to Portugal Update 3: Why we chose the Alentejo
An update on us, and why we chose Portugal as our new home. And we have a home now!
- Sep 24, 2020
- 4 min
Gallery 27 Occitanie, France 2019
We spent the winter and spring of 2018-19 house-sitting on a country estate in the Occitanie region of France, eating + taking these photos!
- Jul 31, 2020
- 8 min
Generous Taiwan
Our visit to Taiwan in July
2018 was characterised by tea, dumplings and over-the-top kindness, plus a dose of intense history.
- Jun 28, 2020
- 4 min
Gallery 26 Nong Khai, Thailand 2019
Our trip to Nong Khai last autumn was to focus on our tea shop. The locale however, made for some irresistible photography opportunities!
- Apr 28, 2020
- 9 min
Back to Basics in Busan (& Gallery 25)
In Busan, the second city of South Korea and our home for a few weeks in July 2018, we were deluged with ‘foreign’. And it was brilliant.
- Mar 18, 2020
- 12 min
Covid-19, Portugal & Present Digital Nomad Life (March 2020)
What life is like for us, other digital nomads and people around with world navigating the coronavirus, travel bans and lockdowns.
- Feb 23, 2020
- 2 min
Gallery 24 Prague, Czechia 2019
We visited Czechia in May 2019 for a culture-filled week with my artist sister. This album captures that week, with plenty of art and sweets
- Jan 26, 2020
- 11 min
4 Years Nomadic at an End: 2019's Year in Review & 2020's Big Plans
2019 was characterised for us as being a year of slow-travel, e-commerce and family - and making big plans for a move to Portugal in 2020!
- Dec 25, 2019
- 10 min
Three Christmas Reunions
The stories below stem from our last three Christmases: In Hereford, UK in 2016, Hong Kong in 2017, and the Gers, France in 2018. Enjoy!
- Dec 8, 2019
- 3 min
Galleries 22 & 23: Penang, Malaysia 2018
In this gallery, I shift focus to the streets of Penang, from the far side of the island and its industrial regions, to its trendy centre
- Nov 18, 2019
- 7 min
Penang Portraits & Gallery 21: "Of Tea, Cooks & Mermaids"
This piece is about our time in Penang in April & May 2018, and the people we met. This kindness and welcoming spirit was not an outlier...
- Oct 22, 2019
- 6 min
We finally own a tea shop!!
Today is a big day for us: the official launch of our own antioxidant-rich loose-leaf teashop, MatchaAlternatives.com!
- Sep 19, 2019
- 3 min
Gallery 20: London, UK 2018
"Why, Sir, you find no man, at all intellectual, who is willing to leave London. No Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life"
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