Off Grid and OPEN in Portugal: We’ve done it!
Introducing licensed tourism property #12511 Well that was easy. After months of waiting and hoping and begging and pushing, of sleepless nights and stressful days, our reaction was… understated when
Off Grid and Ignorant in Portugal – The reddest grape
Celebrating something French that Portugal has made its own After many years of travelling the world as a journalist covering wars and natural disasters, diving deep into the culture and
Off Grid and Ignorant in Portugal – Birthday presents: Busy in the country, but a trip to the town
Birthday presents can reveal a lot about one’s age, stage of life and current circumstances, and this couldn’t have been more true on the occasion of my most recent birthday.
Off Grid and Ignorant in Portugal: The pleasure of bleisure
Redefining off-the-beaten-track tourism with Calmcations and wine Our buildings are finished, the power and water systems are being tested and tweaked by the occasional Atlantic storm, and as we move
Off Grid and Ignorant in Portugal: The big plan for a second life … and why it’s all about wine
We started the Google search with escarradeira, then moved on to cuspideira and then we started calling people. A few hours and many phone calls later, we realised we weren’t
Off Grid and Ignorant in Portugal: Real people – and how they do things
I’ve recently realised we don’t live like real people. When real people have a problem, they call someone – a workman, an expert, a master technician, Ghostbusters, or whoever it
Off Grid and Ignorant in Portugal: Opening time
We often wondered if it would ever happen, but four years after moving to Portugal, and two years after construction work started on our crazy off-grid eco-luxe lodge tourism project,
Off Grid and Ignorant in Portugal: Clearing skies
The death of DIY … and rise of the craft project Completing big building projects anywhere in the world increases the stress levels and can really wear you down –
Off Grid and Ignorant in Portugal – Do I, Why? Fed up with doing it ourselves
Living off the grid involves a lot of tinkering. When things go wrong, there’s no electricity company, water board or gas man to call up and call out. We’ve been
Off Grid and Ignorant in Portugal – Gaining perspective: Pushing an un-pushable process
Perspective is always better drawn from a distance and my opportunity to see the bigger picture came on a plane in the skies over Africa. Another sleepless night, but this