By: Maria Climent Huguet
Maria Climent is a 26-year-old Catalan lady. After studying translation, she decided her life was odd enough to became a humor scriptwriter and by default, a blogger. This is how she’s now a mother of no one and a better person. She also likes to cook!

For those music lovers who, moreover, spend their lives moving from one place to another, it’s important to carefully organize what will be your travel soundtrack. It almost goes unsaid that there are certain environments that suit a certain kind of music compared to others; to spend the summer in one of the Lisbon apartments or spending a winter in Helsinki, will probably make you feel like listening to different kinds of music.

That is why I think it’s important to be well prepared and to supply yourself with all the music essentials in case you are planning to do a long trip. To make sure that the appropriate music will not be lacking at any time. Remember that there’s nothing easier than loathing a song because of having listened to it too much…

The road songs: These are the ones that are perfect for a road trip, to make you feel like a wild, free animal, you know… just in case you find yourself making your way throughout the vast US or Canada.

The loser songs: These are the sad ones for those sappy moments. Sometimes it’s necessary to be sad, to regain forces afterwards.

The songs of glory: They accompany you in the moments when you really got it (or at least you think you do). You reached the top of that mountain. You survived that night out in the open. The morning when you walk out of someone elses room, smiling like a mad man.

The silly songs: You never know when you’ll have to improvise a party. You’ll never know when you’ll feel the need for dancing foolishness’.

The wildcard song: You need to count on that one special song for whatever happens, will put you in good mood. This would be like your best friend in the form of a song.  You know that, although you may have had the worst day in your travels so far, you can come to your apartments in Lisbon or wherever you are staying, put that song on full blast to make the stress and good mood stabilize again to their normal levels.

By: Maria Climent Huguet
Maria Climent is a 26-year-old Catalan lady. After studying translation, she decided her life was odd enough to became a humor scriptwriter and by default, a blogger. This is how she’s now a mother of no one and a better person. She also likes to cook!

Everybody knows how healthy it is to laugh our ass off (out loud at best), as it not only improves our big heart’s physiology and breathing, but it also helps us avoid a negative vision of life: Problems are less troublesome and happy moments are more joyful if we are laughing. The problem comes when laughing is not a habit for us, but just an occasional thing, something that happens from time to time.

To make you aware of how your life quality can improve by including this habit in your daily life, and in your travels, I’ve made a list of things that you can easily do to adopt laughing as a quotidian thing in your life:
Dedicate some time of the day to things you like or find funny – like a hilarious website. Or watch those youtube videos until they get a smile out of you. Start to look at the funny side of life.

Don’t hold back your laughter.

Look for the positive news of the day and try to focus on the good things that have occurred instead of the bad (bad things can have more weight than the good ones, and it shouldn’t be that way)

Surround yourself with people who smile a lot, it’s sticky and contagious! I realised this when I spent some time at one of the Seville apartments, in this city people are so relaxed and so willing to make jokes – laugh out loud all the time, that it’s really contagious.

Moreover, you’ll see that, when it comes to travelling, if you have a smiling attitude, you’ll attract similar people, perhaps positive and optimistic people. Otherwise, going on a holiday to one of the Seville apartments would not be as enjoyable if you surround yourself with negative people. So, apply the tips above as an optimistic way of life is undoubtedly leading to nicer things.

By: Maria Climent Huguet
Maria Climent is a 26-year-old Catalan lady. After studying translation, she decided her life was odd enough to became a humor scriptwriter and by default, a blogger. This is how she’s now a mother of no one and a better person. She also likes to cook!

There are as many ways of travelling as there are people in this world. Generalizing is something that I’ve never liked to do, however, we must also admit that profiles do exist, and that sometimes it’s good to know what our profile is, as travellers.

Money
I think the first big difference is: Do we travel with money or without money? As it totally makes a difference. When you decide if staying in a hotel, renting one of the apartments in Budapest, New York or Malaysia, or if you go couchsurfing, look for the cheapest youth hostel in the area, improvise on your way trusting someone will let you sleep at their place…

Length
Secondly, we’ve got to bear in mind our travel time. It’s not the same travelling for 10 days, than travelling for three months or travelling for a year or more –not to mention travelling for a weekend.

Frequency
There are travellers who just can’t stop. They haven’t even finished one trip and are already thinking about their next destination. And there are people who only travel once in their life, but they do it during a gap year with a backpack.

Company
The difference is if you like to travel alone or with people. But I think traveller’s psychology is highlighted at this point. People travelling alone prove a strong personality, perhaps more willing to experience adventure.

Comfort
Are you backpackers who hitchhike or do you prefer a plan and your road luggage. Can you live without a daily shower? Can you wear the same for three consecutive days? Can you sleep on the floor? Or would you prefer to be in one of those New York, Malaysia or Budapest apartments that I mentioned before.

Reasons
And last but not least, as I think it’s a very important point, there are everyone’s personal reasons to travel. There are people who seem to have the need of putting themselves to the test, people whose eagerness of knowing as many regions of the world as they can just don’t let them stay at home, and people who travel just for fun.

Summing up, whatever kind of traveller you are, it’s always awesome!

By: Maria Climent Huguet
Maria Climent is a 26-year-old Catalan lady. After studying translation, she decided her life was odd enough to became a humor scriptwriter and by default, a blogger. This is how she’s now a mother of no one and a better person. She also likes to cook!
When we travel alone we tend to rely on the first person that pays some attention to us or the complete opposite: We are so distrustful that we won’t rely on anyone, not even local police.

So, how can we find a healthy mental balance? In other words: How can we go around the world alone without being paranoid that everybody wants to hurt or rob us? Or, totally the contrary, how can we avoid putting ourselves in danger by trusting the wrong person?

Well, I’m telling you this because if you are planning to spend the summer in one of the apartments in Barcelona, for example, and are travelling alone, you’ll feel the need to meet people. And as all that glitters is not gold, we must be able to detect who wants our company for dark intentions.

Watch out, here are some possibilities in which you might be cheated and don’t even notice:
If someone calls you too much, like more than three times a day when you’ve just met them. It’s weird. Doesn’t he or she live here? Doesn’t he or she have their own friends? If not, why?

If you go for a drink with that person and he or she pretends not to bring money with them is pretty suspicious (remember that you have just met, it’s not someone you know from childhood). If it happens more than once, just run away.

If, after a two-hour conversation – you still haven’t been able to get an idea of how he or she makes their living, be suspicious.  If, besides understanding their language, you can’t understand what they are telling you…mmm that’s weird man, they’ll probably trying to lie to you, or to get something from you that they haven’t told you about yet. There are professional liars.

If they invite you to their Barcelona apartments the very first day you meet… unless there is a birthday party or something similar with more people, it’s quite clear what they want.

But not everything is so crappy when it comes to new people. There are also nice ones. Let’s see how to recognize the first signs of a new friendship:

If the person is generous, but without being exaggeratedly generous (that’s also weird), this means that, at least, they don’t want money from you.

If that person has not tried to kiss you or felt you up and you can just talk. Gropers are the worst!
There is no shorter distance than a guffaw. So, if that person makes you inevitably burst out laughing, that’s 100 points for them.

I am saying this from my own experience; a young girl travelling alone in different cities is always a big temptation for the insane and disturbed. By the way, there are people who you don’t even need to talk to, to notice their madness: sometimes it’s very important to avoid mere eye contact. What about your travelling experiences?