About Sam
Hello and thank you so much for checking out “Just a Mile Away”.
This is a place not only for who is looking for a holiday but for everyone who enjoys a small getaway or an outdoor activity. There are many ways to enjoy any free time away and we normally take our furry friends with us…
Just to tell you briefly a little bit about myself without getting too boring. I am original from Portugal but at the moment living in England. I trained as a nurse and since graduation I have worked in my home country, went to Saudi Arabia for 3 years (amazing experience) and then to the UK where i have made my home for the last 6 years.
Moving to Saudi Arabia
When i made this decision a lot of people asked me why Saudi Arabia. Well, i think i needed a very big change.
One of my colleagues from work was actually already working there and suggested it because the working and living conditions were great for nurses.
So that was it. Off i went by myself, leaving everyone and everything that was important to me behind.
I have to say that working in Saudi Arabia was one of the most challenging experiences of my life. Leaving family and friends and adapting to a different culture wasn’t easy at all. I wasn’t sure how i would adjust to the language, weather and the rules but after some time i just got used to it. In the end it was all about keeping an open mind and showing respect for the culture and traditions.
I have made new friends from different nationalities, learned new skills and most of all learned how to appreciate your loved ones when they are not there.
Working abroad was one of the best experiences of my life. I even found new love in the desert. I met Tom a paramedic from the Czech Republic and we have been together since.
Moving to the UK
After 3 years of adventure we decided to start a new one in a different country. We wanted to go back to Europe and ideally an English speaking country because i definitely was not able to speak Czech and Tom did not speak Portuguese so the UK was the best choice.
So in 2016 we decided to make a move. Again, another country, another challenge. We went from being too hot to getting super wet and cold. We couldn’t get a house because we had no references in the UK so we were asked for a deposit of 6 months. Can you imagine? We were very thankful for those years in Saudi Arabia. After all that, we actually loved it and decided to stop moving around. Now we made the UK our home and it is close enough for our families and friends to visit.
Our furry friends
Tom had a small jack Russel with him in Saudi his name is Titus but we call him Tito. One dog has become three. Fifi joined us 2 years ago. She is a mixed breed, a Jack Russel and Szi-tzu. Tito and Fifi had 4 puppies. With sadness we gave away three and kept one that we called Pluto. They are a happy dog family.
Starting a blog
We have been travelling way before starting this blog. I always wanted to document our travels and share it and to be honest it is the best way to keep our memories alive.
Once again a bigger challenge. Oh man, it is easy to read all those perfect blogs without thinking of all the work that took them to get there. Starting anything from scratch is really hard and this has been a learning process for me. I new nothing about domains, pages or posts. Now it is slightly better but i am still learning.
We don’t travel full time as we have got our full time jobs as nurse and paramedic but we try to go away for every holiday or even for a small break during our days off.
I love doing pretty much everything and on my daily life i’m all over the place which reflects how we travel. We like to cruise, a good hike or a cycling day trip. I don’t mind revisiting the same places for a particular monument or for the ice cream from the little shop on the corner that we loved.
We travel quite a lot by car in the UK and from the UK to Europe so we can take our dogs with us.
We will share with you as much as possible specially if you are travelling with your pets (yep that can be a challenge!) to make your next trip the most enjoyable experience.