global84's VirtualTourist Home Page

I have been fortunate since I was young. Being a son of a diplomat, I was able to travel to many different places around the world literally since my birth. In fact, I was born in Chicago, in the middle of the continental United States, despite being originally (supposed to come from) Seoul, South Korea.

Until August 1994, my family has lived in Japan twice, both in Tokyo. Especially during the second time in Japan, from 1991 to 1994, we traveled many different places there, including the Hokkaido region and Osaka. When we moved to the suburban Washington, D.C., region in Virginia in the United States, we also made several trips as far away from the nation's capital as Boston and Atlanta, as well as Birmingham.

Even after my parents went back to Korea, I stayed in the United States for college, and I got a few more chances to travel to different places like Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, both in Pennsylvania.

However, I became very active in traveling when my father was appointed work in the embassy in Lisbon, Portugal. It was March 2004, and Portugal became the first country in Europe that I got a chance to go. It was literally the beginning of a totally new stage of my life.

I have been a fan of Portugal ever since I saw the view of Lisbon from the plane when I came here for the first time in 2004. Since then, I have been here for 7 times, including now, and have always treated Portugal as the hometown of my soul.

Before I came here, the only things I knew about the country were the major explorations abroad in 15th and 16th centuries and soccer, thanks to the FIFA WorldCup in 2002. But as I traveled to pretty much every corner of the country - from Bragança (NE corner) to Vila Real de Santo António (SE corner) - I found Portugal pretty different from what I have known as "Europe."

Distinct regional cultures, great varieties of gastronomy, and architecture - I have been trying to learn about Portugal as much as I could, including the language. So many kinds of varieties made it very interesting to go somewhere by myself to just walk around or to stay overnight and thoroughly explore the places. At this point, I think I have a pretty good sense of what Portugal really is, although there are still more places to explore.

During my stays in Portugal, I have been fortunate enough to be able to go to other regions in Europe with my family. So far, we went to the Barcelona and Andalucia regions of Spain, and the continental Italy including Vatican City. I found it pretty interesting how different each place was, and also different comparing to Portugal. Because of that, it was hard to come up with what my "favorite" place would be, because I liked all the places with different reasons.

But here are the places in Spain and Italy that are on the top of my list:

SPAIN - Barcelona, Málaga, Sevilla
ITALY - Milano, Roma, Venezia

My Favorite Destinations in Portugal
[NOTE: I excluded Lisbon from this ranking.]
1. Porto
2. Aveiro
3. Braga
4. Évora
5. Guimarães

My Favorite Public Transportation in Portugal
1. Fertagus (Setúbal - Roma-Arreiro)
2. Alfa Pendular (Lisboa Stª Apolónia - Porto Campanhã)
3. Route 51 (Linda-a-Velha - Estação Campolide)
4. Linha Azul (Baixa-Chiado - Amadora Este)
5. Linha D (Hospital São João - João de Deus)

I am planning to pursue my Master's Degree in Europe, which means I will have a great number of opportunities to go to many different countries. But I am also hoping to do a backpacking trip by myself to some countries I want to go. Here are the countries in Europe that are on the top of my wish list:

- Scandinavia (Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway)
- Balkan Peninsula (Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia, Serbia, Montenegro)
- Others (Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Greece, United Kingdom, Ireland)

It will be a great honor for me to share with anybody on my travel experiences particularly in Portugal. I can be contacted in many ways, and the contact information is below:

E-mail: fervor1984@gmail.com
Website: http://jclub84.smugmug.com

AIM/AOL Instant Messenger: St Music 84
MSN Messenger: vision8404@hotmail.com

I did not include the places I have traveled in the past on the Travel Map. The countries and the cities I have visited until before 2004 are:

- United States: Boston, Providence, New Haven, New York City, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Washington D.C., Asheville, Atlanta, Birmingham, Orlando, Carlsbad (California), Los Angeles, San Francisco
- Canada: Montréal, Québec
- Japan: Tokyo, Hakodate, Muroran, Sapporo, Otaru, Yokohama, Hakone/Mt. Fuji, Nara, Kyoto, Osaka
- South Korea (Home Country): Seoul, Incheon, Sokcho, Gangneung, Chunchon, Tongyeong, Geoje Island, Namhae Island