W36. A little catchup.

June 30 I got an email from the recruiter. HAPPY NEWS, she wrote. The company I had interviewed for, the one which role description seemed like it was personally written just for me, wanted to hire me.

So, new season, reporting from Stockholm, where I will be spending more time this winter than I've done in ten years. My friends are already concerned how I will deal with winter days, as I'm famous for dressing for the weather I want, not the weather I have. I'd like to think my hiking adventures has helped me mature in this area though.

Snippets of what the last four weeks have looked like.

Last night of holiday in Sweden; the most Swedish of meals at Den Gyldene Freden.

We started our long-ass drive back to Portugal. A few hours in we saw a sign for an elk farm, and Tom got excited. Elks are not quite as fascinating when you grew up with them in your literal backyard, but they were cute.

Popped by the Netherlands.

And then, France! Fun fact about France in August: everyone, their mother, and their distant cousins, are on holiday too. After calling about 100 campsites, we eventually find one for the price of a hotel – with the added perk of your own bathroom! I had no idea this existed and unfortunately, I don't think I can go back to camping without my own private bathroom and shower.

Also, food in France. 😌

We drove another day, and made it to the Pyrenees. The fog was thick and we've been trying to find hotels that did not cost €500 per night near the trail we wanted to do, without success. So we made an impulsive decision to stop in a random ski-resort village over night. Walking through the corridors made me think of The Shining. But we found a good restaurant in the evening, and the morning rewarded us with mountain views.

Can't stress this enough though: if you want to be flexible and spontaneous, do France in off-season and not peak August.

The next morning we did a famous hike, Cirque de Gavarnie, and we had not realized just how famous it was. The beginning was a whole village with multiple parking lots, flooded with cars. People were moving in herds. We found another smaller trail which was gorgeous and quiet. And we passed a few wild horses!

But by end the paths reconvened and it turned into Disneyland, everyone piling on, trying to get to the waterfall. We took one look at each other, and turned back.

And instead of trying more trails the next day, we opted to drive home.

Stopped at Burger King and discovered their summer campaign, Boomer King.

Found this endlessly amusing.

Made it back to Lisbon where I had one week before flying back north. I spent it getting ready, mostly by having coffee and brunch at every single one of my favorite cafés.

On Saturday we went to see Miss Monique at Brunch Electronic, a regular day-time rave here. My mind was so scattered with everything coming up that I had zero expectations. Which is good – it turned out to be a really fun evening. Also, being home before midnight after a party, not bad at this age.

The next day I took my biggest suitcase, and a duffelbag filled with shoes, and flew back to Sweden.

And now I'm here! Working away at my new assignment, where I get to nerd out about everything I think is fun professionally, in an office that has nitro cold brew on tap.

I mean, it's clearly meant to be.