In April, I had the pleasure of having my travel piece published in the Travel Edition of Bellingham Alive – in both print and digital. The print issue has come and gone, but the online publication is here to stay! You can dive in to the original piece here.
From Print to Digital: My Travel Story in Bellingham Alive
I’ve included the full piece below, which didn’t fit in the limited space of the editorial for print. It’s weaves together my original journal entries and a few edits from a year ago.
As of today, it’s three years since I followed my intuition to learn how to surf in Portugal for a summer — and I still think of it every day.
Two years ago in June, I had my first surf camp experience in Sagres, Portugal. Sagres, the southwestern most point of continental Europe. A petite surf town that comes to life in the summer months.
A Detour From Sweden to the Southwestern Edge of Europe
I found myself there by happy accident. A few weeks earlier, I was living in Stockholm, Sweden and planning to head to Italy. I had everything planned, but was procrastinating on buying the plane ticket. Why? I was working with my (incredible) life coach, Katie Sroka, and after a particularly potent reiki session, I was trail running in the woods when an intuitive hit collided with me:
I want to go to Portugal to learn how to surf.
Following Intuition Over Logic: The Power of Saying Yes
Huh. Well, that’s an interesting change of direction. I had taken a surf lesson in San Diego a few years back, but surfing was never something that I thought of pursuing. And that’s how I knew it was the right path to follow: because the decision came from the gut, rather than the mind. I was leaning into the practice of trusting my intuition and following what feels good – a difficult process because it is often contrary to what makes logical sense to the mind.
So off to Portugal I went. I planned my first ten days near the sleepy town of Carrapateira, where I spent my days hiking and creating art. Then made my way back south to Sagres for camp. Beyond those first 17 days, I had no plans. I was trusting the process and taking the exploration one day at a time – a level of trust that challenged me and invited me to grow in resilience.
While building my life as an expat in Sweden, I was expanding my life coaching business: the goal to work with high performance athletes, combining immersion in mother nature, mental toughness, breathwork, clean eating, self discipline, mobility, strength training… The whole package of what I defined as wellness. But, I kept hitting walls of compartmentalization. I felt the limitations of social conditioning in people’s perceptions of different arenas of life:
“You only do breathwork if you do yoga.
You only do yoga if you are a hippie.
Therefore, breathwork is hogwash.”
Surf Camp Dreams vs. Reality: What I Didn’t Expect in Sagres
As I surrendered to the gut feeling pulling me to surfing in Portugal, I imagined: this is finally where all of those layers will combine. You’re literally immersed in the wild waters of the ocean; you have to regulate your breathing in order to survive the unpredictable turbulence of the waves; surfing requires a high level of swimming, balance, and mobility – naturally being supported by clean eating, self-discipline, and other healthy habits. Perhaps this is the community that I’ve been searching for all this time!
Surfing and Sobriety: Holding Boundaries in Party Culture
If you’ve been to a surf camp in Europe in the heart of summer, you’re laughing your head off right about now. As soon as I stepped in to the surf camp, I knew that I stepped into a full-on party environment. Not just a passive encouragement to kick your shoes off, but direct peer pressure from camp hosts to drink yourself silly – even after telling them that you’re sober.
Despite the discomfort in social dynamics, I spent the week learning how to surf from incredible instructors at beaches I never would have found on my own. This was also the first travel experience I’ve had where food was provided, and they asked for dietary restrictions beforehand.
Learning to Receive: Nourishment, Boundaries, and Orange Carrot Cake
Normally as someone who has had to work hard to take up a little more space in the world, I wouldn’t have made anyone fuss over my diet. But, this was a new chapter: one to step in to my fullness. And when that came to diet, that meant requesting food free from lactose and gluten: what some might consider a little bit of a headache.
A Gluten-Free Dessert That Tastes Like Summer in Portugal
A few days in, the dessert was a Portuguese Orange Carrot Cake – perfectly matching my normally Paleo diet. I couldn’t get enough of it, and made a journey to the camp’s kitchen to see if the chef would be so kind as to share the magic with me.
Offir was humble and laughed at my introduction as “the gluten free and lactose free girl.” When I asked if I could share the recipe with the world, he shrugged his shoulders. He told me that he believed recipes aren’t something to be owned and hoarded, but to be shared openly – a sentiment that felt like a refreshing stance from parts of Europe that aren’t yet so saturated in capitalism.
Four Months of Salt Water and Surrender: What Surfing Taught Me
In the end, I spent four months learning to surf between Sagres, Carrapateira, Costa da Caparica, and Ericeira – eventually leaving the country with still-mediocre surf skills and a delicious recipe to take me back to a summer spent following what feels good.
Ingredients
3 oranges (zest + juice)
3 eggs
1/4 c. coconut oil
200g coconut sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking powder
4 carrots, grated
250-350g gluten-free flour (75-100g tapioca + 200g almond flour)
Sunflower seeds, to taste.
Instructions
Preheat oven to 160°C (320°F). Line baking dish with parchment paper.
Combine all liquid ingredients until mixed well.
Whisk flour into the liquid base.
Fold in grated carrots.
Pour into baking dish. Top with sunflower seeds. Bake for 35 minutes.
After 35 minutes, increase the oven to 180°C (360°F) and cook for an additional 5-10 minutes for a crusty top layer. (Keep an eye on it!)
Serve and devour!
The fresh citrus flavors of this cake take me right back to that summer of surrender and salt water. Trusting my gut brought me there — and it hasn’t steered me wrong yet.
If you’re craving a life of adventure but struggling to hear the whispers of your own heart, I’d be honored to support you on the journey.
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