Casa Robino

The spaceship called Terra Mar that took us allowed me some time to connect to the internet, while Valentina is having her second lesson in surfing waves.

So I made it to 'Somewhere in Portugal' on the 6th of August, at exactly the right time. But life took me by surprise and my somewhere was somewhere else than the official 6-8-10 hitchgathering. There wasn't anything I could have done about that. Things are the way they are.

The time: mid April, I’m hitching from Texas to Chicago to meet my Czech friend, Roman. We’ll be hitchhiking together through the Midwest to the west coast, San Francisco to be specific, where we’ll split.

A week later.
Morning, Roman and I are trying to get to Colorado. We’ve spent last night camping under a bridge, in a small town in the middle of nowhere, Wyoming. Now we’re trying to get the hell out of there.

Expect this novel Norton's Ghost in our mailbox any time soon, as the author Ron Canepa will send us a free copy for a review on Random Roads. But... you can also get a free digital copy (to read or to listen) of the book here as he released the book under a creative commons license!

George arrived yesterday or technically last night. With his folding bike and little carrier behind it. They make quite a sight as you can see from the photo. He cycled from Milano/ Italy to here Amsterdam mapping bicycle routes with a GPS device and sending them to the European Cyclists Federation that maps routes for us cyclists.

-Don't look too shabby and everyone will pick you up. Watch out for cops, know y'er rights. Last rites..ho! Avoid the midwest if you can and middle east coast as there's a bunch of huge cities making it difficult to traverse. Don't worry about finding places to sleep, you'll get offered places almost all the time, just take a poncha, no stove. Food is everywhere. Everything you need will come to you. Even in the midwest (which is quite a hell hole, swallows you whole but is a fantastic experience nonetheless to get to know everything you want to avoid).

i went with my dear friend to the post office this afternoon. above his p.o. box was taped, the love letter i wrote to him back in june . written on it-- "hand delivered by jeff and libby from new orleans, traveled through amsterdam in october" i couldn't believe my letter had been hand delivered all the way from amsterdam to little ole kansas city. it was a magical moment, and instantly brought back all the lovely memories i have from my adventure in amsterdam and the feelings i had while staying at the casa.

Mail Forwarding
This USA RV club offers a physical address to travelers, and, while a bit expensive (~$100 US/year), they will even read your mail to you over the phone, but only to its RV club members in the USA.
Do you know of any other places that offer a physical address? Other than Casa Robino :) ?

Maybe someone remembers a crasy chef passing by the house about 40 days or so ago.
My trip has taken me thru all over Europe, hitting the transmanchurian railway down to Beijing and at this moment Im in southern China in a town called Guilin.
Its a very touristy place, but tomorrow Im going out to the rural areas to see if its possible to pick some rice.

We would love to thank you all for letting us film la casa, the open dinner and all of you who participated in it last week Thursday!
For those who were wondering why there was a camera running but left without a clue: we are making films about alternative ways of traveling via online hospitality communities around the world. Kicking the Amsterdam episode off by visiting Casa Robino.
We could not have wished for a more warm and welcome start.
Thank you Robin and all others in the casa!