Daqui Ali - From Portugal to South Africa on a Bycicle, the Book

Support the book that tells the story of a fascinating trip from Portugal to The Cape of Good Hope... on a bicycle! 15.000km, almost a thousand hours cycling, 22 countries, determination and a bunch of stories.

With this campaign I aim to gather funds to print my fourth book, after "Daqui Ali - An Overland Journey From Portugal to Singapore".

As with the first "Daqui Ali", everything that I have learned  and lived made it so there was no way I wouldn't share it.

What can you take from this book?

• Do I need to be in shape?

No, man! When I left my hometown, in that rainy day, I hadn't cycled in years, and haven't done any exercizing in months. And it was hard, but I got used to it!

• Is it dangerous?

No! Bad things happen everywhere and there's good and bad people everywhere. However, either I am the luckiest person in the world, or the world has way more good people than bad ones, something you'll realize as you read.

• Inspiration

I always feel awkward proclaiming it might inspire you, because after all, who am I, right? But turns out, I'm just a guy. And people that are just people can inspire other people, as some other people inspired me. I think the way it can inspire you is by showing how easy it is once you take that decision to go, if that's what you want to do. I don't think everyone should travel, people should do whatever makes them happy. For me it's this, and who knows if by reading the steps I took to release myself from the shackles of normality you won't be closer yourself?...

• Tricks

After visiting over 80 countries in several trips I gained some experience and learned some tricks, ways how to get out of something. You won't know everything there is to know, the same way I don't know everything nor will I ever but, the same way I benefited from the advice of other travelers, so can you with this book.

What happened?

• I crossed the Sahara Desert;
• I spent an afternoon with revolutionaries for the independence of Western Sahara;
• I rode the longest train in the world in Mauritania, in a crazy detour into the desert;
• I crossed the border between Guinea-Bissau and Guinea-Conacry through the jungle;
• I was arrested in Sierra Leone by totally drunk policemen;
• I was stopped by the police 23 times in Nigeria, mistaken for terrorists dozens of times and arrested a few hours;
• I was the xaman in a crazy ceremony in the forest of Gabon;
• I was 5 meters away from a gorilla in the forest of Gabon while I cycled;
• I crossed Angola in a month with only 10€;
• I crossed the Namibe Desert;
• ...I got to the Cape!

And so, so many more experiences that are so hard to just describe in a line here.

COME IN THIS TRIP WITH ME!

About the author

I'm a guy that is trying this thing of being a travel-writer, or just a traveler, or just a writer, well... I try to get stuff that I appreciate, mix them and sometimes enjoy them all at the same time, other times one at a time. I think the understanding that I have of myself and the world that surrounds me, and of this strange circumstance that is LIFE, acts in a paradoxical way and leaves me even more confused, which is spectacular!

I'm someone that has a certain fear, or respect, or whatever, for death, and that ends up making it so that I have extra respect for LIFE, will to live, risk and dream. That's why I do what I do - I don't want to resign to a LIFE that could be nice, I want the best possible.

I was born in Vale de Cambra in 84, went to study Psychology in Coimbra in 2002, where I had 5 unforgettable years. In the middle I went to Finland for a year - the first time living abroad, a phenomenal eye opener, that taste for seeing what's on the other side roaring within me. I finished my degree and went to Norway to do a 6 month internship and from there I went straight to England, where I was for 2 years, working as a psychologist. Then one day I went to India... I saw myself surrounded by 15 people and I realized that, out of all, the one travelling for the least amount of time was me - 2 weeks only. And after me someone traveling for 5 months. And other people a year, two... I understood that they were just people, flesh and bone, just like me, and I realized all I needed to do was decide and... go.

I never looked back.

I knew that it was risky, to quit a stable job, but I had to do what I thought was right. I quit and went traveling.

9 months and a half in the Eurasian continent, 3300€, 20.000km hitchhiking, I was arrested in Laos, 2km away from Bin Laden 12 hours before he was shot in Pakistan, in Syria before the revolution, 1 week in Iraq without a cent, 11 days in Iran with 20€ - countless stories and realizations about the human nature that I needed to put in paper. I published "Daqui Ali - An Overland Journey From Portugal to Singapore" in May 2013 and the success it had allowed me to realize that maybe, who knows, I could live from this!

I went back to working in England between 2012 and 2013, this time part-time - I lived in Portugal and went there once a month. It was a pretty cool system but it wasn't my dream. I quit my job again, but this time invested everything in another LIFEstyle and went after a new adventure. It seemed to be a ridiculous idea, almost surreal, but I thought it was possible.

I made a plan, that kept changing as the trip went on, and I left! It was a crazy trip. Hard, surprising, addictive, exasperating, rewarding, sublime. A constant fountain of admiration for the sceneries and, above all, the kindness of those people that allowed me to pay to sleep only 20% of the nights.

Now I'm here, in Portugal, and all I want is to share these experiences.

Budget and due dates

The figures are an estimate, and they are for the printing of 500 copies. I will have more costs but I will support them. Namely:

Sending books and other rewards;
Rewards;
Printing the t-shirts as well as its designer;
5% tax for the website, with 23% VAT, as well as Paypal taxs;
Others

Images