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Alumnus EEUM celebrates 20 years as the first Portuguese travel blogger

Filipe Morato Gomes is the author of the award winning “Traveller’s Soul” and has been around the world twice

Filipe Morato Gomes, graduated from the School of Engineering of the University of Minho, celebrated on 25 February his 50th birthday and 20 years of the creation of “Alma de Viajante“, the first Portuguese travel blog. In the facebook of this blog, the author shared the backstage and his journey as a traveller through more than 100 countries, expedition leader and storyteller, besides reflecting on the present and future of travelling in the covid-19 era. Also taking part were live reporters, travel partners and friends from around the world.

The “Alma de Viajante” has been distinguished three times as the best travel blog in momondo Open World Awards and has also won three awards at BTL (Lisbon) and FITUR (Madrid). It was in 2001 that Filipe Morato Gomes, applying for his degree in Systems Engineering and Informatics at EEUM, published his first texts about travel in a website that he built in its entirety, then at www.fmgomes.com and already entitled “Alma de Viajante” (Traveller’s Soul).

This travelologue has now over 7000 articles, from extensive reports, chronicles, itineraries, practical tips on numerous destinations, interviews and even information on promotions and new air routes. The blog is also focusing on key moments of these two decades, such as the best beaches, the most difficult museums to face or great cities and unmissable street markets.

“I feel an enormous personal and professional achievement for having this space that is both useful and inspiring, but also sustainable to fulfil the dream of making a living as a travel blogger”, says Filipe Morato Gomes, grateful to the internet users. The author hesitates, however, to indicate his best trip: “People are what fascinate me most, as in the case of Mongolia, Iran, Vanuatu, the Amazon…but nature has already made me cry with joy, namely while trekking in Tenerife or in the Iranian Kaluts”. His most difficult experience was during the tsunami in Thailand and Sri Lanka.

President of the Portuguese Travel Bloggers Association

Filipe Morato GomesFilipe Morato Gomes founded the accommodation portal Hotelândia and chairs the Portuguese Travel Bloggers Association, which aims to promote the professional development of agents in this area of tourism, enhancing their platforms and activities. The Porto native is also a trainer in travel writing and wants to prepare a book about the Cairo-Cape Town land trip, still delayed. “The last year has taught us that there is no point in making big plans about the next destinations,” he ponders. “And the truth is, the more I travel, the more I feel how incredible Portugal is and one of the best destinations in the world,” he highlights.

His love of travel goes back to his holidays camping in Soajo, the marathons to the Algarve in a VW Beetle and with his parents to Spain and the South of France, his grandfather’s stories about the Trans-Siberian or the tours abroad with Azeituna – Tuna de Ciências da UMinho, to which he is still connected. After his first job designing educational CDs, he freed himself to make a 14 month world tour in 2004/05. This sparked his passion for journalism, photography, design and travelling, with chronicles in “Fugas” (Público newspaper) and in a book. He then collaborated on the magazines “Up” (TAP) and “Minha Viagem” (Brazil), among others.

Photos: Inês Cortez

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