About

Welcome to The Blond Travels, where you will find the most useful and practical information about travelling and living in Thailand. As I have been living in Portugal for a while now, I am also an expert on travelling and living in Portugal.

My name is Joanna and I was raised in a coastal town in northern Poland before moving to London. I lived and worked in the UK for over ten years and finally became a British citizen in 2012.

A short vacation in Thailand sparked my interest in Southeast Asia and made me want to travel more so I made plans to get time off from work and make my dream come true. After long discussions with my ex-husband, my family and my boss, it was finally time to embark on a new journey.

South-East Asia is my favorite place in the world!

I and my sister packed our bags and got ready for the first, big vacation of my life: A three month long tour around Southeast Asia. We visited Burma, Laos, Vietnam and – again – Thailand, the country where I got bitten by the travel bug in the first place.

When I came back to Great Britain, my husband told me that he wanted to end our marriage. I was devastated at first but soon realized that this opened up a whole new world for me. During my last trip, I met multiple people who were teaching English in Southeast Asia and now – with nothing keeping me in London anymore – I was ready for something new and exciting. I had some savings in my bank account and knew they would last me for a while in Thailand so I decided to quit my job in London and try to become a teacher in Thailand instead.

I lived in Thailand for a couple of years and I had the best time there.

I stayed in Chiang Mai for a couple of years. When I finally started teaching online and opened my own school OK English, there was nothing to stop me. I moved to Vietnam, went back to Poland, lived for a few months in Germany and now I’m residing in Portugal, in sunny Lisbon. I am not planning my long distance future. I like things to unfold themselves before me.

I teach English online and I love my job!

There was a time when I considered myself a digital nomad and I really wanted to travel and work in different countries. After trying that lifestyle for a bit, I know now that it’s not entirely for me. I still travel a lot and I enjoy my life abroad. I am calling myself a digital expat 🙂

On this blog I try to give people the most useful advice when it comes to travelling and living in Thailand and Portugal. I have been through quite a lot of great adventures and some setbacks when moving from country to country and I think I have a lot to share with you.

If you’re going to Thailand or Portugal and looking for some useful tips, you will find the best advice here. Everything I am writing about here comes from my personal experience, so you can be sure that you’ll get the best possible information.

Let’s see what’s up next. Follow me on my journey!