Adventure travel blog • An inspiring life on the road

Welcome to Nomad Revelations – Adventure travel blog, an archive of 20 years of travel experiences, exotic narratives & adventure chronicles to get you inspired and explore the world on your own.

This travel blog was created to help and inspire you to travel around the world. The main goal to write this travel blog is to make other people inspired to discover new things and live great experiences.

My name is João Leitão and I was born in Lisbon – Portugal – back in 1980. My UN-visited countries list goes up to more than 130. With a degree in Visual Arts, I like adventure travel, photography, and cooking.

Human contact and communication are crucial, so interacting with local people during my travels is very important to me as an individual. Being on the road fits my personality perfectly, and this blog is my way of sharing those best travel experiences.

I am a guy who defines himself as curious. Basically, I am a sponge, a boy with a backpack exploring the world and absorbing new experiences and new encounters daily: architecture, vestiges of the past, religious beliefs, flavors, aromas, languages and dialects, and musical expressions.

Although I moved to Morocco in 2007, so far, I have also lived in countries such as Finland, Kazakhstan, Morocco, Turkey, Ukraine, the U.S.A., and more recently, Brazil and Poland. Now that you know a bit more about me, here I am to welcome you to my blog, where I gathered travel tips after 20 years of traveling the world and inspiring narratives to motivate you to hit the road!

• A Life On The Road
• Visited Countries
• Best Travel Experiences
• Travel Tips
• Inside My Backpack

Life is made of moments and the World is out there full of precious and unique adventures waiting for us. If traveling has given me such amazing travel experiences, why shouldn’t I share some travel advice with YOU?

Since 1999 I’ve traveled all over the world extensively. So far I have lived in countries such as Finland, Kazakhstan, Morocco, Turkey, Ukraine, the United States of America and more recently Brazil – in Rio de Janeiro and Poland. I have around 120 months of traveling on a 20-year time.

My top 3 favorite countries

Full list of my favorite countries: Afghanistan, Brazil, Ethiopia, Egypt, Georgia, Iran, Mali, Morocco, Nepal, Nicaragua, Turkey, Oman, Peru, Portugal, Russia, Syria, Switzerland, Sudan, Tajikistan (Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region), Turkey, Uzbekistan.

Why do I travel?

Why not? I travel to be abroad, to see new stuff and learn a bit more about how people live in different parts of the globe. I like to communicate with people, know their ideas and get inspired by moments, sunrises and sunsets, talks, gastronomy, history, music, dance or Nature.

You’d be even more astonished if you had seen them as I saw: parades with thousands of extras, crowds in belligerent movements, herds of elephants led by soldiers (as if those creatures were battle horses), shipwrecks where plenty of treasures were lost, crossings of swamps and forests with many wild beasts, fights at high sea in which all (or almost all) perished, besieged cities and soon totally destroyed by fire, beautiful princesses in their stunning palaces and disabled beggars, passions & follies.

Written in 1580 by explorer and writer Fernão Mendes Pinto.

Why the name Nomad Revelations?

I’m always on the move. I like to move from place to place and experiment with new cultures.

• nomad

• a. A member of a people or tribe who move from place to place to find pasture and food;
• b. A person who continually moves from place to place; a wanderer.

During my years of traveling, I gathered so much information that I thought I might as well share it with other people.

• revelation

• a. The act of revealing or disclosing;
• b. Something revealed, especially a dramatic disclosure of something not previously known or realized.

A bit more about myself

I have a major in Visual Arts where I expanded my astuteness in painting, sculpture, photography, philosophy, and aesthetics. I was born in Lisbon, Portugal, in 1980 and from an early age, I have been creatively stimulated to explore various means of self-development.

My awareness of traveling was brought to me at university when sociology and anthropology of art definitely caught my attention, as in:

1. (Sociology) the study of the development, organization, functioning, and classification of human societies.
2. (Anthropology of Art) sub-field in social anthropology dedicated to the study of art in different cultural contexts.

For me, the world made sense… so I just had to go ahead and start traveling. And that’s what I did… Along with my backpack, I started wandering around the world.

Until now I visited over 130 UN countries and other internationally non-recognized territories such as Somaliland, Nagorno-Karabakh or even Transnistria. I traveled to Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Oceania.

About my difficult name: My name is João… like in J – O – A – O – Basically my name in other languages can be translated into John, Giovanni, Hans, Hovhannes, يحيى‎, Ian, Ioan, Ivan, Iven, Ifan, Jack, Jackson, Jan, Jane, Janez, Jean, Jhon, Joan, Johan, Johanan Johannes, Jovan, Juan, Juhani, Seán, Siôn.

Living in Morocco

I live in south Morocco since 2006. I work with my sister that joined me here in Ouarzazate in 2009. In 2010, we opened Dar Rita, a hotel in Ouarzazate. We also have RJ Travel Agency, a Tour Operator that organizes adventure Holidays in Iran, Syria, Bosnia, Morocco, Lebanon, and Uzbekistan. Additionally, in 2019 we opened Dar Digital Nomad, among one of the few coliving and coworking space in Morocco.

A life on the road

Yes, while in search of destinations one may find those places that do not actually exist. I’ve traveled to the de-facto country of Transnistria (Pridnestrovia) and spent a few days in Tiraspol. This seems to be the perfect destination for an Adventure Travel Blog right?

Filling anonymous voids with experiences while committing them to memory, these places then take on another life. Now, I can say they definitely do exist.

Then, there are the other nonexistent places between destinations, the interstitial and transitory “places”. Lived during moments when we may be recollecting where we just were while foreshadowing what is soon to arrive, these unnamed territories can also be the most memorable. I’ve experienced three one-month train journeys across Europe.

On the road, I’ve passed 15 days driving in Iceland along the Ring Road and Westfjords, then driving solo through Afghanistan followed by a 14,000 km. (8,700 mi.) road trip through South America, across Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Peru, and Uruguay.

Next, I took a 4,383 km Russia road trip (2,723 mi.), driving 20 days throughout the bitter cold month of February, and an equally cold yet fascinating two-week Antarctic expedition to its Circle.

En route, I’ve even found myself becoming a member of an 18-man local convoy enduring a 22-hour trip in northern Mali, from Gao to Timbuktu, perched atop a pick-up truck’s cargo.

By water, I found a cheap last-minute Galapagos cruise in Puerto Ayora, later also passing 550 hours crossing the Amazon River by boat and while sleeping in a hammock for several months. The means are endless!

While traveling, I’ve learned it to be imperative to keep an open mind, to be prepared for and even embrace the unexpected as these experiences can offer invaluable life lessons. Following such a belief has led me to live six months in Istanbul, then another half-year in Lviv, Ukraine.

I once stumbled upon Jemaa el Fna square in Marrakech, finding it one of the craziest and most delightful places in the world! Putting stigma aside, I even rerouted to visit North Korea and, quite unexpectedly, ended up liking it a lot!

Another day, I found myself taking bread baking classes in The Democratic Republic of Congo. Sure, why not?

Yes, there can be downfalls to the Traveler’s rhythm, even danger. Precautionary measures must be readily accessible, and consciously aware, at all times and in places-unknown.

I’ve had guns aimed at me in Mauritania, Iran, the Democratic Republic of Congo and in Mali while, because of several travel-related misunderstandings, I’ve been detained by police in South Sudan, Spain, Mauritania, Barbados, Morocco, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Monaco, Uzbekistan, Germany, Nagorno-Karabakh, Lithuania, and Russia.

I’ve even been afflicted with malaria in the Democratic Republic of Congo, taking 8 months to fully recover. Conversely, there are times when the experience obtained by setting aside one’s own fear is beyond rewarding. I can now say I’ve traversed the infamous Chernobyl Dead Zone, where the worst nuclear disaster in mankind’s history took place and departed unharmed.

Why travel as a way of living?

So, why travel as a way of living, if for even a short while, and not just take a holiday?

Life is made of moments and the World is out there full of precious and unique adventures waiting for us.

In this way, you are incorporating the world into your own life and your life into the world while becoming a part of it and its global society, not only seeing it through a protective (or pixilated) glass window.

Wherever you may find yourself along with your journey, aspects of life usually put on hold for a vacation remain, or return, as they are already a part of you.

Attributes such as work, spirituality, education, friendship, and even family resurface because they are human, existential needs and will somehow need to travel with you.

Alone, I’ve camped in the Kazakhstan mountains’ wilderness and even lived like a monk in a Nepalese Buddhist monastery. One of the best travel experiences I can recall was attending an authentic Amazigh triple-marriage in the Sahara Desert. Then, the unexpected reward can occur, like a century-old, evening ritual concluding by feeding hyenas in Ethiopia.

Of course, necessity sometimes brought about periods when pausing to work was imperative. Or, was it really a pause? I’ve worked on a farm in upstate New York, spent countless hours in six months compiling a list of 2300 travel blogs, then making it available online.

The result

A growing list of notices and awards for the work, finding unexpected places while in search of work-driven answers, even arriving just-in-time to be the first travel blogger to enter the new country of South Sudan! Then, having the ability to reach out to you and share such advice and incredible stories as these – stimulating movement, awareness, and inspiration on a global scale.

In summation, the most important aspect of travel, of Adventure, is that it is mind-expanding, offering free life lessons and lasting education. I remember New York, attending photography classes with world-famous photographer Steve McCurry, then taking part in a student exchange art program at SAMK (Satakunnan ammattikorkeakoulu) while living half a year in Finland.

Among so many others, these opportunities prepared me for an unforgettable experience as a volunteer in Almaty, South Kazakhstan, where I was responsible for teaching self-expression through plastic arts, to 30 eager children.

All of my personal studies, observations and experiences resulted in the ultimate exchange – moments when I can give back, seeing others’ same smiles I had when I began my journey, half a lifetime ago.

We all carry our beliefs with us, the extent of our knowledge and opinions of people and the world. Whether discovered in a group, partaking in others’ rituals or finding one’s self alone in a moment of quietude after scaling a mountain, travel can truly reinforce and challenge our convictions greater than any experience.

Welcome to my adventure travel blog!

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