Living in a forest dome and experiencing community life in the UK

View of the communal dome in the woods

Taking part in a work exchange it’s not only about sweat and tiredness! We have already told you about the hard but rewarding work we did in the roundhouse, now it’s time to tell you more about the fun social aspect of the work exchange.
To be honest the thing that attracted us the most about this project was not the work

Sadhana Forest: looking for a sustainable future

A local kid swimming in the "lake of mud" in Sadhana Forest

Arriving in Chennai

People sleeping in the ground at Chennai Mofussil bus terminusThe first contact with India is something that you will remember for all of your life. Going from the airport of Chennai to the central bus station, it looks like being in a refugee camp: a quantity of bodies is laying in every free inch of the floor. Since travels last up to 3 consecutive days without

My experience at Arcosanti: in memory of Paolo Soleri that left his body today

Thanks Paolo Soleri for enlighting my way with your thoughts and architecture

Paolo Soleri serving the frugal soup in Arcosanti, and me in the Background. Photo by Xylia

I just acknowledged the news of Architect Paolo Soleri passing away this morning at the age of 93. Visionary architect and artist, creator of the concept of Arcology and Frank Lloyd Wright's alumnus: in 2007 I passed 3 months in the "urban laboratory" that he created in the desert of Arizona, Arcosanti, a place

Volunteering in Italy (Abruzzo) and learning raw earth construction

The raw earth construction where we are volunteering in Abbruzzo

After about 6 months that we were blocked because of my health conditions, we are back on the road, for a few weeks test trip! Right now we are in the Italian region of Abruzzo, volunteering for a construction project we found through Help-X website (Help Exchange). We are working with clay, cob and canes, all natural materials

Sound of Sand festival: three days of music and good vibes

Spontaneous collective hug at the end of the pantomime performance the last day

Last week we attended the first edition of Sound of Sand festival, in Gumuk Pasir, not far from Parangritis beach. A great occasion to recharge our batteries with good energy and to share some inspiration!
We really didn't know what to expect, since it was the first edition of the event and also the program of the festival

Our work exchange experience in the UK: plastering with clay a straw-bale roundhouse

Clay sculpture Davide made on the interior of the roundhouse

After a couple of years of break from work exchanges, because of our 1 year scholarship in Indonesia and following trips, it was about time for us to start slowing down our traveling style and to learn new skills for our future projects.
It was end of September. While being in Belgium, we took a bold decision and decided to turn

A person without a car is not a citizen?

Just a quick reflection after a fact that we experienced at the border between Romania and Serbia. As I always did in my life in dozens of countries, we were approaching the officers at the border to check out from Romania, but we were blocked and we were told that by foot we cannot cross the border, only by car. I was speechless

An artic story from a Norwegian island: how I met Bonnie and Clyde

Beautiful landscape from Hol i Tjeldsund, in the North of Norway

Before I got to find out their names,
I already knew how I was going to remember them.

We were hitchhiking in North of Norway from Narvik to Bardufos in a sunny winter day. It felt good like in the summer days, just that now the sunflower fields were replaced by tones of goldish snow putting down to the

An artistic tree in Christiania, Copenhagen

Artistic Tree in Christiania, Copenhagen

A broken tree turned into a piece of art in Christiania, Copenhagen. Since it's forbidden to take pictures inside the community land, this is one of the few photo memories of this amazing and spontaneous place.

Tree climbing and tree house building training in Czech Republic

View of the tree house made of 5 connected platforms, we built during the training

The completed tree house seen from the bottomWe are just back after another interesting experience in Czech Republic, an 8 days workshop to learn how to climb trees and build tree houses.
Travel cost were reimbursed 70% by European Union, that is funding also lodging and board: a very good opportunity to make a new great experience and travel on a budget. Eventually even

Kumbh Mela in India: Hindu religion and traditions in Haridwar

This year took place in Allahabad, India, the Maha Kumbh Mela, the biggest religious gathering of the world attracting tens of Millions of Hindu pilgrims each time. If you want to know where these millions of people are sleeping, about the "parties" after the prayers, and who are this ash-smeared naked people, keep reading my

How are we spending our days in Italy? Cycling in Rome and Critical mass

The trunk of a dead tree in the Natural Reserve of Aniene Valley

Directions in Aniene ValleyIn these weeks of forced stop in Rome, my hometown, we are keeping us entertained with our bicycles. Cycling in Rome is a mission: it's very dangerous if you are not used to, because there are no cycling paths, people drive like crazy and they have no respect for cyclists. But it's still the fastest way to move in such a big

River rafting in Kasongan raising awareness about garbage pollution

The magic of Kasongan river, away from the garbage

Indonesia is not only a country of amazing scenes and a thousands cultures, it also shares a huge problem with other South Asian Countries: garbage.

In Western world we are used to throw our bag full of sins in the dumpster, and forget about it. In the best case we separate the rubbish for recycling, and that's it, not too much

Travel Sustainability and Flight emissions

Flights cause a lot of harmful emissions

One life = One flight. Yes, that' not a mistake, if the world would be a fair place, and everybody could use its resources sustainably and equally divided among its population, utopia that we are far away from reaching, we could fly only once in our whole life.
Unfortunately I couldn't locate the source of this affirmation, but

Totobobo mask review, best mask for cycling and travelling

Davide, Oti and Mr Francis at Totobobo's Headquarters

While in Singapore we were lucky enough to be accepted by Mr Francis Chu to visit Totobobo mask's headquarters in Singapore and get to test live some samples of his invention. We were able to understand a little bit better the working mechanism of their product, how to properly wear the masks and how they perform compared to

Discovering Dayak daily life in Eheng Longhouse

The Dayak Longhouse in Eheng in all of its lenght

If you are cruising the Mahakam River, most probably one of your primary goals is to experience Dayak Culture. And what is most valuable than visiting the traditional dwelling of this former tribal etnhic group indigenous to Borneo, in particular if still inhabited? After attending a Dayak funeral ceremony the previous night, we

Why I refused a paid trip with free accommodation, food and transportation to Sumatra

Flights are a pollutant mean of transportation

In the last years I've been quite strict against air travel, that according to statistics is the most pollutant way of transporting yourself around for pleasure or business alike, up to 20 times more pollutant than a bus covering the same distance and 15 to 25 times more pollutant than a train (Up to infinite times if the train is

Our new solution against pollution while travelling: Totobobo face mask

Oti testing the mask at Totobobo headquarters

Many times we have seen on the television (Well actually we don't own a TV, but you got the point), the images of Beijing completely covered in a thick layer of pollution and we were so sorry for them thinking of how could they live in that inhuman conditions.
Then it came the time for us to go in Indonesia to attend our 1 year

Totobobo mask VS 3M N95 VS Respro: test and comparison

Oti testing Totobobo Mask

When visiting Totobobo Headquarters, we had the possible to experience directly some tests on 3 different brand of face masks: Totobobo, 3M N95 and Respro City Mask.
The commercial version of each model was modified and equipped with a nozzle to be connect to a machine through a small tube.
The machine would compare the number of

KlimaCamp - Experiencing an Ecological activist Camp in Germany and blocking a Coal mine: “System change not Climate change”

Two Klimacamp activists overlooking the coal mine

A yearly activist ecological camp, taking action against climate change, located in the region of Rhineland, not far from Cologne (Köln), North-East Germany. “System change not Climate change”, direct action for direct results, a chance to get involved away from the safety of a keyboard. This is what Klimacamp (Climate camp)