I spent the weekend in Santa Cruz, Portugal,  a second-home community for the wealthy of Lisbon. It features aqua blue waters and enormous surf. During my visit, the beautiful sands were empty. The second-home dwellers all stayed at home in Lisbon because the weather was supposedly “cold.” (The Portugese seem to have a very liberal [...]

Welcome to Lisbon, Portugal! I arrived here by bus two nights ago and was promptly greeted by Frederico, a 34-year-old father of two whom I met on Couchsurfing.com. He’s currentl also hosting a twentysomething Asian-American couchsurfer from Brooklyn. We all share a single-room studio in the heart of Lisbon´s commercial district, just by the water. [...]