Category: Travel

Being Positive, Inspiring Positive Simplicity, Travel

How Portland, Oregon Can Help You Appreciate Life More by Doing Less

A while ago, I spent a few months travelling across the USA and one of my favourite places was the rather laidback city of Portland, Oregon. There is a thriving food, art, music and craft beer scene and it’s also renowned for its slight hippyness. What’s not to like? Maybe I could sense something in the air, but it was while wandering around this wonderful … Continue reading How Portland, Oregon Can Help You Appreciate Life More by Doing Less

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Coffee, Inspiring Positive Simplicity, Spain, Travel

Sky Full Of Morning Stars

It’s 6am on the first day of November and quite dark outside. I couldn’t sleep and so I tiptoed through the house so as not to wake Mrs Cortado and our dog Grace to go outside and get my phone which I’d left in the car. On my way back, I promptly dropped it (clearly no coffee yet having an impact) and happened to look … Continue reading Sky Full Of Morning Stars

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Coffee, Confidence, Inspiring Positive Simplicity, Motivation, Music, Spain, Travel

Nothing Like A Coffee And Some Time

I’m sitting on a lovely, ever-so-slightly battered brown sofa in my favourite bar (Cafe Cyrano) in Almería, my recently adopted ‘big city’, listening to my new favourite album (‘Hey Mr Ferryman’ by Mark Eitzel) with a cortado coffee and an orange juice. I’ve just put my car in for a service. Not a big deal for most people, but not having owned a car until recently, … Continue reading Nothing Like A Coffee And Some Time

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Confidence, Inspiring Positive Simplicity, Motivation, Travel

Como Ser Un Realista Más Positivo

Ayer yo estaba en un bar de Granada escuchando una conversación entre dos amigos. Uno de ellos decía “No me gusta  este compañero de trabajo, pues no puedo trabajar con él. Va a ser una semana imposible.” Hay gente que dice ‘No soy cínico o negativo, soy realista’ y tal vez es verdad pero de hecho, ¿qué cosas realistas dicen estas personas? Puedo imaginar la conversación … Continue reading Como Ser Un Realista Más Positivo

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Confidence, Inspiring Positive Simplicity, Motivation, Travel

My First Blogerversary

I can’t believe that it’s already been in a year since I started this blog. The time seems to have flown by. In that year, I have made some lovely blogger friends and readers, written quite a few posts, started podcasting and learned a lot about blogging and writing in general on the way. It’s been fun and I hope it will continue to be … Continue reading My First Blogerversary

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Confidence, Inspiring Positive Simplicity, Motivation, Podcast, Travel

Now Is The Best Place To Be

It’s Thursday, so it’s podcast day here at Away From The Noise and today I’m in Greenwich in London. Before I moved to Spain 18 months ago, I lived here for 3 years and Greenwich is without doubt my most favourite part of London. As a tourist or resident, it really is something special. And that is kind of what this week’s podcast is about … Continue reading Now Is The Best Place To Be

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Confidence, Inspiring Positive Simplicity, Motivation, Spain, Travel

Do Less. More

It’s Thursday, so it’s podcast day here at Away From The Noise and today we’re in the beautiful and perhaps under-rated city of Alicante. On the last few days of our trip around Spain, Mrs Away From The Noise and I have been travelling in the countryside and along the coast of the Costa Blanca and as a result of being here, the podcast this … Continue reading Do Less. More

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Confidence, Inspiring Positive Simplicity, Motivation, Podcast, Spain, Travel

Things Are Looking Up (And Down And All Around)

It’s Thursday, so it’s podcast day here at Away From The Noise and today we’re in the beautiful city of Valencia. This week’s podcast was inspired by almost literally bumping into the National Ceramics Museum based here and how we need to be more aware and connected with our surroundings to live more happily. As always, the podcast is like the best pop singles – … Continue reading Things Are Looking Up (And Down And All Around)

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Inspiring Positive Simplicity, Spain, Travel

Art Deco, Aluminium And A Bar In Madrid

Walking to the lovely Cafe San Gines in Madrid last week for their famous chocolate con churros, I was listening to one of my favourite bands The Aluminum Group. One of their songs is called ‘Without Erté’ and to be honest, I’ve never known what the title meant but always liked the mystery of the song.  Wherever I am, I often like taking different routes … Continue reading Art Deco, Aluminium And A Bar In Madrid

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Blogging 101, Confidence, Granada, Inspiring Positive Simplicity, Spain, Travel

How To Get Away From The Noise?

After living in London for 17 years, my wife and I decided to move to Granada in the south of Spain in 2014 to get ‘away from the noise’. Most people assume that the ‘noise’ was the urban-ness of the millions of people and the traffic chaos of the big city and to some extent that’s true, however in reality, it was more about the … Continue reading How To Get Away From The Noise?

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Blogging 101, Food, Granada, Inspiring Positive Simplicity, Motivation, Spain, Travel

Gothic Gin And Tonic With A Bit Of Verdi

As you know, this blog is called Away From The Noise and if you’ve read it before you’ll know that among other things, I like getting away from the noise by hanging out in cafes, listening to music, writing music/blogs and simply walking around Granada in the sunshine (it’s 34 Celsius / 93 Fahrenheit today – so, rather lovely and sunny). But as it’s the … Continue reading Gothic Gin And Tonic With A Bit Of Verdi

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