Welcome to the second edition of “Meet the blogger”! This is a new segment here on the blog, where I will be interviewing fellow travel bloggers. For today’s “Meet the blogger”, my guest is a fellow Portuguese girl, Cátia from Meraki Iceland, whose blog/website will take you to the beautiful island of Iceland. But I’ll leave it up to her to tell you all about it.
I hope you enjoy this interview!
Olá Cátia!
Would you mind to introduce yourself to us and tell us a bit more about you?
Hi guys! My name is Cátia and I’m a Portuguese expat living in Iceland, Land of Fire and Ice. I’m 29 years old and I have lived in Portugal since 2018 with a short break between 2011 and 2012 when I moved to the UK to work as an Au-Pair. The idea was to take this opportunity to my advantage and ask for a school transfer from Portugal to the UK but life wanted me to come back to Portugal. So I did, and I finished my degree in Tourism in 2014. I have traveled to a few countries (many of them thanks to the job I had in Portugal as a travel agent) but in 2018 I have decided it was time to go for a new adventure as I was feeling really lost in my country.
Iceland came up and I said yes. The initial idea was to stay in Iceland for one year and then move to Australia for another 6 months and the plan after that was still a question mark. However, I fell in love with Iceland and I found here what I was looking for but I couldn’t in Portugal: peace, quality of life.
And here I am, writing this blog post from Iceland!
Why did you start your travel blog/website?
I’ve been a blogger since I was 17 years old. I changed blogs so many times that I lost count. It started to bed something very personal, then I thought it was going to be super fun to talk about makeup and fashion because I like that but it turns out I’m not the person for it. When I moved to the UK, I changed my blog and I started to share my life in London. I really thought that I would be luckier but I had to go back to Portugal so, guess, I changed the blog. Again.
In 2014, I created Meraki. For people who follow me since then, it’s easier for them to call me Meraki instead of Cátia. Meraki was, in the beginning, a travel website where I was sharing my trips around the world. However, it was hard to keep it going as I was not traveling as much as I would like to. But still, slowly people were getting to know me, and they currently ask me for my opinion and help regarding some destinations or even flights.
When I moved to Iceland, I started to write more about the country and in December 2019 I changed the name to Meraki Iceland. My travel website is focused only on Iceland and it’s my goal to be my full-time job in the future!
Even though the website is recent, you can find my life in Iceland since the beginning of it! Instagram is my main communication channel and the website works as support where I can share longer posts and have a shop page where I can sell my services.
Of all the articles you ever wrote, what is your favorite? Can you tell us why?
I personally like to share my experience in regards to tours I have tried. For example, the Breiðamerkurjökull Ice Cave. This ice cave surprised me a lot and it’s certainly something from another world. The shades of blue I saw were indescribable.
If you had to choose your favorite trip so far, what would it be and why?
If I’m thinking about Iceland, I have two different favorite trips. The first one I want to share is the first trip I did to Iceland. Was just a day-tour with the company I was working for and I did it as a way of learning how everything works and, of course, to get to know the country. It was a special tour. Perfect weather, the guide was very nice and at each stop we did, I was mesmerized. Iceland is so beautiful! My second favorite trip to Iceland is the one I did in July 2020 to Landmannalaugar with 2 friends of mine. We spent our time looking for volcanic craters, crossing rivers, and hiking. It was something to repeat in the future!
When I think about trips I did to other countries, I have to address my trip to Ireland. I went alone for 5 days and it was interesting to travel alone even though I joined some guided tours to go to Belfast and Cliffs of Moher. I fell in love with Belfast, such a beautiful city! And the landscape in Ireland itself? It’s just amazing.
Did you have any travel plans for 2020 that got canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic?
Luckily, I only had planned to travel to Iceland. However, my mother was supposed to come and visit me for my birthday but her flights were canceled. Then, have flights booked to go to Portugal for Christmas. I really hope I can go this year because the last two Christmases I had to work so I didn’t see my family.
Imagine the pandemic would be over tomorrow. Great, right? What would be your first travel destination?
I would join a retreat trip, or something similar. A lot of things changed with COVID and it affected projects I have and the way I look at them now. I’m sure a trip where it is focused on motivation, productivity, and also on ourselves to organize ideas and stop procrastinating, would help me a lot!
Last but not least: what is your dream trip/destination?
I have two: do the Trans-Siberian and an expedition to Antarctica.
I would like to thank Cátia, from Meraki Iceland, for being so kind to participate in the second edition of “Meet the blogger”. It was a true pleasure to get to know her more, but also more about Iceland!
Don’t you just feel like going to visit Iceland? I know I do!
By the way:
Check out Cátia’s Instagram – Meraki Iceland – (and give her a follow) for all things Iceland related. Her photos are breathtaking!
In case you missed it, here’s the first edition of “Meet the blogger” – Nele, from the blog The Navigatio.
And that was it for today; I hope you liked today’s blog post.
See you next week!
