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Travel stories and photography from around the world.

Welcome!

This is my space to share travel stories — part diary, part reflection, sometimes just a scene that stayed with me. I write about encounters, small discoveries, and fleeting moments that make each journey unique.

Notes from Elsewhere is a travel stories blog focused on culture, photography and meaningful journeys.

Selected stories

A few journeys that stayed with me

  • iceland travel stories

    Iceland, 2023

    This chapter is part of my Iceland travel stories, a journey shaped by black sand, geothermal heat and nights that didn’t always bring Northern Lights. From Bhutan’s Spice to Iceland’s Ice We were still in Bhutan, 2023 — the three of us, Mirela, Marcia, and I — trying to survive the country’s famously spicy food…

  • Bhutan travel stories

    Bhutan, 2023

    Part of my Bhutan travel stories, this journey unfolded through mountain paths, prayer flags, and a daily rhythm guided as much by spirituality as by landscape. Some Journeys Begin with a Coincidence In one of my favorite moments, I was there — staring at a map, my eyes fixed on Asia.Where can I go now?…

  • Holi festival travel story

    Shooting the Holi Festival – India, 2020.

    This Holi festival travel story unfolds in clouds of color, ritual and unfiltered human energy, where celebration and chaos briefly blur into the same experience. Through McCurry’s Lens: My First Glimpse of Holi Decades ago, I was immersed in a Steve McCurry photo book when I came across a very unusual image: a group of…

  • Varanasi travel stories

    Varanasi, 2020.

    These Varanasi travel stories unfold along the ghats of the Ganges, where life, death and devotion exist side by side. The Strange Room in Varanasi My flight was set to land in Delhi on a Sunday morning. The Holi Festival photo tour group – Shooting the Holi Festival – India, 2020. ? Not until Monday…

Latest journeys

Where it all started

Greece travel stories

Greece, 2009

Not my best travel story —
but the one that started everything.

Long before Notes from Elsewhere existed,
I was already writing about my travels.
Just emails, sent to a few friends.

This is one of them.

Coming soon : Slovenia

Currently in: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Some journeys are remembered through places.
Others through moments — a gesture, a color, a quiet scene that somehow stays.

Travel, for me, has always been about noticing those details.
Not only where I was, but what felt different, unfamiliar or unexpectedly familiar.

That is what I try to capture here.

About me

Hi, I’m Catia.

Traveling, writing, and photographing are my biggest passions — and this blog was born from the wish to bring them together in one place.

I’ve traveled to more than 50 countries, always seeking the experience of being surrounded by something completely different — a new culture with its own art and architecture, its flavors and traditions, its landscapes and rhythms of life. Every journey is a chance to step into another world.

I started Notes from Elsewhere to collect these moments. Writing and photography are how I connect with the world, and this blog is an open notebook where I share what moves me along the way.


Welcome — and let’s travel together!

Rolar para cima