Nowadays we live with a far superior level of comfort than that of our ancestors. And the truth is that human ingenuity keeps inventing, on a daily basis, new solutions that ease our everyday lives and increase our comfort zone.

The facility with which, except for economic reasons, we accomplished many of our desires, no matter how unprecedented and sophisticated they are, makes us sometimes forget its impact on our surroundings. We yield to consumptive whims and demand to possess the latest gadget. We laugh with a higher disdain when people from previous generations tell us: “you are so privileged, in my time ...”, without realizing that our children look at us with the same face. The reality is that in the last 60 or 70 years, each generation could afford to have a higher level of care and more sophistication than the previous, in its daily life. Basically, you take more things in your life for granted, for example you don’t have to wait for the right season to eat a certain fruit, which is to come, if need be, from the other side the world.

Communications are perhaps the best example of what I say: How many of us haven’t already experienced a profound disorientation by forgetting the cell phone somewhere or a huge annoyance for being a few hours in the workplace, without internet access for some kind of failure? When this type of thing happens we experience a sensation that nothing works, of complete powerlessness. And we consider it inadmissible. We are so conditioned by certain tools, work processes, facilities that we don’t even know what to do to overcome its fault.

I consider myself better informed about technological issues with each passing day. The computer is an essential tool in my work, and I master fairly well several applications, and think I'm even pretty self-sufficient, as I demonstrated  in a previous post. But I find it quite easy to fall in an over-reliance on technology, and if by chance we were camping in a remote place, where mobile phones wouldn’t work and we couldn’t go to the social networks, we would almost have to do a detoxification, as if it were an addition. And it would be time consuming to let ourselves caught up by the beauty and simplicity happening around us. I think, for the sake of personal balance and appreciation of the everyday comfort, that we should impose ourselves, from time to time, an escape from the sophistication that surrounds our daily lives, spending a few days in a very rudimentary environment. Basically surrounding ourselves only on what is actually essential.

I am also an optimist and believe in the potential and kindness of human ingenuity. I refuse the catastrophic visions of the world in which man will perish swallowed by the technology developed to serve him.

But being an optimist I have also worried eyes on the resources we have and the use we make of them. As a parent of 3 children, I am primarily concerned with the world we will let for them to live when we're gone. And with the huge number of small things we take for granted, things that we have always known, and never crossed our minds that they could simply cease to exist. But with what we know today, it should be obvious to everyone that something has to change in the way we appropriate the resources that our planet offers, so that our descendants can experience a world like ours, rich in biodiversity and full unique experiences.

That they can smell a certain flower, delight with a bit of honey or a fabulous grilled fish. That they can bathe in the icy waters of a river, see with their own eyes some creatures so fantastic that not even with great imagination they thought would exist. Like tigers, whales and some other animals.

This blog post is part of a blog-off series with a group of bloggers from different professions and world views, writing on the same subject. This week's theme is
" What do you take for granted? " Check them out:

Holidays are a time for travel. We all have done our memorable trips, which are as a reminder of good times, sometimes of external or interior discoveries. Some of these memories are marked for life.

Whenever I can, I make a trip to a different place, either from a long waiting list of destinations, or to a place I never really intended to go. Sometimes to a place I never heard of before. In part is this the charm of a trip, the discovery of something new, something which for us is of a formidable exoticism. Even though this exoticism only exists for us and other outsiders. Indeed, by definition, a place is only exotic to a stranger. There will always be someone for whom that place is familiar, sometimes too familiar.

The trips we do, whether for vacation or work, will enrich our experience, making us more educated and knowledgeable. And if we're lucky, more tolerant to the difference. They increase our experience and our intelligence.

Being rapidly transported to an exotic location has also the advantage to make us quickly forget the stress of the last days, and depart from of our daily lives. We have more to worry about! The exotic, in principle, always provides memorable moments and exciting holidays.

But there is another essential component to my holidays since childhood. Even if I manage to do a fantastic trip, I have to spend one or two weeks in Ericeira, a small coastal town north of Lisbon.

Although a small distance, this place has a completely different climate than the city where I live. If Lisbon has scorching summers, Ericeira is mild and fresh. Sometimes it is windy (sometimes too windy to be exact!). As a child, I used to spend three months of the year here.

Once known as a fishing center (fish and seafood continue to be excellent) is  best known today for Surf  related events. It has several beaches with beautiful and powerful waves and the only Portuguese integrating the ASP circuit lives here and here developed his skills.

It’s not easy to explain why an increasing number of people come to this town and these beaches every summer: It has an unstable and cool climate, morning mists, fogs in the afternoon, much less hours of sunshine, cool nights, cold water and beaches with rocks and strong waves. But it is certain that for the unconditional fans, this is the best place in the world, or at least the one we feel better. Turning off the car and get out into the street is a whole sensorial experience. The smell and freshness of the air immediately change our mood for the better. There is the added pleasure of finding, every summer, the same people with whom we grew up, many of them already having children, that are now our kids friends.

There is absolutely nothing exotic in this version of holidays. But there's a pleasant sense of familiarity, awareness of belonging to a place we associate with mainly happy times, the long days, the rash baths in huge waves, the endless summers. And being with some people we really care about.

This blog post is part of a blog-off series with a group of bloggers from different professions and world views, writing on the same subject. Check them out: