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Welcome to The Travel Club’s Travel School in Aveiro (15.7-15.8).
The Travel School is slightly different from The Travel House we organised in previous years. If you haven't already, please check out this article that explains the concept of the School.
Before you apply for the stay in The Travel School please read these basic house rules, and if you decide to come, keep them in mind at all times.
Everyone can stay up to three nights in The Travel School.
Mandatory participation in minimum one workshop/discussion/lecture. Our team of volunteers has prepared interesting and useful workshops and other activities, most of which are related to travelling. See the schedule below and sign up for one or more activities when filling out the application form to stay in TS. All workshops last two to five hours.
Be quiet. Don’t play loud music, shout or talk loudly. If we give the neighbours a reason to complain, we will have a big problem.
Be especially quiet in the corridor. When you’re coming or leaving, be extremely quiet in the building. No loud talking, shouting or singing in the corridor. Don’t slam the doors.
Don’t wait in front of the building. If neighbours see crowds of foreigners coming, going and standing in front of their building, they will get worried. If you’re waiting for someone, wait at the bottom end of the street.
Don't come between 01:00 and 08:00 a.m. If your plane/train/bus arrives in that interval, please wait till 08:00 on the airport/bus or train station and then come to the Travel House. Most of the people sleep those hours. You don't want to wake them up and make them angry with you.
No smoking. No drugs of any kind are allowed. You can drink a beer or two, but you mustn’t get drunk. And please don’t come to the School wasted.
No parties. Quiet social activities are welcome.
If you damage anything, you will have to pay for it. We have left a large deposit. In case something gets damaged, we may not get our money back.
Keep your valuables with you. We are not expecting thieves or kleptomaniacs and they haven't visited us so far, but it’s better to be on the safe side. You are the only one responsible for your stuff.
This project is funded by personal donations. Donations aren’t compulsory, but are welcome. There are bills to pay – power, water, Internet – as well as things like cooking oil, detergent, toilette paper etc. If you’d like to leave a donation, put it in the donation box or look for the school staff and give it to them. Nobody will ask you for a donation, or check whether you have donated or not. It's totally up to you, and it's definitely not a precondition for staying in the Travel School. And don’t worry if it’s only symbolic: it will add up.
In the Travel School, there are no guests. Everyone is a host. So,
- if you see something broken, fix it.
- if you see something lacking (soap, toilette paper, cooking oil, detergent etc), buy it.
- if you see something dirty (toilet, bathroom, kitchen, floors, balconies), clean it.
There is a nice term that we will borrow from the Rainbow Gatherings: “drainbows”. Those are the people who just take and don’t give. The Travel School is not a perfect free-for-all. It is a community we’re all building together. Think how you can contribute.
Keep the School clean & tidy! Don’t leave your stuff lying around in mess. Whoever walks in should have an impression of a clean, nice, tidy place. Especially if the owner comes for a surprise visit!
Do not waste resources! No shower longer than five minutes, making meals that are cooked for five hours and needless consumption of any resource. Also, we will recycle the trash in the School.
No pets! Absolutely no dogs, cats, parrots, fish. Parrots that can speak are welcome, though.
If you find any of these rules too hard to follow, you will be asked to leave immediately. We hope you’ll enjoy your stay and help us make this small contribution to global travel culture.
Before you come:
Please let us know when you're coming to make sure that we’re there to let you in.
Make sure to bring your sleeping bag & mat. There are no beds in the Travel School. Only the floor.
Bring a towel.
The address of the School will not be published online. When you notify us that you’re coming, you’ll get the detailed instructions how to find us. Please keep the instructions to yourself and don’t publish them anywhere.
Read the house rules. If you don’t follow the rules during your stay, you will be asked to leave immediately. So it’s a good idea to get familiar with them beforehand.
If you want to stay more than three nights, let us know in the application form and we'll tell you if it's possible.
If you do any sort of creative work – writing, drawing, photography, film, music – and you want to contribute to the Travel School, please mention it. We will publish the best photos, writings, films, drawings etc. on our website and you'll get to stay longer in the School.
Statistics & Guestbook:
We’d like to have some statistics about the Travel School project. Namely, we’d like to know how many people have used it, where did they come from, what their age groups and occupations were, where they are headed after Aveiro, how long they are planning to stay on the road, do they hitchhike or use some other form of transportation etc. So we’ll kindly ask you to make your entry in our guestbook to make this possible.
The application form can be found here.
You are welcome to send a donation to our organisation:
List of workshops (all workshops will be held in English)
15.7 at 19h Mapping Aveiro: Investigating our new town in an interesting and original way
16.7 Travel Writing: Write down your adventures and memories. Learn how to write about your travels in a unique, personalized and original way
17.7 Slavic countries for Dummies: A workshop that reveals the secrets of the “mysterious” Cyrillic alphabet and gives you tips for traveling in Slavic countries generally
18.7 In coexistence with plants: History of parks and their importance in our lives, human-leaded travel of plant species and useful/edible plants that exist in forests of Europe
19.7 Why we travel: Why do we want go there? Why do we really want to go there? Why do we really, really want to go there? We will explore travel motivation; media influence and the inner travel self through creating a personal timeline.
20.7 Creative Cartography: Every map is subjective and incorrect. Let’s put our own stories on personalized maps...
21.7 Mapping Aveiro: Investigating our new town in an interesting and original way
22.7 How to travel Cheaply: Let’s see how can we create an awesome low-cost itinerary and see as much as possible spending as little money as possible.
23.7 Slavic countries for Dummies: A workshop that reveals the secrets of the “mysterious” Cyrillic alphabet and gives you tips for traveling in Slavic countries generally.
24.7 Through the streets of Aveiro: Guided walk through the interesting architectural, cultural and historical side of Aveiro.
25.7 What we learn while traveling: A session of sharing experiences from our journeys
26.7 Travel Writing: Write down your adventures and memories. Learn how to write about your travels in a unique, personalized and original way
27.7 A Visit to Bussaco: Investigating this beautiful forest together!
28.7 Let's Act me/we on the stage: A workshop about theatre, public speaking and how to relax and develop self-confidence, must-have for travelling around the world. No previous experience needed
29.7 In coexistence with plants: History of parks and their importance in our lives, human-leaded travel of plant species and useful/edible plants that exist in forests of Europe
30.7 Mapping Aveiro: Investigating our town in an interesting and original way
31.7 Through the streets of Aveiro: Guided walk through the interesting architectural, cultural and historical side of Aveiro.
1.8 Travel Writing: Write down your adventures and memories. Learn how to write about your travels in a unique, personalized and original way.
2.8 Moon and Body Wisdom: We will talk about cycles in the nature: the seasons, Moon and menstruation. The workshop consists of two parts – an open-type day session (guys are very welcome to join!) and a night session which is designed for female participants only. More info here.
3.8 Twist it, Spit it: A Clumpy-Humpy Ride through Travel Languages: a dive into languages we use when travelling
4.8 Slavic countries for Dummies: A workshop that reveals the secrets of the “mysterious” Cyrillic alphabet and gives you tips for traveling in Slavic countries generally.
5.8 In coexistence with plants: History of parks and their importance in our lives, human-leaded travel of plant species and useful/edible plants that exist in forests of Europe.
6.8 What we learn while traveling: A session of sharing experiences from our journeys
7.8 How to travel cheaply: Let’s see how can we create an awesome lowcost itinerary and see as much as possible spending as little money as possible
8.8 Body percussions & relaxing brething: Make music with your body only!
9.8 Let's Act me/we on the stage: A workshop about theatre, public speaking and how to relax and develop self-confidence, must-have for travelling around the world. No previous experience needed.
10.8 Slavic countries for Dummies: A workshop that reveals the secrets of the “mysterious” Cyrillic alphabet and gives you tips for traveling in Slavic countries generally
11.8 Why we travel: Why do we want go there? Why do we really want to go there? Why do we really, really want to go there? We will explore travel motivation; media influence and the inner travel self through creating a personal timeline.
12.8 Creative Cartography: Every map is subjective and incorrect. Let’s put our own stories on personalized maps...
13.8 Twist it, Spit it: A Clumpy-Humpy Ride through Travel Languages: a dive into languages we use when travelling
14.8 How to travel Cheap: Let’s see how can we create an awesome lowcost itinerary and see as much as possible spending as little money as possible.
15.8 Travel Writing: Write down your adventures and memories. Learn how to write about your travels in a unique, personalized and original way.
