About
From centuries, we’ve used tags to describe ourselves. We talk about the place where we were born, how long ago we were born and what we do for a living. I believe deep down we are all the same, but, at the same time, I’m not really sure about “who” I am. I could tell you that I’m a Telecommunication Engineer who finished his master thesis at the University of California. That would automatically create a concept about myself in your mind. Then, I could tell you that I’m a “professional” apples and pears picker who worked in France and Australia, and that would probably create a way different concept about myself in your mind. And I could also tell you that I worked for Uber Eats riding a bicycle in Osaka and for the Olympic Games in Tokyo 2021.
Depending on the money I make, where I live and the use I make of my leisure time, most of the people would judge me in very different ways. That’s the type of society we live in, or, at least, that’s the type of society most of the people live in. As I mentioned earlier, I’m still trying to find “who” I really am. That day will come or not, but, in the meantime, I’ll try to make the most out of my time by following my passions: travelling, meeting new people, learning about new cultures, music, books, languages, food, yoga, meditation, sports, etc.
With the previous paragraph I already provided you with some info about “myself”. And just to help you out creating a mental concept of my persona, I’ll go ahead and provide you with further info. Before doing that though, I’d like to mention that I’ve met people who didn’t even know what a Telecommunication Engineer was. To those people, my social status didn’t matter much, but how I behaved towards them. And, to be honest, that’s the way I think we should “tag” people.
I was born in a tiny village in the south of Spain, in Andalusia. You’ve probably heard about Granada and the Alhambra or about Sevilla and the Giralda. But you probably never heard about “Jaén”, and even less about “Valdepeñas de Jaén”. Well, now that you’ve heard about it, let me tell you that’s the place where I was born 🙂 For further insight:
I was lucky enough to spend my childhood without much technology. I wasn’t stuck to a tiny screen, but to a bigger one playing PS1, just kidding. During my childhood, I spent most of my time hanging around with my friends from school and playing football.
I’m not really sure how it all started or who I got it from, because neither my family or my friends could be categorized as globetrotters. One day though, at the age of 16, I left Spain for the first time. I spent a couple of weeks in England, learning English. I didn’t feel nothing different back then. I went to study in Granada, where I spent a total of five years. My fifth year, and after having left the country a few more times —I went to France to pick apples with my dad, to Malta to study English and to Amsterdam with my friend Nacho—, I left Spain once again, but this time for a way longer period and with a way different goal in mind: study abroad with the Erasmus program in Sweden.
I believe that’s where it all started. After my Erasmus, I was able to achieve several goals: I was able to speak proper English, to break stereotypes, to socialize with people from any corner of the world, to deal with life on my own… I grew up a lot and I was lucky enough to travel to several countries in Europe. That feeling, the feeling of curiosity you have when you are a kid, was always there. It showed up every time I had to do some research about the new country I was visiting, or every time I didn’t understand a word and I had to look it up, or every time I had to go to a new classroom and I would get lost on the way.
The feeling was there and I was feeding it with every new stuff I learnt and with every new country I visited. Ever since my Erasmus, that feeling had never left me and up till today, I feel like I want to keep on travelling forever. Because the feeling of wanderlust never left me, after finishing my Erasmus in Sweden, I stopped at the University of Granada for a layover. I had pretty much finished my degree in Telecommunication Engineer but I wanted to keep on travelling, so I decided to finish my Master Thesis at the University of Irvine, in California 🙂
I spent another amazing year there, where I got to travel to awesome places and meet cool people, some of which are still my friends. My English got better, and I learnt a whole bunch of new stuff. I got the feeling that I had again grown up a lot. The summer of 2014, back in Spain, I didn’t know what to do with my life, so I did what most people do nowadays in our society: look for a job. I didn’t think I was going to find anything worthwhile in Spain so I was already planning my next “Erasmus”. In the end, I stayed in Spain, well, kind of, I started my “working” period in Barcelona, which happens to be one of my favourite cities in the world.
I spent three amazing years there. I met amazing people and made a lot of nice friends. I added a new period to my life —working for a multinational company— and I had great fun in the city, specially the first year, after seeing Barça achieving the triple crown 😉Even though I was feeling pretty happy overall. The job was not super appealing but the city and my relationships were amazing. Yet, something was telling me I needed to take a break from Capitalism and feed at a deeper level my wanderlust feeling. Thus, after three years, I left everything behind and showed up at the other end of the world: Australia.
Unfortunately I didn’t start writing this blog until my trip to Australia, so you will have to trust me on what I just said earlier. I went to Australia with the Work & Holiday visa and I spent eleven months there. For the first time in my life, I went to a different country without a fix route map. I managed not just to survive but even to work in a bunch of different jobs, get some new skills, improve on my languages, travel to awesome places and meet great people.
Once I felt like it was time to go home, I left Australia, but, on the way, I stopped in South East Asia and went on my first-ever solo trip, one that took me around 3 countries during a total of 3 months. I then spent a year home not knowing what to do with my life and, right before COVID exploded, I arrived in Japan for my second Work & Holiday. My plan was to stay there for a year and then go back to Australia. My plan was also to write about Japan so you could get to know about that unique country. But, as you know, plans change, right?
So, instead of spending 1 year in Japan, I spent 2 and a half. Instead of writing about Japan in my blog, I wrote a novel. And, instead of going to Australia after a year in Japan, I went there after 2 and a half years. The last 6 years of my life, ever since I decided to leave my comfort zone and venture into the world, have been truly amazing. Do you want to find out more about my time in Australia, Japan and my trips in Asia and Oceania? Are you planning to visit that part of the world soon and you want to get some info about it? Perhaps you are considering spending a Work & Holiday year but you don’t know how to get started? Maybe you want to take the yoga teacher course in India or to climb Everest Base Camp without flying to Lukla? Are you interested in travel guides and unique life experiences? How about novels that combine science-fiction with self-development? Then, you are in the right spot 😁✌️
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