Without planning any of it, my life did a complete 180 the day I left Spain alone for the first time.
A ten-day escape turned into a life with a backpack — and later panniers — permanently on my back. It opened my eyes and changed the course of my existence to a point of no return.
There's no going back. Once you've tasted it, you can't stuff the genie back in the bottle.
No, this isn't what you're thinking. I'm talking about the moment you realise the book of your life is blank — that you're the one who can pick up the pen, and the scissors if need be, and shape it any way you want.
I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I ended up where I needed to be. Life goes on, the pages keep filling up — but this time I'm the one with the pen.
My turning point
On 26 January 2011 — an ordinary day — I headed to the airport with a backpack and a destination: Greece. It was just a short break, planned while I was mulling over which direction to take my career.
It took less than a week to realise that it had changed everything. That trip turned into another one, straight after with no return flight booked, and those trips became a nomadic life spent crossing the globe.
Now I live without plans. I do what I want with my life every single day — travelling, discovering places and people, above all people.
In the daily grind of our materialist, consumerist society, there are moments when we set ourselves goals so far away that we forget what we actually want today, or tomorrow. If you take the wheel of your life right now, and steer in the direction you want right now, you'll always end up somewhere good.
I have two firm beliefs. First, everything will be fine: things always work out. Especially when you're certain they will. Or until they stop working out. Second, nothing is impossible if you believe it. You can't fail without trying — but success only comes after a string of attempts and mistakes.
Flying is the art of learning to fall and fail, and the key to success is failing, and failing, and failing again…
