My most recent Blog below is about my year long Backpacking adventure through Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, China, India, Nepal, Australia, New Zealand and Fiji.
www.marcoenasia.blogspot.com
My prior blog goes further, 40 countries on 4 continents that I travelled to for work . In addition, you will find some funny stories of how difficult it was to first get set up in London with only £200GBP.
www.marcoenlondra.blogspot.com
My first and original blog, where my extreme traveling and desire to see the world all began, 20 years ago. You will find interesting posts about the places, events and cultures as well as some amazing photos from the tip of South America all the way up to Mexico/U.S border.
www.marcoensudamerica.blogspot.com
A bit about me
In a nutshell, I've spent far too many years working for multinationals, from 9-6pm, Monday to Friday, in the usual routine job trap. A slave to alarm clocks, never-ending emails, pointless meetings and yearly tax returns, awaiting only to escape for holidays and year long sabbaticals/trips to live ''la Vida Loca''.
Since 2015, I have been a Freelancer, a consultant, tourist guide and language teacher, striving to stay on my mission, fighting for a flexible work-life balance, for the freedom to negotiate and to choose when/how and for whom to work. The persuit of not being enslaved to the typical job has not been easy but managable until in 2020 when COVID19 hit us, challenging all the above, the struggle, fragility of freedom and dependence on systems becomes ever more real, but I still have not given up and only time will tell what the future holds .
The usually simple but in my case difficult question, where are you from. Well,
I have several nationalities, passports and resendencies, a true global citizen of the world with a complicated story. To simplify, most of my family come from Argentina, Uruguay or France, I was born in the U.S where I lived, on and off for a total of 13 years and have lived in 8 countries which overall has been a wonderful education.
Firstly, my parents are not diplomats, nonethless I've lived abroad as an expat most of my life. Whether seeing endless strikes of the French complaining as teen living in Paris, witnessing Mandela's rise to power and the transformations of it attnding highschool in Joburg, South Africa or feeling the tragedy of 9/11 and living in a subarban matrix while at University in Califorina, i needed to continue the trend.
Hence after finishing school I took my first sabbatical which started in the old world, working the summer season in Italy and Greece ( sun, lovely food and warm people), went east until Turkey, after exploring most of Central & South America I then moved to the most cosmopolitan city I could find, London
again more bombings). After a few years I spent 7 years in tibet (actually just joking), I returned to South America. Finally, I ended up in Spain, for a better lifestyle at of course a cost, a very limited job market and much much lower salaries.
Past Travel
Living in South America until 2015, without a doubt was the most fun and exciting experience and place I ever lived. One the best decisions I ever made and it has changed me, for better or worst.
Prior to that, while based in London from 2004-2007, I made regular short getaways to France, Spain and Italy and visited Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ireland and the Ukraine.
In 2006, I landed the most amazing job whereby I was sent all over the world, spending 85% of my time in over 50 countries on business. I stayed in luxury hotels, ate in up-scale restaurants, while directing a global quality control project for Pepsi where life and experiences changed dramatically. If Pepsi in India was not perfect, I am partially to blame...
In 2002, I completed my Bachelors in Business in California (and after a doing a few Euro trips and visiting Israel/Sinai, Turkey and Mexico) my blog starts here, the first sabbatical, an adventure traveling for two years non-stop, from London to Turkey and then from Argentina up to Mexico. Mostly overland by bus, train, hitch-hiking or cargo boat.
I started my my trip in Europe and within few months, stopped to work in Sorrento, Italy for an Irish bar called the Merry Monk , learnt Italian in a matter of months, jumped ship to Greece, finding the Island of IOS where I worked in a restaurant [as well as a movie extra (dillo con parole mie) and later as bar promoter & bouncer (Amadeus)]. I finshed my Euro trip after exploring to Turkey, Poland, Hungary, Germany and the Czech Republic before returning to South and Central America for 18 more months of backpacking.
Future
Back to today, I have spent more than five years of my life backpacking around the world living in hostels and another two years traveling full time with PEPSI while based in London. I have no solid travel plans, as I prefer to visit freinds and revisit countries I really like, but perhaps a visit to Japan, or to one day take the tran-siberian express to china with a bottle of vodka in one hand a spanish guitar in the other.
Passions include:
Adventurous independant travel, languages, culture &philosophy, cooking & gastronomie, music, Latin dance, surfing, guitar, photography, healthy living, yoga and sport.
"La felicidad es un trayecto, no un destino"
"Happiness is a journey not a destination"
