Meet the Group Leaders: she bought a one-way ticket and never looked back. The story of Alicia

There are people who refuse to watch the world from the sidelines. They are not tour guides. They are not influencers. They are ordinary people who made extraordinary choices.

They stopped waiting for the right moment and just left. They faced their fears, crossed deserts, met strangers and then decided to do it all over again, bringing others along with them. In this series, WeRoad Group Leaders share how travel can change you and why doing it together with others can make all the difference.

This is Alicia’s story.

From Barcelona to everywhere: when a one-way ticket becomes a life

Alicia found WeRoad at the most vulnerable moment of her life, just after unexpectedly losing her father. She walked into a WeBar in Barcelona and met a group of Group Leaders who showed her that WeRoad was something more than travel. It was a community of people who wanted to experience life fully, through connection with others and with the world.

She signed up immediately. A few years later, she quit her job, left her apartment, and bought a one-way ticket. Almost two years on, that ticket still has no return date.

So what drives someone to lead groups in five languages across three continents? We asked her.

IDENTIKIT

• Full-time Traveller and Group Leader
• Spain (based everywhere)
• 2 years as WeRoad Group Leader

How did you become a WeRoad Group Leader?

I found WeRoad at the most vulnerable time of my life, after very unexpectedly losing my dad. Over four years ago, I came to one of the WeBars held in Barcelona and met a group of amazing Group Leaders who showed me that WeRoad was much more than just travelling: it is a community full of like-minded souls with a desire to experience life through connection to other people and cultures.

I was so inspired by them that I could not believe it. Travel, open-minded people who were passionate enough to enjoy life to the fullest? Sign me in. Since then I felt that I had found my people and I became a Group Leader so I could share that desire with many more people around the world. For me, there is no better feeling on a trip than seeing how much the travellers are allowing themselves to just enjoy and be present.

Is there a moment from a trip that you still see when you close your eyes?

So many moments and it is incredible how experiencing many trips and adventures does not make it any less impressive. But if I have to choose one, I close my eyes and picture myself during my first WeRoad trip, running under the tropical rain towards the water at a natural beach on the Pacific shore of Costa Rica, with new friends who I am still in touch with today and keep travelling and meeting up with whenever we can.

That moment felt like a dream come true. And honestly, that is also when I understood that we can dream big and that it is not crazy to want more in life than what you have always known. Those moments are real, and you deserve to create the life you cannot stop thinking about.

What really changes when you travel with people you have never met before?

You understand that life is not that serious, and you allow yourself to step outside your comfort zone. You do not have a script to follow, so you can be your truest self. You can be silly, show your own spark, simply be who you are.

And not only that: you also connect with people with whom you initially might have nothing in common, and who might show you different realities and perspectives. People who allow you to think in a different way, broaden your horizons, and open your mind for much more than just that one trip.

What does a Group Leader do that travellers never see?

We are the piece that brings the group together and works to create a personalised experience, while making it all look smooth and relaxed. Most of what we do behind the scenes goes unnoticed, which is kind of the point, so that travellers can actually enjoy it without any worries.

We are always checking on the group: making sure everyone feels welcome, the activities and food options work for that particular group, everything runs on time, and any issue is anticipated before it becomes visible, with a smile on our face. We manage problems calmly, often without the group even knowing there was one.

We do all of that while also having fun, getting to know everyone, and feeling like part of the group ourselves. But most importantly, we create the atmosphere for magic to happen. We set the mood so that everyone feels they can relax and just be themselves. That is the most special part of the job.

Now you lead international tours. At what point did you realise WeRoad had become your real job?

WeRoad has made me believe in myself like nothing else ever has. And I think that is why I have never felt it as a job.

A month after my first group trip, I was asked to take on a last-minute tour in my fifth language: German. I did not even think I was ready to be a coordinator in my native language, Spanish. But WeRoad had my back and so I accepted. I apologised a thousand times for not being a native speaker. They gave me ten out of ten on every review.

After that came the German scouter team, weekly group interviews, conventions in Hamburg. While my full-time job was making me feel small and undervalued, WeRoad was doing the exact opposite, from month two.

Two years later, they were looking for international Group Leaders in English. I applied. I got it. My personal goal now is to lead a French and an Italian tour and become the first Group Leader to lead in every WeRoad language. I am a language nerd. I cannot say otherwise.

And after all of that, I decided it was time to follow my biggest dream. I quit my job in Barcelona, left my apartment, and bought a one-way ticket. Almost two years later, I still have not found a return.

At this point, I do not even introduce myself by my profession anymore. Thanks to WeRoad, my life has so many stories worth telling that most people never even get to the job part. And that is exactly why WeRoad will always be one of my best decisions and not a job.

Discover them. Fall in love with their stories.

Alicia found WeRoad in grief and left it with a one-way ticket. Between those two moments: five languages, three continents, and a community that made her believe she was enough, more than enough.

Her story is one of the many that WeRoad Group Leaders carry with them. Not the destination, not the itinerary: the person they were before they left, and the one they became along the way.

On this blog, we share their stories, one at a time. Because behind every WeRoad trip there is always someone who chose to take the leap and then decided never to stop, bringing others along for the ride.