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 Andrea’s story.
He wasn’t looking to be chosen
It’s his sixth trip as a traveler, not his first. Andrea is turning 25, and to celebrate he picks Swedish Lapland. He’s already booked his seventh trip.
On the last night, his Group Leader Davide stops him: “Andre, do you know I can really see you as a Group Leader?” Andrea had never considered it: he was the kind of traveler who often didn’t even read the itinerary, trusting his coordinator completely. Three months later, that trust comes back to him: in May 2022, Andrea becomes a WeRoad Group Leader and three months ago he left his permanent job contract behind.
But what happens when someone else’s trust in you changes your life before your own does? We asked him.
IDENTIKIT
- Tour guide
- Italy
- 4 years as a WeRoad Group Leader
How did you become a WeRoad Group Leader?
It all started on my sixth trip as a participant. I was turning 25, and to celebrate my birthday I chose a WeRoad trip to Swedish Lapland. I’d always loved the WeRoad format: I’d already booked my seventh trip as a traveler.
Toward the end of the trip, our Group Leader Davide said to me: “Andre, do you know I can really see you as a Group Leader?” I’d never thought about it, if anything, I often didn’t even read the itinerary, trusting my coordinator completely and living each day on faith.
He’d recognized something in me: the right spirit, the right approach. Once I got home, I received an invitation to apply, thanks to his recommendation. I threw myself into it, curious and maybe hopeful I could become someone others could trust too, the way he had trusted me. Three months later, in May 2022, I left my permanent job contract and became a WeRoad Group Leader. Today I work as a tour guide.
Is there a moment from a trip you can still picture clearly when you close your eyes?
So many, both as a traveler and as a Group Leader. My first group, in 2019, meeting in Edinburgh for the welcome meeting in Scotland. The northern lights, watched together with the group on our last night, heading back to Stockholm by train: a good omen, as it turned out.
A night in a guesthouse among the rice paddies in Vietnam. New Year’s Eve releasing lanterns in Thailand with my group. The starry sky over Mangystau, in Kazakhstan. My first night in a yurt in Kyrgyzstan. Landing in Leh, in India’s Ladakh region. Sliding down the dunes in Namibia, a night in the Sahara talking under the stars, walking into Machu Picchu.
I can picture all of them vividly, because they were moments of real emotion: not just for me, but for everyone there. And when something is truly moving, shared with fellow travelers, the feeling doubles.
What really changes when you travel with people you’ve never met before?
At first, it genuinely feels strange: sleeping near people you don’t yet know whether to trust, whose habits and thoughts are unfamiliar. In everyday life you already know how your childhood friends will react, how your teammates behave, how the usual conversations with your usual group will go. But you’re not always fully yourself in that routine, sometimes you wear a mask without even noticing.
Traveling with total strangers is different. You have nothing to prove and no role to play. It’s easier to open up and to bond than it is back home. Traveling always gives you the chance to open up, to trust, to give and receive something new with your fellow travelers. To finally just be yourself.
What does a Group Leader do behind the scenes that travelers never see?
A lot that travelers might take for granted. The first is pre-trip anxiety, because I care about getting it right, and you never know what kind of group you’ll be traveling with.
The second is that Group Leaders have channels among ourselves where we share tips on different destinations, a real help for whoever hasn’t been there before. The third is studying the itinerary in detail, to be properly prepared. The fourth is staying in touch with local guides and answering messages in the middle of the night, to lock in excursions, restaurants, extra activities.
So travelers never really see either side of it: the organizing itself, or the mental part: will it go well? will they be happy?
Davide chose you by watching you as a traveler. Today, what do you notice in the people traveling with you that makes you think “this person could become a Group Leader”?
Every Group Leader has their own character and their own style of leadership: there’s no single mold. But when I think about who, among the travelers, could become one, I look for someone who reflects the values and the approach of a group trip: someone who stays positive despite the inconveniences, the changes of plan, or the small mishaps of a trip, and who’s always ready to help others.
It’s not necessarily the person who “makes the most noise.” They often stand out through certain behaviors and a certain way of speaking: humble, but decisive at the same time. They think before acting, and that doesn’t mean always being serious: they’re engaging too. A lot of people say they’re good at organizing trips. But being a Group Leader is really about knowing how to be with people.
Discover them. Fall in love with their stories.
The trust Davide handed him without being asked, Andrea now hands back every time he chooses to trust a group of strangers.
Andrea’s story is one of the many that WeRoad Group Leaders carry with them. Not the destination, not the itinerary: the person he was before he left, and the one he 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.
Curious to discover more extraordinary stories from WeRoad Group Leaders? Come and meet Franziska too!
