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 Manuel’s story.
From passenger to Group Leader: when one trip changes everything
Manuel builds fighter jets. By day he works on the final assembly line of the A400M in Seville, one of the most complex military aircraft in the world. On weekends, or whenever he takes a break, he leads groups of strangers across deserts, geysers and spice markets.
These are not two separate lives. They belong to the same person who realised, in a Reykjavik supermarket with eight strangers at six in the morning, that the destination is never the most important thing.
So what drives an aeronautical engineer to pick up a backpack and lead a group of strangers across the world? We asked him.
IDENTIKIT
- Aeronautical Engineer and Product Delivery Manager
- Spain, Seville
- 4 years as WeRoad Group Leader
How did you become a WeRoad Group Leader?
After Covid I needed to get out of Europe. My friends either could not or did not want to come with me. I saw a WeRoad ad, called them, and immediately had a good feeling. I decided to take the leap and go to Mexico, a country that scared me because of everything you hear about it. Today, almost five years later, become a WeRoad Group Leader it was one of the best decisions of my life.
After Mexico I could not stop thinking about that way of travelling. I went back with a friend I had met on that trip, this time to Jordan. There, my Group Leader encouraged me to apply. I included testimonials from my fellow travellers in my application video, and it worked out.
Is there a moment from a trip that you still see when you close your eyes?
A supermarket in Reykjavik, early in the morning. I was doing the grocery shopping with eight people I had known for less than twelve hours. We could not stop laughing, at nothing in particular, simply because we were there together.
I thought: if we cannot stop laughing over something as mundane as grocery shopping, imagine when we actually see this incredible country. I carry that scene with me every time I leave. It reminds me that the destination is never the most important thing.
What really changes when you travel with people you don’t know?
On day one you look at the group and think: what am I doing here with these people I do not know? By day two you think: this is the best thing I have done in years.
It happens every time. People open up naturally, without forcing it. You share intense experiences in a short amount of time, and those experiences create bonds that last. Ninety-five percent of people who try it do it again and again, because in a short time you live so many different emotions that the people who were once strangers start to feel like family.
What does a Group Leader do that travellers never see?
Everything that makes the trip feel effortless. Researching the destination, making calls in advance, building backup plans. But most of all: keeping an eye on every single person in the group, understanding who needs a push, who needs space, who is having a hard day.
The group sees the Group Leader smile. They do not see the hours before, during or after.
You met your partner on a WeRoad trip. Would you still be together if you had met on a dating app instead?
I can say with near certainty: no. In Jordan we both went in with zero romantic intentions, just wanting to have fun and meet people. Then, during transfers and activities, we started talking for hours. Naturally, without forcing it.
On an app you always start with the same typical questions, in a slightly artificial setting. On a trip, you see a person in different, authentic situations. You see them tired, excited, scared of something. You really get to know them.
During an icebreaker game, Sheila had said she wanted to go to Australia. For me, Australia had been the best experience of my life. That is where it all started. We are getting married next year.
Discover them. Fall in love with their stories.
Manuel left alone, with a ticket to Mexico and more than a few doubts. He came back with a life partner, hundreds of stories to tell, and the certainty that the most important moments happen when you stop waiting for the right time and just take the leap.
His 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.
Curious to discover more extraordinary stories from WeRoad Group Leaders? Come and meet Eileen too!
