I currently live in the Northern California Bay Area. I played college [American] football at The University of California, Berkeley and had a wonderfully long, fun, productive, and successful career. I come from a very athletic family background that became a very big part of my identity. However, growing up, my parents made sure to instill a curiosity and fascination about the world. My dad is fascinated with world history and we have a very detailed history of my family dating back to when they came to America from France in the late 1600s. My mom helped me develop a creative side with a love for photography, videography, art, and resourcefulness. This combination made me extremely passionate about traveling, exploring, and eventually content creation.

Growing up, my mom and dad both enjoyed traveling when we had the opportunity to do so. As a family, we primarily enjoyed island life and would typically go to the Caribbean and Virgin Islands. As a young kid, I was able to go to places like Aruba, The Dominican Republic, St. Thomas, St. Maarten, and my personal favorite, Antigua. I always loved the island lifestyle and was obsessed with the beach, the ocean, palm trees, and island food. Unfortunately, we didn’t really diversify our travel experiences and typically stayed within the Caribbean. In addition, I had also been to 40+ US states. I always loved flying and going on road trips with my family. I remember every night before a big trip, I wouldn’t be able to sleep due to the intense excitement I felt. Some of my favorite memories were doing things like going on the Disney Cruise at 8 years old for Christmas and discovering alfredo pasta for the first time while cruising around to various islands or going to the incredible all-inclusive resort, Curtain Bluff, in Antigua where everyone remembered my name every time I went back. All of these memories and exploring the various places and seeing different cultures and histories up close fueled my current love of travel. I was always fascinated with creating content, I just hadn’t put enough time and effort into actually learning proper techniques and buying the proper gear.

Fast forward to my college years starting in 2015 at Cal where I played [American] football. My first ever game I played in happened to be a 16-hour flight from Berkeley in the Down Under. We played our first game in 2016 in Sydney, Australia against the University of Hawaii. It was such a fantastic experience. I was able to see the Sydney Opera House, which was a surreal experience having only ever seen it in pictures and in Finding Nemo. That was my first intercontinental travel experience, and I absolutely loved it. Later, in 2019, I took my first trip across the Atlantic Ocean to Zagreb, Croatia where I finally got to experience European culture. Here is where I truly began to fall in love with Europe. I was able to visit Plitvice National Park and see all of the crazy old buildings around Zagreb. Seeing buildings built in the 1100s was crazy to me considering most of the oldest buildings in the United States are only from around the 1600s. The medieval history captured my curiosity. Since then, I had always wanted to go back to Europe. I just loved the lifestyle, the cuisine, the sights, and everything in between.

I really delved into photography during the beginning of Covid at the start of 2020. I had so much free time and I had really been inspired by creatives such as Jack Morris, Lauren Bullen, and Marcel Siebert. I really wanted to get my photos to a place where I would feel comfortable posting my travels in a professional and creative way. I went out and bought a Canon T4i and a cheap lens and got to work. I learned the basics of photography from a 7-day course put together by Marie Fe, Jake Snow, and Emilio (@eyesofanomad). This really gave a ton of insight into camera manual function basics, framing, and Lightroom editing basics. Since then, I have been constantly learning via courses, YouTube channels, and trial and error. Some great influences I had starting out came from people like Peter McKinnon, Maarten Schrader, and Lost LeBlanc. My tip to beginner photographers is to start on YouTube where there are a million different free resources to choose from. I quickly realized I would be taking photography very seriously, so after only a month or two, I upgraded my camera to a Canon 80D. I had this for the majority of 2020.

Football took me on a new path later that year. In August, the PAC-12 Conference announced that they would be cancelling the 2020 football season. I needed to play that year, so I transferred across the entire country to Boston College where I was able to play almost a full season of 11 games. This was the best move for me at the time and I chose Boston College over Ole Miss because it was one of the last parts of the country I hadn’t spent significant time in. The East Coast was stunningly beautiful, especially in the Autumn season when all of the leaves began to turn golds and reds. While I was there, I had a sudden influx of cash and bought my first drone, the Mavic Air 2. This brought a whole new aspect to my content. I thoroughly enjoyed the East Coast and took a couple road trips to places like Saville Dam in Connecticut. While balancing football and school, I still had time to work on my photography skills and would often go out on walks to practice my craft and take some shots.

Eventually, after that season, I found myself in limbo not knowing my status with trying my luck in the NFL. I had briefly gone to stay with my dad in Little Rock, Arkansas and eventually he said it was time to go. I went out to California again to stay with my girlfriend’s family and while there I upgraded my camera again to the Sony a7III which was the camera of choice for two of my favorite photographers, Marcel Siebert and Giulio Groebert. I found a great deal for a barely-used one and found another deal for a Sony 24-70mm f2.8 GM. In February of 2021, I had two dreams in the same week that I was playing football at Cal again and chest bumping my coach. My girlfriend told me that it was probably a sign, so I reached out to Cal’s academic staff to see if it would even be possible to come back for a SEVENTH year. They said that it would and my coaches were extremely happy to have me back. We got the process started and eventually I was eligible and played my final season at the first school that I had called “Home”. This brought a lot of happiness to me and I am extremely happy that I was able to do that. At the end of the season, I once again tried for the NFL and while doing all of my training, I had booked a trip to Greece in July with my old roommate. His girlfriend was from Athens and they were taking a big trip to Athens, Mykonos, and Spetses. This was my chance to finally go back to Europe. Even more perfect was the fact that it was in July which, in theory, was perfect because that was when the NFL had their time off.

I trained really hard and did my testing at Cal’s Pro Day where I performed very well. I had a 33″ vertical jump, a 9’3″ broad jump, and bench pressed 225 lbs. for 25 reps. I was 6’2″ 290 pounds and feeling in the best shape of my life. Unfortunately, as June rolled around, I had not received any interest from the NFL. While this was a difficult realization, I marched onward toward the rest of my life. I began working at a commercial real estate investment company that I had interned at for four of my Summers while at Cal and lost about 70 pounds. When July rolled around, I finally got to take my incredible trip to Europe. Here is what solidified my infatuation with European and specifically Mediterranean culture. I gave myself a seven-hour layover in London on my way out there and took a train into the city where I walked around, grabbed a bite to eat, saw London Tower Bridge, and had the coolest experience you could have on a layover. I headed back to the airport and eventually landed in Athens. I finally arrived at my hotel around 1 or 2 in the morning. I had the whole day to myself the next day since my friends were busy for most of the day. I couldn’t sleep and eventually started getting ready before setting out around 7 AM. I went into the hills east of Athens and then walked all the way into downtown Athens, saw the Acropolis, ate some great food, and 10 miles and 20,000+ steps later, I finally met up with friends. The next day, we took the ferry to Mykonos, where I had the best time ever. We drove around the island, ate the best Mediterranean food, and went to some really fun bars. I was able to take some great photos around the islands and by this time, I had become fairly confident and proud of most of my work. I still have learned a lot since then, but by that point, I generally liked where my content was. Our last stop was in the tiny island of Spetses where the main ways to get around are via horse and buggy, four-wheelers, mopeds, or bikes. I had a four-wheeler and drove all the way around the small island with one hand steering and the other trying to take pictures. It was so much fun and I really can’t recommend it enough. I even sent the drone up and got some great shots such as the one at the top of this page!

Since then, I have been back to Europe to Barcelona, Mallorca, and Menorca with my girlfriend. Then she decided to do her Fall semester of her final year of law school in Madrid, so I got to go back out again. Finally, in October 2023, I went out to meet my girlfriend in Munich and on the way out, I stopped in Banff and Jasper National Parks for my two-day layover. We drove around Bavaria for a week, bobbing in and out of Germany and Austria. We had schnitzel at least once a day for a week and I have zero regrets about it at all. After Bavaria, we flew to Dubrovnik and stayed there for a couple days before driving down to Tivat and Kotor, Montenegro. Eventually, we flew back to Madrid and then I flew back home to California. This has absolutely fueled my desire to travel more, and I already can’t wait for my next trip. I hope that I have opened up to you about who I am and what makes me love traveling so much. I hope that you will follow me on my journeys as I explore more of this beautiful planet in the future!