This is just a short summary of how the most insane experience of my life began. This story will have its own standalone book soon!
First, let me express that for a long time, I’ve kept this story to myself, it took 3 to 4 years to start talking about it properly and stop having nightmares about it, but I wanted to give something unique, personal, and special to each person who took the time to read an article from me.
Back in 2011–2012, I was only 19 years old, I was feeling on top of the world as my career as a Choreographer, Dancer and Gymnast were blooming after passing through multiple TV programs. I felt invincible, I opened my own dance studio, I kept it alive and gave my all to it, but unfortunately for me, laws in Spain towards Freelancers and small businesses are not really helpful, so during summers, I would have some trouble paying bills as people travel for holidays and income decreases.
(I’ll avoid names and exact locations for security and legal purposes)
One of my best friends at the time was working for me, she was a girl I helped throughout multiple years due to her family not being really supportive, and when again she was in need, I offered her come to work teaching in my studio, even if that meant I would split part of my income to help her.
One day in April, she decided to try working as a dancer touring around a country in Asia, I thought she was insane, but as it was a trend and multiple well-known artists were doing it, I told her she should pursue her dream and that there would be a space for her talent in my studio when she came back.
2 months after, she texted me saying that her boss was highly interested in hiring me for the summer, they would pay all expenses, trip to go and come back, food, home etc... and she said she was doing it to help me out as summer was the hardest season for my Studio.
What could I say? I thought about it for a week, and as I was young and my best friend promised me it was fully worth going, I took my baggage and went with four dancers, a DJ and me as the Choreographer and Lead Singer to this adventure.
The trip was already a bit off since the beginning, but when you’re young and excitable, a little trouble will never stop you.
We all travelled from multiple places in Spain towards Madrid Airport. Once there, after checking our baggage in, we were told that our tickets were not valid. After calls and tons of confusion, we found out from my friend that the company's boss cancelled our tickets right after he purchased them and sent them to us. The explanation was simple: He didn’t trust we would appear and look as well as in the pictures.
We had to send him full-body pictures at the airport of each member there to get him to believe us and buy the tickets again.
A part of me thought… this is understandable, it is a lot of money, and you want to ensure you are hiring the right people.
(Let me add at this point that we were promised Contracts and Visas upon arrival, as I requested the moment they offered to me)
We met each other along the trip, dreamt about our tour, costumes, shared the ideas I had for our performances etc… It was extremely exciting, so we forgot about the ticket incident.
Right upon our arrival to Qatar, the airport where we would have a 5-hour stop to change flights, we were told that our tickets again were not valid.
How was that even possible? Due to Time Zones, we called and tried to contact my friend and the person supposedly in charge of our team, but until when we got a reply, we had to sleep on the floor inside the airport until when somebody wrote to us in the morning about the boss purchasing the right tickets (again) and that all was correct.
At this point, after a flight for 9 hours and sleeping on the floor, we bonded quite well with each other, it was unbelievable but somehow part of the adventure, and we kept saying: Be open-minded guys, be open-minded! As we knew, their culture was extremely different to ours so maybe it was just their ways of making sure we were really going.
24 hours went through and finally, we embarked on our second flight, destined to a city that was growing rapidly, where almost no foreigner had ever set a foot in it.
We arrived tired, but safe and sound, to find my friend after months without seeing her and give her massive hugs while telling her all about our experience.
The worst was yet to come…
Due to how long this story is, this entire experience is becoming the second book in The Epic Path Collection, stay tuned to its release!