Mamen
“Home is not a place, home is inside you, the people you spend the adventures and makes you feel like home is the important.”
Life is an adventure for Mamen, and she is determined to challenge the societal standard that women shouldn’t travel alone, and that they’re safer at “home”. Mamen is her happiest when she’s exploring the unknown (particularly on her paraglider), diving into new cultures, and meeting new people. Her passion for travel led her to leave her job in New Zealand and embark on a life-changing adventure to Indonesia. Even despite a global pandemic, she hasn’t looked back. Her journeys have led her to discover that home isn't so much a physical location as it is the people you meet along the way. She is a person who trusts her instincts and follows her dreams, no matter where they lead her. Meet Mamen. This is her story.
P: Please introduce yourself!
M: Hello, my name is Mamen and I'm from Earth. I was born in Spain 35 years ago. I love traveling and paragliding.
P: Describe or define yourself in your own words.
M: I'm the kind of person who likes adventure and I can't stay in one place. Since I started travelling, I lived in many places and I guess I didn't find a place to call home yet but home is not a place, home is inside you, the people you spend the adventures and makes you feel like home is the important.
P: What is your favourite thing about yourself?
M: I always follow my dreams and so far it's been great. Everytime I say I want to do something, I work for it until it comes true. I focus all my energy in my dream and voila!
P: Tell us a story. Have you had an experience that’s defined you or made you stronger?
M: In 2018, I did a trip to Indonesia. On this trip I realised life is too short and I wanted to travel more. When I came back to New Zealand, I decided to save as much money as I could until my work visa finished and go traveling.
On mid July 2019 I was starting the biggest adventure of my life, I quit my 7 year job and went traveling with my paragliding gear for a year, which lasted longer, COVID kind of made it harder but I could keep traveling and paragliding with the pandemic.
This trip has changed me a lot, I'm a different person, stronger and capable of doing things I've never thought I could do. I met many kind people and this changed my way of thinking also. I learn new cultures and get involved with locals in every place I've been.
P: What is one piece of advice you’d give to your younger self?
M: Trust your gut. I always remembered when I had a strange feeling with people or things but because of listening what others said I wouldn't believe it and at the end always was what I was feeling. This days I trust everything I feel and everything it's been great so far.
P: What does being a woman mean to you?
M: Women have been mould as we have to find a job, get married, have kids...
I've traveled alone, I've done adventurous things and I've always been questioned: “Aren't you scared? It's dangerous. You don't have a job and you traveling? Are you traveling alone? You should be married already.” Things like that. For me being a women mean being strong, caring, smart, having a “we can do” attitude, follower of our dreams, adventurous, and we like to inspire to each other. We don't have to be defined for what society says.
P: Who is one woman that inspires you?
M: In 2019 I went traveling and I met a woman called Anne. She was a pioneer of paragliding, she showed me many photos when she was young, flying. She would tell me, at that time, paragliders were square and really hard to fly. She had an accident so she stopped flying. When I met her, she was learning again. She told me she is free when she is in the air. It's never too late to learn something you really love.