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Kike Arnaiz
@kikearnaiz
Photographer based in Spain
Introducing Kike Arnaiz
Living up to his profession as a travel photographer and content creator, Kike is a true citizen of the world and lives his life traveling for the past five years. He left his home in Spain in search of a change of environment, away from a toxic relationship and the place where he had been struggling with depression and suffering from a chronic disease for too long.
Now, he lives his life day by day, almost in a continuous state of meditation, moving from place to place whenever he feels like and doing the thing that he loves. Kike mentioned in the interview: “My advice it’s to relativize all the things that might be making you feel anxious and to think about how many of them are really stopping you from feeling happy in the present. Are those things real trouble or just a reflection of what our society has told you that you should do or have?”
Kike began building his new life full of adventures by traveling low budget. He didn’t mind sleeping in the street sometimes but used several other strategies to save money while amplifying his digital business to make more money at the same time. He was selling some photos already and his YouTube Channel quickly became a source of a rather stable income, sufficient to survive comfortably.
Nowadays, Kike lives from digital content creation, passive income, and shootings but he emphasizes that everyone can create a digital business nowadays and travel at the same time: “If you have some skills, think about how to make money out of them while traveling, nowadays the internet makes it all much easier. And it’s not only about social media or being an influencer.” To achieve this, some inspiration and opening up your mind to deconstruct beliefs about yourself and others might be necessary, and that’s also what travel teaches. “People have many misconceptions about the world, and maybe travel should even be mandatory for everyone as an educational experience.”
Since Kike shares great photography and travel tips on his YouTube Channel, we tried to ask him some different questions in this interview. You can learn about his adventures, his approach to travel, his favorite photo, and more by reading the full interview!
Interview
Welcome Kike! As a visual creator, you dedicate yourself professionally to “living while traveling”, without a destination. As we learned in one of your videos, you left home at a critical moment in your life with the idea to escape and travel just for a few months… But how long has it been now? Can you tell us a little about the start of your “new” life
Thanks for having me here, it’s a pleasure! And sorry in advance for my English, I still have a lot to improve. It’s been 5 years already since I left my home in Spain to live as a nomad, traveling with my backpack and my camera. At that moment I was living in Barcelona, having a really bad time: A toxic relationship, suffering a chronic illness, struggling with depression and feeling quite lost in that environment. I was making some money with the stock photography which allowed me to work online, with no need of being in a fixed place so after we ended this relationship, I decided to go on a trip to work remotely… I liked it so much that I haven’t gone back ever since!
What were the first steps you took to be able to change your way of life and, also important, to sustain such a way of life?
At the beginning I was not making a great amount of money so the first steps were learning how to live with few things, getting rid of the stuff I didn’t need and to start traveling on a budget by doing hitch-hiking, sleeping in hostels or couchsurfing and cooking whatever I could to survive. I first went to Italy, which was my first mistake, because it was a very expensive country. I’ve slept in the streets many days. I remember a night in Berlin sleeping in front of a shoe store and being awakened by the street sweeper with the broom in my face. It’s not that I was a vagabond, I just didn’t mind doing this sometimes to save some money, especially in expensive countries like within Europe. So one thing that helped me to live better traveling was to travel in Southeast Asia. I started in Thailand and my budget was very much flexible by then. With the months passing by I started making more money with my Youtube channel and the pictures I was selling online so I could afford traveling non-stop and with less limits.
That traveling alone is often very enriching and fulfilling, despite the discomfort one may feel, is recognized by many nowadays and maybe even an understatement. What have been the most significant shifts in your mindset that you went through as a result of traveling (alone) and how did that influence your happiness?
I gotta be honest, I’ve always been a lonely person, so it was not an actual challenge for me to be on my own. But I understand it is difficult for some people to break these barriers and lose the fear. But think about the positive things of traveling alone: You go whatever you want to go, do whatever you want to do, no discussions… and of course being alone makes you even more sociable and you’ll get to know more people on the way. The fact that you leave your house solo doesn’t mean that you will end your trip alone, you might meet some beautiful people on the way… If you travel with friends you often won’t really make this effort to meet people.
And the more you immerse yourself in another culture, being in contact with locals, the more your unconscious beliefs and perceptions about certain places will be deconstructed. When you grow up in a small village like I did, you think the world is what you have around. Yes, you heard the news about the starving kids in Africa, or the bombs in the Middle East, and you don’t even realize that’s real. Or even worse, to put an exaggerated example, you get to think Africa is a desert of hungry people, the Middle East is a dangerous place for terrorists and don’t even think about going to South America, because they will steal your organs!
Then when you start traveling for real you realize how many misconceptions we have, you learn not to judge people based on prejudices and stereotypes and discover that most of the people in the world will be happy to open their houses for you to have a tea with them and share stories for cultural exchange.
"Traveling cures you of stupid things likes racism and you discover also how unfair sometimes is the fiction we’re living with borders, religions, politician and so on."
To follow up the previous question, what have been some of the most impactful moments during your travels? Can you mention one or some examples? And what made them so impactful?
When I look back and think about the best moments of my trips, or the ones I remember the most, it’s always related to difficult times or troubles, that made the trip even more interesting. Like when there was a shooting in my hotel in Cambodia, when an elephant attacked my car in Tanzania, or when we got stuck in the mud in a river with crocodiles in Costa Rica… As one friend of mine used to say: “When everything goes wrong, real adventures begin”. In these moments all you get to feel is fear and a strong adrenaline rush. It’s not something you enjoy when it’s happening, but when you look back you feel like: “Wow, that was such an adventure!”
"I don’t mean to scare people; you don’t have to be in danger to have some really good experiences, probably the most meaningful ones have been the experiences while meeting local people and friends that will always remain in my heart."
How would you describe yourself as a traveler? And how do you approach the practical aspects of traveling as a visual creator?
I don’t like tags very much, I would just say I have the luck of feeling free and thanks to the digital business I’ve done around this lifestyle, I’m able to work whenever and wherever I want, so I can’t feel better about it.
About practical aspects like buying transport tickets, finding accommodation and food everyday… I guess if you don’t travel for long periods of time that would take you some time because the quality of your holidays depends on it, but for me it is something I do in “Auto-mode”. I actually live for today most of the time. I wait with buying fly tickets until almost the last day (just in case a change of plans), and I book the accommodation the same day I’m reaching the place. Also the photoshoots I do are normally done with people I find in a place and I simply ask them if I can take some pictures.
Normally it is all like this unless I’m doing a paid job that requires me working with models in a place on X day. In this case I plan a bit more… Nevertheless, as many of my incomes are passive and I don’t depend much on paid jobs, I usually move around and do the things that I want to do each day.
What would be your beliefs or rules, (whether spiritual, religious, personal, etc.) that you live by? Why these ones, how do they help you?
Some people relate traveling with spiritual encounters, finding themselves in a new way of believing… I’ve met people who have become Buddhist after a month in Thailand. I believe traveling makes you richer in knowledge and it opens your mind a lot. If you do some real traveling and not just going somewhere in your comfort zone, it will make you a more humble and easy going person. I’d say it should even be mandatory for everyone as an educational experience, but in terms of believings… I’m a man of science, I believe in what can be proved by the scientific method.
In a video you say: “I almost live being lost, so I find myself in a continuous state of meditation” And: “I don’t know what I will do tomorrow, nor the day after. I find myself floating in the air without knowing what to do with my life. And if I do think about what I would be doing within one year or two, I feel stressed, so I prefer not to think about it.” What are your thoughts about the fact that, in today’s society, we “should” have an answer or idea with regard to our (short term) future? What would be your advice for people who would like to break free from that?
Haha that’s true, thinking about the future stresses me a lot, so I live on the day. Of course I prepare myself for the future in terms of economy and health, it’s not that I just expend everything on the present without thinking about tomorrow, it’s just that I try not to make big plans in the long run.
It’s this kind of a “Carpe Diem” way of living that makes me enjoy the moments more and to feel more conscious about what’s going on. In the end this is our only reality, what we’re living now is what we got, so let’s enjoy it, what tomorrow brings it’s still the unknown… and that’s beautiful also.
"My advice it’s to relativize all the things that might be making you feel anxious and to think how many of them are really stopping you from feeling happy in the present."
Maybe you are overthinking about your job, about buying a house, having kids, a family… Are those things a real trouble or just a reflection of what our society has told you that you should do or have? Are you happy with the life you’re living and if not, what would you change in the short-term? For me it was very helpful to stop thinking about material things and about the future and to start thinking about spending my time and money on experiences and on the people I love to be with.
You seem to have an introspective personality, observing the world and investigating your place and feelings meanwhile. How could someone learn to travel in a more profound and transformative way?
When you travel the most comfortable thing to do is go to an agency and do the things that they offered you in a package. If you go to Paris, you go to see the Eiffel tower… and so on. I don’t say that’s wrong, but trying to go one step forward is what really helps you grow as a person. Go to meet some local people, try authentic local food, get lost on small streets in the countryside of the country… In general, to go out of your comfort zone is what will make you feel richer in experiences.
If you asked me what was my best experience in Peru, for example, I wouldn’t think about the Machu Picchu. I think immediately about the hike we did to a lake in a remote village in the south, and about the family of local people in the Andes inviting us to drink Chicha in their houses. We were coming back from seeing an Inca monument in a tourist place, which was good and beautiful, but something that will be there always and you can even see and learn about it from a Youtube video… so the richer experience was when we decided to change the road back from this place and go to the countryside instead of the mainroad. Then we found this corn farmer working with buffalos, and a beautiful mountain behind. We had to stop to take pictures of that, and the man was so polite that he not only accepted the photo, but also brought all the family and food for us.
"They told us about how they live in the mountains, how they grow corn and how they make their own alcoholic drink from it to make the days in the field under the sun more enjoyable."
In the meantime you found your way traveling and doing business as a visual/digital creator meanwhile. You shared quite some videos on YouTube on how you make that happen. Could you share four tips with our readers when it comes to full-time traveling/creating, that you think are some of the most useful but uncommon?
If you’d like to have this lifestyle, I would say you first have to have some knowledge on digital business, marketing, and a small plan to start with. You can always leave your house with a backpack and no money and no plan, but that will make it harder. If you have some skills, think about how to make money out of them while traveling, nowadays the internet makes it all much easier.
In my case it is social media that helps me to captivate attention and clients, it’s the field I’ve been working on for years and almost all of my clients come from there, but now I’m also working on a newsletter and email marketing which works well.
It is important to say that you shouldn’t think only about social media and being an “influencer”. There’s hundreds of ways to make money online. This pandemic has taught us that most of our jobs nowadays can be done online or you can make one… You just need a laptop and internet connection to make a store or a digital business, and a plan.
You mentioned: “I never go out to look for inspiration, I wait until it comes to me normally”. Many say to go outdoors for inspiration, but in your case, this is not completely applicable. How do you experience inspiration and how do you convert it into concrete works?
I go find inspiration everyday but without thinking about it…. I mean, I always try to keep my mind active: meeting new people, going to new places, listening to different kinds of music and in general, doing as many new things as possible. This way the inspiration comes by itself, this input I’m constantly having gives me inspiration to create constantly.
If I look back to the times where I didn’t feel inspired it’s mainly the times I remain quiet in a place, doing nothing, or working on the same thing for a long time. Like let’s say, how to find new ideas for my Youtube videos? As my channel is about traveling, if I stay in the same place for a long time I don’t get to find ideas for videos, but if I move a bit, I’m like, “Look at this, I could make a video of this place!” And there you meet a new friend that leads you to another new video… and so on.
"Keeping yourself active and exploring new things is the best way to feel inspired."
Could you share with us a photo you are particularly proud of and share the story behind it? What made that one so special and how did you approach the editing of the photo to do that moment justice?
As we’ve talked about traveling solo, inspiration and meeting people, let me share with you this self portrait in California which is all about it. I was not feeling inspired at this time when I was traveling to this area called Mammoth Lakes. My scouting about places to photograph was not working well, and I visited this place but I didn’t get any interesting pictures.
Then I went to sleep in a hostel with shared bedrooms, where I met a Chinese woman who told me about how the place I went changed during the sunrise, and actually was a spot she recommended. So I decided to wake up at 4:30am to go back to this place to take pictures again and this was the result. I placed the tripod and took a couple of self portraits that changed my mind about this place and the feelings I was having the previous night.
"About editing, I barely edit my pictures, I’m more a fan of doing as much as I can in the moment of taking the picture to make it look more natural and real."
So normally my edits are just giving some color and contrast and that’s it. I’d say the advantages of why this photo turned out well are the scout location and the previous research. If you just go to a place, take a picture and leave, you’ll just get the same picture of all the people who reached it there. But if you manage to scout, think of different perspectives and lenses, and wait for the proper light… that will be a completely different postcard from the place.
Also the fact that I placed myself on it gives you a perspective and scale of the place, and helps you feel like it’s a real place that you can visit someday. Making the people part of the storytelling is a plus. Now imagine this same picture without the sunrise light, without the smoke in the river and without the person on it… that would be another story.
“I just wanted to congratulate you for such an interesting interview, it was completely different from what I normally get asked and I appreciate it a lot. Also thanks to everyone who has reached here to take some time to read it! Hope you all have a great day.”
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