<< When I grow up, I will be... >>

. This phrase, often in response to a question from someone older than us, we have probably all said it multiple times during our childhood.

Amandine resting with our little Manoa who joined the family. It's now my turn to take the keyboard. I will tell you how I used to finish that phrase a few years ago and why I want to talk to you about it. A short story in 3 chapters.

Like many children, especially little boys born in the culture of the 80s-90s, I was rocked by the adventures of Indiana Jones, the educational cartoons such as > and >, the adventures of Tintin around the world (once we > disregard ordinary racism and the place of women), some episodes of DuckTales (same remark as for Tintin), the readings of authors like Jules Verne, the Geo and National Geographic magazines from my school library with their lots of Egyptian discoveries and breathtaking nature photos... Of course, it wasn't just the adventurous side, but also the scientific and research side that attracted me. However, the warrior side, battles, GI Joe, and toy soldiers... no, that definitely did not appeal to me at all!

I dreamed of monkey bridges in lush jungles, searching for the ruins of forgotten Mayan pyramids, accessible by a secret tunnel behind a waterfall; or ocean expeditions in search of sea monsters, then lost in the Bermuda Triangle after a huge storm, then attacked by a giant squid and saved by Captain Nemo. In short, the limitless imagination and dreams of a child!

As a child, I did not decide my vacation or travel destinations, and they turned out to be very focused on southern Spain, sometimes to the mountains in Switzerland or France, and an occasional weekend trip to London or Paris. My intention is not to complain, far from it, I loved each of these vacations and each of these family trips.

Since I often flew to these destinations, I dreamed of becoming a pilot to travel the world. A dream that was soon abandoned in my teenage years due to my nearsightedness, because at that time it was disqualifying without any further recourse (it seems that this is no longer the case today if corrected with laser treatment).

But for the adventurous side, apart from biking with my brother through a nature reserve about ten kilometers from our vacation apartment, it was rather calm.

And then, I grew up, I experienced the >. At 18, I still did not know what I wanted to do, I chose computer science because I thought it would be a safe and future-proof job. Computers will not disappear; they will multiply in various forms across all fields. This was apparently true, but I did not realize that it was a job that was also largely easily exportable thanks to the internet, and that I could theoretically be easily replaced by any Indian who may have very few social rights and who would be paid a pittance compared to me. But that's veering off topic!

It's also the time when I discovered shows like Thalassa, but especially Ushuaïa hosted by Nicolas Hulot. I vividly remember one episode where he used a strange kind of balloon to reach the top of a very deep cave, or another visit to a cave where he was scared by giant spiders.

Being in the IT field every day, I frequently created accounts on different platforms or websites. And back then (this is still partly true for some sites that are not very up to date on security), we created backup solutions to recover lost passwords, based on personal questions/answers (today we usually use two-factor authentication solutions, which makes the first password less sensitive). They were questions like:

For laughs, to the first question I would answer >, which is actually my little brother! Oh dear, I'm straying from the subject again...

Let's get back to the question >. I would answer, not really knowing how to label this job, as >. Over time, it became a joke just like my first pet's name.

Years passed, I met Amandine, we set out to discover Latin America and the world outside of Europe. Then came the blog Un sac sur le dos, with its unexpected success that opened new doors, which, it is true, would have been harder to open without this sudden and unexpected fame.

Alongside my job as a computer scientist, I gradually became passionate about photography, even taking night classes for months. Today, I am a travel photographer, and I have embarked on the same journey for video.

A few days ago, we released our first film, Une autre vie >>. And in discussions with certain people, I suddenly realized something:

Finally, you get me... I have accumulated adventures that I share in video; I have traveled the world to sometimes unimaginable places, I have used completely crazy vehicles... I have plunged into sacred flooded caves of the Mayans, I have met the Mayans, I have climbed Mayan pyramids in a lush jungle... I have built a raft in the Amazon, I have been to Antarctica, I have walked on glaciers, I have slept in deserts, I set out in a kayak to photograph penguins, I paraglided over the Peruvian coast, I wandered through the ruined temples of Cambodia... In fact, these adventures are so numerous, and above all, the purpose is not to make a list, because I'm not trying to show you everything I've done and dazzle you, far from it.

All this to share my thoughts with you, in the pure style of blogging: I reached my dream little by little without realizing it, I somehow became who I wanted to be >, but the job of travel blogger-photographer did not exist at the time!

Yesterday, it was a response from my childhood self. Tomorrow, our little Manoa will have his own answer, and he will have his whole life in front of him to see where it will take him. I am so eager to uncover all of that, and there is only one way to find out: see you in a few decades!

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