We Talk with 'Alan por el mundo': "Travel Doesn't Automatically Change Your Life, But It Can"

For Alan Estrada, one of the most important Spanish-speaking travel content creators in the world, traveling can change your life, traveling can heal you, traveling can help you grow. But it 'can'. The rest you have to put in yourself. In his case, he has put everything on the line, and after decades of traveling the world, he has decided to share what he has learned on his journeys in a book. Until now, he had done it through his successful YouTube channel, Alan por el Mundo, and his various social media accounts, but Alan has taken the leap into print under the umbrella of Geoplaneta with the book 'Travel Will Change Your Life: 10 Lessons I Learned While Traveling the World.'

There are lessons that take us back to being children again, to travel responsibly, to appreciate the diversity of the world. We took the opportunity to chat with him about all these lessons during his visit to Madrid, a city where he previously lived while exploring another of his many facets, that of an actor, when he played Mario in the musical 'Hoy No Me Puedo Levantar'. A facet that, by the way, he has not abandoned. After participating in multiple movies, on television, and in theater, Alan ventured into theater direction with the play 'Siete Veces Adiós'. But now, let's talk about his book...

• How and when did the idea for this book come about?

Well, some time ago, about six years ago. I then thought that there are many publishers, many books by people who create content, and I knew that if I was going to write a book, one, I would write it myself. Although it may seem silly, writing it by hand, and I want it to talk about this, I am not going to write a travel guide. It's silly. Besides, with how fast everything changes, it would be out of date in two days. It's a book of travel reflections and life reflections based on the experiences I've lived while traveling, and it took me a long time to write it because I was aware that it would be tough to write something that would measure up to what I like to read. And then I judged myself a lot. I was judging myself the whole time; it was very difficult. But in the end, I told myself: let it go and let it be what it has to be.

• The first big trip you took was the troubled trip to India that you mention in the book in 2004. You say that India is the place where your travel self was born. What impacted you so much about India?

India influences. That's not just a country; it's an assault on the senses. But it also has a lot to do with who I was. So, facing such an aggressive other reality, other colors, other flavors, other religions, the discomfort I felt was overwhelming. I'm convinced that discomfort in travel helps with growth. It was what shook me up and opened a key of questions in me, questions I only found answers to through reading. I didn't read before that trip; I didn't like to read.

• 20 years after that trip to India, what is the biggest change you've noticed in yourself?

I think I'm a bit more peaceful. I believe there is a bit more tranquility in me. I have always been very energetic, very active, and I think with the passage of time... it may have to do with age. I also calmed down a bit. Before, I would plan my itineraries thinking from point A to point B and didn't necessarily pay attention to what was in between. And now I try to stop a bit more to discover and how that discovery generates a reconsideration of my own work.

In the summer of 2022, Alan Estrada became the first Mexican to visit the remains of the Titanic, 12,500 feet deep. He did so with one of the Titanic Survey Expeditions from OceanGate.

Through four videos, Alan detailed this experience on his YouTube channel after a failed attempt in the summer of 2021. In 2023, a submersible from the same company suffered an accident trying to achieve the feat, resulting in the instant deaths of its five occupants. The fear Alan talks about in his videos before going down in the capsule was justified.

• What are you up to now?

I'm making a series of videos in Paris. I'm renewing all my videos of Paris. A complete guide to Paris ahead of the Olympic Games. I'm revisiting many places. There are some new ones.

• You've taken trips where you didn't record anything or upload to social media, right?

Yes, many. I take a trip with my family every year, which is a surprise for them. I plan it. I tell them the date, the weather, and little by little they find out where we are going. On that trip, I don't record anything; I only take photos of my family. I take many trips where I don't record. I'm in Paris, then I go to Amsterdam and in Amsterdam, I don't record, I just stay a few days there; I gift it to myself.

• Do you think traveling is good for your health?

Well, I don't have the medical credentials to assure it, but I am convinced that it is, of course. I have discussed it with my therapist, about how travel can be a complement to any therapeutic process or grieving. That is, traveling in itself doesn't heal. In fact, traveling doesn't automatically change your life; it can change your life. Traveling can help you heal; traveling can help you grow, it can. The decision is up to you. And yes, I believe traveling can help in a therapeutic process. I have done it at moments in my life when I have been depressed or going through something difficult. Once I came to Madrid for 10 days. I was going through a tough time in my life, and I said: 'I want to go to Madrid; I want to be away from home, I want to see my friends here, from Madrid, I want to distract myself.' And it helps, it helps. Although one continues to carry their backpack.

• When you were here in Madrid doing the musical 'Hoy No Me Puedo Levantar', you must have had some free time to explore the city, right?

Yes, yes, all of it. It's very curious because at that time, David Carrillo, another actor who was in the cast and is still one of my best friends, I would say to him: 'Come with me, let's go.' And so he got to know Madrid, the city where he was born and raised, thanks to me. And I got to know more places. I remember that we even went that year to the Expo in Zaragoza. What I liked most about Madrid, which I still haven't found another city in the world that compares (maybe Berlin, but I don't speak German and it's not the same), is the nightlife. Madrid has nightlife... any day, at any hour. Incredible. And in summer, it looks great, with the streets full. That doesn't happen in my country.

• Now that you mention Mexico, what can you tell us about your hometown of Tepatitlán de Morelos?

I was born and raised there until I was 18. And I am very happy to have been raised there. It was a city that gave me many values in many ways and then others not so much. It is a very conservative city, but I like it, and besides, I see its tourist potential. In Mexico, we had something called the Cristero War, which was a religious war. And my city is full of tunnels that were used during the Cristero era, which were used by the Christian armies to move around and generally connect churches. But they are not open to the public, and there are thousands of legends.

• Do you remember what the first video you uploaded to your YouTube channel was? There's one in Times Square and Central Park from 13 years ago...

I uploaded it in 2010, but that trip was in 2008, just before I moved to Madrid. The videos I uploaded from my early trips were videos of my vacations. They were never meant to be uploaded to YouTube, but I recorded them as a kind of travel propaganda for my family to see. Those were the first ones, and I cut them because at that time YouTube didn't allow you to upload videos longer than 10 minutes.

• In the book, you also talk about that sense of wonder when seeing Petra for the first time and also with Machu Picchu. Have you felt that recently with other places?

Many, many. For example, Africa is a continent I have visited very little and hope to visit more. I remember when I went to Iguazu; that place took my breath away in July. Generally, it's natural places. And in Mexico, I recently visited with the Spanish blogger Enrique Alex, The Arch of Time in Chiapas. It's a very little-visited place and it's amazing. I mean, it's a place that blows your mind. Yes, there are places that keep my hope alive. And I also mention this in the book. I know I won't be able to visit all the places I want. I will die before that. One has that travel hunger to want to go everywhere now.