She never parted from her grandmother's boots for a single day. They were a kind of amulet in the adventure that took her for over two and a half years to travel the world by train, ferry, sailboat, bus, car, bike, motorcycle, camper, horse... Whatever it took, but never by plane. This is the feat of María Perles, the 35-year-old Spanish woman who traveled around the world without taking a single flight. And as mentioned, with her grandmother's boots in tow, a pioneer who became one of the first women in our country to study Biology. She did it at the University of León, the city where she worked as a teacher. "She always loved traveling and organized many trips with her group of geologists. When I told her I was leaving, she gave them to me, and even though they are over 30 years old, they are in perfect condition," explains a proud Perles now in Spain, where she is participating in the 12th edition of the IATI Great Travel Journeys Conference, held in Madrid (at the Casa del Reloj) on May 20, 24, and 25.
She will be one of the 11 adventurers participating in the event as speakers to share their experiences around the globe. From Walter Astrada, a photojournalist who traveled the world on a motorcycle for nine years, to Sara Qiu, who arrived in China by bicycle, or Noemí Juncosa and Òscar Martí, who crossed Africa in a 4x4. Perles' story, born in Alicante and currently residing in Germany, is equally remarkable and dates back to her adolescence when she read a book that left a mark on her: Around the World Without a Plane. "It impressed me so much that I thought someday I had to do the same," she explains. What she didn't know was when. And that moment came in November 2022 ("on the 21st to be exact"), after completing her doctorate in Environmental Sciences in Leipzig. "I was very stressed and needed a break, so I thought it was time to pursue that crazy idea that had been on my mind," she adds.
And the question is: why not the plane: ecological activism, fear of flying, simple utopia...? "Obviously, due to my studies, I have a strong awareness of everything related to nature and caring for the planet, but it goes beyond that, as cars or ships also pollute, sometimes even more," she argues. In this sense, she explains that she has always been fascinated by "connecting places, analyzing distances, knowing how to get from one place to another, what lies in between... By plane, you miss out on this because you leave one place and arrive directly at another. Not only do you learn about geography but also history, and you think about how people moved in ancient times. Imagine, for example, Alexander the Great traveling from Turkey to Egypt on horseback."
With these thoughts in mind, she began her adventure by taking a train from Germany to her hometown of Alicante to say goodbye to her family and then taking a ferry that would take her to the Canary Islands. Her goal was to cross the Atlantic by sailboat accompanied by her friend María, who had that dream. Together, they spent Christmas as crew members sailing across the ocean on the boat Topaze with the final destination being the coasts of Brazil. From there, more than 50 hours by bus to the Iguazu Falls before reaching the Argentine Patagonia.
Then, on her own, she headed north to Chile, where she boarded a ferry bound for Caleta Tortel, where she met Antoine, with whom she hitchhiked along the Austral Highway, another means of transportation used during her journey. Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador,Colombia, Panama, Mexico... "I love Latin America, you connect so well with the people... Besides, some of the most beautiful destinations I have visited are there, like the San Blas Islands, it's amazing." Next adventure: a repositioning cruise departing from San Francisco to cross the Pacific, visiting Hawaii, Tahiti, or American Samoa.
In New Zealand, she met another friend, Claudia, and in Australia, she stayed for a month working in a café to continue covering her expenses (all from her savings over the last five years...). "I had to wait for the hurricane season to pass - in fact, I experienced one - to catch a boat, so it was very convenient for me to work and earn some money in the meantime," she points out.
Heading to Asia, her next discovery was Indonesia, where she explored places like Flores Island on a motorcycle. Then came destinations like Malaysia and Hong Kong, where she reunited with her mother after a year and a half without seeing her. "It was very fun because everything seemed new and crazy to her," she comments while recalling the high-speed trains in the area or the visit to the pandas in Chengdu or the imperial China of Xi'an.
After the reindeer herders
In Mongolia, she embarked on a long horseback journey to meet reindeer herders. She also took the Trans-Siberian Railway and hitchhiked through Central Asia to meet her friend Jaime in Uzbekistan. "Many of my close friends planned their vacations based on my stops to see each other," she recounts with laughter. There were many anecdotes during those days, like when she had to walk 20 kilometers through the snow carrying all her belongings. Or the interrogation she faced in Russia, "with the typical good cop, bad cop routine," she emphasizes. "They took my phone and scrolled through my Instagram, but in the end, one of them told me he had vacationed in Alicante with his family, and everything ended well."
She is also aware that traveling as a woman alone is not always easy, but she believes that the key is to rely on "common sense and intuition." In fact, one of the most unpleasant experiences she had was with a Spanish man in Colombia who asked her to dance, and she declined. "You have to be cautious because there are dangerous places, but it applies to both men and women. I am responsible, and if I'm told not to go to a certain neighborhood or area, I don't go."
His pilgrimage around the world continued in Georgia, Armenia, Iran, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, Turkey... In this last country, he took a ferry again, this time stopping in Greece, where he tried out another means of transportation: a camper with which he toured the Peloponnese. From there to the Balkans and Italy, France, and finally Alicante, where he wanted to finish the itinerary before participating in the IATI meeting, a true culmination of his round-the-world trip. Next adventure? "I thought that with this experience I would lose the desire to travel, but no. I have realized that there are a thousand things left for me to see, I want to return to many places, but for now, I'm going to take a break. My goal is to return to Germany and look for work there in research." However, as soon as the days in Madrid are over, he will head to León to return his grandmother's boots.