Skippers’ Stories – Part 3: gus

So, my time to tell you a little story about “how I became a skipper!”.

Long story short, I simply had no choice, did I?. i can´t stand the heat, and being sweaty all day wasn't funny when growing up in the Canary Islands, so I had to find a place where I could cool down a bit. So I choose london (truth is that at the age of 17, I got lucky enough to win a sort-of-willy-wonka trip to good old blightey, and got hooked to london pride and scratchings). Not totally a lie, but almost close enough to reality. Anyway, lets start over.

With ants in my pants, I wasn't going to stay in the islands for long. By pure chance, I discovered the magic world of animation while at university and that took me from LPGC.to another island (Mallorca) where I became 24/7 a rat lab to craft what would become my passion and profession. That was back in 98, sooo last century, I know. So a small recess to charge batteries with the family around and next frog leap... to another island, this time “the big rock”, as a colleague like to call it. I landed briefly in Birmingham but shortly I moved down to test my cockney rhyming slang in East London with my barrow boy flatmates. I wandered around working on multiple and different gigs, from TV animated series for kids, videogames to blockbuster movies. I really enjoyed the whole ride, and still miss the Soho thrill, but... life catches up, kids and London are not a great combination and we decided to give homeland a chance ( I have to say the TV series is better than s-pain). 

This to me feels like the end of part#1 of my skipping journey.

I learned what being a naive skipper meant when I lost a room I was about to rent, because I did not put a deposit down. That, I thought to myself was a lesson and I put a hundred pounds down on the next one I thought I was moving to... and when I found something better, I had lost that money too... I definitely learnt a few lessons, but that made me wiser, and poorer. 

During the almost 7 years I lived there, I kept learning all the time: How a different culture and society worked and behaved. I learnt the rules, I didn´t accept what I didn´t have to, but I respected them. It wasn´t for me to change after all. 

I loved the feeling of being a Londoner as much as it shocked me to feel isolated when I first arrived in the sticks, with no friends, no family…

I know I have been, and still am a skipper, since I am not Spanish* I am still skipping, and hopefully will keep it that way, trying to convince our daughters of the multiple benefits that comes with travelling the world, knowing other cultures and learning to see things with different eyes.

Someone once told me “Once a skipper, always a skipper”, so who know what future holds.

whatever comes next 

there is only one thing for sure, 

it will always be digested 

with a banana. 

canarian, but of course!

Got a question for us? Want to share your own experiences? 

Drop us an email at howtoskipthecountry@gmail.com or add a comment below - we’d love to hear from you.