Matteo

Travel information

I am currently

Description

For all my life, I have studied or worked inside an office. At 27, and after the first 2 years of working experience, I really feel the need to step aside, travel for a while and take back my life in my hands.

I am an aerospace engineer, so pretty experienced with technical stuff, but during my travel experience I gained many more skills.
What really pushes me in doing Workaway is the possibility to get experience in one (or more) of the main problem of tomorrow: food or energy waste, green energy and economy, water management, sustainable agriculture and farming, teaching.
But also to meet new people, learn new culture, and visit new places.
This, with a rentable travelling option, and a good deal of spare time to develop my projects, is just perfect for me at the moment.

- UPDATES January 2023 -
I start my new year of travelling from Canakkale, in the Bosphorus where Ozlem and Yilmaz hosted me for almost two weeks, a very nice experience while working wood.
After visiting Bergama, Izmir and Bodrum I took a ferry for Kos island where Promotheus was waiting for me to build together is new wooden summer house!

- UPDATES December 2022 -
I stayed two weeks close to Antalya, in Gazipasa precisely, where Bulent kindly hosted me in the pansyon his family is running. It was a pleasant experience in contact with nature and with awesome food.
Towards the end of the month, I crossed all Turkey to meet my family in Istanbul where we spent Christmas and New Year's Eve together

- UPDATES November 2022 -
I spent November while travelling: 10 days in Armenia and 15 days around south-east Turkey. What an amazing experience through Armenia and Mesopotamia, passing through Gaziantep and Antalya

- UPDATES October 2022 -
From West Georgia, after having visited Svaneti, I reached East Georgia and Telavi, where I had my very first true Georgian Workaway, hosted by Guga and Nutsa in the under-renovation house for almost a month.

- UPDATES September 2022 -
After Bartın, I complete my tour on the Turkish Black Sea coast visiting Samsun and Trabzon before reaching for Georgia! First stop is Martvili, at the Karma Hostel, where I stayed for more than 2 weeks.


- UPDATES August 2022 -
I end my Bulgarian experience spending 2 weeks in on the Black Sea, hosted by Evgeny in his Hug Center Burgas, a newly converted refugee center for Ukranians.
By mid-August I then made my official entrance into Turkey. After two quick stops in Istanbul and Bursa, I reached Bartın where I had my first Turkish workaway at Küre Dağ Evi, a hotel-restaurant.

- UPDATES July 2022 -
July is the month of Bulgaria! And I was still hosted by households. Arne and Karishma welcomed me in Veliko Tărnovo, while Daniel and Ralitsa, and their amazing 4 kids, hosted my in Pravets, near Sofia, in a very characteristic and teaching experience in close contact with Bulgarian culture, history, and traditions.

- UPDATES May/June 2022 -
I spent the first half of May travelling in the Balkans. The region is not big, but so varied that it's impossible to live in every country. At least I got a taste of Montenegro, Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia.
My following destination is somewhere I didn't plan to go, but eventually came as a surprise: Romania.
Particularly, in Transylvania near Cluj-Napoca hosted by the Anna and Ákos' family, a Hungarian family living in a Hungarian village. An amazing cultural experience.
I then moved towards the South, near Brașov, where I am hosted by the very welcoming Romanian family of Bodgan and Nicoletta, inside their handmade house.
Another amazing experience in close contact with nature.

- UPDATES April 2022 -
I move to Serbia after a small trip through the South of Croatia and Bosnia.
Here I stay, for a couple of weeks, in central Serbia, in Sumadija region hosted by Vuk's family, and then in South Serbia, Niš, for my first experience working in a hostel.

- UPDATES Febraury/March 2022 -
Once again on the road, now discovering East Europe! I start my journey with a month stay in Croatia. First, two weeks in Rakovica, and then, two weeks in Vis.

- UPDATES November/December 2021 -
After a quick stay in deep Spain, in Polán around Toledo, working in a farm, and passing through Toledo and Madrid, I came back to Vejer de la Frontera for some more construction tasks and to meet friends at this wonderful permaculture project.

- UPDATES October 2021 -
Discovering Castilla y León. Living in Lerma gave me an amazing opportunity to discover a side of Spain I didn't know much about. My hosts were two artists living off-the-grid in the field, and running an unconventional artistic hotspot. Where freedom is the rule.

- UPDATES August/September 2021 -
After a week of vacation with a friend in the Spanish East Coast, I'm back on Workaway, heading to Catalunya.
I have been hosted for two weeks in Valls, near Tarragona, inside a future cultural and social center (Symbio House), while for the following 4 weeks (up to the end of September) I'll be in the Pyrenees, precisely in Ribes de Freser, exploring the nature of the place.

- UPDATES July 2021 -
I was hosted by the Buddhist center Fundación Mahasandi in Abanilla, Murcia province. I didn't come here to find my spirituality (even though I got in touch with Buddhism, Hinduism, Yoga and a lot of other interesting topics) but to build a sacred cave! Yes indeed.

- UPDATES June 2021 -
Next stop: Vejer de la Frontera. It is a permaculture community who hosted me since they were in need of someone with "construction" knowledge.
Here there's a large community of people living here with some volunteers like me which makes the atmosphere so nice. Besides this, I already had the chance to visit some wonderful place around here: Cadiz, Tarifa, Parque Doñana, Pueblos Blancos.

- UPDATES Apri/May 2021 -
I couldn't freely travel in Italy, so I moved to Spain!

For the first 6 weeks of my travel I was hosted by Judith in Jete, in her finca. My time here was very interesting and teaching. I had some wonderful working experience, but also a truly intercultural exchange.
During weekends, I was able to travel around, and I visited: Granada, Córdoba, Malaga, La Alpujarra.

- UPDATES Winter 2020/21 -
Covid forced me to come back home in Milan for winter after having spent only 5 days in Puglia last year.
As soon as situation in Italy eases a little I would love to start where I finished last year, that is to say I would like to arrive in Puglia by mid-April (if situation allows it of course)

- UPDATES September/October 2020 -
The travel keeps rolling. I spent most of the month of September in Umbria and by the end of it I moved South in Lazio (Sora). The plan for October is to keep moving further into the South of Italy. After Sora I'll spend 2 weeks close to Napoli and I'll close the month of October in Molise! Looking forward to heading in Puglia for the month of November.

- UPDATES August 2020 -
The adventure has started! I'm around Umbria since the 11th of August and, as I'm writing, I'm about to meet my 3rd host of my travel. To be honest, everything is really going great. I'm having some pretty good experience with Workaway hosts, helping them out and learning a lot so far. Looking forward to keep on going!

Interests

Languages

Languages spoken
English: Fluent
Spanish: Fluent
French: Fluent
Italian: Fluent

More details about my language interests
This workawayer has indicated that they would be interested in sharing their language(s) or learning a new language. You can contact them directly to discuss this.

Find a language buddy

Skills and knowledge I'd like to share or learn

I'm interested in:  

Babysitting and creative play

Hospitality/Tourism

Charity Work

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Some knowledge of:  

Gardening

Being an elderly companion

Life at a Farmstay

Eco Projects

Languages

Teaching

Animal Care

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Able to teach about:  

DIY and building projects

General Maintenance

Helping around the house

Helping with Computers/ Internet

More details about your skills

In my previous life, I was an aerospace engineer. Graduated from Politecnico di Milano.
I worked as an Airbus subcontractor (in Toulouse, France) for the autopilot of A380 and A350 as an embedded software developer and as a project manager.

While in Toulouse, as a volunteer, I followed a boy in after-class activities: home-work, orientation and leisure activities.
I also volunteer as a translator for some no-profit newspapers.
Concerning my hands on expertise. My father is an experienced furniture fitter, and he taught me a lot about his job.


I have been travelling for almost two years in total now. After gaining relevant experience in what is related to fields, agriculture, breeding and more, I definitely discover my passion and a possible future job: construction and carpentry.
So I mainly build with wood, simple and complex stuffs, items for the field or something for the house. I also have some experience working with masonry but also iron and metal.
If you have some construction things to do, you won't find another workawayer/volunteer who has building experience and is also an engineer. I'm an opportunity worth taking. ;)

-- FOR FAMILIES --
I started looking for families as potential host only recently, but it is working out amazingly.
It's a true win-win situation. For me, since I'm interested in your culture, history, traditions. Living with you would be an awesome learning experience. Adding also a nice touch of "family environment" which starts lacking after so much time on the road.
For you, since you can show your kids some new faces, they can practice English, learn new things (and I have some many things to share), eat real Italian food ;) (totally open to exchange) ... but also as a parent, is a way to let the world coming into your house, while you maybe can't travel as before, now that you are a family.




=== EXPERIENCE DURING THE ADVENTURE ===

- January 2023 -
The new year was much more active. In Canakkale I worked alongside the "wood-artist" Yilmaz, my new friend, and I also helped renovating some chairs. But it is in Kos where I worked on my biggest project: a full house, built from scratch!


- November/December 2022 -
November was a month of travelling for me, and in December I just had a quick stay in Gazipasa where I helped Bulent with very basic things like painting, work in the field, small project in his new house in town.

- October 2022 -
In Telavi instead, at Guga and Nutsa's place, despite still being a renovations job, it was more focused on plastering, cementing and refining dry walls.

- September 2022 -
In Georgia, I had some huge learning opportunities. In Martvili, at Karma Hostel, I helped in the renovations of an old house. Advanced woodworking to build a couple of windows and welding skills to build a panoramic iron door have been needed!


- August 2022 -
In Burgas, at Evgeny's Hug Center, I help in renovation, and mainly with simple electric circuitry and connections and same simply constructions.
Once in Turkey, in Bartın at Küre Dağ Evi hotel-restaurant, I had one and only one job: washing dishes faster than light, what I have done for almost two weeks.


- July 2022 -
In Veliko Tărnovo, I could return to proper carpentry, finishing Arne&Karishma's outside wall of their new guest house.
In Pravets, I could help Daniel in his office (he's running an electronic company) with inventorying components, but also spending time with their kids, leading them to the museum, playing and talking with them.

- May/June 2022 -
After my Balkan Tour, I arrived in the wonderful Gheorghieni, a historical Hungarian village where I helped to finish a nice "Hungarian fence": I carved the wood, sand it, paint it and then placed it on a metal frame.
In Bogdan and Nicoletta's hut, enclosed by the forest, I came back closer to the nature, doing small construction jobs with recycled material.

- April 2022 -
At Vuk's place I worked mainly in the land, planting small plants, caring about the terrain and building a greenhouse: a metal structure and a plastic transparent foil.
I finished it, welding and assembling the doors.
In Niš instead, the experience was totally new for me. I helped to manage the hostel of Ivan and Jelena. What a nice experience. I saw a hostel from the "other side": welcoming clients, showing the facility, getting to know the city, but also cleaning and managing the rooms.

- February/March 2022 -
In my stay in Rakovica I was volunteering with horses and sheep! So I got some more experience in animal care and, as always, some little construction jobs.
Later at Vis instead, I had an intensive 2-weeks of construction learning. I learned about welding and doing house foundations!

- November/December 2021 -
In Polán, during my stay at the farm, I learned a lot about crops, hen house, chopping wood with the chainsaw. I also had the chance to do some maintenance jobs: I repaired a tap and built a gate for the vegetable garden, with recycled material.
Back in Vejer de la Frontera, I had the chance to apply all the carpentry knowledge I got from my months of travels in Spain and had the opportunity to create something new.
Despite the classical maintenance jobs like fixing taps, toilets and so on, I built a wooden outdoor platform, a compost sifter with a sliding drawer, and finally I built a wooden wall for the field kitchen.

- October 2021 -
Lerma for me marks the discovery of a new skill: painting. A newly renewed external wall had to be painted. And so I got the opportunity to gain experience in this type of work. It doesn't amaze me, but it's good to learn something new. Besides that, I also had the chance to get back to carpentry. I built anew a door and a window. Very basic ones though (for the animal stall).But still satisfactory!

- Experience during the adventure - August/September 2021 -
In my Catalan experience (Valls and Ribes de Freser) I dedicated myself almost entirely to carpentry, woodwork and general house renovation, as well as water and electric installations. I had the chance to set a full kitchen in place and to make some wooden construction while learning how to properly do masonry!

- July 2021 -
During my time at the Fundación Mahasandi I got the chance to know more about construction, masonry and carpentry, working alongside some pros. For most of the time, we just dig in the soil to get our cave. So a lot of wheel barrels!
I also got the chance to build my own stone wall.

- June 2021 -
Next stop: Vejer de la Frontera. It is a permaculture community who hosted me since they were in need of someone with "construction" knowledge.
I confess I like when hosts give me responsibilities only because I'm an "engineer", and they need to do stuff.
If you're a host and, you're interested in my profile, you should know that I love challenges and find solution instead of asking questions. I don't know everything, but I learn really quickly.
During my time here, after the usual gardening work (weeding, streaming, ...) I built some supports for some solar panels, so that they stay more flat and anchored to the ground.

- April/May 2021 -
During my time in Jete, close to Almuñecar in the south of Spain, I mostly helped in building a tiny wooden house where I eventually moved in. Pretty good experience this one: we had to think about covering the interiors, finishing the facade, building two closets.
Besides this, I did some fruit picking and I built an exterior wooden stair to access the different ground levels of the fields. Jete is a hilly landscape with fields spread on the hillside.
In my last week there, I used all my engineering skills to convert an old drill into a wind generator.

- Winter 2020/2021 -
Back home in Milan this winter I dedicated myself to the creation of a travel blog (Have a look: www.ilmioviaggio.matteo-locatelli.it) and also developing one of the two activities with which I plan to sustain economically myself during my trip, that is: teaching Italian to foreigners...but in my own way! ;)

- October/November 2020 -
After my experience in Lazio, I went to Campania, close to Napoli. Other than spending lots of time in the surroundings of this marvelous area, I helped in a small farm involved in harvesting bio food and sell it to the local market. The experience, other than instructing me by the point of view of land management, pruning and harvesting (the owner of the field is very good and with more than 10 years of experience), taught me a lot about all the process the harvested food need before commercialization (boiling, preservation in vinegar/oil, maintenance of the equipment).

After Napoli, I moved further South to Molise where I was part, for 2 weeks, of the best eco-sustainable project I have seen so far. There I learned a lot about pruning, processing apples for making vinegar or juice, settling and managing the vegetable garden, olive harvesting.

In Puglia, for the last 5 days of my 2020 trip, I helped with olive harvesting.

- September 2020
I passed my last 2 weeks in Umbria (close to Città di Castello) learning more about gardening, composting, house maintenance and bricolage (I built a wooden table).
In Lazio, I finally gained experience in masonry: smashing with the jackhammer, building and refinish walls.

- August 2020
Finally, I can point out some experience that is fascinating to the majority of Workaway hosts. :)
During these first 4 weeks of travel I learned a lot of stuff concerning gardening, animal care (goats, sheep, chickens), work inside a vegetable garden, cutting wood, serving guests at a restaurant, how to move inside a restaurant kitchen, house cleaning (I knew this even before of course, but it completes the profile ;) )

Age

30

What else ...

I play drums, just for fun for the moment.
I am really passionate in nutrition and fitness, sports (football, basketball and motorsports. NFL&NBA lover)
I really like reading and travelling as much as possible, but what I'm really passionate about is learning.

- Update 2022 -
The Balkans, and not only (Romania), are so rich culturally that exploiting Workaway just to gain working experience is a waste. Every place is different from the other, and there's always something new to learn. The discovery of 2022 is history and culture, something I gave as a given in Italy and Spain, but that I'm actually discovering now.

- Update 2021 -
Ok, it is fair to admit that construction work is really what I love to do.
Wooden construction and carpentry in particular. I'm accumulating quite a good knowledge and experience in that.

- Update 2020 -
I'm getting passionate with agriculture and the activities surrounding it and, needless to say, also farming animals.
Lastly, I love discovery the details about the place I visit, from history, to culture and passion.

Some more information

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  Smoker

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  Driver's licence

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  Allergies
  No

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  Special dietary requirements
  No