Travel & Experience

The world is the classroom I actually learn in.

From Manchester to Thailand to Florida — and wherever comes next. These are the places, people and experiences that have shaped how I think, what I value and who I'm becoming.

Nine Months in Krabi
Thailand2024–2025

Nine Months in Krabi

Five-star Accor Resort — Food & Beverage, Events, Sports & Entertainment

I arrived in Thailand with a degree, a suitcase and a fairly optimistic attitude. I left nine months later with a completely different understanding of what hospitality actually means — and a much more realistic picture of what it takes to build a career in it.

Working across food and beverage, events, sports, entertainment and guest experiences at a five-star resort taught me things no classroom could. How to read a room. How to stay calm when everything is going wrong. How to make someone feel genuinely welcome rather than just efficiently processed. How different cultures experience the same space in completely different ways.

It also taught me about independence. Living and working abroad, far from home, in a culture that operates on completely different rhythms — that changes you. I became more adaptable, more curious, more comfortable with uncertainty. I also became a better cook, which is a bonus.

Food & Beverage operations at a five-star level
Events management and guest experience design
Sports and entertainment programming
Working with international guests from 40+ countries
Nine months of genuine independence and adaptability
The Florida Chapter
Florida, USA2025–Present

The Florida Chapter

International hospitality experience — ongoing

Florida is the current chapter. Different culture, different pace, different set of things to figure out. I'm here to gain more international hospitality experience, meet more people, and keep building the kind of life that doesn't fit neatly into a job description.

It's also where the 365 Days to Become a Gladiator journey is happening. Which means Florida is simultaneously a place I'm working in and a place I'm growing in — and those two things are turning out to be the same thing.

International hospitality and guest experience
Building independence in a new country
The 365-day journey — live and ongoing
Surfing (learning), football (ongoing), adventures (yes)
Manchester Metropolitan University
Manchester, UK2021–2024

Manchester Metropolitan University

International Tourism Management — First Class Honours

Three years studying International Tourism Management at MMU. I graduated with a First Class degree, which I'm genuinely proud of — not because the grade matters most, but because it meant I took it seriously and it showed.

The degree gave me a framework for understanding tourism, hospitality, sustainability and the economics of how people move around the world. The real education, though, came from the conversations, the placements, the people and the growing realisation that I wanted to actually do this — not just study it.

First Class Honours — International Tourism Management
Sustainable tourism, hospitality management, experience design
Foundation for everything that came next

What's next

Where next?

I don't know yet. That's the honest answer. Italy is on the list — for the language, the food, the culture and the business ideas I'm developing around it. Beyond that, I'm following curiosity and opportunity, in that order.

Luca Mayes

A traveller, tourism graduate and creator publicly documenting the process of building courage, health, finances and a meaningful future — one honest day at a time.

The Journey

MindRecovery & FinancesBodyWorldFuture

"Entering the arena, one day at a time."

© 2026 Luca Mayes. All rights reserved.