Executive leaves bank to be a backpacker and passes through RN

Since he was a child, Ígor de Faria, from Brasilia, had the dream of traveling the world, encouraged by his father, who was an English teacher and had already gone to Europe on a scholarship. But how to do this? The way he found it was to study for the bank exam and have stability. In 2008, he was approved to work at Caixa Econômica Federal and was called in 2010. Since then, he took advantage of every vacation period to visit a country — he has already reached the number of 40 countries visited. In 14 years, he rose professionally and became an executive advisor, but decided to leave his job to get to know Brazil and other places even more. In January of this year, he became a “nomad” to visit all states in the country and different continents in a four-year project. Now, it passes through Rio Grande do Norte.

“Every time I had a vacation, I went out somewhere. In the 30 days I had on vacation, sometimes I traveled to six countries in one trip to discover more, so in 14 years at the bank I traveled to 40 countries and all of Brazil. And then I thought: ‘one day I want to do this for my life”, account.

At the same time, Faria saw time passing and age advancing as he gained more responsibilities and time grew thinner. He also faced three consecutive harassments within the company, which led him to notice people in the job market suffering from status and power.

“I saw that the way things were going, I was already heading towards depression, things that make me mentally ill”.

Last year, the executive closed its ties with Brasília. He took a leave of absence from the bank — which lasts four years — and got divorced.

“I closed my edges to go out into the world without any kind of ties in Brasília, because there is no point in being in the world and having your head at home”, it says.

Since January 13th of this year, he has become what he classifies as a “digital nomad”, in a backpacking project mostly hitchhiking in which he produces content for social networks along the way. His Instagram page is @igubrazil.

“I have four years of leave from the bank, which they gave me, without pay, without health insurance, without anything. The position I had as executive advisor, the day I return — and if I return, which is not my intention — I will return from scratch. It’s the same thing as going from lieutenant to soldier, you go to zero. And I didn’t think twice about giving up a high salary to go out into the world. So I took a few things I had, a small nest egg and got involved”, explains Ígor.

Close to completing four months of travel, he has already passed through seven states and last week he arrived in Rio Grande do Norte from Ceará.

“I am welcomed many times and when I’m walking too, when I’m passing through cities, I go to restaurants, exchange ideas, explain my project and also get food. So the core of my project, which defines my story today, is to test the balance of good in the world. We came from very difficult times now with corona and so many other things like crime, violence, that we started to lose faith in others. So my intention in the project is to test the balance of good around the world, to talk to people, and not so much to show the places I visit, but rather the cultures, the people I know, the stories I hear, the road how is it”points out the backpacker.

The project is divided into two parts, lasting two years each.

“I’m going to travel all over the Americas and then, at the end of next year, when I complete two years, I’m going from Brasília to Cape Town, which is at the beginning of Africa and from there I’m going to go to Auckland, to New Zealand, which is the end of the world, all the way to Asia. So the idea is to make Africa, go up to Europe, then go down to the Middle East, go down to Asia and Oceania. So yes, I will be able to close the world, but taking a unique route”, says, about his choice to take a linear route.

In Natal, he is getting to know the city little by little. The interview with agency Find out more was granted last Friday (26), a day of rain in the capital, which disrupted plans for that day.

“I went to Bar do Pedrinho, which is very famous. I did some things there, I went to Beco da Lama yesterday (Thursday, 25th) to see it, I went to the Potengi River to canoe, but there will still be a lot of things here”, account.

Marathoner and triathlete, Faria also likes to walk routes. The desire for the weekend would be to go from Forte dos Reis Magos to Morro do Careca, a route of more than 17 km.

“There will also be a walk that I want to do from Pipa to Baía da Traição [na Paraíba, a mais de 70 km]so there is a lot that will still happen in Rio Grande do Norte.”