Who Are Excursions Barcelona?
As you will see below, our crew covers a few continents. All of us have been travelling and working in several different places around the globe. This is actually how some of us discovered our passions, and each other for that matter. Our whole company structure is based on mutual respect and every one of us has an input into the running of the company.
We are both friends and colleagues. We are here because we love what we do. It’s the way we’ve always wanted the company to be and we will make sure that it will continue like this. If anyone feels as though you would like to join us, please fill in the form here.
Let us introduce you to our crew!
(AKA the coolest crew in Barcelona)
Stevie
FOUNDER, SCUBA DIVER, SNOWBOARDER, & TOUR GUIDE
Stevie couldn’t cope with the cold weather in his native UK, so he left in 2003 to travel and work as a scuba diving instructor around the warmer parts of the world before settling in Barcelona. He has also been a snorkelling guide in Costa Brava for the last 8 years. Now he’s hung up his fins and concentrates on the running of our little company…. With the occasional crossing of oceans in small sailboats, of course.
JB
FOUNDER, SAILOR, KAYAKER, & TOUR GUIDE
This Anglo-American studied Animal Science at the University of Tennessee before working as a zookeeper for elephants. JB discovered his passion for water sports whilst in Australia, where he started his career working with tourists on the ocean. Since then, he has been working with tourist and conservation projects in Central America, South America, and Spain. Of course, if you ask him, La Costa Brava is his favourite.
Marilo
SCUBA DIVER, KAYAKER, & TOUR GUIDE
Most people do island hopping, Marilo does continents. Not happy with just the regular way of getting around, aeroplanes are, after all, a bit boring to some but Marilo sails, walks, and cycles. A professional scuba diver and fluent in several languages, she’s either sat on a kayak, on our sailboat, or on the other side of your emails and phone calls. We all get stuck into all parts of the company tasks.
Elena
SCUBA DIVING INSTRUCTOR & TOUR GUIDE
Elena is half Spanish, half Scottish, and was born in the UK. Trained to become a scuba dive and snorkelling instructor on Magnetic Island in Australia, she spends most of her free time kayaking. Also having worked on Koh Tao in Thailand as a dive instructor, she ended up falling in love with Spain and settled in Barcelona and the Costa Brava, though she escapes the winter each year to work on tropical islands to teach diving.
Rachael
KAYAKING, STANDUP PADDLER, & SNORKEL INSTRUCTOR
Hailing from the Land Down Under (Australia!), this little larrikin loves to be out on the water and has experience guiding in her home country, the beautiful west coast of Canada, and now the Costa Brava! Rachael loves the quote “If you think adventure is dangerous, try routine. It’s lethal!” and has followed its example by working in a different country every year. Where to next? We’ll see!
Borja (aka Bob)
KAYAKING GUIDE
Borja is a half Spanish/half British man, having been born in Spain and brought up between Andorra and other various places in Spain. At the ripe age of 23, he left Europe and travelled throughout Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand for 6 years, where he found a passion for wilderness, camping, and outdoor sports. While in Borneo, he found himself working in marine conservation leading dives related to coral restoration as a certified divemaster and managing the camp there. At the same time, he completed studies in marine science. He has now returned to Spain for a while, working as a kayaking guide for the company while he completes his studies in translation and interpreting…. oh, and he speaks several languages!
Gerard
SNOWBOARD INSTRUCTOR, KAYAKER, & TOUR GUIDE
Gerard is a native Catalan and has been with us for many years. He has been instructing winter and summer sports for most of his life and knows every single nook and cranny of the Costa Brava coastline.
David
KAYAK INSTRUCTOR, TOUR GUIDE, & GENERAL ADRENALINE JUNKIE
David is originally from Mexico but has a touch of Spanish blood. He continues to spend every moment of his life jumping off waterfalls, boarding off-piste in the Alps, speed biking through forests, and he’s basically happy with any sports that provide some adrenalin. David is also very happy to share those moments with anyone who wishes.
Matías
KAYAK INSTRUCTOR & GUIDE
Originally from Argentina but now a fully adopted Catalan. Matías grew up kayaking around the wild coastline, lakes, and rivers of Patagonia, so his skills are a bit over the top for the casual kayaking we do here. However, when we cancel due to dangerous seas, Matías is usually more than keen to get that adrenaline hit.
Jana
TOUR GUIDE, LANGUAGE GEEK, TRAVEL WRITER, & WORLD WANDERER
Originally from the city of a hundred spires and gloomy weather, Jana always had a passion for sunshine, walking, and talking. She could talk before she could walk and by the age of twelve she wouldn’t stop talking in 4 different languages at once, Spanish being her favourite. Soon after embarking on her corporate career, she realized the office wasn’t a place for her adventurous soul and eventually, she chased the sunshine all the way to Barcelona. Here she finally found an audience for her talking in foreign languages—working as a tour guide. In her free time, she is on a mission to visit all UNESCO World Heritage Sites on the planet, and an awfully distracted travel writer and photographer.
Matthias
BARCELONA EXPERT, MONUMENT HUNTER, MAP ICON DESIGNER, DEVOTED GOURMAND
Matthias is a not-so-typical Swede born in Germany with a Polish surname and with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. He moved to sunny Barcelona in 2006 to turn his passion for maps, history, and architecture into a profession. After more than ten years of sharing his knowledge and enthusiasm for Barcelona, he’s still a man with a mission to make people fall in love with the city, just as he did. When Matthias is not meeting travellers, he becomes one himself on a quest to visit all the world’s UNESCO Heritage Sites, one map Icon at the time! Matthias and Jana are, of course, partners in crime.
