LIVING FOR MEMORIES

Some people follow the traditional path.
Others carve their own, even when no one understands it at first.

Luca belongs to the second group. He moves toward his dreams with courage, discipline, and a deep desire for freedom and purpose. He grew up in a small Italian town, feeling unfulfilled and hungry for something more. Instead of staying where life felt too small, he chose exploration. His journey has taken him from bartending in Madrid to working at Disneyland in Florida, to building a freelance life and now creating AI-powered content from Thailand.

Luca constantly reinvents himself and follows his inner compass.

How I met Luca

I met Luca in Bangkok while sharing the same dorm, and we clicked instantly. We both stayed for about a week, and somehow managed to fit in everything: street food, checking out a great nightclub, celebrating his birthday, exploring the railway market, laughing at a comedy show, and ending nights dancing on Khao San Road. He’s now based in Pattaya, and I’ve been following his journey ever since. A journey shaped by creativity, freedom, and the determination to build a life that feels meaningful.

In this interview, Luca shares his mindset, the turning points in his path, and what it really takes to design the life you want.

Luca on Freedom, Change, and Reinvention

1.Hello Luca! Can you introduce yourself and share a bit about your background?

I’m Luca, 43 years old, born and raised in Udine, a small town in northeastern Italy, where boredom often reigned despite the beautiful surroundings, sea, hills, mountains, and lively nightlife back in the ’90s and early 2000s. I always felt confined, as if trapped within four walls that didn’t reflect who I was. I was a shy, introverted boy, even scared of cycling to the city center. I was bullied for my timid nature and appearance, like a classic TV nerd, which didn’t help, especially without strong friendships and surrounded by others as vulnerable as I was. I had no success with girls, often being the one left out.

I was full of dreams and eager to expand my horizons, but this mostly translated into a vivid imagination, drawing, dreaming, and traveling through music in my room. When it came to actually taking action, leaving and starting over, I was overwhelmed by fear and stayed where I was, until around the age of 29.

2.You grew up in a small Italian town and eventually felt the need to leave. What made you realize it was time to explore the world?

I realized it was time to spread my wings, like a free bird, when I began to feel that my soul and creativity were slowly dying within what I called my comfort zone. It gave me safety, living in my hometown, protected by a loving and ever-present family, but at the same time, it became a golden cage that stifled my true ambitions.

When I imagined my future, the same job for 20, 30, 40 years, retiring on a modest pension, living an average life and hoping my health wouldn’t fail me. I saw the regrets I would carry. I knew I could never forgive myself.

I realized it would be far more painful to face those regrets later than to confront my fears now, throwing myself into unknown adventures, experiences, and places around the world.

3. You’ve lived very different experiences abroad — from bartending in Madrid to working at Disneyland in Florida, and many adventures in between. How did these chapters shape your mindset and personal growth?

I must admit these experiences further broadened my worldview. Even though I already had some awareness, I truly began to understand how our lives are shaped by the paradigms we grow up in, family, cultural, and social, from nation to region, province, town, and neighborhood, like a matryoshka doll. We are molded to think in a certain way, believing it is independent, yet it is how the system taught us.

Through traveling, I realized you can see the world through entirely different lenses. Spaniards see the world differently than Americans, Americans differently than New Zealanders, New Zealanders differently than Vietnamese, and Vietnamese differently than Thais.

In the end, I concluded reality doesn’t exist. It’s what we create. This was a wonderful lesson.

I met extraordinary people who influenced me positively, embracing their worldview, learning new languages, and putting myself in their shoes, as they did in mine.

4.What originally brought you to Thailand, and what have you discovered about yourself while living there?

In truth, I never wanted to come to Thailand. I had strong prejudices due to many stories, let’s say quite misogynistic ones, that influenced me negatively and led me to think this part of the world had nothing to do with me. It was a great lesson, because I realized I still carried many biases from my old cultural heritage, despite considering myself a free traveler. I thought I had overcome them, yet I was still reasoning like someone who had never left their hometown.

An old friend insisted, “Come here, you’ll love it.” When work and economic circumstances aligned, I thought, “Luca, you have nothing to lose.” I tried, and I don’t regret it.

I discovered that Thailand has much to offer and a wonderful culture. Like anywhere, there are shadows, but it depends on how you choose to live it. You can visit temples, relax on Pattaya’s beaches, or spend nights getting drunk. It’s how you shape your reality.

I rediscovered a “culture of smiles” that I had lost. People smile and greet each other, something rare back home where negativity often dominates. This perspective doesn’t exist only in Thailand, but also in Vietnam. From these cultures, I learned how to live with fewer resentments and less bitterness as I grow older.

5.You’ve reinvented your path multiple times, like a chameleon. How do you recognize when it’s time to change direction and pursue something new?

I don’t think you ever fully learn it. It’s a process that began with listening to what I call my gut, or soul, when I felt what I described before as a spiritual death, trapped inside a system. I reached my rock bottom.

Like a body submerged in water, physics teaches us that when something is pushed down, there is an equal and opposite reaction. My internal pressure made me rise independently. Each experience since then has given me more awareness. I learned to listen to myself more and more, until today I can recognize when it’s time to change direction, when I am thinking only with my head and not with my heart.

It doesn’t happen overnight. I encourage everyone to truly listen to themselves, to ask questions, and sometimes to isolate, not out of depression or unsociability, but through healthy solitude to understand what they really want. Deep down, you know when something doesn’t work, and when it does.

The problem is that we fill ourselves with excuses, bills, promises, responsibilities, and we convince ourselves that breaking them is a crime. Those self created excuses limit us from making the leap that could turn life into something extraordinary.

6.A lot of people fear judgment. How did you learn to trust yourself instead of letting other people’s opinions guide your decisions?

I didn’t learn it overnight. It was a long process. It began when I realized that chasing other people’s approval was slowly emptying me inside. For years, I tried to fit into expectations, family, society, friends, until I reached a point where I felt spiritually at the bottom.

From that bottom, like something pushed underwater, I reacted and resurfaced. That reaction came from within. Traveling and changing environments helped a lot, because it showed me there isn’t only one “right” way to live.

I met people with completely different mindsets, and I understood that judgment is often just fear or projection from others. The more I experienced life on my own terms, the more I built evidence that I could trust myself. Small choices, small risks, small wins.

I also learned to spend time alone in a healthy way, in silence and reflection, asking myself hard questions so I could hear my own voice again without all the noise.

At some point, you realize that people will always have opinions, no matter what you do. So the real question becomes, do you want to live for their comfort, or for your truth? When I understood that regrets would hurt me more than criticism, trusting myself became the only logical choice.

7. You’re very active on social media, especially Instagram. From your inspirational page Cambialento, to photoshoots, to AI-powered content — can you share how your content evolved and what you hope people feel when they watch your videos?

Since we got to know each other, many things have changed. My page has taken on various facets. I’m a creative, dynamic person, so I can never stay still. For a while, my content stalled because I was mostly focused on photography—having myself photographed, creating my own sets, moods. I’ve always loved fashion, so creating unique photo sets—like the last one I did in Bangkok, or others in Milan, New York, Brooklyn, or Madrid—allowed me to express my art to those watching from home.

Everything changed when artificial intelligence emerged, and I decided to use it differently—not just for simple content searches on ChatGPT. Cambialento was more of a travel blog before, showing things many had already seen, but it wasn’t fully aligned with who I am. I chose to leverage AI to create audio and video content dedicated to nostalgia. I’m a born nostalgic, so I focus on TV shows, songs, and characters that shaped me from childhood up to recent years — events, music shows, radio broadcasts that contributed to my growth.

This shift changed everything in terms of social media. It allowed me to reach people I never imagined. In three months, my page has grown by 7,000 followers. I can now produce even better content for a world of nostalgics like me, who may have felt forgotten. I brought internationally created content to Italy, where this movement wasn’t yet strong, and I can say I’m one of the first AI creators in Italy.

Ultimately, it’s about expressing yourself and making people feel. When people watch my videos, I hope they feel connected, inspired, and reminded of emotions that shaped them.

8. For someone who wants to make a change in their life but feels scared or stuck, what advice would you give?

I’d say definitely don’t blindly follow others’ opinions or advice. Of course, you can take advice, analyze it, see what’s good and what’s not, but then carve out your own path based on what you feel, while staying aligned with your current life stage.

Fear will always be there, and it’s actually healthy, a natural reaction to protect us. But it shouldn’t stop you completely. It’s about acting with prudence, not recklessly. Fear should be taken in perspective; it helps us reflect and draw conclusions about what’s positive and negative.

I always say action is the solution. You can think all you want, but if you don’t act, all that thinking has been for nothing.

9. What daily habits or routines help you stay focused and aligned with your goals?

My usual routines, depending on the day or week, start with gratitude for the world, the universe, and what I have. Just being able to walk, see, hear, and move is already a blessing. I practice meditation whenever possible, and I do alignment exercises and workouts to feel strong, energetic, and good in my body. Maintaining the physical self is the foundation for feeling good in the world and with others.

Over the years, I also kept journals and travel diaries. I would recount what happened in my days, reflect on how I could have acted, and write down lessons I learned. This helped me understand myself, grow, and stay aligned with my goals. I admit I do it less now, but for many years it was very important. I recommend everyone try it if it feels useful, but never force it. Only when it feels right.

10.What projects or dreams are you most excited to work on next?

My future projects are quite diverse. My main goal is to develop my business in the field of artificial intelligence, creating content primarily for myself, but also gaining experience to produce high-level products for brands and companies. I also want to create my own brand and expand it into related activities, perhaps a clothing line, or opening a physical location like a bar or restaurant.

Ultimately, I want to be autonomous and independent, with no boss and no rules other than the ones I set for myself. I want to live life as I choose, traveling or settling where I want, without being anchored to one place. That may change in the future if I want more stability, but for now, this is my focus.

I have many dreams, including building my own family. I’m not a freshly graduated eighteen-year-old, so that’s important to me. I also hope to do good for others. In Asia, I’ve seen a lot of poverty, but it’s very different from European poverty. People may have little materially, but they often live well in other ways. Helping these kinds of people, in small ways, is meaningful to me. I’d like to keep expanding this, and maybe one day even create an association to support mothers, children, and abandoned children.

Thank you, Luca, for taking the time to share your journey so openly. I truly appreciate your honesty and vision, and I’m grateful our paths crossed in Bangkok. Wishing you the very best for everything you’re building next.

Follow Luca’s Journey

Luca is a reminder that life changes the moment you decide to act, not when circumstances become perfect. His path reflects intuition, courage, curiosity, and the willingness to reinvent himself whenever necessary.

Perhaps the most inspiring part is that he never waited for permission. He created his own direction and continues to shape it every day.

I’m grateful our paths crossed in Bangkok, and I’m excited to see where life takes him next, whether in Thailand or somewhere entirely new. One thing is certain: he will keep moving forward with intention and heart.

Connect with Luca
Instagram: @notar.ai.creations
Facebook: Luca Notarfrancesco
YouTube: Ramaz&Lou