A few months passed, and my travels took me to Málaga. I thought of Michiel's recommendation and decided to take a chance. I sent a message to Martina, a complete stranger, explaining that her Dutch friend from a random padel match had suggested we connect. It felt bold, but the nomad community thrives on this kind of open-mindedness.

She wrote back almost immediately, and we met up. We hit it off right away, but the real friendship developed more organically. It wasn't built on a whirlwind tour of the city, but on shared time and space. We ended up living together, and it was over those months of sharing a home, cooking meals, and navigating daily life that we built the deep, lasting bond we have today. Martina is now one of my closest friends in Europe. It still amazes me that this pivotal friendship, a relationship that has profoundly shaped my entire nomad journey, was born from a single, random padel match I booked on an app.