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Daniel Shenk-Moreno visited Barcelona six times in the past year. The city offers many attractions, but for Shenk-Moreno, a lifelong Barcelona fan, seeing his favorite soccer team defeat Manchester City in the Champions League quarterfinal was the highlight.

He was in the city again for the league鈥檚 final, and even though Barcelona鈥檚 ultimate win happened in Berlin, the local celebrations lasted through the night with crowd-surfing in the streets, raucous cheering and fireworks.

Shenk-Moreno doesn鈥檛 travel for pleasure; it鈥檚 for a job he didn鈥檛 even dare dream about. The 2013 graduate works with , which books and guides international tours for club and college sports teams.

As an major, fluent in Spanish with a passion for soccer, no job could have been a better fit, but the irony is his first job out of college 鈥渇ell into my lap,鈥� he says.

A growing business

Shenk-Moreno met one of ProActive鈥檚 owners, Jeff Davis, while refereeing soccer in Harrisonburg. In January 2013, the pair worked a tournament together, and Shenk-Moreno learned that Davis would be leading a trip to Barcelona and Southern France in April. With graduation soon approaching, Shenk Moreno applied to be an intern with the company.

鈥淎t the time, they didn鈥檛 have anyone who spoke Spanish. That was my in. I ended up getting the internship and also helped out on that trip,鈥� Shenk-Moreno said.

The week he began his internship, ProActive鈥檚 third employee handed in her two-weeks鈥� notice.

鈥淪o the owners said, 鈥業f you really like the job, then you can have the job,鈥欌�� Shenk-Moreno said.

Today, the company has seven full-time employees and double the number of trips annually compared to when Shenk-Moreno started as operations manager and group sales associate.

A ‘thirst’ for exploration

He takes the 鈥渓ive in the moment鈥� approach to the demanding travel schedule work

鈥淚鈥檓 enjoying it while I鈥檓 young and I鈥檓 able to travel and I have the flexibility that comes with not being tied down with a family yet,鈥� Shenk-Moreno said.

His work has also taken him to Cuba, Canada, Costa Rica, Argentina, Uruguay, England, France, Spain, Austria, Switzerland, Denmark, Germany, Norway and Sweden.

Travel has always been part of Shenk-Moreno鈥檚 life experience. A native of El Salvador, he spent much of his childhood in Central and South America.

鈥淚t wasn鈥檛, for example, like you stayed in Harrisonburg and never left 鈥� There was always this thirst for wanting to get out, wanting to explore,鈥� Shenk-Moreno said.

Tailored travel

Everywhere he goes now, though, there鈥檚 one thing in common鈥揳n emphasis on active travel.

鈥淲e don鈥檛 just sit on a bus. We go on walking tours or bike tours. When we鈥檙e in Costa Rica, we do white water rafting,鈥� Shenk-Moreno said. 鈥淭he activities mostly work on team bonding, communication, group dynamics and getting them to become a closer team. It鈥檚 always fun to do zip-lining or other activities where they have to work together.鈥�

Most mornings, he indulges himself in a run, listening to a Rick Steve鈥檚 audio tour of the area he will take his group later.

鈥淲e do a lot of our own guiding because we know our audience. A college team doesn鈥檛 necessarily want the entire history book. They want to know the cool stuff, the fun facts, the necessary facts, and then they want to have more free time to go around and take pictures,鈥� Shenk-Moreno said.

Despite being an experienced traveler, Shenk-Moreno deals with the perils as well. While leading a trip in Barcelona, thieves took his camera, wallet, passport, sunglasses, phone and $300. He had no way of paying for anything, no way of getting out of the country and a group of 25 college students to take care of.

鈥淓verything worked out, but I was more bummed about my passport because I was two pages from filling it. I had three different visas and all these stamps from 26 different countries. Now I have five stamps,鈥� Shenk-Moreno said.

However, the challenges are worth the benefits.

鈥淚 get to show people who have never traveled or gone anywhere a new place 鈥� That鈥檚 a rewarding experience, and when people say, 鈥業 can鈥檛 wait to do it again,鈥� I know I鈥檓 doing my job right,鈥� he said.