Accidental Traveler
People know me now as someone who travels a lot. I sometimes receive sms starting with the question... "Are you in Manila?" as if I am always away. (I wish!)
It is true that traveling does give me joy. It is a source of many good memories, experiences and life lessons. Looking back though, I actually started as an accidental traveler.
Back in the day (yes millenial friends... this is for you) traveling out of your own city is a luxury, not a necessity (and yes, my gen x-er friends, it has evolved into a necessity). I remember that before the dawn of budget airlines, only the rich travel by plane. Hong Kong is THE destination and Batangas IS the beach place.
To make the long story short, I won one ticket to Bangkok, on board the last two flights of Air France transiting through Bangkok to Paris. That was my first travel abroad. Jennifer, my best friend accompanied me and we were officially initiated into the world of travel.
Many years hence, destination after destination after.... travel became a "happy pill" for me.
There was a time, when I first discovered I had Psoriasis, friends Teddy and Ruby took me to the beach - initially just in Batangas and eventually to Caramoan (even before it became popular). I will always always remember the company and the concern they have extended to me during that very low point in my life. Friends plus travel were effective remedies to my illness.
Being able to tell tales upon tales of my adventures and misadventures either with friends or while traveling solo is soooo worth all the invested time and money through the years. In my head, I always have a happy place and memory to go to. During conversations, I have so much more stories to share. With the choice people I travel with, I know I have a special bond that will not be erased by our time apart.
If and when you can, I invite you to get out and go somewhere new. Near or far, it does not really matter. As long as it gives you a new experience and perspective, it will definitely rejuvenate and give you fresh eyes.
I started as an accidental traveler. I have soooooo much more world to see. I will definitely not be able (nor afford) to travel to all places, but I will always be grateful that the places I have gone to have given me a new lease on life every single time. A life richer by experience, more tolerant to the new, more capable to start again.
It is true that traveling does give me joy. It is a source of many good memories, experiences and life lessons. Looking back though, I actually started as an accidental traveler.
Back in the day (yes millenial friends... this is for you) traveling out of your own city is a luxury, not a necessity (and yes, my gen x-er friends, it has evolved into a necessity). I remember that before the dawn of budget airlines, only the rich travel by plane. Hong Kong is THE destination and Batangas IS the beach place.
A year into my job as a counselor in ICA, I attended a fair for overseas schools exhibiting their institutions to incoming collage freshmen at the World Trade Center in Pasay. That event was attended by almost all the exclusive schools in Luzon and it ran for 3 days. When I was there alone, bus loads of students would come in to the halls of the venue and easily, about 5,000 people were in attendance. Each of the attendees dropped their ticket stub by the gate in the hope of bagging a trip to Bangkok from the organizers.
To make the long story short, I won one ticket to Bangkok, on board the last two flights of Air France transiting through Bangkok to Paris. That was my first travel abroad. Jennifer, my best friend accompanied me and we were officially initiated into the world of travel.
Many years hence, destination after destination after.... travel became a "happy pill" for me.
There was a time, when I first discovered I had Psoriasis, friends Teddy and Ruby took me to the beach - initially just in Batangas and eventually to Caramoan (even before it became popular). I will always always remember the company and the concern they have extended to me during that very low point in my life. Friends plus travel were effective remedies to my illness.
Being able to tell tales upon tales of my adventures and misadventures either with friends or while traveling solo is soooo worth all the invested time and money through the years. In my head, I always have a happy place and memory to go to. During conversations, I have so much more stories to share. With the choice people I travel with, I know I have a special bond that will not be erased by our time apart.
If and when you can, I invite you to get out and go somewhere new. Near or far, it does not really matter. As long as it gives you a new experience and perspective, it will definitely rejuvenate and give you fresh eyes.
I started as an accidental traveler. I have soooooo much more world to see. I will definitely not be able (nor afford) to travel to all places, but I will always be grateful that the places I have gone to have given me a new lease on life every single time. A life richer by experience, more tolerant to the new, more capable to start again.
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