What makes travelling so fascinating? Why do most people love to travel?
Well, first of all, there’s a change of scenery or environment whenever you get
to a certain place new to you.
Second, no matter how timid you are, you will always have the opportunity
to meet a new friend or two even if you don’t remember their names.
And third, ahhh the memories backed up by selfies and groupies! Years
may pass but never the exciting memories etched in your mind forever or in
social media, perhaps!
I’ve been to a lot of places in the Philippines, some awesome while
others are just so-so. My first trip outside of my hometown of Davao was when I
was 13 years old.
My father (may he rest in peace), used to bring us siblings to summer
vacations to where his ship went. You see, he was a ship purser. We’ve been to
GenSan, Zambo, Cebu, Iloilo, Manila, back in the 70s.
During my college days in Cebu, my boardmates used to go home to their
respective hometowns during the sem break and more often than not, I used to be
alone in the boarding house during breaks. So, I thought maybe, it would be
kind of fun if I went with them to their areas. So, vacation times saw me
travelling to Oslob, Sibonga and Tabuelan, Lapu-lapu City, all in Cebu, plus
Cagayan de Oro and Surigao, all in Mindanao.
Then again, my job after college as a social development worker also
brought me to different places – Bacolod, Dumaguete, Iloilo, Manila, plus
different municipalities of Cebu. Of course, since the internet wasn’t
popularly-used and no smartphones yet in those times, the memories were left between
the pages of the photo albums!
In my lifetime, I have switched careers that likewise made me travel,
this time to places where there were Muslims and Indigenous Peoples, mostly in
Davao, Cotabato, Marawi, Iligan, Zamboanga, Ipil, Bukidnon and Cagayan de Oro.
Then, as a freelance community development worker, my involvement with Plan
International, World Vision and Save The Children again had me travelling to
their respective areas of coverage such as Sarangani, Cotabato and Davao
Oriental.
My family holidays as well entailed travelling to Surigao, Lake Sebu,
and Mati, Davao Oriental.
I had my first crack at seeing other lands outside of my own country Philippines,
in the summer of 2017, courtesy of my kid sister and niece. They sponsored my very
first leisure trip to Hongkong and Macau, China. And since the happiness and
enjoyment cannot be contained anymore, I had to blog about them and shared the
excitement I felt to the whole wide world.
Here are the links:
Now that I’m nearing retirement, I am looking forward to travelling
again, whether domestically or globally. Who knows where my itchy feet will
bring me next?
Just curious, what is really the substance of travel? To borrow from
some popular writers, below are terrific quotes personally hand-picked to best
describe the very heart of travel:
“If we were meant to stay in one place, then, we’d have roots
instead of feet.”
“It’s better to see some place once than to hear about it a
thousand times.”
“Wherever you go becomes a
part of you somehow.”
“Travelling isn’t something you’re good at. It’s something you do
– like breathing.”
And so on, and so forth.
So, there you are. No more words are needed to understand why travelling
is a very significant thing to do in life.
How about you – do you have an
interesting travel quote to share?
My Happiness
General Santos City
Mt. Apo, Kapatagan, Davao Sur
Taoist Temple, Cebu
Hinatuan, Surigao del Sur
Cordova, Cebu
Tsim Sha Tsui (TST), Hong Kong
Lake Sebu, South Cotabato
Disneyland, Hong Kong
Macau, China
