Hi there!
I have never met a soul who does not want to travel. A lot of people would want to see places and faces, experience cultures and norms, and most especially give one’s palate a whole lot of interesting treats. I myself love to travel. So if I really have the chance to see places, I take it and enjoy it. Whether visiting a local food joint at a nearby town, visiting relatives in the province, driving for about an hour for coffee and raisin bread, getting a massage two hours away from where I live, or just missing that coconut pie and driving back to my previous university – these things and more are travels for me. My mind travels with the scenic views outside my car window, my spirits travel with the clouds above my head, and my smiles fly in the air and hope any one of them will infect another soul. This is traveling for me. Smiling to a stranger, asking them to take your photo, trying a completely strange local food, stepping on its soil, observing the local faces, making a conversation with a by-stander, and ultimately, trying to be a local is the main purpose of my travels. The only thing that I like to be tagged as foreigner about when traveling is how a true foreign traveler can be really keen and interested in his strange surroundings. Having the heart and the mind open enough to accept another’s customs and traditions, having the discipline to respect these customs and traditions, being “game” in trying what the locals are actually having – music, food, clothing, and even sometimes their shelter. Traveling for me is trying to blend in. Traveling is amusing in everything that is coming your way. There is no bad experience in traveling – that’s what’s good about it. Everything becomes a fond memory you will miss or you might laugh about later on.
I particularly love local travels, not necessarily big trips but just simple, convenient visits and short drives. Why, there you go, I just mentioned why. It’s fast, convenient, and short. You don’t have to plan for it for a long time for it to materialize. It can be a spur-of-the-moment thing. You can just take the keys and drive south for a Sunday mass then have lunch or dinner in the vicinity. Simple. No frills, no calling-in-sick dramas, no fuss. Just drive and go. You don’t even have to prepare anything, not even a changing shirt if it’s just a one-day trip. It’s just like visiting a high-school friend and going back home later during the day. The best thing about short, local travels is that you can’t get enough of them. You go home and you feel like you need another day, and another day, and another day. It teases you and urges you to come back for some more. And you will come back for some more because first and foremost you didn’t feel bad losing a lot of money on it. Like I said, it’s just like a simple visit to an old friend. What you shelled out, if ever you did, did not do a lot of damage. Local travels end up being more fun because of the excitement you had on the way there – when you just woke up and you thought you wanted to take a swim in the ocean and bathe in the sand, and then you took some shirts, towel, sunscreen and your keys. Then you drove to your best bud’s house and woke him up too and told him you’re going to the beach. The lack of planning makes it really exciting. I have friends like that. Karen and I are like that. We live about 45 kilometers apart so what we do is meet in our favorite mall and then take one of our cars and just drive 65kilometers away for coffee, for snacks, or just for some pictures! Mike, Joel, and Rico would take you to a little bit farther than that. They will take you to a couple-day’s trip to a beach at least 100 kilometers away. My local travels with friends and family are always fun. I love taking my kids to nearby towns and cities for golf practice, for some halo-halo, lunch or dinner, or for a swim. They are a handful so short trips are always appropriate. ;-)
Travels abroad are also fun of course. There’s nothing like discovering for yourself places, cultures, food, and faces you just read in books or you just see on TV. There’s nothing like going home and be a living testimony of another’s customs and practices. Seeing for yourself what you just used to hear gives you a boost that is hard to describe in words. But whether you like it or not, you feel like you have gained some knowledge more than what books and blogs say. And you actually did gain true knowledge from your foreign experience. I believe I have already mentioned particularly liking (loving!) Shanghai. I love walking in the big streets of Shanghai. Jinxiu Lu will never be strange to my feet. I can also remember having a very short trip to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) a good while back. I love that place too. I like how simple but how exciting it could be in there. I love the scooters and checking out things riding one. You will never have an idle time in Saigon. There will always be things to do, food to eat, and streets to walk on. I have had other Asian trips but they are so long ago I don’t think they are still relevant. ;-p
Another kind of travel would be traveling from home – watching the travel channel! Oh how I love shows pertaining to travel and food. And for someone like me, the travel channel would be enough to satisfy my curiosity. And if fate and luck allow it, sooner or later perhaps I can see for it myself with my own loved ones too!
