A Traveler by luck.. or destiny?

Was it luck or was it destiny that made me the curious traveler that I am today? It is a question that I have often pondered in the quietest moments as I would think about when and where my next adventure will take place. Read on ……. You be the judge.

Traveling:

As I browsed through an old photo album, I recalled regular trips to the beach my family would take. Whether it was playing at the river or climbing trees, my childhood was one that was active from sun up to sun down. Just thinking back to those times and those short adventures, made my day.

Oddly enough, it was those trips with my family; routine family bonding as it were, that opened the door to a world outside of what I was familiar with.

In the early years during our summer break from school, I remember vacationing with relatives in Manilla, Bataan and Pangasinan. There were the boat outings on a river in Lingayen with my uncles; the lazy current taking us to nowhere in particular. I’ve been to Hundred Islands numerous times since it is near my mom’s hometown in Sabangan which reminds me of this fabulous public beach where I spent  everyday with cousins and if I wasn’t there, I was at my grandpa’s farm picking fruit, climbing trees or teasing grandpa’s carabao….  Without realizing it, my upbringing, as simple as it was, was the initial window to my world of travel.

 river at the back of our house with my kuya.. 

During my collegiate years, I studied in Baguio and upon graduation, lived in Makati for 3 years as an auditor of a sugar manufacturing plant which gave me an opportunity to travel locally. My regular assignment in Nasugbu, Batangas gave me a chance to explore Cavite, Tagaytay and the further reaches of Batangas. The company also owned a plant in La Carlota, Negros Occidental which I was assigned to for 3 – 4 months throughout the year (two weeks at a time) during which my spare time was spent exploring Negros. Since it was a big company as well, our company outings were to places I couldn’t afford to visit, such as private  resorts in Batangas, Puerto Galera and Bataan. Luck or destiny?

our family trip to Baguio, I'm 10 yrs old here

Consider that on the first day I was transferred to work at the Subic office, I was sent to Cebu for a week, which, bide the way, introduced me to my first hotel stay. My first trip aboard an airplane overseas came when I was once again transferred to a newly opened branch in Malaysia. At that point, the proverbial door to my travel adventures was kicked down as Kuala Lumpur became my jumping off point to future excursions to Thailand, Indonesia, Cambodia, Singapore, Vietnam, UAE and Europe. It wasn’t until I really began sorting my photos that lo and behold, I find myself a travel veteran.

dinner cruise with friends during my recent trip to Dubai

Blogging:

Now while I love to open up a book and get lost in its pages, I rarely write. There have been times in various moments that I could conjure up a great fiction story in my mind that I think could be considered with the likes of Lualhati Torres Bautista but when the time came to put pen to paper, the concept somehow gets watered down into a half baked idea. So you may be asking yourself, then why are you blogging? Well, I will tell you. To celebrate my birthday, I traveled solo to Boracay where I met a fellow traveler like myself. She was a college professor  and used to be a mountaineer in her younger years. Her zeal for travel found her experiencing various cultures throughout most of Asia.

meet Tita Sonia, an extraordinary lady I met in Bora and we shared a special thing during our trip,  a brush with death!

One day we took off on a sailing adventure and much like the infamous Gilligan of mid-60’s American TV show, Gilligan’s Island, set off for a day tour and found ourselves in a near death experience. Like most of us during time of peril, we barter with God and I was no different on that boat during the experience. I promised Him that if I survived, I would blog about my adventures! (check my near death experience while traveling  entry) Well, I did survive and so here I am….. blogging.

So that’s the evolution of Vivi as a traveler and blogger. So I ask you, I am just lucky or what? Well, if you ask me, it has been a combination of both for which I am truly blessed to be experiencing.

This is my contribution to the “”The Journey That Made Us a Travel Blogger” Blog Carnival hosted by Edmar Gu-Quibb of Edmaration for the Pinoy Travel Bloggers.

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