The Travelling Feet

I suddenly woke up since my right arm was getting cold. I started wearing my cardigan and looked at the sea of clouds outside my window. The Caucasian guy wearing shorts and sleeveless shirt on seat 8C called my attention and picked the immigration card sitting on 8B and gave it to me. I said “Thanks!” and started filling out the form.

I still could not believe I’m a thousand miles up in the air fulfilling my delusions!

Looking Back

Four years ago, a friend and I discussed how we’d want to live in Siem Reap as we fell in love with this buzzling city in Cambodia. Though Bangkok was highly similar to Manila, I was also open to the idea of living there for I can always do whatever I want without anyone knowing me and without getting a weird foreigner-on-the-loose look as I can always pass off as a Thai.

Then a year and a half ago, I quit my job. I got tired of the rat race and told myself I’d be better off working freelance jobs. With lots of debts to pay, no savings and no real plan in life, I decided it’s time for me to start doing the things I wanted to do – travelling, blogging, owning my time. I shared with another friend my plans of going on a backpacking trip across Southeast Asia. As for work, I can always bring it with me.

As a freelancer, I can be wherever I want to be while continuing to earn a living. The plan never pushed through because I didn’t have the necessary funds. I also thought it best to test this delusional dream if I’m with a travel buddy as it would be cost-effective travelling in twos or threes. At that moment, no one crazy enough was available so I continued working on my online jobs while getting busy building my websites.

Since I have an out-of-this-world, mind-boggling, heart-pounding, curse-provoking habit to procrastinate from work, I decided to go back to working in the corporate world a year after I quit my job. I decided I have to settle with weekend trips ‘till I could save up for my delusional idea. So I travelled solo to Davao, Surigao, Cagayan, Boracay, Iloilo and Naga on weekends.

Quitting Work…Again!

On the 6th month of doing my ideal corporate job, I was haunted with wrong decisions I made in the past. That’s why I decided to quit again. Still without any savings and concrete plans, I also moved out of our house. The timing was just right since I recently landed a promising career online which made it easier for me to keep up with my expenses.

Luckily, a good friend of mine and her family adopted me. I realized how different my life was away from home. As an individual, I was more responsible and cautious with what I was doing. I did things that I would never have done while in the comforts of our home.

My parents kept pleading for me to go back to our house as they also missed me but I told them “Not yet”. I knew it crushed their hearts every time I said NO but I had to stick with my decision. I wanted to find myself. I wanted to be more responsible. I needed to grow up and I couldn’t do that knowing they’re just around, willing to catch me when I fell and always cleaned up the mess I created with my life.

Then Came That Skype Conversation…

I had everything figured out, or so I thought until one Skype conference call with two crazy travel junkies. One was about to quit his job to pursue his delusions of grandeur while the other one was on the beta phase on his self-discovery to possibly leading the life he never thought was possible not until he met people like “us” – travel junkies who’d do anything in order to enjoy working while travelling. One already had a round trip promo ticket and the other one just booked a flight. Since their travel dates were not far apart and their paths will eventually cross during their trip, they were like cheerleaders chanting for me to join. I had no funds for crying out loud! Tempting as it seemed but I couldn’t! But still tempting…Too tempting that light bulbs started lighting on my head.

I had no money and my life’s too screwed up at that point and agreeing to go on an international trip to meet up with two crazy travellers was the last thing I should be thinking of.

But wait a minute! I’ve led a crazy life for the last couple of days. Surely one over-the-edge crazy decision wouldn’t hurt, right? Oh yeah!

That Skype conversation ended with me shaking my head. I booked a flight even if my debts were piling up. I said YES to my dream without thinking where I was going to get funds. Way to go Doi!

At Present

Right now, I’m writing this entry on my travel notebook while looking out the window. It’s almost 3pm. A sea of fluffy clouds are scattered all over the horizon. The pilot’s voice echoed through the entire aircraft.

“Ladies and gentlemen, we are now descending into Bangkok cruising at 30,000 feet. We are expected to be in the runway in 40 minutes, therefore, we will be landing on time. We expect clear skies and good weather at 23 degrees centigrade. Once again, thank you for choosing SEAIR partnered with TigerAirways. Have a good day and enjoy your stay in Bangkok! Cabin crew, prepare for landing.”

A few days before this flight, I still had second thoughts whether I would push through or not.

I only have $450 in my pocket and 120Baht from last year’s trip. I still have no concrete plans but I’m confident that everything will just fall into place.

I’ll take my chances…

I’m already 31 and I need to grow up. Leaving home is the only way I know how.

This post has been updated to be submitted as my entry to the Pinoy Travel Bloggers’ Blog Carnival themed Take a Leap of Faith: When Travelling Changed My Life which is hosted by Reiza Dejito of Wander If You Must. Fore more life-changing stories because of one’s passion for travelling, click here!

Click on the Blog Carnival Logo on the left to access a list of interesting topics about the Philippines through the eyes of each Pinoy Travel Blogger.

They say that travelling is an expensive hobby and only those rich can afford it. In the past, this notion has been instilled on every individual especially for those who has limited financial resources. Dreams of travelling the world would soon be lost and buried within.

But due to today’s technology, every aspiring traveller are now able to reach for their dreams of conquering the world since travelling is made easy with the ability to access all sorts of travel information online.

If you want to look for the best places to travel, you can simply search the information online. Just type in the name of the city you want to visit and after hitting the search button of your favorite search engine, you will get countless of information not only from companies but also from travellers who have first-hand experiences of going to these places.

If you want to know the cheapest fares available for each destination, simply searching for different airline companies and checking out all possible routes to take is made available to you. No need of going to travel agencies or airline offices. Almost everything is online now!

If you want to look for the cheapest accommodations and book for your stay, you can do them via online access too! This minimizes your need to make international phone calls just to make those reservations.

The ability to access all of these travel information online has really made it possible for everyone to consider booking their next travel destinations. And if you want to even get great deals when preparing for your trip, you can simply check out for all inclusive Holidays 2012 information online to allow you to plan ahead and save up for your trip.

And if you still think that travelling is an expensive hobby, well, I couldn’t agree more. However, I know of friends who never travel unless they get to book those promo fares from different airline companies. Some would even couch surf just to be able to stay with them for free. Some would book at cheap guest houses to cut costs on accommodations. But those who would prefer not to compromise their accommodations are able to find cheap deals from different hotels worldwide.

It is just a matter of knowing where to look and utilizing all the resources available to you in order to succeed in your plan to travel and conquer the world.

Just remember that those great travellers out there today also started just like you – a hesitant wanderer who have no clue where to start to fulfil one’s dreams of travelling.

A little push, discipline and will power is all you need to be able to start burning your eyebrows and check out those gazillion of information online and you will definitely be on your way to travel stardom.

Familiar with the saying “If there’s a will, there’s a way?”

So what are you waiting for? Start saving up and start digging those information online and plan for your future trips!