2019.
It was a weird year for me, overall.
Weird because there were many surprising things that happened
but were nonetheless pleasant; some twists and turns in 2019 served me right
for my career growth.
But sticking to the niche of this blog, I’m surprised that
2019 has actually been a jam-packed year of traveling for me. It’s just that
some of my travel stories didn’t make it to the blog because:
1. We’re valuing privacy and security
and have opted to be shush about our whereabouts and,
2. If you’ve noticed, we’re choosing
more tame itineraries that don’t involve whaleshark diving and cliff racing
anymore because we’ve somehow become titos and titas of Zamboanga already. Our travel
themes have somehow shifted from extreme to leisure. You can hear us talking
about unplugging and detoxing already.
So here are the quick stats for 2019.
8- I left home eight times in 2019 for those personal travels.
Including the official travel counts will undoubtedly increase and I can’t be bothered
to count that too.
5- Of these are road trips. I’m surprised that people can
withstand road trips that include crossing oceans just to get to island resorts.
In January, I spent New Year’s Day in Lakawon Island staring at
the sunset wondering what’s to become of me and a huge task assigned to me in the
workplace. Luckily, it all pulled off thanks to responsible people I can count
on.
In April, C wanted to go to Samal Island so we made our way
to Davao and Bukidnon and visited relatives in Balingasag and Jasaan.
June was another out-of-town road trip to Cebu and Bohol with a special mission that involved taking my grandmother to Cebu in order for her to get home to Leyte. C drove us safely across with a crazy route, from Zamboanga to Dapitan to Cebu and we went as far as Bohol and vice-versa. Again full of stories but I didn't curate anything for the blog. (I'm still thinking about it though.)
In October I accompanied C to Manila and we (covertly) spent
a few days immersing ourselves in the mountain city named Baguio. Our goal: detox.
My goal: hoard succulents.
August is the highlight of my travel year though. It took us six
flights, three cities, two countries and sooo many temples that I can’t again
be bothered to count all of them in both Bangkok and Siem Reap.
To end the year, my family went to Molave as an excuse to end the year and see the cold springs for ourselves-and we weren't disappointed.
2020 has got to be another year of promise.
2020 plans for travel have yet to be cemented until after
May, I’ve already planned out my vacations for the next six months, and for
impromptu invitations, I always have to check with C and my family though- for
reason number 1 and 2. And it’s always good to have company when traveling just
in case something happens.
In summary, 2019 was about learning to slow down and unplug. I’m
pretty grateful with the experiences this year, but I do know that there will
be more to come in 2020. It’s a new decade after all and I trust the next
chapter because I am the author.
Thank you for sticking with my travel stories. It’s going to
be an exciting year ahead!
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