I know it’s already five months overdue but still, I would like to write a personal post about my 26th year, highlighting the travels I’ve had and the people I met along the way.
Contrary to my 25th year’s travels which were mainly as a solo backpacker or with a travel buddy, 2013-2014 was more of a group travel kind for me. It’s also during this span of time that I’ve met several important people in my life — from CouchSurfing acquaintances to really great friends, and from total strangers to favorite companions and partners in crime. And yes, ’twas also late last year that I met someone whom I’m looking forward to have more travels and adventures with.
Yep, today is a personal post. I mean, of course, everything I share with you on this travel blog is from my personal experience but this one is different. It’s my birthday blog post! Today, I turn 26 and to commemorate the completion of my quarter life (assuming of course that I live to 100 years), I would like to share with you my 25th year in travel.
Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra – 25th Birthday Celebration with YUVA Staff and Volunteers
It’s 2AM, the rain’s pouring heavily and my eyes are screaming for rest. I was about to actually. But then, I saw a post that said “and just like that, August is over”. And I was like, “Yes, August is over indeed!”
Actually, I think I realized this already since I greeted everyone with a Merry Christmas, typical for us Filipinos who celebrate the longest Christmas season ever. But before I stray to that topic, I wanna return first to the present and to my more immediate future. Yes, it’s already September 1. This also marks the beginning of the 30 days and 30 nights countdown I would be doing for the next, well, 30 days and nights.
Feeling the heat of Dry Season 2010 (At the back of NIA Nayom-Bayto RIS Office, Sta. Cruz, Zambales)
This is our second day and night for the 5D/4N Capacity Building Programs Manual Workshop (Work Camp) like the one we did in Davao last week and in Tagaytay in the previous months. In total, including the first step in February 2010, the CBP Work Group has been doing this for the 7th time already. If I remember correctly, one in NIA Central Office, two in Days Hotel, Tagaytay, one in Iba, Zambales (can’t recall the name right now), another two in Days Hotel, Tagaytay, one in Brokeshire Resort and Convention Center in Davao and the last one (that would be outside of NIA CO) currently happening now in Subic Park Hotel.
Subic Park Hotel: front entrance
This is also the last work trip I would be making for the Project, and all the members of TCP2’s JICA team for that matter. I have not counted how many field works and business trips I have made over the past two years while working with the project. Knowing that this could really be the last also hits me with a realization that the Project is indeed about to end. But this “realization” will be for another post probably in my personal blog and the number of work-related trips taken as another in this blog which I will write once I’m able to count all my travel applications stored in my office PC.
I have been trying to keep a blog for five or so years. The most successful I ever got was my personal blog which is dedicated to chronicle life, as it unfolds by my very eyes. I also have in there some pages about me, the food I cook, eat and take pictures of, and some travel pictures which I never got the chance to write stories about.
So, in another attempt to share my life with the world (or those who reach this site at least), I am putting up this blog, The Diarist Wanders. In this blog I would be writing about my experiences on traveling throughout the country (both for work and leisure) and hopefully South East Asia and the rest of the world!
Thank you for dropping by and I hope to soon share and exchange travel stories and experiences with you.
Let the wandering begin!
Life is short so take a leap of faith. Let’s wander, explore and discover. Come and journey with me.
The Diarist Wanders 