4 Things that I graduated from since I started traveling
I have to admit. I've never really bought anything expensive for myself. So if you were to ask me, most of my pricey stuff were given as gifts by my family and friends. So if it's not food, all of my savings goes directly to my travel fund. Believe it or not, I've graduated from obtaining and/or keeping 'material things' as investing on trips and journeying off to different places has given me more fulfillment in life than the former.
So what have I graduated from since I started traveling extensively? I've marked off...
My Inhibitions
“Cities were always like people, showing their varying personalities to the traveler. Depending on the city and on the traveler, there might begin a mutual love, or dislike, friendship, or enmity. Where one city will rise a certain individual to glory, it will destroy another who is not suited to its personality. Only through travel can we know where we belong or not, where we are loved and where we are rejected.”
― Roman Payne
I am an introvert. Well, I still am. But I've managed to control it through the years. I mostly travel with my family and close friends. So meeting new people on the road wasn't an option to me from the very beginning (due to personal reasons). But all that's changed when I finally broke free from my shell. That's when I gradually pushed myself to meet and talk to new individuals, which lead me to experience bigger opportunities and new found friendships. I enjoyed being in the company of like-minded people when I started to leave behind my inhibitions. Since then, my network has expanded.
Fighting through my inhibitions has given me the opportunity to meet some of the smartest and humblest people today. I've come to call them as my closest friends, which is a blessing and gift all together.
My Fears
"Do one thing everyday that scares you."
- Eleanor Roosevelt
I've yet to conquer all of my fears. But I've managed to cross-out a few a long the way, like getting myself inside a raft that trailed a wild river and then drowning minutes later, walking through a 38-story building with only a harness wrapped around my body, being enveloped in total darkness and more...
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The Corporate World
“We travel, initially, to lose ourselves; and we travel, next to find ourselves. We travel to open our hearts and eyes and learn more about the world than our newspapers will accommodate. We travel to bring what little we can, in our ignorance and knowledge, to those parts of the globe whose riches are differently dispersed. And we travel, in essence, to become young fools again - to slow time down and get taken in, and fall in love once more.”
― Pico Iyer
I worked for two big fashion companies before calling it quits. As a Clothing Technology major (aka Fashion Design), I eventually realized that 'Fashion' was not my 'Passion'. I just didn't see myself working in a corporate office for the years to come. So that's when I started working as a Freelance Writer. I soon realized that I was made for this job. It has been a good 3 years of 'ups and downs' with this career. But it has certainly given me the freedom to work and travel in my own accord.
The Unnecessary Things
“The wish to travel seems to me characteristically human: the desire to move, to satisfy your curiosity or ease your fears, to change the circumstances of your life, to be a stranger, to make a friend, to experience an exotic landscape, to risk the unknown..”
― Paul Theroux
I stopped asking for money after I graduated from college. So every expense that came after was made obtainable from my personal savings. And when I started traveling extensively, I soon gave up my need to shop for unnecessary things. This made me more thrifty in the long run, which was a God-sent since I now prefer purchasing discounted airline tickets, on-sale gears and comfy accommodations. I would trade buying an iPad (which retails for 20K) if it meant exploring the world.
A Biyahera's Lesson In Life
“The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.”
― Christopher McCandless
Explore & Be Free!
Mai - Budget Biyahera
BS Clothing Technology
University of the Philippines - Diliman
This post is my entry to the Pinoy Travel Bloggers' Blog Carnival for March 2013 with the theme "Things you graduated from after becoming a traveler". Kaiz Galang hosts this edition of the blog carnival.
You can visit Estan Cabigas' Langyaw to see the archive of Pinoy Travel Bloggers' Blog Carnival! :)
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