Below is what I wrote on the first day of 2013, sitting in my drafts folder all this time.
*****
If you were to ask me on new year's day of 2009 if I would be traveling outside the country before the year was out, I'd answer with a smile, "Travel, what do you mean travel? I don't even have a passport!" Fast forward to new year's day 2013 and I've been to six countries (Mauritius, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, Malaysia, and Korea). Not that I traveled often, or traveled so many places. But I was able to travel, which was not something that I thought I would think about 4 years after thanks to the promo fares of the country's biggest budget airline.
Why travel?
It started with my three-month assignment to the beautiful island of Mauritius. I got my passport only two weeks before I was scheduled to depart. It was so in the nick of time that I got my passport in the morning and then ship it out in the afternoon for visa processing. I got it back, stamped with a visa, at the airport on the day of my departure. Maybe it was the beautiful beach that is a walking distance from our apartment, or perhaps it was the cool weather, or maybe it was just the mere thought of me actually in another country. One day it just dawned on me. I will grab the opportunity to travel while still working and not after retiring.
And travel I did since. Not extravagantly, mind you. Just on backpack and piso-fares. But I'm happy. I'm glad I took them. Where do I want to go today?
