2012: The Year That Was

2012 has been a great year for me. It was a year of spontaneous travels, numerous food trips and finally took the road that I've really wanted since I was a kid. Truth be told, it was my most extensive travel year yet. I have traveled to as far as Lingayen, Baler, Clark, Baguio down to the most underrated province, Siquijor. Oh, I shouldn't forget my Kota Kinabalu trip!

There were times that I have doubted myself if I am doing the right decisions. Well, even though that I haven't achieved some of my goals, at least I have learned so many valuable lessons not just in traveling  but life in general.

This shouldn't be long. Now presenting, the obligatory year-end post: 2012: The Year That Was

Believing that the world will end this year, I decided to take traveling to the next level. Ha!

The story goes like this. Two days before new year 2012, Robbie invited me to climb Mount Pinatubo together with some 30 travel bloggers, mostly from Manila. Fast forward, we rode the 4x4, traversing the lahar-stricken landscape. It was surreal... and dusty. Haha!

Yet another spontaneous trip, but this time, it's farther than Pinatubo. My kaladkarin friends invited me to visit and explore Baler at Aurora Province. I never thought that the province of Aurora offers a lot of must-see places - Ditumabo Falls, the half-millenium old Balete Tree, and the big waves of Sabang Beach.

Two weeks after our Baler trip, we explored the southern side of Cebu! We climbed Osmeña Peak, the highest peak in the whole island of Cebu, swam together with the whale sharks in Oslob, and ate as if there was no tomorrow at IT Park. Due to some reasons, we decided to ditch our plans to visit Bohol and visited Dumaguete and Siquijor instead. Truly, it was a blessing in disguise because SIQUIJOR WAS THE BEST PROVINCE THAT I'VE VISITED TO DATE! The photos say it all.

This was the month when I tried solo traveling, whether if I could do it or not. I flew solo all the way to Dagupan, Pangasinan and met up with my hosts, Josh and Me-an (you guys are awesome, btw). We explored Lingayen, La Union, La Trinidad, Benguet and Baguio. I was supposed to have a 5-day solo vacation but I booked an earlier flight back to Davao. I know it wasn't a success but I'm still open with the idea of traveling solo.

It was a family trip to Boracay. We went there to attend my cousin's wedding (I know it an overrated thing... but yeah, Boracay is Boracay). It was our first time to visit this famous island and dude, Filipinos were outnumbered by foreigners. It felt like I wasn't in the Philippines! Well, despite the crowd, we still enjoyed our Boracay experience. Let's paaaaaartttyyyyyy... and eat.

Drum roll please! This is prolly the highlight of 2012: My epic KOTA KINABALU TRIP!

I booked a flight 11 months prior the trip, thanks to AirAsia's zero fare sale! But things didn't go smoothly weeks before my trip. Brenna, Yancy, and I were worried that this particular trip might be called off due to the severe weather system in Manila. All major streets, including the expressway to the north, were flooded and impassable. But thank God, the weather improved when we went there.

But the ordeal didn't end there. I got almost got held up at Clark International Airport, thanks to the super efficient and super relevant immigration officer of Clark. Sarcasm intended. He asked a lot of questions, most of them were irrelevant such as why I didn't pursue a medical career, how did I earn money online, and etc. But Aal iz well. AAL IZ WELL.

It was my first international trip and I had fun. Well... fun is an understatement. I ate a lot of Malaysian food (which was really delicious by the way), met new friends from Europe, got chased by monitor lizards and swam on the clear waters of Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park.

Left my beloved hometown, Davao City to pursue my lifelong dream become an air traffic controller. I know that entails lots of sacrifices but I pretty sure that everything's going to be worth it. :,)

I am very thankful that I did all of these for the past 12 months. I believe that I pushed myself to do all these things that are beyond my comfort zone and because of it, I learned a LOT. Truly, it was a humbling experience!

To the people whom I have met along the road, and to my kaladkarin friends (you know who you are), thank you for making my travel experiences fun, exciting, and memorable! To my readers, thank you for the traffic, unique hits, and for the $$$. LOLJK

2013 may not be a fruitful year for me in terms of traveling, but I do hope I'd share some tidbits about the road that I'm currently taking.