Don’t wait for inspiration. Be the inspiration.

Before the great 2017 ends, attached herewith is a collage of the 30 countries i have visited and 7 Philippine mountains I have scaled (not included are other several local destinations i have set foot).

Lord, I really do not know what good have I done to deserve all these great things. I will be forever grateful. All these travel wouldn’t be possible without You and Your grace.

This is a pretty lengthy gratitude post. So here it goes:

It’s not a secret that I am such a travel enthusiast. Just when I thought last year’s feat of going to 9 countries was already crazy awesome, who would’ve thought that 2017 would extremely surpass that. So allow me to thank the following for helping me/ extending any form of help to me during one of my travels this year:

– to my Lithuanian friends, Dacius, Ruta and Gaudantes, for providing me a home, fun moments, and a family almost during my entire 10-week Europe trip.

– to Pow (and your lovely wife Pam, even she wasn’t there) for accommodating me and showing me around Vienna).

– to my new found friends, Judith and Gerlie, whom I met in Vienna, and has shown me more love and genuine friendship when I got the chance to visit Dubai.

– to Richard, a former student of mine and a really good friend, (and to your entire family) for accommodating me during my Milan trip (and sa food, sa damit, sa lahat!).

– to my CS host in Romania, Daniel, and my co-CS guest Timu for making my Bucharest trip worthy.

– to Recep, my Muslim friend in Turkey who has shown me so much genuine friendship and that unforgettable experience inside the mosque.

– to Tita Wiwi for showing me around Paris, and for being like a mom preparing my “baon” while I do my walking tour.

– to my awesome CS nudist hosts in Brussels; to Dr. Geraldine and Dr. Reuben for showing me around Brussels.

– to my former student, Katrijn and her lovely daughter, for keeping me company in Tallinn, Estonia (and for the gifts).

– to Vlad, Yana, and Claro for a super fun Taiwan trip before we all eventually resigned from work 😉

– to my best buddy/ kabsat/ frenemy, JQ for your birthday gift (ang yaman mo talaga grabe)

– to my Tita Maria and Roy for the warm welcome in Hong Kong.
– to Doc Anton and Sir Bojo (you may not know this, but you are some of my travel inspirations).

– to Elaine, Hazel, Pat for meeting me up in Dubai and spending some great time (hanggang Oman); to Ruby for showing me around Dubai as well.

– to Edi and his dog, Moka (my CS hosts in Israel), co-CS guest Daniel, for a great time in Tel Aviv (and the beard oil you gave me, hahaha); to former classmate, Ace sa treat at sa kwentuhan around Old Jaffa.

– to UJ for meeting up with me (again in Zamboanga), to the Pharma students I met in Bacolod, Tagbilaran and Zamboanga during the review session.

– to my boss who accepted my resignation from work last March 1, and since then told me that I could always come back and work for him, and eventually offering me to work for him again during this years last quarter. Grabe, i feel pressured right now because of your trust and confidence. meow.

– to WeVoluntour sa laging pagimbita sakin kahit once lang na naman ako nakasama; to kabsat Greggy, Therenz sa trilogy climb natin dito sa LTB last January.

– to the acquaintances I have met during my Marami, Binacayan, Lalayag climbs (although shout out to Dee for coming with me); to my followers here in WordPress.

– to my IG friends who are now really close friends after the Bulacan Twin Hike, ElYu trip and Baguio visit (Tutz, Den, Bri, MJ, Sam, Carlo, KO, Dumz, Rard, Niel) – sana wala akong nakalimutan.

– to all who have untiringly appreciated my FB, IG, twitter, wordpress posts kahit na nagfloflood na ako most of the time… sa lahat ng mga tumatawag ng lodi, petmalu at inspiration sakin. Grabe nakakataba kaya ng puso (at least may tumaba sakin). Hindi nyo alam kung gaano ako nagpapasalamat sa inyo. Sana one day, matupad din lahat ng mga kagustuhan nyong magtravel at kung ano man yang gusto ng mga puso nyo.

– to my Baguio friends Cha and Tiny for always giving me a warm welcome back whenever I am back in Baguio, at kasamang mag-Korean buffet atbp.

– to my TaRxier friends na despite the physical distance eh we have kept our lines of communication open to share our adventures and misadventures and lots of kagaguhan.

– to my mama and my papa for being tolerant sa pagiging lakwatsero ko (teka, hindi nyo nga pala alam half of these gala, hahaha)

– and to Papa God dahil NEVER niya akong pinabayaan sa lahat ng travel na ito.

– at syempre to you dear self, grabe, antapang tapang mo na (un lang butas na ata bulsa mo). Sana yang tapang mo magamit mo rin sa ibang bagay gaya ng pag-let go ng past at pagharap sa mas mature na future).

Thank you to all the people who have been part of all these amazing journeys. To everyone out there, travel travel travel – it is one of life’s most rewarding and learnings-filled experience.

ayun, haba na. Take it easy guise. See you next year for more awesome travel. Hopefully, i can go back to more local travel at mapuntahan na sana ung 5 remaining Philippine provinces to complete my pending Proyekto 81. So meow.