All new to me
It might seem strange to most, but I’ve never been away from my immediate family for more than a day or two. We’re a pretty tight-knit family so we tend to travel together, but that’s really not the only reason. I’m just not a very adventurous person; I’m more the type to watch the exploits of other, more enterprising individuals like say, Anthony Bourdain, while sitting in the comfort of my own home and enjoying the fact that I don’t have to deal with Lord knows what’s in store for any weary traveler exploring a faraway land.
Even as a child, I remember being a really fussy traveler; I’d always develop some kind of malady the second we’d leave home. After a while, I managed to get a little more comfortable with being away from home, after all, it’s a part of becoming an adult. Still, I stayed away from traveling unless I really needed to; much to the amazement of the senior admin at work, who’s always offering me unsolicited travel advice and imploring me to “see what’s out there”.
You can probably imagine his surprise when I told him that I was going on vacation. A solo vacation. No parents, no siblings, just me. To many, a solo trip to the Philippines is the epitome of adventure; it’s a country that has plenty of regions that are still mostly undeveloped and devoid of any modern conveniences. My destination are the islands in the Visayas; you may have heard that name mentioned in the news or seen the hashtags on Twitter or Instagram. It was recently thrust into the worldwide spotlight because it suffered the most devastation from the most powerful tropical cyclone in recorded history.
Typhoon-devastated or not, I’ve never considered going to the Visayas for any reason, at least until 2014 rolled around. It’s really amazing what the right kind of motivation will do to a person. It’s the greatest trait of the human race; find a man the right motivation and he will stare fear in the eye and not flinch. Case in point, here I am a traveling noob headed to a region of the Philippines that I’ve never been to, barely able to hold a conversation in Tagalog, and to top it all off, I look Chinese. Even if I DID speak the language like a local, I’d still be treated like a foreigner because of my appearance.
But despite all of that, I’m not only optimistic, but excited. Sure the nerves are there too, but how can you not feel excited to see what you’re made of? I’m excited to see how I’d deal with the language barrier, how I’d find my way from the airport to my ultimate destination, and the new sights and sounds I’m sure to experience? One can’t appreciate the good without the bad, nor deal with the bad without the good so all that’s left to do is go out there and jump in.