Wander If You Must: I Dream to Travel

Dream on . . .

It takes two to make a dream come true. One, you must have a dream to start with. Two, you must have the means to achieve it. The collision of an ambitious dream and an equally passionate drive to pursue it can cause a spark that will ignite a lifelong adventure and moment after moment of bliss.

When I was in pre-school, while my classmates announced they wanted to become doctors or astronauts or beauty queens, I confidently proclaimed, “When I grow up, I will travel around the world.” My teacher asked my five-year-old self how I was going to do that. "How will you earn money to circle the globe?" With the bravado of a five-year-old who was already showing signs of rebellion, I raised my voice for the whole world to hear, “I am going to travel around the world whether you like it or not!” I can’t remember what happened after the outburst. Maybe I cried, or maybe the teacher let me stand in one corner during recess, or maybe she called my parents for a heart-to-heart talk. I can’t remember. But what I do recall is that even at an early age, I knew what I wanted and I was determined to have it.

It did not take me long to figure out how I was going to live my semi-nomadic dream. I understood too well that if I was going to get to places, I have to work for it. Half of my childhood summers was spent helping Grandma make and sell pancakes---a price I was more than willing to pay for a few weeks of frolicking in the white-sand beaches of Siquijor. High school was an extra-curricular overload. I joined environmental and youth empowerment clubs that went on trips to places like Apo Island to snorkel and Zamboangita, Negros Oriental to see a gorilla. In college, I took up physical therapy---in the hopes of travelling to the US or Europe---and was lucky enough to travel all over the Philippines for 10 months during my internship.

Post-graduation forced me to fend for myself and accept 9-5 routine jobs that barely catered for my basic needs, much so my penchant for travel. But the urge to travel was too much that I volunteered for Gawad Kalinga to win free rides to off-the-beaten destinations in exchange for hard labor---sifting sand, mixing cement, piling bricks, and painting roofs---building houses for the homeless.

Work and play with Gawad Kalinga (Cebu, Negros Occidental, Baguio)

While most of my physio pals were busy scoring for jobs in the US, I applied for VSO (Voluntary Service Overseas), an international organization that sends volunteers to developing countries abroad to contribute to capacity building and sustainable development. I found myself in Ethiopia, in East Africa. Despite my meager volunteer allowance, I did not pass up the chance to see this beautiful and enigmatic country of ancient kings and queens, of stone churches, of black lions, of friendly hyenas. In a bid to do as much travelling as I can despite my lean pockets, I travelled in cramped buses for as long as 12 hours and shared flea-infested hotel rooms with adventure-seeking strangers. I ate local food they call injera, a kind of sour spongy pancake that, as my fellow travelers called it, look like a dirty towel. I boiled water and took one-liter bottles with me on trips so I don’t have to shell out for costly mineral water.

Ethiopia escapades courtesy of VSO.

After twenty-two months of doing what I love most---travelling and development work—I went back to the Philippines, and used my resettlement grant to fund a 21-day backpacking journey around Southeast Asia with my sister, Pinky. While on the road, I accepted freelance writing and editing jobs to sustain my trips, while I searched online for jobs that would allow me to see the world.

Luck must have been on my side for after the SE Asia trip, I landed a post as a humanitarian aid worker in South Sudan that allowed me to travel around East Africa (Kenya and Uganda) every two and a half months, and paid enough money for me to travel to other countries like Nepal, every once in a while. Sometime during my mission, I will set foot in France. Hopefully, next year, I will find myself in another exotic land. Or crashing into the homes of friends I met during my jaunts. To date, I boast of 25 invitations in 15 different countries. I pay the fare, they take care of food and accommodation.

The perks of aid work (South Sudan, Uganda, Nepal)

So the moral of the story is this: when God hands you lemons, make lemonade. Or better yet, get some salt and a shot of tequila! There’s no fixed formula for funding your wanderlust. But once you have the drive, you will do everything you can to achieve it. Make the best use of what you have. Grab every opportunity to see the world---especially if it’s for free.

If I’m given the chance to face my pre-school teacher once again and she asks me how I’ll earn money to travel around the world, I know what to tell her:

I will travel for work, and I will work so I can travel. It’s not negotiable.

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