Lift off!

Welcome, welcome!  Tuloy po kayo (come on in).

Flashback:   When I was preparing to enter college in the mid 1990s, I wanted to study Mass Communication at the University of the Philippines.  I filled out my UP College Admission Test application form, with Broadcast Communication and Journalism as my top two choices.   I told my Papa this and he firmly advised for me to take Physical Therapy instead, as the practical decision.

“Sa dinami-dami ng mga naggagraduate ng Mass Comm, ilan lang ang nagiging Korina Sanchez?  Mag-PT ka at pumunta ka sa America.  Pag may pera ka na, pwede mo nang gawin kahit ano ang gusto mo.” (Of all the people who graduate from Mass Comm, how many become a Korina Sanchez?  Work as a PT and go to America.   When you have money, you can do whatever you want.)

So I go, dutiful daughter that I am. I went off to work as a physical therapist in Georgia and discovered that I do love this profession. I also fell in love with and married  a history nerd who started to take me around the world, to see places I’ve only read about in books and saw on TV.  This ignited a new passion – to explore the world around me, both near and far, and to write about it.

Flash forward:   It’s been over a year since the idea of starting a digital travel magazine popped in my head.   As with many of my harebrained schemes (I have an Idea Notebook full of them, including a service called www.pabugbog.com), I got really excited about it.   It combined two of the things I’ve decided are important to me and want to pursue:  traveling and writing.

The idea of being a travel writer is a romantic one.  Who wouldn’t want to gallivant around the world for a living, savor unique experiences and adventures, then come home to write about it?  As I thought about it more, I started to believe that it wasn’t impossible to achieve.   I went digging into books, blogs, and training that encouraged me to seek and follow my passion.   As I built the foundation for this site, I found myself at a place I never thought I would be back in 1993, when I erased Broadcast Communication on my UPCAT form and changed it to Physical Therapy with a heavy heart.   I found myself having sufficient resources to pursue a path that was put on hold.

With the trips that Glen and I have taken in the recent years, friends have come to know us as world travelers.   They’ve often asked how we did it, as if we held a secret password that magically transported us to places far away.  That, or lots of money.   There is no secret password nor lots of money.   We’ve been to places that we’ve been because of genuine interest, meticulous planning,  and careful budgeting.

As I saw more of the world, the conviction that everyone needs to travel grew stronger in me.   As I met more Filipinas who clearly wanted to go to their dream destinations  but felt that taking a trip was too extravagant or impractical, the desire to find ways to help them get there burned in me.

All of these things came together to shape the message and goal of Viajera Filipina: to inspire Filipinas to work towards achieving their travel dreams.

So here we are, at the launching pad of dreams, both yours and mine.   I can’t wait to see where this journey will take us.

Tara na, Viajera Filipina! (Let’s go, Viajera Filipina!)