When I say โAng dami kong timeโ when I post a new video, I lie. The truth is: ๐๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ช๐ฎ๐๐ซ๐๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ก๐๐ฌ ๐๐๐๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ข๐๐ฌ๐ญ ๐๐ง๐ ๐ฆ๐จ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐๐ฌ๐ฌ๐๐ฎ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐ข๐จ๐ ๐จ๐ ๐ฆ๐ฒ ๐ฅ๐ข๐๐. Yes, despite not being able to travel at all. Yes, despite being cooped up at home the entire time.
Over the past several months, we had to work twice or thrice as hard to get even just a fraction of the traffic or earnings that we previously enjoyed. Travel bloggers, after all, are part of the tourism industry.
The upside, these have been our most productive months yet. It forced us to finally pick up projects we set aside for the longest time and prioritize channels or content that we would NEVER have touched otherwise. We learned a lot not just in terms of creating content but also running a business in the middle of a nightmarish crisis. Thankfully, medyo nagsa-start na kami mag-bounce back, so yay. Things are starting to look up for us.
But thereโs one thing that this pandemic has demonstrated in sobering clarity. Itโs something we have always known, acknowledged, and reminded our readers about on our blogs. But COVID-19 hammered it home โ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐. Even budget travel.
In the travel world, itโs always easy to say, โIf we can do it, you can too,โ in an effort to sound inspirational. But itโs not always true.
The truth is, weโre not on a level playing field. There are millions of people out there who are way off the field, out in the water, drowning. Tayo, we complain that we had to cancel our trips or that weโre bored, but there are a lot of people out there who are struggling to find a job or find food to put on the table. While some of us watch our savings deplete, others have nothing to start with. They had nothing even before this pandemic reared its ugly head.
It has been extremely exhausting for ALL OF US, yes, but for some, it has been utterly devastating.
Itโs easy to forget the privileges we enjoy when we get so used to it. Like travel. I know this because I forget, too. Probably a lot more than I would like to admit.
La lang. Di ko rin alam ang point nitong post na โto. Maybe to remind myself that after we come out of this pandemic, Iโd be more aware and more compassionate both as a traveler and as a human being?
Just something that Iโve been ruminating on over the past months. Ayun, sana talaga matapos na. ๐