People along the way.
Back when I was a college freshman, I decided to move out of the boarding house and instead commute from Batangas all the way to QC for the second term. To make it to my first class, I had to catch the 3am bus. Our house was far from the terminal so I had to…
A few years ago, we were invited to speak at the World Tourism Forum in Istanbul. On the first night, there was a dinner with government officials. I was seated next to a Slovenian diplomat. When I introduced myself, her reply was, “Your name is Yoshke? Really?” I said yes and then she asked if…
There are two 7-Eleven stores near our place. Halos magkatapat lang sila. We call them 7-Eleven del Norte and 7-Eleven del Sur. Nung una, sa 7-Eleven del Sur kami bumibili kasi mas malapit. Bihira kami bumili ng rice meal doon but when we do, regardless kung sinong member ng crew ang on duty na usually ay very young, parating pa-sideways yung paglagay nila sa bag. Sobrang careless and messy. Syempre, laging nagli-leak yun or naghahalu-halo yung mga laman. So nag-decide kami na dun na lang kami sa 7-Eleven del Norte. Ganun pa rin talaga. Minsan kahit iremind mo sila na…
SANTORINI, 2017. We arrived in the Greek town of Oia past 10pm. It was a cold, windy December evening, and because it’s off season, the village was as dormant as the volcano it overlooks. As in most destinations, we tried to find our booked room as soon as we got off the cab.
ATHENS, 2017. “I want to show you something,” our cab driver John said at one point between the airport and our hotel. “You’re not in a hurry, no?”
PARIS, 2016. She stretched out her arm as far as possible so she could properly frame herself and the Eiffel Tower on her tablet. She tried sitting down and re-angling multiple times, but the tower was massive and her reach inadequate. She was just about to leave her spot when I finally rose from the…
The other night, our Uber driver decided to NOT charge us for the trip. We insisted on paying, but he said he had earned more than enough for the day and it would be great to share the happy vibe.
My travel life began when I fell in love. I’m not talking about love for the road or love for travel. I’m talking about love love. Romantic love. I-will-go-anywhere-with-you kind of love. Before I met him, I never traveled anywhere. Neither did he, before he met me. I don’t know what happened or how, but…
