People travel for various reasons. Adventure. Fun. Business. Family affairs. I do travel for all these purposes. But I also travel to be alone. I feel this most in an airport and aboard a full-to-capacity plane. Alone. With no thought or concern except to get to my destination. It affords me an in-between. A shifting...
Category: Travel
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On with the show on New Year’s Eve
SYDNEY—New Year’s Eve without fireworks? Unthinkable! Especially in Australia, one of the first countries to welcome the new year with the now iconic Sydney Harbor Bridge pyrotechnics display watched around the world. But just days before the show, it was in danger of being cancelled in the wake of a dispute between the New South...
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Trainspotting down under
SYDNEY—Hours before sunrise last Aug. 19, a crowd of nearly a thousand people was reported to have gathered at the 1880s railway station in Sydenham, a suburb 8 kilometers south of this city’s central business district. Trainspotters mingled with regular commuters at the new concourse to get on the 5 a.m. inaugural service of the...
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Biri Island: enchanting, magical, mystical
I had the auspicious chance of spending three days on this exquisite island some weeks ago and I was simply struck with awe for what it is: adorably beautiful and bewitching. Biri is an island municipality nestled in the northernmost tip of northern Samar, facing the Pacific Ocean to the east and the perilous San...
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Uluru: In the heartland of the world’s oldest living culture
SYDNEY—Can you see it from up here? I asked my daughter Giselle while I was looking out the window as the plane descended. If it’s on this side and it isn’t cloudy, she replied. Seconds later, it came into view: Uluru, the mammoth red rock that is Australia’s most iconic natural landform and one of...
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Do you know the way to San Rafael?
Getting to Barangay Lico in San Rafael, Bulacan, was half the fun. My batchmates at St. Paul College (now a university) of Quezon City, high school class of 1973, decided to meet at the home of Baby, our classmate until the fifth grade, then travel to the Central Luzon province in a convoy. The car...
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‘Kasadyahan’ vs ‘Dinagyang’: A Battle of Festivals in Iloilo
ILOILO CITY—Ilonggos and their guests can expect a double treat of weekend revelry when the “Kasadyahan sa Kabanwahanan” and “Dinagyang” go centerstage one after the other on Jan. 27 and 28 in this city, in what looms as a face-off of festivals reflecting the dynamism of local culture, faith and tradition. “This year’s Kasadyahan is...
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On the way to Bayambang we drove north to Vigan
Five days before Christmas Day we went on a 24-hour road trip that took us to a Ghibli-inspired Christmas village, a 400-year-old watchtower, and a city with cobblestone streets and ancestral houses. The initial plan was to drive early in the morning to Bayambang, Pangasinan, to check out the Christmas village that features some of...
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Two days and one night in BTS Country
An overnight stay in South Korea might sound more like a layover than an actual vacation. But it was what made a recent trip to Seoul with my sister Kristine, our first together overseas, unique and memorable. Being the well-travelled one of two siblings, Kristine had been to South Korea thrice this year alone. Our...
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One island paradise, five worlds
To try to run across the length and breadth of Boracay is to catch a glimpse of at least five very different worlds. There is the world of White Beach and Bulabog Beach, of course. The world of low-budget and mid-range hotels; a world that looks increasingly more like Greenbelt or BGC but transplanted beside...