Just as tiny rays of sunlight trailed the sky and the fainter stars began to fade in dawn light, we arrived at the coastal community of Brgy. Diora-Zinungan in Sta. Ana, Cagayan. The method behind our madness of waking up early was to time our visit when beltfish, locally referred to as "espada" or "bulung unas", hunted for food in schools within the deep waters of the Philippine Sea.

As someone who grew up in the nineteen eighties, I had my experiences of sleeping on a banig (a traditional handwoven mat in the Philippines) especially during naptime after school or when we would visit and spend a night at my grandmother’s old house in Bulacan. Dozing off on one wasn't the most comfortable, but with a soft pillow and a burst of fresh air coming from the open windows, you’d be eventually lulled into a relaxed sleep.

After ten days on the island, I began to notice that my routine was becoming monotonous. I usually started by getting some breakfast and then having a cup of coffee at a beachfront café. The rest of the day was spent working until lunch, finding a cheap place to eat, working again, and finishing the day by watching the magnificent Boracay sunset—with occasional dips in the sea thrown in for good measure.

If it were not for the state of the world grappling with a new COVID-19 variant unfolding during my latest return trip to Kayangan Lake, I would have said, “Third time’s a charm, indeed,” as I again took a dip in its crystal-clear waters. It felt like it was only yesterday—actually, the year 2009—when I first caught sight of this magical lake. I can still vividly recall my then-girlfriend, Marianne, and me wearing oversized life vests, pulling each other into the middle of the lake.

If you had booked your flight tickets to Siargao this year, the first question that probably popped into your head was, “What shouldn’t I miss in Siargao?”

Since the COVID-19 pandemic restricted me from receiving my usual double dose of Vitamin D and Sea, it made my trip to Malamawi Beach twofold memorable—not to mention visiting the province of Basilan for the first time. As part of the Tourism Promotions Board of the Philippines’ Influencers Program aimed at promoting destinations across the country to restart an industry hit hard by the pandemic, I joined other travel writers, bloggers, and vloggers on a trip to the Zamboanga Peninsula. After spending a night in Zamboanga City, we boarded a ferry for a two-hour sea journey to Basilan. Among the places we visited upon arriving was Malamawi Beach.

A few days after typhoon Odette got us holed up in our hotel in Coron, we finally saw blue skies and the green light from the Philippine Coast Guard to set out on a sea voyage to Culion Island. Returning to the island formerly known as the “Leper Colony” had me revisiting memories of dread when I first found out about its history from a prior visit almost a decade ago.

Formerly the Amigo Terrace, a homegrown hotel located within the heritage district of Iloilo, the rebranded Citadines Amigo Hotel now boasted a beautiful fusion of nineteen-eighties architecture and post-modern interior styles. The blending of the old and new flairs commanded a double dose of retaining its already familiar homey ambiance among Ilonggos and the addition of appealing aesthetics to the city’s visitors.

When I first visited Mirador Hill in October 2020, just when the city was starting to loosen up with Covid restrictions, it was still known to most as the Mirador Jesuit Villa and Retreat House. At that time, there were already plans to create a bamboo forest and an eco-park surrounding this haven of tranquility.

During the first months of the pandemic, churches everywhere in the Philippines closed as a way to follow social distancing and quarantine protocols. After more than a year of being at home and attending online masses, several churches were then reopening and accepting devotees and people who needed divine intervention in their lives.

Far from being a typical Philippine island destination, Culion hid ubiquitous layers of fascination courtesy of its storied history that was both harrowing and triumphant. Many decades removed from its upsetting past when boatloads of patients stricken with leprosy were sent to the island to live a life of treatment and isolation, Culion’s journey from being the island of no return to a charming quaint isle was enough to entice any inquisitive traveler.

Popping with a yellow color you could spot a mile away, Sunlight Guest Hotel was every bit of its name, radiating light on a bright and beautiful day. Lending a Mediterranean vibe, it stood behind the water teeming with marine life and overlooking the islands of Coron and Uson. A small jetty within the property of the hotel instantly led guests to a day of diving and snorkeling in the nearby Siete Pecados coral garden.

After devouring generous servings of Cordilleran cuisine at the Farmer’s Daughter, Missy and I were craving a coffee fix. “Plus, I needed to join our Christmas party for an hour via Zoom,” Missy told me. I figured the outdoor setting of this café I first saw on Instagram would be an ideal place to sit, sip, and chill—and in Missy’s case, to “Zoom.”

“Forward! Remember that from these monuments yonder forty centuries look down upon you,” Napoleon Bonaparte declared to his troops as they geared up for the Battle of the Pyramids in July 1798. Indeed, the history of the great pyramids dated back to one of Earth's ancient civilizations. This fact made my experience feel all the more surreal. I recalled staring at the pyramids with wide eyes while standing immobile, engrossed in a spectacular, fleeting moment. There was no better way to cap our Holy Land trip than with a chance to see the Great Pyramid of Giza up close.

It didn’t happen every day that I got to wake up in a new and unfamiliar place. Yet there I was stirring into consciousness from a deep slumber in the province of Basilan. A full day had passed since I stepped out of a ferry ship from Zamboanga, shattering my previous misconceptions about this province.

As it entered its tenth year, the #NLEXLakbayNorte continued to promote more tourist destinations in Northern Luzon. However, due to the global pandemic, the usual five to six-day caravan across several provinces was curtailed to a shorter trip focusing on just one province. This writer of Nomadic Experiences was recently invited to participate in the two-day familiarization tour of Nueva Ecija. Following IATF-enforced safety protocols, we explored other must-visit places in the province known as the “rice granary of the Philippines”.

We rarely came across companies that put advocacy and employee empowerment at the center of their corporate mission, but Glorious Industrial and Development Corporation—GIDC, the Stevia Company—was setting the model. As the first stevia grower and manufacturer in the Philippines, GIDC harvested and marketed Sweet and Fit Stevia, the foremost stevia herbal dietary supplement registered by the Food and Drug Administration in the Philippines, as its main weapon in leading the charge against diabetes. Grown and harvested in the Philippines exclusively by GIDC, Sweet and Fit Stevia was free of calories, cholesterol, carbohydrates, and had zero glycemic index.