After spending much of the Covid-ravaged year socially distancing myself from other people and the great outdoors, I welcomed the spontaneity to experience nature once again when I received an invitation from an old friend. “Hi Marky, are you free this Sunday to Tuesday?” Jackie wrote to me on Messenger. “I’m going to Cavinti. I was going solo, but the place is kind of off the grid so maybe I shouldn't go alone. Would you like to come?” she wrote in a follow-up message that reached my inbox just as I was about to reply “Yes”—even without knowing the details yet.

Mandalay was a place I regretted not seeing during my first visit to Myanmar in 2013 with friends. Things were different during my return trip in 2016, when additional days worked on my side. After almost a week of exploring the vast plains of Bagan aboard an e-motorcycle, I made the half-day land trip to the former royal capital of Myanmar.

Spain is a country of truly diverse landscapes—whether you are seeking coastlines or mountain peaks, forests or city streets, you'll find it. Southern Spain might usually be visited by those who wish for beachside relaxation, but it can be enjoyed even more by taking to the roads and exploring some of the adventurous and picturesque cycle routes.

In a divergent Winterfell universe, Meera would instead tell Hodor to "open the door" and enter a sanctuary where diverse cultures were linked beautifully through art. That place could very well be the Pinto Art Museum in Antipolo City.

A couple of months removed from a travel writing assignment covering the vegetable farms of Cordillera, another opportunity to visit more agricultural destinations came to my inbox from the Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Training Institute (ATI). It was to join their first regional bloggers/vloggers event that aimed to promote Organic Agriculture in the CaLaBarZon region (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon).

The Philippines was easy to fall in love with because of its stunning natural beauty and genuinely nice people. Most visitors mistakenly believed that the Philippines was only about beaches, but there was much more. And, just as you'd fall in love with all you saw here, you'd fall in love with the values of everyone you met and the delectable cuisines they offered.

Scattered on the shoreline of Valugan Boulder Beach were bigger and bolder versions of the sedimentary rocks found in Mabua Pebble Beach in Surigao City. In lieu of powdery sands, these large stones spewed by the ancient-time eruptions of Mount Iraya spread across the coast of this tiny part of Basco, Batanes fronting the Pacific Ocean.

On a normal day, I was displeased dragging my body out of bed at four in the morning, especially after sleeping soundly in the Manor at Camp John Hay. Not that particular morning, though. The reason being the destination we were going to would give me an opportunity to literally and figuratively pause and smell the flowers. Being able to travel for the first time since the March 2020 lockdown, the trip to Northern Blossom Farm in Atok, Benguet opened a door to rekindling my love affair with traveling—with precious moments of introspection to boot—in the company of the great outdoors.

Home to a magnificent set of picturesque highland countryside, the region of the Cordillera featured an abundance of wonders. From its cool weather all year long to its majestic set of nature, fascinating culture, and mouth-watering local cuisine, an all too familiar feature of the region was gaining much-needed attention. These were the fruit and vegetable farms of Benguet and Mountain Province.

Fresh from binge-watching “The Haunting of Bly Manor” a week prior, it was understandable why I initially likened the feel of The Manor Hotel to the haunted series’ mansion. Take out the strange ghostly apparitions, and you would see a charming property laden with fancy landscaping and fascinating architectural patterns.

Waking up to a rainy and foggy morning had me entertaining the idea of staying in until lunch, curled up on my bed. Appealing though the thought was, the opportunity to see another UNESCO World Heritage site prevailed, proving to be motivation enough to make me stand up, stretch my arms, and face the window to announce to myself, “Good morning, Vietnam!”

Situated within the old city of Jaipur near the City Palace and Hawa Mahal is the UNESCO World Heritage site of Jantar Mantar. Named after the words yantra, which in Sanskrit means “instrument,” and mantrana, meaning “to calculate,” Jantar Mantar is an equinoctial sundial engineered to measure local time and track the declination of the sun alongside the wider celestial sphere.

It was not a question of “Why?” anymore. Rather, “How?” as in how we could help our farmers more should be the fitting query. Fortunately, a long-overdue response to the plight of our farmers was then taking shape. Thanks to small entrepreneurs like The Local Goodness PH, local produce from far communities was finding its way straight to the doorsteps and onto the table of new consumers. Suddenly, the concept of farm-to-table was slowly becoming a reality.

As I was walking around downtown Da Lat, I picked up a flyer about an Easy Rider tour taking travelers on a motorcycle exploration of the countryside. I was not one to easily shell out money on tour packages, but I figured I could easily sightsee the outskirts of Da Lat as a passenger on the back of a Vietnamese Dennis Hopper. I couldn’t text the number as I did not have a local SIM card. Fortunately, my hostel—Da Lat Homestay—offered the same tour. Along with the other guests, who all turned out to be Israelis, I signed up for the Easy Rider the next day.

As a frequent guest of Azalea’s Baguio property, I already had an inkling of what to expect at their Boracay location. Still, upon our arrival, I was taken aback by the niceties of the layout that blended perfectly with the vibe of the island. The wide entrance highlighted by the globe fountain and centerpiece quickly arrested my attention. The available space created an additional charm befitting the post-modern architecture of the five-story establishment bursting with appealing lines and patterns.

“Every lake belongs to the quietness desired by the swans,” poet Munia Khan wrote. Her description mirrored what we collectively sense about these bodies of water existing under the shadows of big-swell oceans and streaming rivers. Lakes dished a different vibe far from the seas we were accustomed to visiting in our geographically gifted, archipelagic country. The stillness of their natural pools of freshwater provided a tranquil atmosphere coupled with the lush greens that usually surrounded them. Therefore, if you were wandering around the Philippines, a jaunt to one of these lakes would instantly give you a memorable travel experience.

Technology had linked the divide between manufacturers, food producers, and consumers by mere clicks of a button. The quickly expanding economics of delivery had made it possible for consumers to purchase goods expediently—a convenience highlighted significantly during the pandemic.