After my euro-adventure, I was so high with travel that I bored the people around me to death with the only topic Iโ€™m interested in. It may even began to sound like gloating starting my sentences with โ€œwhen i was in Europeโ€ฆโ€ so I decided to actively host couchsurfers. If Iโ€™m not traveling, Iโ€™m going to bring traveling to my house. I was particularly interested to host people on an extended travel and I would be living vicariously through their RTW stories. I was drooling with envy and dying of jealousy.

wanderlass cs world map
world map and the couchsurfers iโ€™ve ever hosted

โ€œIf you so wanted it, why donโ€™t you just do it?โ€ they asked me.
โ€œI canโ€™t.โ€
โ€œWhy not?โ€

Good question. Why not?

These were my top 3 answers.
1. I have work. responsibilities.
2. Iโ€™m no longer 25.
3. I have to get visas to everywhere.

I was raised in a world where work defines who you are, as well as your marital status, but thatโ€™s another story, ha ha. Anyway, nothing remarkable happened but one day I woke up and thought, why the hell not indeed? Iโ€™m not married. I have no children. What responsibility am I talking about? I work in our family business and my family have always supported each other. If we could travel for one to 2 months at a time, what is the difference of being gone for a year? If it means living oneโ€™s dream?

I thought telling my mother would be my biggest hurdle. I was short of making a powerpoint presentation to go with my spiel when I went to tell her. But it took me 30 seconds to say Iโ€™m planning to take a long trip. Then she so matter-of-factly asked for how long and whatโ€™s my itinerary? I was thrown off-guard because I was ready to deliver my 10-point argument. Somehow my mother have become open-minded and modern and I missed it! ย It was me who was stuck in the past, the perpetually guilty daughter.

The average age of people in couchsurfing was 25. Thatโ€™s where I got my number. But with its recent popularity with over 2 million members, I think the average age now is 30 or even higher. And over the past 4 years, Iโ€™ve hosted round-the-world travelers who are older (than 25). I once hosted a funny guy who at 45, quit his job, sold everything, and went traveling because he hated their incumbent president. He will go back after his 6 year term. So obviously, I have also gotten over not being 25 anymore. ;-)

While I love the Philippines and have considered nowhere else home, I have to say, the Philippine passport is the single most annoying reason I hate being a Pinoy traveler. We need visa to almost everywhere and all restrictions apply. This is the main reason why Iโ€™m still here.

world map

For my big trip, I want to circumnavigate the world! I want to leave for the west and come back from the east. And possibly hit all continents except Antartica. But who knows, maybe even Antartica if I stumbled upon a bag of diamonds or something. The plan was Asia(Manila)โ€“Europeโ€“(side trip: Africa)โ€“North Americaโ€“South Americaโ€“Australiaโ€“New Zealand. But with my frustrated and procrastinating nature, I have changed my direction 3 times over! Ha ha. When I failed to leave in 2010, I decided to change direction and start in Australia beginning January, 2011. But some schedule monster came disrupting about that I can only start my planning today, March 1, 2011. And with all these visa business, my guess is I can leave mid-April the earliest. So with the season changing again, I will have to go with the earlier plan of heading west. Iโ€™m a tropical being and a sun chaser. Iโ€™m so scared of cold weather.

In the course of the next few days, weeks, Iโ€™ll be documenting the progress of my visa applications and the rest of the preparation. Itโ€™s a reality show at this point as I donโ€™t know whatโ€™s going to happen. Will I get them? Will I not? ย Once again, I needed to put my thoughts in writing to sort my head out, as I mentioned inย wanderlass turns 4. Follow me on my quest for the title: Most Visa Applied in 30 days! ;)