“Good vibe” was my overall impression on the first Travel Massive held in Manila last weekend at B Side, the Collective. I was really glad to be part of the first event here in Manila. I’m huge on organizations (or initiatives) that are free for all to join and beneficial to everyone.
Travel Massive, if you haven’t heard, is a global initiative organized to connect people in the travel industry locally, bringing together travel bloggers, travel brands, travel startups, and various travel professionals. No worries I haven’t heard of it until I was invited to share my story on this event. But it’s getting bigger and bigger fast, spreading like wild fire worldwide. And understandably why so with its 3 key values
- Free to attend events
- Open to all travel industry
- Connect and share globally
I haven’t had such a good feel about anything travel related since discovering couchsurfing.org. In fact, I kind of see it as couchsurfing grown up. Bitten by the travel bug, we couchsurf’d around the world to be immersed in other culture for free. After that, we knew for sure that the travel bug is incurable and that we want something to do with travel forever. And here comes Travel Massive. Bring on whatever travel related.
Travel Massive in Manila
I’m not sure how other cities organized it but what happened in Manila is first, there were free flowing beers. If that doesn’t insure good start, I don’t know what would. It especially helped calm my nerves because I was going to be the first story teller. So with sincere apology, my supposed 5 minute spiel stretched to over 15 minutes. ^_^
Ok, so there were 5 story tellers sharing the following topics:
- Sugar High – moments in travel that we feel infinite. This is my topic and I shared my unique experience couchsurfing with Bedouins in Petra, Jordan. And in the end invited audience to share other moments in my round the world trip through video.
- Rock Bottom – moments when you feel you are ready to give in. Topic was assigned to James as he recount moments of truth during his travel. 2 other travelers shared their rock bottom moments. I would probably share my Budapest bad experience if it was the topic given to me.
- Adrenaline – Stoked Loraine told stories riding the waves around the Philippines. I have quite a few on this trip, my bungee jumping experience in Costa Rica, Death Road biking in Bolivia, or my ultimate dive trip, the Galapagos as my top 3 (order of event, not level of adrenaline).
- Meeting Friends – Ziggie shared social moments while traveling that inspired him to get into hostel business in the Philippines. Traveling solo for so long I have so many stories on meeting people and how when you hit it off, you’d naturally try to meet up in the next destinations. In the world of long term traveling, when you met people on the 2nd city, you’re old friends.
- Hello Cutie – Sara told her story on meeting “the one” on the road, though sadly turned out to be a false alarm. It’s no reason to stop believing though. For me, I truly believe that anything and everything can change in a moment. The possibilities of life is exhilarating! I may have love stories on the road, but I don’t kiss and tell. ;-)
It was rather well attended considering it’s the first event. The crowd were warm and the venue intimate. I couldn’t say enough how nice of an evening it was. I guess special mention to the sponsors is called for as they fueled the success of the night with prizes: R.O.X., Spyder, Sea to Summit, Circle Hostel, Tripmoba.com
Kudos to the organizers: Lois (wearesolesisters.com), Neil (neilisawanderingsoul.com), Brenna (philippinetravelogue.com), Raf (circlehostel.com). Co-hosted by DJ (dreameurotrip.com). Special appearance of Ian (@aussie_ian), the co-founder of Travel Massive.
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Photo Gallery
Photos courtesy of Eddie Cueto
Hey Lil! Thanks for posting this! It’s so bongga at naunahan mo pa kami! We really appreciate your sharing your photos and stories. Hope to collab with you again for future projects/events!
Sounds like some good travel topics discussed!
Sounds fun!
it was! :)
Love it! It was nice hearing your story Lil even if I followed your trip on FB ;D
(we were whispering on the side that you had more than 5 minutes haha)
RAF signaled to me 2 minutes. I thought, oh so that was just 3 minutes. Then when I finished my sister showed me video that was 15 minutes long. hahaha.
HAHAHA winnur