the one travel entry that didn't make it

Why do I travel?
Tara Valencia

Men are born curious. Men travelled to the farthest corners of earth fueled by a sole purpose; to fulfill the nagging feeling to learn, to know and to experience what’s beyond the mundane and predictable occurrences that make up their daily lives.

Giving justice to my insatiable thirst to move and wander around, fulfilling one’s curiosity may even be an understatement. I have always embraced traveling, as far as I can remember I have been an innate wanderer. As a kid, I have been lost for numerous occasions and I don’t remember feeling an ounce of panic or fear. I started to independently ride the bus to my hometown early on my grade school years on those seemingly endless summer vacations. One very striking memory was my first out-of-the-country trip, within the awkward years of puberty I was forced to embark on a solo journey in a 4-hour plane ride back to the country.

Taking into account my happy memories of travelling as a child, I have always known that I shall never say no to an opportunity to experience and breathe air from a foreign land. It may seem strange but I’ve always sought the difference of breathing air on different parts of the world. I am not talking about altitude, air quality or any of that environmental factors contributing to the science and whatnot behind it all. I am saying, i.e. when you’re in Hong Kong you can smell in the air the richness of the gastronomic adventure that you’re about to feast on. When you’re in Bangkok you breathe with excitement of venturing into terrific shopping finds. When you’re in Japan, you breathe with cherry blossoms and haiku in mind mixed with the charm of its age-old traditions. When you’re in the U.K you breathe with sophistication, drowning in the sea of its mixed renaissance and Victorian charm. Lastly, when you’re in Singapore, you’ll hardly breathe because of all those rules and eyes watching your every move. The list goes on and on and when in the Philippines, there's one striking trait of this country that no Filipino can deny and this I am willing to die for, this country is generously, favorably blessed with the most spectacular, almost blindingly beautiful beach sunset one can ever witness in his lifetime.

I travel because I want to embrace the very people, tradition, history and countless wonders that make up this world. From the most trivial to the grandest, to its imperfections and inexplicable beauty, each occasion and opportunity to see more than what’s in the usual confines of our world is a chance to behold. What I have seen, learned and experienced wandering to different places is my only richness and with a billion and more places to see, people to meet and culture to experience, why would I not travel and see the world at all?