I left Banaue and Batad feeling physically exhausted after three days of intense trekking through the Cordillera rice terraces. But as I boarded the public Jeepney that would take me three hours to Bontoc where I would transfer for another three-hour public Jeepney to Sagada, all for less than five dollars, I was filled with excitement…

On the morning of my third day in the Cordilleras, I jolted awake and rolled over to look out the window. Had I dreamed how beautiful it was? The view that answered me back assured me it was very much reality. Despite, or perhaps even partly because of, the total isolation from the outside world, I…

Getting to Batad is not for the faint-hearted. This remote Filipino village, famed for having arguably the most beautiful rice terraces in the world, is not accessible by motorized vehicle. First, you get to Banaue, a remove village in Northern Luzon, accessible by bus from Manila. Then, you set out towards Batad, and go as far…

One hundred weeks. Seven hundred days. Nearly two full years. That’s how long I’ve been doing this Photo of the Week project. It started as a creative project inspired by the Photo of the Day project that my mentor at the time, Heather Holt, was taking on. Over time it’s morphed into more of a visual…

I have an air-tight plan for money management on the road. Two credit cards, two debit cards, all thoroughly vetted for ease of use overseas and stored in separate location so I always have a backup. I track my daily expenses with an iPhone app and each month do a full accounting analysis of my spending…

Since I left home for my Great Escape, I’ve been doing monthly roundups of my adventures filled with anecdotes, private little moments, and thoughts that are found nowhere else on this blog. As this site is not just a resource for other travelers but also my own personal travel diary, I like to take some time…