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GMA7's Unang Hirit features Backpacking Pilipinas' travel tips
In my recent interview with Unang Hirit, I shared some tips on how to make your summer getaway more fun even on a shoestring budget. It's important to plan your trip ahead of time, book your flight...
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Support Catanduanes Reef Break: Surf Music Festival
This summer, something really exciting (and majestic!) is about to happen in my home province, Catanduanes. The first ever surf music festival will be hosted by our homegrown surfers and will be held...
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Skyscanner 2014 Bloscars: A 48-hour Singapore trip
I stared out the windows as the plane took a descent few minutes before we hit the runway of Changi Airport. The bleak and overcast afternoon sky did not dampen my spirit as the familiar sight of this...
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Hotel Review: Experience ibis Singapore Bencoolen
The lobby at ibis Bencoolen, Singapore When traveling abroad, I rely heavily on WiFi access to stay connected to my family and friends back home. Purchasing a local SIM in the country I visit is not on...
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10 Eco-friendly Travel Tips
Traveling the 80 provinces in the Philippines was by far one of the best decisions I’ve made in my life. Not only did I earn so many amazing memories that are worth a lifetime, but more than that, it...
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TV Appearance: Summer Break features my Palaui trip
Two years ago, I challenged myself to do my first solo trip to two provinces I haven't been to -- Cagayan and Kalinga. What I thought was just a short simple trip turned out to be one for the...
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A peek at my 10 favorite memories in Masbate
A college friend introduced me to the sweet carmelado from Masbate, a local version of pastillas de leche which is made from carabao milk and sugar. This delicacy, wrapped in a thin white paper, got me...
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Coming Home Now: A Story of Passion for Surfing and Love for Catanduanes
The news spread like wildfire over the internet last night. I was in total disbelief. Probably like many people, I couldn't grasp the idea that a man who seemed to be in a perfect physical form and...
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Think Green: Puralytics SolarBag for backpackers
I support green innovations and it's cool to know that nowadays, more and more companies are turning into eco-friendly products and services. As a travel enthusiast, I'm excited to see this trend...
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My sister’s budget-friendly dream island wedding
KISS- keep it super simple. I know that we, Filipinos, have the propensity to make important events in our lives grand and festive, and a wedding is definitely not an exception to that. Pulling off a...
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Spending a morning in Tabuk City, Kalinga
The night before I visited the province of Kalinga, I was watching a documentary about the production of civet coffee in Indonesia.Known as the most expensive coffee in the world, this exotic coffee,...
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Inside the Philippine Eagle Center in Davao City
Haring Ibon, Agila, Monkey-eating eagle, Banog. These are some of the names we call our national bird, the great and mighty Philippine Eagle.This critically endangered bird is endemic to Philippine...
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On starting a new career at 30
We didn't have a television set at home until I was 10 years old. So when the colored TV landed a space in our living room, it immediately became a part of our family. It was the center of attention....
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Panay’s “dakong lingganay”: the biggest church bell in Asia
The quiet town of Panay is home to several national cultural treasures —the Santa Monica Parish Church (commonly known as Panay Church) is considered the oldest in the whole island of Panay, and dakong...
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Walking Around Bangued, Abra
Abra is landlocked province and is bordered by the provinces of Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, Apayao, Mountain Province, and Kalinga.This province is not known to be among the popular tourist trails unlike...
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Remembering Guiuan before Typhoon Yolanda
At 4:40 a.m. on November 8, 2013, the strongest recorded typhoon to have made landfall hit the shores of Guiuan, Eastern Samar. The town was never the same after that. It would take years before many...
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Footnotes from my travels around the 80 provinces of the Philippines
Growing up in a small, remote village in Catanduanes made me appreciate the value of travel through books and dreams.I remember leafing through my Sibika at Kultura book -- making sense of our...
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OWN A BACKPACKING PILIPINAS 2015 CALENDAR
Dear Backpacking Pilipinas friends,Let me greet you all a very happy 2015! May this new year bring you peace, happiness, and blessings way more than what you can imagine! And like many of you, I'm...
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PSI Max Jim Tria: My job is not for the faint-hearted
Two years ago, during a small family reunion, you told me something I have never quite forgotten. "... not for the weak o faint-hearted ang trabaho ko."While I felt pompous dishing out details of my...
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Top 30 Favorite Spots in the Philippines: 28. Cebu
Cebu has a perfect slice of everything that keeps tourists drawn in. From historical sites, heritage churches, museums, delicious food, world-class beaches, dive spots, waterfalls and mountains... it...
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