Leap Of Faith | Got Hit By Travel Bug

Got Hit By Travel Bug

Leap Of Faith | What Makes Traveling Worth It

Take the leap, maybe not be the apt word as a statement for why I travel. But travelling, overcoming boundaries and witnessing wonders afforded to those whose willing get out of their comfort zone, it's how travelling changed me.

Almost 2 years now that I've been travelling, always wherever I get that chance to be on the road. Blogging only came as a result of it so I could keep track of my thoughts, keep snippets of unforgettable memories and chronicle it as a blog post. It had changed me to a person that at times I can barely recognize myself. Being a youngblood, I'm ambitious, very much result oriented, my corporate career was what matters to me more than anything. Then came my biggest corporate frustration, having denied the promotion that I work so hard to attain, my camera became my solace, and travelling became my venue. Only when I became so active in travelling that I realized I missed out on a lot of things, and that corporate careers only matters at work. Outside, I can have the world, marvel at it, thanking the God's that made it, for this life, for this freedom.

Being naturally curious, with determination and thirst for learning, about life, about people, about photography, about self realization and more so about being on the road. Please bear with me, I'm trying to give reason why I crave travelling more than just lounging at home on my free time, just don't tell my mother. Being the explorer had always been my defining trait, but the driving force to my travelling was more about photography. 

About Learning Photography

I bought my first DSLR around October of 2010, and without any knowledge on how to tinker with it, having no patience reading manuals and photography books of established photographers, the first thousand shots with my camera were taken in Auto mode. Much to my shame, that I'm actually a graduate of Mass Communications, but hey, I can't be harsh on my self, after all, my college professor's never taught me about aperture or shutter speeds, I was virtually clueless with everything else.

Taking pictures while travelling gave me more room to shoot interesting landscape photos and sceneries. This is how I came to know my preference in photography. Going through Bohol, Puerto Galera and Zambales are some of the first locations and practice shots, just say that most of my pictures then were not interesting even to my 2 year old niece. But I learned from it, always experimenting, always exploring.

About Being On The Road

As they say, it's the journey not the destination. Feeling the wind in my face touring Camiguin Island in Habal-habal ride, shivering from the open bus window while marveling at the road through the highest highways of  Mountain Province, being rain swept with my toes skimming the azure waters of Coron while the boat is fast taxing, or wondering how long is it to paradise because Caramoan is just too far. The road is an adventure waiting to be told, I may not be globe trotting at least not yet, it could be tiresome but having a goal to reach is something worth doing.

About People

Strangers aboard, and strangers everywhere, it's all about culture. Taking pictures of people with my short photowalks, capturing endearing moments, like say having a chat with the street children's of CDO, or the bus driver along Misamis Oriental in zombie mode (My version of The Driving Dead) while driving along pitch black highways, or seeing a few couple's sleeping in a cot along the beaches of San Felipe, Zambales probably making out last night while I was having a drunken stupor with friends, missing my very own father because my Caramoan guide treats me like a son. With people, you just don't know what to expect, but you learn to keep an open mind.

There is no defining moment for me, only a slow realization that life is what I make of it. The decision to spend more time travelling, discovering places could be as what my mother would tell, a passing fancy, an impasse to a future that is yet unknown. What can I say? I have a world to conquer, call me a nomad, a gypsy, a backpacker perhaps, or simply a traveler, it's not such a bad tag, after all, wonderful things happen to those who seek it, and not just dream about it.

This is my entry to the 17th Pinoy Travel Bloggers, Blog Carnival hosted by Reiza Dejito of Wander If You Must

entitled "Leap of Faith: When travelling changed my life"

Francis Balgos is a Call Center Agent, Weekend Travel Warrior, Amateur Spelunker, Sometime Surfer, Newbie Mountain Climber, Photography Enthusiast, Certified Beach Bum, A first born son, Faithful lover, True Explorer...

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