First blogpost on this site was posted last September 7, 2012. It was already a year since I started this travel blog and it’s great to see how it progress from only being viewed by friends and families to now being visited by people searching for something online.
HOW IT ALL STARTED
It was in August last year when I had my travel to Puerto Princesa City, Palawan. The trip made me realize that Philippines has a lot of beautiful attractions to offer and since I’m privilege to see some of them, why not feature it online for others to know it.
A week after the trip, I had measles and house arrested for about a week. My whole body suffered from that itchy infection/virus. One way to tolerate the inflammation as advised by my mom is not to give attention to it. To divert the attention, I tried to create blogs for the photos I got from Puerto Princesa.
Since then, I started to visit some museums, document some food escapades and search for an attraction in the metro to be featured. Last week of 2012, I embarked a solo travel to Ilocos Sur and Norte. I spent 4 days and 3 nights exploring the provinces which I never been to before. On the side, I started to ask my workmates to book flights from airline seat sales for me.
After my trip to Ilocos, I checked my blog and James Betia of journeyingjames.com left a comment on one of my Puerto Princesa posts. Hello, he’s THE Journeying James! And since I follow him on social media networks, he encouraged me to join the Pinoy Travel Bloggers group in Facebook. I was hesitant at first since there were requirements that should be met. I just said that I’ll send a request when I finish posting contents from my first solo trip. I sent a request the following week and was approved immediately by him.
THE TRAVEL BUG
Joining PTB will not require you to travel almost every weekend or month as long as you post travel related blogs on your site regularly. Last weekend of January, I was invited by Biyaheng Victory to join their Zambales Camping and Trekking to Pinatubo the following weekend.
From there, I started to plan for my trips, do-it-yourself style. Went to Albay and Sorsogon 1st week of February and experienced Hot Air Balloon Fiesta in Clark last week of the same month. For March, I revisited Baguio City and during the last week of the month, covered the Corn Festival of my hometown in Pangasinan.
With those, I started to meet some awesome members of PTB. Summer of this year was so epic since I was on a trip almost every weekend. I visited Puzzle Museum in Tagaytay City, attended the festival of festivals Aliwan Fiesta, explored the Apo Reef Natural Park in Occidental Mindoro, Calaguas in Camarines Norte, Magalawa Island in Zambales and during my birthday, I survived the different adventure activities in Sagada. Recently, I had my longest travel (as of writing), 5 days and 4 nights Iloilo-Guimaras-Negros Occidental trip. I also did some food trips in the metro if weekend schedule was open: dissected the streets of Binondo and restaurant hopped in Maginhawa Street.
A year ago, I didn’t imagine that I will be heading into this kind of hobby. Back then, I was only in front of the computer monitor browsing blogs and photos of the beautiful places in the Philippines. But now, I already saw some of them on my own bare eyes. Aside from checking these attractions, what I also enjoy in traveling is the experience that you get along with locals, meeting and talking to them, experiencing their daily routine and observing how simple but fulfilled life is being spent in the areas away from the busy metro roads.
To end my anniversary post, I would like to thank the people who regularly browse and visit my website and sending me some emails complimenting the site and thanking me for providing them some useful information that will help them with their own travel. Also, some members of the Pinoy Travel Bloggers for some tips and guides in visiting the places they’ve been to. I would also like to thank all sponsors behind the giveaways: Victory Liner Inc, Sanuk Philippines, The BRGR Proj, Schmidt’s Gourmet Hotdog, Towelite, Loudbasstard, Wearhouse PH and to my travel partners Victory Liner Inc, Microtel Philippines, Biyaheng Victory and Go Hotels.
CHEERS AND MORE TRAVELS FOR RJDEXPLORER!
And since it is my first blog anniversary, together with Victory Liner Inc, Loudbasstard, Sanuk, Towelite and Wearhouse Ph, we will be giving away roundtrip bus tickets to Baguio City for 2, a bamboo speaker dock, neckrest, handy bath towel and a map-watch. Check out the rafflecopter widget below to send in your entries. Giveaway will run from September 7 12NN to October 4, 2013 12NN. Winners will be announced and emailed the next day. Good luck guys!
