How Travel Improves My Life

I remember how I got my passport. I was with my ex that time. While waiting for my queue I remember we had an argument. My excitement of getting a passport turned out to be sour and I just said, “You can go home. I can do this alone.” We had an on-off relationship and I knew it was unhealthy.

I remember my first trip to Manila in November 2012 I was with my female friends. I just hate it when a person was so doubtful of me. It almost ruined my trip for receiving that call that I decided to ditch it.

I was in a relationship that the person I was with was so unsupportive with your travels just because he could not afford it. How can you be with a person who sucks all the positivity in you and gives you drama in life? Who doesn’t know how to manage his finances? Who doesn’t even know how to solve his own problem? Who gives you insecurity in life and you don’t even know what is your future together?

That’s when I decided that it was time for a break-up. After six years, in a first long-time relationship. It wasn’t worth it. I never regretted anything. I just don’t like the idea that the person you were in a relationship with dislike the idea of me traveling. It was his problem and he has insecurities.

To save myself from sorrows and future problems, I have to choose freedom over a dying relationship. I have to love myself first.

About Me

I am just a simple girl who lives a simple life but my ultimate dream is to travel the world without working abroad. I knew it was an ambitious dream because I didn’t know what I might become in the future. I am not a competitive person and I never studied that much. To be honest, I was lazy as a student. I was an honor student until grade one but I was sure that every year I belong to the first section. I was one of the students in a Science and Technology high school. I was surrounded by geniuses and diligent classmates. I was really weak in Math, Science, Physics, Biology, etc… name it! But I was not dumb, I was just lazy.  😀

Being thrifty

I am a thrifty person since I was a little kid which I save money for something that I really like. I am also practical that there were decisions that I made help me to become better. I took a part time job while studying at the age of 18, quit on my 3^rd year in college, landed a job in a company, save money, and put it in the bank. Then I found an online job, save more money and put it on several investments. Even though how small my salary was, I was still able to save money. I am not materialistic so I don’t have new clothes and I don’t need to impress anyone. Do you know, mostly I even wear the same clothes now from several years ago? I am not a fashionable person but I received a lot of clothes from my aunt and cousin. I wear what is comfortable to me. Sometimes my mom gets mad at me why I keep on wearing the same clothes when I go out when I still have other clothes. Our lifestyle at home is very simple.

The only expensive things I bought are my laptop, DSLR camera, cell phone, smartphone, and iPad. But these are my investments for my online job. Due to my determination of hard work and being thrifty I was able to buy these things. I became more independent in managing my own finances.

Take note: My parents are not rich and they don’t have a job. I am thankful with my aunts and uncles who supported my studies although I wasn’t able to finish it. Most likely, I am the breadwinner in the family but I learn to manage to have a work-life balance. My family is not perfect because we also have these arguments at home.

By the Time I got my Passport…

It was January 2013 I applied for my passport and received it on February 2013. I already had my bookings of traveling within the Philippines in June 2013 and after that, I booked a flight to Malaysia in September 2013. The purpose of my passport was additional credentials of government ID. I’ve been working online since 2009 and I never traveled that much. Although I have an aunt who occasionally brought us to nearby provinces for her trip every time she comes home to the Philippines. I was only traveling around Cebu. Good to know I started traveling in and out of the country and I find it awesome.

 My First Out of the Country Trip

I was in a horrible state after the breakup that my mom was so supportive of me traveling out of the country for me to get through with the heartache. The first time I set my foot to Malaysia, I felt like I was in a fairytale. I just could not believe that I made it out of the country. The idea of traveling one country a year was born. Thanks to airline seat sale.

I Am Still Discovering Myself while Facing my Ups and Downs

My journey is in progress and I am able to experience things I haven’t done before. I have fun times and heartbreaks.

My mom sees me as gutsy when I was a kid and I think my level of confidence is still the same but I have the tendency to be more daring (of course, in a good way). My father sees me as flexible as I can easily adjust in the situations that are happening around me.

Sometime in my life, I was facing breast biopsy. It was my first time being inside the surgical room. That was the first time I’ve been hospitalized in my life at the age of 25. Just imagine that while the doctor was doing the procedure, she cut something that I cried a lot just because the anesthesia didn’t go through the area. It was the worst feeling ever and I still remember how painful it was. I was so lucky somebody paid for the surgery just to let me continue my Hong Kong trip. After few days of my recovery, somebody paid for my one-way ticket to Palawan.

I received a lot of invitations to travel for free because of volunteer work and some just want to have me around. 😀

Recently happened about my father’s situation and all my salary go for his medication. My travel fund for Japan was also affected which nothing left. I’ve been working left and right and selling my travel photos just to raise funds. I told my Canadian boss about my situation and he paid me in advance for my two-week holiday in Japan. Then my Japanese family paid for my Osaka-Kyoto-Nara-Mie Prefecture trip. My luck continues in Hong Kong. ^__^

I am still the same Roxanne the way people see me before but these are the things I think I am still learning in progress and improving:

Learn how to smile genuinely

When I was in Boracay that was the time I learned how to smile while showing my teeth. I have my vanity moments but smiling with my teeth on was awkward for me. Although my dentist and the photographer(s) said I have a nice set of teeth I had previous photos which I found myself ugly. It was in 2014 that I started to appreciate myself smiling in front of the camera. I received compliments about it that I was like a toothpaste endorser. And it feels good how I make everyone brighten up their day with my smile. LOL

Traveling makes me younger

The reason I love traveling is that I find it funny when people mistook me as a student traveling around and how they could not guess my age correctly. Maybe one of the reasons is I smile a lot and another thing is I am petite with small frame body. I always have this childlike appearance. I am a simple person and I don’t wear makeup.

Learn to communicate

The more I am exposed to people, the more my communication improves. This is when I joined volunteer work and I met a lot of people from different walks of life. I made new friends easily as I was able to share my crazy travel experiences.

Learn to laugh at myself

Traveling makes me a crazy person in a good way. I never thought that it made me more talkative and laughed at my crazy adventures. I have several travel mishaps that I can convert it as a good story.

I’m getting sexy and I know it

Traveling makes me healthy physically and emotionally. A frequent travel to the beach and kissed by the sun makes me glow. I never diet as the doctor told me to eat a lot to avoid hyperacidity. I never exercise but I am used to walking around. I am thankful with my fast metabolism.

Being spontaneous, adventurous and go with the flow

I had feared after my biopsy with the idea that it may come back as the doctor said but of course, I don’t want it to happen. So I got the tendency to having on-the-spot trips, solo adventures, getting lost in new countries, so on and so forth.

Being more resourceful

I am thankful for my past experiences, my skills, my volunteer work, and to all the people I’ve met for sharing their ideas with me.

Being more comfortable with myself

The more I travel solo, the more I’m being with myself. Because to be honest, I don’t care what people think of me. I don’t wear makeup and I’ll just wear my comfy clothes suitable for traveling. I’m not conscious of how do I look because I am more conscious with my belongings. I’ve got more reasons to smile because I learn to appreciate things that I see. Being more comfortable with myself makes me more beautiful.

Getting and knowing what I want

The freedom of being single gives me the flexibility of doing what I want to do in my life. I can bring my work everywhere, I can travel whenever I want, I can do things on my own and I have the time of my life.

Acknowledging my luck to the universe

I am always vocal about it and I tell it to people about those good fortunes I received. Always, always I am thankful for it if not directly I could say my thanks to them. I am grateful for those people who helped me in different ways.

Realization

I may not yet lucky in having a relationship but I receive all kinds of love from different people. For now, I am enjoying the perks of being single. Sooner or later, that person will just come in the right time. Hope you are reading! LOL ^^

I am happy with the improvements I am seeing with myself. I’ve been in mixed emotions lately and I hope I could get through with this. Yes, I know I could get all of this. If there’s a will, there’s a way.

So how travel improves your life? Has traveling changed you?