Tobi’s family is close-knit. Living within a thirty-radius from his parents, he and his two brothers are often invited for dinner at home. His parents, in their younger years, traveled exhaustively. They traveled overland from Singapore to Turkey. Despite the occasional paranoia Tobi felt in India over my safety [READ: […]
We only have three types of travel as a couple. It’s either a food trip, a weekend trip, or a road trip. To be completely honest though, most of the planning of these road trips is on my husband. He knows his home country, Germany, and its neighboring countries way […]
EDIT: This was written in 2016. A lot has changed in my life. I moved to Vietnam, went back to teaching, and lived the expat life. In November 2021, my two cats and I moved to Munich, Germany. You can follow me on Instagram: @jonajournals for more current life updates. I am […]
Last month, I emptied my cabinet of clothes and realized I had a lot of second-hand dresses I haven’t worn yet. Sorting out the clothes—what must stay and what must be given away—was not as easy as I thought. I let my small garden at the back die. I moved […]
Dear Passport, After my two-hour session with the fifteen-year-old, I transferred to the café’s al fresco area for my other personas to work—the content writer and social media manager, the other selves that must stay connected with the virtual and often fake world. Please remind me that these personas are […]
Otherwise Known as Personally Tested Tips on Doing Your Own Laundry while Traveling One lesson you would learn from backpacking, according to an article I have read online (written by a western female backpacker, if that matters), is that undies could go for two days straight. The reason? Because of the […]
This post first appeared on my travel column Down South on interaksyon.com on June 12, 2016. Included more photos here. 😉 I grew up climbing trees, hunting wild guavas, assigning names to animals to pass them off as friends, and wishing there was a living river nearby. Life would have […]
DISCLAIMER: This first appeared on my column Down South on TV5’s Interaksyon.com. Included a lot of photos here! This is a personal experience. Corruption in Laos is real. Corruption in my own county is effing real. A glass wall divided us. That must be sufficient as a border for the […]
SA PA, VIETNAM | Yes, I’m Jona, a Southeast Asian traveler, neither rich nor a begpacker. These are my honest thoughts on the recent “white Begpackers in Southeast Asia” phenomenon. *** That the native does not like the tourist is not hard to explain. For every native of every place […]
Pack your bags and join us on a journey to explore the vibrant streets of Asia, the tranquil beaches of Oceania, and everything in between. From the bustling cities to the peaceful islands, let’s create unforgettable memories and satisfy our wanderlust cravings. Adventure awaits! Asia Southeast Asia South Asia East […]
As someone who grew up in archipelagic country like the Philippines and traveled extensively around Southeast Asia, Europe, especially the Schengen region, is fascinating to me. Now living in Munich, I find it fascinating that you can be in new country for lunch and come back home for dinner. That […]
A Developing Country Citizen’s Perspective: What’s Wrong with “Leave Everything Behind and Travel the World”
I shared the table with a Dutch traveler for our complimentary breakfast of coffee, two toasts, and few slices of melon—something that the Burmese or us Filipinos do not normally have for breakfast. But I enjoyed it, nonetheless, especially after an hour or so of pedaling on sandy paths, checking […]