Travelove

I’m Jun and that’s my lovely wife, Cynthia.

Ours is a love story that spans two countries separated by the troubled waters of the West Philippine Sea (She’s based in Singapore and I, in Manila). Between us two, we have scored a slew of passport entry and exit stamps to warrant a diagnosis of a serious case of separation anxiety.

Seriously, what is there to do when you have been bitten by the love and the travel bug and you are miles apart? You pack your bags of course and do some travelovin’ together!

CAMWHORING ON THE BUSY SHIBUYA CROSSING IN TOKYO, JAPAN. We’ve been told that this is one of the busiest pedestrian crossings in the world. Clearly, they haven’t seen Monumento in Caloocan just yet.

And when we do, some of our friends teasingly joke that we must be on our nth honeymoon already.  I guess there’s more than just some ring of truth to it. After all, we have been married for only a little less than two years. But little do they know that traveling together is also a coping mechanism. How else can we keep the fire burning?

SMOKED OUT OF OUR Nth HONEYMOON IN SINGAPORE. Infuriated by the smog that engulfed Singapore last year, we decided to travel to Melaka only to find out that the dense, choking smog also blanketed this heritage town in Malaysia.

Whilst gratifying, traveling as a couple can also present many challenges. Here are some of those that we have encountered along the way and the ways that we got around them:

MY PLACE OR YOURS? This was one of the things that confounded us during the early stage of our long distance relationship. Fortunately, solving the problem was no rocket science: we just checked which country had the most number of public holidays. The Philippines would of course easily beat Singapore with a ratio of 18:10, which meant I get to escape the Gates of Hell and explore the City in a Garden more often. And when the allure of the concrete jungle of Singapore began to fade, we decided to venture to other places like Malaysia, Indonesia and Japan.

BOROBUDUR TEMPLE, MAGELANG, CENTRAL JAVA, INDONESIA. This was our second trip to this country. The first one was our honeymoon trip to Batam, which is a couple of minutes by boat from Singapore.

PLANNING AN ITINERARY OR GO WITH THE FLOW? Between the two of us, I am definitely the control freak. I relish the prospect of planning out every detail in our itinerary. But I’m a sore loser when things do not go as planned. When this happens, Cynthia takes over while I sulk in one corner, lol. Seriously, our travels made me realize that joy can be had not by ticking off every destination in our itinerary but by enjoying every minute of our fleeting togetherness. Malaysia Airlines’ newest campaign tagline could not resonate with me more: “journeys are made by the people you travel with.”

KERATON SURAKARTA HADININGRAT, CITY OF SOLO, INDONESIA. Enjoying the splendor of this royal palace which served as the seat of Surakarta Sunanate.

BASIC OR BAREST TRAVEL ESSENTIALS?  The missus is used to bringing all the basic travel essentials with her during our first couple of trips together (Umbrella? Check! Water Container? Check! Flashlight? Check!) I, on the other hand, prefer to just bring the barest minimum of stuff. I trust that she has now reconsidered her position after lugging a heavy load around a maze that is otherwise known as the Tokyo subway. But then again, I am not exactly oblivious to the charms of a biscuit that she would fish out of her handbag and enticingly dangle in front of me after a long day of sightseeing. “I told you so,” I could almost hear her mutter under breath.

CAUTION: TRAVELING COUPLE WITH HEAVY LUGGAGE AHEAD. Proceed with extreme care.

TRAVEL IN STYLE OR BUDGET? While we are not immune to the attraction of saving a couple of pesos by bringing cup noodles and canned tuna to our travel destinations, we try to indulge ourselves once in a while. This could mean a fancy dinner or a luxurious hotel accommodation at least once during our travel.  We deal with the headache of settling our credit card bills once we get home, of course.

WAITING FOR THE CHEF TO FINISH PREPARING OUR DESSERT. We earlier had our dinner which consisted of cup noodles and biscuits. Where else but in our hotel room, of course!

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This is my entry to the PTB Valentine Blog Carnival for February 2014, with the theme “The Joys and Woes of Love on the Road,” hosted by  Claire Madarang of Traveling Light.

To view previous editions of the PTB Blog Carnival, please click here.

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Check out our adventures as a couple on the road:
1. Of close calls and near disasters
2. Escape to Jogja
3. The Banana Leaf Apolo