Wanderlust

Tonight my grandmother Evelyn (on my Dad's side) asked me where I was going next...and my Dad took it to mean which country I'd be next visiting whereas Lola wanted to know which part of the Philippines I'd be going to (last April, I visited her house in Zamboanga del Sur for the first time). No matter who meant what, but I'm still constantly surprised that most of my relatives and many of my friends think of me as someone perpetually out-of-country/out-of-town, suitcase permanently unpacked (actually, I still haven't taken many of the clothes out from the one I used for my last US trip two years ago!!). Several weeks ago, a friend's son was in town and I had a standing promise to take him out - although I found out a little too late (as in just when his plane had touched down in CDO!) that he'd been in Manila because one of my aunts mistakenly thought that I was still traveling elsewhere and didn't bother informing me that he was here. I suppose people entertain this notion because I travel more than most people I know, although I still think that I don't travel enough for my own satisfaction. Further reinforced of course by the fact that I happen to work for a travel magazine (which means diddley-squat anyway, since I've hardly traveled on behalf on the mag anywhere in the last two quarters - most of my travels have been independently funded *cough*).

Anyway. My commitment to mission keeps me from going very far in the next couple of months, and I just might decide to take up teaching again for the last term of the year (which will tie me down for sure, gotta think long and hard about that), but my travel dreams are just on the back burner and not completely taken off the stove. Last Sunday my Paris buddy and dear sorority sister Marivic P. and I had a long telephone conversation about the places we'd planned on traveling to together - specifically Lourdes (since both of us share that name) and Spain (and, maybe on another occasion with a special whoever - whoever is up to it! - to walk the trail of Santiago de Compostela!). Have to pray that that dream comes true soon...but I definitely know in my heart that I'll be seeing Europe a few more times in this lifetime (in Jesus' name!). Plus I still want to backpack SEA - Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand outside Bangkok (Mel V de D put that idea in my head a couple of years ago). And see the work Mother Teresa started in Calcutta, as well as attend her canonization (in Jesus' name!) in Rome. Drive the US coast-to-coast, down to the Florida Keys. DIVE Tubbataha. Explore South America, which I know nothing about (at least I have a few classmates from Brazil who I hope will take me in!). Take a Mediterranean cruise, see Greece. Skip Scandinavia (sorry Susanna!) and Eastern Europe, I probably won't survive the cold weather. Japan, just to absorb the culture and eat my heart out and get on Oh Tokyo! (2). Bohol, Coron, Batad, Baler, Davao, Siargao, Batanes. Well, I can dream, can't I? But God's got a way of surprising me by granting my heart's desires, and travel is most definitely one of them (He gave me Europe - among others - not one but two times, so He certainly knows what makes me happy) so I'll keep my suitcase - or, ahem, my brand new TNF backpack - ready and my passport up-to-date!