Let’s go. Let go.

Boat ride to Balicasag Island, Bohol. 2011.

Chugging along the quiet roads and waters of Bohol, one cannot refrain from musing about the simplicity of the lives led by the locals, and of the colors--albeit experienced sporadically by many—substantially overshadowed by the grey and dark in the world.

I don’t know of anyone who does not want to travel. To experience some place different from what they’re used to. To meet new people and learn from them. To connect with the rest of the world in a non-mediated fashion.

Even just once.

The only sad thing about travels, as Earl pointed out to me, is the thought that not everyone is privileged to see the world. Yes, the global economy has removed geographical borders, consequently paving the way for more accessible tourism, especially with the emergence of cheaper air fares and attractive tour deals. However, only those who have the means to actually travel CAN travel, however ‘cheap’ plane tickets, or however ‘convenient’ booking, has become.

I would never know what goes on inside the head of a young child living in a meager home, filling his/her notebook with drawings of far-off places he/she hopes to visit someday.

I am, however, humbled by people, who, despite growing up not getting to see these far-off places, remain positive about life. People, who, despite not having experienced places outside their own, have become faces of tourism themselves—proudly speaking about their local communities and inspiring other tourists to take pride in their own as well.

Listening to their stories, I then think that maybe travelling is as exciting as it is because there’s always this sense of mystery, which is not just hidden behind every historical site or native food or annual festival, but is also ever-lingering in the stories of these people who haven’t been anywhere else, but, who, ironically, present the best lifetime trip travelers could ever take---that trip to the lives of people who could only travel in their dreams, with hearts bursting with pure passion for some place they wish to reach.

Didn’t we all start with raw dreams?

Lucky for some of us, these raw dreams of being somewhere else turn into reality. For some, this does not happen.

But I do not think that I am more fortunate than them or that they are less fortunate than me or anyone who can travel. For all I know, they could even have richer experiences than all the ‘well-travelled’ people of the world combined.

Nonetheless, I do wish they get to see what you and I see. Maybe. Someday.

And then, I wish you and I would see what they see, too.

That way, travel will become more than sheer globe-trotting, but a shared and conscious experience of truly existing and of being--connecting, discovering as well as rediscovering, appreciating, and hopefully, creating a difference in the lives of all dreamers out there, including yours. An aimless trip that doesn’t arrive, but only keeps going.

That way, everyone might endlessly experience the beauty of the world, which is simply overflowing among us, and in our unique, individual stories.

“Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.” – Miriam Beard