Dom Luis bridge in Porto
Interview with Edcel of SoloflightEd I met in the Philippines
I met a lot of interesting people when in the Philippines in November 2011. It was amazing 3 weeks there and I just I spent more time in there, if only visa let me!
Already before I visited, I talked online to some Filipino bloggers and then we met later on there. One of them was Ed, a guy who really knows what he is doing 🙂
with Edcel and others in Cebu
So Ed,
1. Who are you? Tell us something about you.
My name is Edcel and I blog at soloflightEd.com. I’m currently backpacking in Southeast Asia after I quit my day job of 6 years in the Philippines. I’m living as a digital nomad where I bring my work with me wherever I go. I also enjoy performing headstands and crazy stunts in my travel adventures (oh yeah)
2. What is your favorite place, city and country and why? (all three of them)
Place – I love the beach! I love the sun.
City – Singapore, it’s very organized.
Country – Aside from my home country Philippines, Cambodia. Very relaxed and the people are genuinely friendly.
3. If you could go anywhere in the world tomorrow, where would it be and why?
Dubai, I’ll go there. I need to be there.
Soloflighted in Hongkong
4. What do you love the most about your home country?
So many islands, so many beaches, so many places that are waiting to be explored!
5. How travel changes you?
It broadens my perception towards life because of being exposed to other places and culture other than my own.
Thanks so much for this quick interview, Ed.
Love,
Alex
No Travel, No Life …
A few days ago I published a post with me and other travel bloggers speaking about what makes a good traveler. I finished that post with the words No travel, no life … And yes, for me it is one of the mottos of my life. Instead of using positive sentences to speak about the great influence of travel on all my life, I decided to use the negative ones to make it different.
see new landscapes when traveling
For me, no travel means:
No travel, no new cultures.
No travel, no new delicious cuisines.
No travel, no meeting interesting people.
No travel, no friends around the world.
No travel, no different landscape views.
No travel, no adventure.
No travel, no fun.
No travel, no eye-opening experiences.
No travel, no understanding of life.
No travel, no appreciation of every single small good thing we have in life.
No travel, no patience.
No travel, no enjoying of everything life offers you.
No travel, no understanding of good and bad things in the world.
No travel, no orgasmic days!
No travel, no feeling of being alive every day.
No travel, no glacier one day, beach second day and hiking third.
No travel, no ”learn something new every day”.
No travel, no life …
*****
Could you add some more things to this never-ending list?
What makes a good traveler?
After (or should I say during?) so many years on the road, I have been wondering a few times what makes a traveler a good traveler. There are so many things you learn when traveling and even more things you will never forget.
Together with some great travelers (and my fellow bloggers) out there, I put a list of some  things that make you a good traveler in their eyes … or what you should be in order to be a good traveler:
Andy of Grown-up Travel Guide says:Â An ability to deal with very adverse situations and come away laughing about it. As evidence, my stupidest things post.
Sebastian of Off the Path says:Â Don’t be a tourist and stay in your hotel/resort. Be open minded and interact with locals!
Theodora of EscapeArtistes adds:Â An open mind, a positive attitude and a sense of humour.
Audrey of That Backpacker thinks we should: Be willing to try the local cuisine even if it consists of questionable sea creatures. 😉
Lola of Lola’s Travels stated that you should:Â be openminded when traveling somewhere new!
Steve of Back-Packer advised us:Â Be curious, don’t be shy and please: learn at least some phrases of the language of the country you are travelling to!
Keith of Velvet Escape after a bad experience with the Russian tourists said:Â Don’t think you’re the only one on this planet. There just so happens to be a few billion just like you.
Dylan of The Traveling Editor made it simple: Spontaneity. Serendipity. The unexpected delights in a way meticulous planning cannot. Self-deprecate your courage – celebrate your stupidity.
Jessie of  Wandering Educators adds just one thing: be kind to locals.
My funny friend Mike of Fevered Mutterings told me that you need: A willingness to be changed. If you travel and bloodymindedly refuse to change, even just a little, to fit the world you meet, you’ve missed the point of travelling.
Johnny of One Step 4ward sums it all up:Â actually traveling, not following the same beaten SE Asia ‘rite of passage’ route that everyone else takes!
Brian of The Travel Vlogger said: #1 can adapt and go with the flow. #2 laid back #3 tollerant of other cultures regardless of how annoying they may seem. #4 a smile. Oh ya! cleaning your clothes is a good one….smelly travelers are a downer!
Guys of The Family Adventure Project:Â The spirit of an explorer, the openness of a child, the resilience of a peasant? The resources of the rich would be nice but not sure they make you a better traveler!
Bret of Global Green Travel: Respect local cultures and traditions. Take time to immerse yourself in local music, art and cuisine, and embrace the differences that make it unique.
Billie of Santa Fe Travelers thinks:Â Be open to new experiences, spend enough time in a place to get to know it, be flexible, have a sense of humor.
Stacey of One Travels Far added just one thing: An ability to see the funny side in almost any situation 🙂
Tawny of Captain and Clark:Â An open mind, an open heart, and the willingness to make a fool out of yourself.
Bethaney of Flashpacker Family says her best advice is:Â A good traveller has to have the ability to spend time researching and making plans but be prepared to screw them up and throw them out the window and go where the road takes them.
Lindsay of The Traveller World Guide said that other travelers are good travelers if: they are willing to buy her beer. 😀
Dani of Going Nomadic said:Â Get away from the tourist areas and loose the guidebooks. When you get your nose out of the book and actually pay attention to the people and places around you, you learn so much more, and end up on much better and unique adventures!
Jeff of Go Travelzing said:Â Willingness to learn about new cultures and places. Do not expect everything to be like it is at home.
Izy of Without Izy made it simple again:Â Respecting the people and the environment.
Michael of Go, See, Write made it practical:Â No, wine. No, beer. Hmmmmm… I’ll go with being decisive as being the most important quality.
Kerwin of Cruise in Altitude:Â I listen to travelers. And drink the local beer everywhere I go. Also, knowing how to say in the local language goes a long way.
traveling around windy lakes near Bariloche
Personally speaking, travel taught me a lof ot things. Why I travel is obvious to me, and to many of us as well. But am I a good traveler? I hope so!
I think that to be a good traveler, you need to adapt, you need to learn from all the experiences on the road, both good and bad. You also should be patient (I am getting there … I mean, am I one day?) and not to take some things too seriously because even when you travel, you do fuck up sometimes! And Yes, there will be always things you will hate about travel too.
I am also sure you should get in touch with locals as much as possible and not to go only to the well-known cities and hike the famous trials. And as well, do not plan everything. The best traveling can be somewhere a local just told you about!
Remember, no travel, no life!
Sex and Couchsurfing?
Ok, I know that this title will attract a lot of readers and that is exactly the point of it as I want as many people to hear about this thing as possible.
I think you are all familiar with Couchsurfing concept already – staying on a couch of a person you basically meet via the website only. You stay there for free and sometimes the person that hosts you will show you around the city if he/she has time. In return I try to cook something or invite the person for lunch/dinner (I don’t like cooking!) or just spend some quality time together.
I use couchsurfing pretty often myself, especially when I have no time to book accommodation or everything seems too expensive. Or when I just want to meet locals and spend time with them. I used it a lot in Thailand, Argentina, Bolivia and many other countries.
my couch back home
But then, many people just confuse it with some online dating or let’s be honest – an easy way of finding someone to sleep with! I mean, WTF?! Are you on the right website?? If that is what you are expecting when letting a person sleep on your couch, than you are hell wrong!
Couchsurfing is for free, you offer your place to stay for free and what you should get from the guest is for free too. Where did you get that instead of saying thank you, you should get a night/nights full of pleasure???
I feel like punching the guy who expects that when I stay on his couch.
Once a guy was hosting me in a big city. I came to his apartment and found out that the ”couch” was just an inflatable matress with no space at all, breathing just against the huge TV or into his face on the bed just next to it. Not fun!
Or some people don’t even have a couch and offer you directly their bed instead. What does it mean to me? Back off!!!
Then, a guy in Argentina I spent talking to for more than a month, even asked for holidays to travel around the area with me for a week. Not even once during that time I gave him any chance of something happening in between us. But yes, I bet you are right now when thinking what happened. I came to his apartment … he was nice in the beginning. But then wanted to kiss me, I said no and his behaviour change completely. He cancelled his holidays, went back to work the following morning, so I decided to leave with a couple I spent traveling with for a few weeks and do the route I planned to do with that guy. As we had to return the rented car in the same town after a few days, he told me to leave my stuff I didn’t need in his house. Believe it or not, he was really nasty when I came back, letting me wait outside of his apartment for 3 hours, then shouting at me and wanting to kick me out with all my things at 1 am. Really??? He must have been really desperate. Pay for sex next time!
I am not that easy. Just because you offer me a free bed/couch to sleep on, I won’t sleep there with you! I get free rooms in hotels and whole apartments. Do you think they want sex in return for that?? NO!
Unfortunately, I am not the only one with those experiences.
Each time I have a conversation with someone about Couchsurfing, they come up with those crazy stories. Even gay stories as well. A hetero friend of mine when visiting Germany was being hit by his gay host. Not fun!
And a few months ago I also got an email about a group of people speaking about some people who force you to sex when using their couch.
After this, I even added a sentence into my Couchsurfing profile: If you are expecting sex in return, don’t even accept my Couch request!!!
But not all the experiences I have had with Couchsurfing were of this kind. Many of them were amazingly great and we are still in touch with many of those people who hosted me!
Has anyone of you had the same experience? Don’t be shy, share it with us in the comments.
