The swell of the sea was alarming under the scorching heat of the sun.  There was no typhoon.  Huge passenger and cargo vessels pass by our outrigger boat as we silently hope that we be docked on an island at the soonest possible time.  The sights of vessels vanished.  We were in the middle of the ocean, of a vast dark blue ocean when suddenly there were no floating objects except our boat.  Out of nowhere, the course of the wave's current drastically changed and the boat capsized.  Days have passed and we found ourselves alive in a tropical island paradise.  

I was awakened while on board the outrigger boat and realized the imagination was so vivid that hearing and reading travel stories towards this new island destination will do no good.  It was a one hour travel ride to unveil this new destination.

Yes, I was lead to one of Luzon's mysterious island not as a survivor of a shipwreck but as a wanderer.  This is the Philippines and this is the Fortune Island.

2013 has been a year of surprises. Life changing indeed.  Despite the natural calamities that cost a thousand of lives and properties to perish, life has to move on and we have a thousand reasons as well to be grateful of the blessings and opportunities that were given to us.

In my world of travel, 2013 was a year of drastic changes.  Some travel buddies have left the country, destinations like Boracay and Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam, which I usually visit more than once were never visited, no mountain hikings were made and no travel abroad.  However, additions were made on my list to complete the provinces of the country and witnessed century-old festivals of the country for the first time.

Lakwatserong Tsinelas' rebirth was on the month of March of this year and more than anything else, this is the year where I was given the opportunity to join this awesome community of award-winning and best travel bloggers of the country - The Pinoy Travel Bloggers (PTB) and meet a few members who inspired and gave me a different perspective of traveling.

with the hope of leading somewhere - taken at San Jose, Tacloban City, Leyte

I am a grandson of a fisherman.  Every weekend we would go visit my maternal grandparents along with my parents and my brother back then.  There were times I would go fishing with my grandfather on board a canoe under the scorching heat of the sun and even on a gloomy weather.  Life was simple then.  And that was part of my childhood.

At present, planning for the next vacation or a business trip is a luxury for me.  For now, I can only recollect and reminisce on what have been.  As a traveler and a blogger, there are stories told and untold which molded me to be who I am as a person.  Surely as a traveler, the four corners in the confines of what we call "home away from home" have stories to tell.