Voyagez partout

Voyagez partout. “Travel all over”.


Certainly one of my favorite French phrases. One I would certainly like to live by. And one of the reasons why I have zero savings. Uh, below zero actually. I do remember enough from Managerial Accounting in Ateneo to know that if my liabilities are greater than my assets, then I practically am living on the edge.


In fact, as I was driving home the other night, with only 200 pesos in my wallet, I started to account where my monthly salary actually goes. Alright. A third goes to taxes --- whoever said that death and taxes are unavoidable could be an undertaker or an Internal Revenue worker, or someone who lives from payday to payday like me! --- a third goes to the condo unit I’ve been paying for, and a third goes to my car amortization, maintenance and gas plus only just a little extra for my food, my family’s medicines and stuff. Those sweet bonuses I get mid-year and yearend have already been, more often than not, mentally spent way before those wads actually land on my open palms! I’ve spent all my bonuses on trips, trip, trips, local and offshore.


Due in part probably to the fact that I was deprived of foreign travel when I was younger, I too am aware that I seem to travel like I had millions to my name. What a lot of people can’t believe is that I would be more than eager to go by crackers and water for years, if only for the prospect of seeing Paris again and more of Europe and the US and Asia.


It’s so difficult to choose from a wide array of photos I’ve accumulated the past year. But above are just four of my favorites. Clockwise: The Sacre Coeur at Montmartre, The Old Town Hall of Prague, Colosseo in Rome and the famous view at Yosemite National Park.