The past few years was a pivotal chapter and it just proves how naive I’ve been and how much there is to learn about life. All the travels in this vacation helped me in some ways to digest what transpired, to cope, to think clearly, and to at least keep my remaining sanity.
I went home from Saudi Arabia for the first time after almost two years. It was my longest stay in the Kingdom to date. But the waiting and the pain had to end at some point. And what better way is there to make up for the lost time? Acceptance, rebuilding myself, and to make new memories.
What's in this post?
New travels for 2023
My vacation last January is probably the most meaningful and most important I’ve ever had.
As this was the longest vacation I’ve had, I was able to visit quite a number of places during my time in the Philippines. In fact, more than any of the previous ones. In this vacation alone, I visited several beaches, did trips to countless mountains, a museum… I’ve lost track, but they will unfold as I revisit my hard drive and write about them.
Family excursions in Batangas and Pangasinan. A road trip from Rizal to Quezon and Laguna, just for the fun of it. Several more trips to Pangasinan. Surfing lesson in La Union. Motorbike trip to the mountains of Sierra Madre. An art museum trip in Antipolo. Just an overview of the entire vacation.
And a few more work travels and side trips
Upon coming back here in Saudi Arabia, I still felt overwhelmed and hungover from all the travels in the Philippines.
Then just a week after working in the office, our team flew from Khobar to Yanbu which marked the start of what felt like a resumption of my recent vacation.
Well, it looks like we were on vacation but the real, actual work could be overwhelming. It was one of the most unique tasks I’ve done in my career (more on this in the future). I’ve got nothing but gratitude for these opportunities.
Yanbu was just the start, and in the coming weeks we got to explore the Holy city of Madinah and some places in the province of Qassim.
New blog for 2023
With all the recent travels (vacation and work related), the idea to put up a new blog popped up. I thought, I’ve got to write all this down. There has to be an outlet. (I have another blog, www.worktravelshoot.com, but I’ve decided to abandon it.)
It was hard to think of a domain name, but long-story-short, I ended up with litraturista, a mix of the words litratista (photographer) and turista (tourist). If you’re interested, read more: a little more about myself.
Registered the domain name and started tinkering with WordPress. It’s a whole new world compared to Google’s blogger/blogspot which is practically bare and easy to setup. Up until now, I am still learning how to use the platform but I am already amazed by what can be done here. Got the basics covered and will continue to develop this website/blog in the coming months.
I didn’t have a clear plan on the layout or even purpose (to monetize or what). However, I just dove deep into designing the pages. (By the way, webpage design is one of my dream jobs.)
All I know is my intention is for this space to be my ‘official’ travel and photography journal for as long as possible. An outlet for everything or whatever is in my head.
Here's what's in store
I thought of putting up three main categories or types of blog posts that I’ll be making: ‘In Focus’, ‘(Travel) Stories’, and ‘Foods’.
In Focus
In Focus is for posts talking a little bit about the technicals of photography, the basics like composition and camera settings (if taken with the DSLR), or the planning and story behind the concept. I rarely talk about the technicals of a photo. Firstly, I feel not too comfortable to throw photography jargons to anyone. I only get to explain the basics of photography or how I did something when a photo might be perceived to be manipulated, for example, a long exposure shot. Secondly, I kind of avoid sounding too technical when speaking or posting something on facebook. And that’s what I am gonna do here. Truth be told, I get excited when someone asks, “How did you do that!?” or just any random photography question.
Travel Stories
Travel Stories is for straight up blogs. Just plain stories about the travel. Experience and thoughts about the place, the people I was with, and maybe some bits and pieces of wisdom picked up along the way. Do you realize how much you learn from travelling? The trivial information, the location of this and that, the how to get theres, they are travel essentials. But one of the things that makes a travel more immersive is the stories you form (in your head) by actually being in it. And, something that is not very obvious, is the stories we hear from the people we meet, whether our travel buddies or a local. Everyone has a story to tell.
Foods
Foods is for everyone! Every tourist gets hungry. Every place has its own distinct flavors. From the Pinoy adobo to the Middle Eastern zaatar. (I just used them ‘because A to Z’, but I’m not really a zaatar guy.) If you visit a new place, do you eat at a fast food? It may be forgivable if you are curious to know how McDonald’s differ from each country (because they do), but you’re missing 50.5% of your travel experience by not eating at the local restaurants or food stalls.
There is nothing to read here just yet aside from this post, so, whoever you are who stumbled upon this post, hope you get to enjoy and thank you for reading up to here.
References appreciation
When I had the whim to create this website, I would watch various YouTube video tutorials and articles just to know how to do things around here.
One important aspect of website creation is the layout and the overall concept. I looked at many blogs to find inspiration for the design and layout. There a hundreds of thousands of travel blogs and it’s hard to exactly find the one that fits your taste. While you shouldn’t copy exactly another website, trying to copy is a good way to learn and to be able to have a starting point. (I can never duplicate a website anyway.)
So, as a start, I took a thing or two from the blog https://anywhereweroam.com/. I think their blog is very neat but still giving the travel vibe.