The Solo Backpacker And Her Passion (WE144)

12 March 2023

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An introverted lady once kept hiding in her cocoon, afraid of what lies outside her comfort zone. As she stepped out of it, she saw the world, perilous yet beautiful to explore.

It all started with a dream - to explore the world. Ambitious it may sound, but can be achieved by a determined one. However, the whole world may sound impossible to fulfill, yet we can create a world and explore it. This foreign land becomes my world where I am free to wander and wonder, either in company or solo. But most of the time, I am a solo backpacker.

The dream become my passion when I developed this wanderlust. One travel becomes two, five, ten, and more to follow. Who doesn't want to see the beautiful world, anyway? When the weekend comes my feet would love to go around, explore new places, and try new things out.

I'm a traveler plus a risk-taker. I'm afraid to die but I love to risks. Weird, isn't it? I like challenging myself to test my perseverance and see how far I could go without relying on anyone or anything else. I always want to challenge myself to conquer new challenges that would come along my way alone.

But the best thing about traveling is experiencing new things for the first time and seeing other people's lives and their cultures and traditions. In these recent years, I had a lot of first times that I would remember for the rest of my life. Things I never thought I could achieve which helped me grow as a person.

However, it would be great if I were in a group, right? There are several groups of HK Filipino hikers on FB that I could join. I do like socializing with strangers I met while traveling but I do not like staying in a group for a long time. I'm always more comfortable with my own company or with a friend I truly trust. Besides, there are no commitments and no need to rush when I am traveling solo. I don't like waiting as well or making others wait for me. Above all, I can go out at any time and go back home at my desired time.

And while traveling, I developed a passion for photography. I become a Photophile!

Someone told me that photos don't matter as we could store the experience and beautiful scenery in our minds. Well, this is somewhat true, and I couldn't agree more. I do like doing this too when I'm lazy to take photos.

However, my purpose in photographing places I visited is so I could share them with people I love, my family and friends, for instance. I like sharing my experiences with others as well (in my travel blogs) to inspire them to travel. There are a lot of good benefits of traveling and it's not just about souvenir photos whatsoever. It's an easy way to connect to the world and temporarily forget the challenges and real-life situations. And it's my only way of unwinding.

Here are some of my photographs and you probably have seen some in my previous posts.

Moreover, I'm collecting photos so that someday when I can no longer travel, I can simply scan my gallery and reminisce about the good old days, the places I visited, the good and bad things I experienced, the people I met, and life lessons I learned.

A young lady at home once asked me when I showed her my photo on top of the summit, "Do you really need to risk your life for the sake of photos?" I just answered, "Trust me, I'm not just after photos, but the experience. If you are an adventurous person, you'll understand me."

This is in response to @galenkp's Weekend Engagement with the concept:

Passion
Tell us what you're passionate about...Excluded is religion, crypto and gaming so don't write about them. Use photos you took yourself, not stock images, and the post must be 300 words long or more.

Happy weekend everyone. Thanks for stopping by.

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