My journey to inspiration and bravery started about six years ago in the Philippines; I had just finished my economics degree and was ready to make my first steps out into the real world. My father was living in Kuwait at the time, so he helped me to get a great internship at the Philippines Embassy – not completely independent, or even adventurous looking back through all of my experiences since then, but at the time this was a huge leap for me, one that would eventually lead me to corners of the world I never dreamed I would see in my lifetime.
I cut my internship short to pursue a career choice of my own in the healthcare industry, which lasted for four years. It felt like I had everything; a successful job; my own apartment; a nice car, expensive gym membership and of course all the brands and labels the Middle East has to offer! Travel was barely even a part of my like then, my Filipino culture and Middle Eastern consumer lifestyle made sure of that. That is, until a chance meeting with some expats led me to my first travel experience and with it my first backpacking trip to Armenia with my new friends. It was Eid holiday 2012 – the year that everything started to change in my life.
That feeling of excitement setting off on a journey for the first time, without the help or direction of my parents left me with a longing for more and being young and impulsive, I started planning dramatic changes in my life. I narrowed it down to three choices, each with varying levels of ‘responsibility’ and excitement: 1. Return to the Philippines to get my Master’s degree; 2. Fly to India to do some spiritual soul searching; 3. Fly to Kurdistan, Iraq to look for a job in the oil industry. All very contrasting choices! Going back to the Philippines seemed like a big step backward and I didn’t feel I was ready for India yet, to be honest, it scared me. So I was left with one choice, Iraq! It seemed familiar, yet dangerous and exhilarating at the same time.
I waited until my father went on a trip to the Philippines (I was young and it felt rebellious), packed my suitcases and flew to Erbil, Kurdistan. I had no job, nowhere to live, no contacts and no friends, I simply arrived in Iraq intent on starting a new adventure and proving that I could do it on my own. I chose the oil industry because although I wanted to travel, I still had a career mentality and oil is known for providing the best benefits for young professionals eager to get ahead. I quickly found a room in a house with a Filipino family and within three weeks I had a job with one of the biggest oil companies in the world, all was going to plan! Life was good in Iraq, way better than Kuwait; you could by alcohol when you wanted, there were bars and parties, but I wasn’t allowed to drive due to my job. I had to be chauffeured around in a bullet-proof car with an armed guard, which was exciting for at first, but became a bit restricting after a while! What I was still missing though, was a solid group of friends, people I could just hang out with, who weren’t interested in competing with each other over who had the bigger pay check and who were interested in travelling too. Once again, I found exactly what I was looking for in the Traveler’s community, even in Kurdistan! It was a mixed group of locals, visiting travellers, NGO workers and volunteers – I was with the right people again!
I enjoyed my life in Kurdistan, although I worked hard too, six days a weeks with just the weekends left for socialising and partying with friends. Unfortunately though, the work schedule meant that I still wasn’t really travelling. I had changed career, left my friends, moved to a new country and was earning a lot more money, but nothing fundamental had changed. After five months in Iraq, I realised that I has simply picked up all of my old routines, habits lifestyle choices and relocated them to a different country. It was at about that that I met two backpackers, a Chinese girl travelling solo around Iraq and Afghanistan and a young British guy hitch hiking from Turkey to Iraq, through Iran to Georgia. What they were doing seemed incredible to me and what followed was a serious of more dramatic decisions!
Once again, I packed my bags and booked my flights, this time back to the Philippines to settle a few things, before flying straight to Bangkok, where I started my first ever long-term backpacking trip around South East Asia! Almost two years later and I have no regrets; I’ve visited more than ten countries, met the love of my life and lived in Vietnam and Peru. Now we’re exploring South America and finding new and amazing ways to support our travelling lifestyle.
I don’t know if what I did was brave, stupid or just rebellious, but my time in the Middle East- Kuwait and Iraq taught me a lot about myself and gave the experience and confidence to step outside of the life I was raised to live and into the life I was born to live.
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