Seoul: The Prologue

It was our first time to travel to South Korea together, homeland of kimchi, bulgogi and, of course, our beloved grandmother, Kim Chung-Ae later on baptized as Fideliza Flores.

We booked a room at Fraser Suites, which is the perfect place to stay if you’re travelling with a family of 6. Even while in Manila, we were looking forward to cold weather, great food, cherry blossoms, a reunion with relatives and a tour through an effortlessly beautiful city and we were not disappointed. 

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A few of our favorite things about Seoul, Korea:

1. Women walking around dressed in the traditional Korean dress, the hanbok

2. Cherry blossoms in April

3. Palaces and Pavilions

4. Street Food ❤

5. Street Art and Street Fairs

6. Rivers that flow through the city

7. Toilets that make you feel expensive

(This one has a temperature controlled bidet panel and heated seats)

8. Pretty drum sets in the middle of the street

9. Magical places (aka Lotte World)

10. The hope at the heart of South Korea

We’re sorry it took so long. We can’t wait to share our stories with you.

Love,

Anj & Isa

Itchy Feet

We are in love with the world.

Weaned on the virtue of packing and leaving, we are on a mission to leave footsteps (and memories) in strange cities and lands.

Hong Kong, 2002

Hong Kong, 2010

The funny thing is that as much as we desire to leave souvenirs of ourselves in the places we go, it’s usually those very same places that end up making their mark on us instead.

San Francisco, 2005

Vegas, 2005

We were raised by our parents to build wings, to be metaphorical gypsies, carrying home with us even as we wander. And so, whether we’re walking through Times Square or being farangs in Bangkok, it has become a tradition for us to call every country our second home.

Because as much as we are Filipinos, we are also citizens of the world.

Boracay, 2010 (with Mom!)

The beauty of travel lies in the stories that unravel along with it: the lives we meet, the cultures we discover and the traditions we explore. Travel unveils the bigness of the world to us and the tales we encounter become ours to share through the gift of pictures and words.

Jakarta, 2008

Jakarta, 2010 (with Mom!)

Travel has shaped us to be curious, to be adventurers and to never back down from the call of the world outside our window, which beckons us again and again. As we have been pleased to find, there is no quota to what you can learn from it.

New York City, 2010

Hawaii, 2010

To be honest, it doesn’t seem like this love affair is going to end anytime soon.  The world is too beautiful to stay in one place.

Bangkok, 2007

Bali, 2010

And perhaps the next best thing to landing in new soil is coming home to share the adventure with beautiful people like you. We are excited to go wherever our itchy feet take us — and we can’t wait to take you along for the ride.

Hawaii, 2010

Ubud, 2010

May God bless our travels and may we never lose the hunger to pack up and leave.

Love,

Isa and Anj

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And so my prayer is that your story will have involved some leaving and some coming home, some summer and some winter, some roses blooming out like children in a play. My hope is your story will be about changing, about getting something beautiful born inside of you about learning to love a woman or a man, about learning to love a child, about moving yourself around water, around mountains, around friends, about learning to love others more than we love ourselves, about learning oneness as a way of understanding God. We get one story, you and I, and one story alone. God has established the elements, the setting and the climax and the resolution. It would be a crime not to venture out, wouldn’t it?It might be time for you to go. It might be time to change, to shine out.I want to repeat one word for you:
Leave.

Roll the word around on your tongue for a bit. It is a beautiful word, isn’t it? So strong and forceful, the way you have always wanted to be. And you will not be alone. You have never been alone. Don’t worry. Everything will still be here when you get back. It is you who will have changed. — Donald Miller

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We would both like to personally thank the talented Tina Araneta for designing our blog header. We are forever grateful! ❤ THANK YOU!