How to Travel to 4 Countries and 8 Local Destinations within 8 Months

and still keep your full-time job!

In one of my blog articles last month, I discussed how I was able to travel to 4 countries within 4 months and still maintained my full-time job in a BPO company. I’m writing this entry as a second part of that blog post.

Seldom do people know that apart from those 4 countries, I also traveled to 8 local destinations in a span of 8 months. It started in August of 2010 and ended during the first week of March 2011.

Ed, I have a question; have you resigned from Company X”?

Friends and former colleagues would ask me this question because it seemed like every Facebook status message that I posted within those months, I’d point out that I was in a different place. Even I couldn’t believe the feat that I just achieved.

In the previous article, I talked about Booking Ahead, Filing for Vacation Leave, Planning your Itinerary and Saving Money. Here are some more travel tips you might find useful.

How to Travel to 4 Countries and 8 Local Destinations within 8 Months
and still keep your full-time job:

  • Combine your Vacation Leaves with Your Days Off. Given that I only have an average number of vacation and sick leaves every year, it would be crazy to think that all the days that I went out were filed using my VLs. Simple mathematics would show that the number of days is not enough to cover for the acquired spots. That’s why it would be wise to use your rest days together with your vacation leaves. If it’s possible, holidays can also be soloflighted travelcombined. Let me summarize my travels during those instances:

August 2010
3 days – Bohol (August 21-23)

September 2010
9 days – Hong Kong and Macau (September 1-9)
3 days – Boracay (September 11-13)

October 2010
4 days – Manila (October 1-4)
4 days – Malaysia (October 16-20)

November 2010
5 days – Iloilo and Guimaras (November 25-29)

December 2010
Was just spent in Cebu.

January 2011
8 days – Thailand and Cambodia (January 18-25)
4 days – Davao

February 2011
4 days – Zambales (February 28-21)

March 2011
5 days – Sagada (March 2-7)

Pretty extreme, is it not? If you manage your leaves, you’ll have longer time to travel.

  • Head to More than One Destination in Your Trips. You can hit two or more places in one travel. I went to Hong Kong and Macau, Thailand and Cambodia, and Iloilo and Guimaras during my travel periods. I dropped by other destinations as side trips which is great when you want to cover more areas. Even if it’s only for a limited time, so long as it’s doable, you can explore another province or country. When I think about it, if I include Macau as a country and other neighboring towns or provinces (Clark, Olongapo, Banaue, Bontoc and Baguio), it would’ve been a total of 5 countries and 13 local destinations within 8 months!
  • Join Contests. Many companies organize raffles and contests as part of their marketing promotion. I was able to join a contest for bloggers and won a free trip to Boracay. It was an all-expense paid vacation for 3 days so all I had to do was drag myself to the airport. It was one of the things that I was really happy about because food, transportation and accommodation were already accounted for.
  • Budget your Travel. There are many people who think that travelling is expensive. It may require money, but if you just let go of simple habits and choose wisely, you’ll surely save a lot. Staying in a pension house instead of a hotel, eating in a small eatery instead of a posh restaurant; these are simple tips that you can consider. I’ll tackle more about the things that I did in order to save enough money in a future post as this is a topic that most of us are concerned about.

I am really lucky to keep a job that has this flexibility when it comes to schedules and I’m also lucky to have a boss who supports my requests to get out of the office environment – so long as I do my job well and meet those basic expectations that are required from me. Still these tips go out to those who think that it’s impossible to take a break with their current situation.

People who say they don’t have the ‘time’ to travel can actually do so as long as they make travelling a priority. I can talk and talk more on this subject but it deserves more entries. I also don’t want to shell out tips and advises when I haven’t even proven them. But I’m confident in sharing the aforementioned because these are based on my experiences which didn’t turn out so bad.

Currently, I don’t have any planned travels as I am swamped with articles and stories waiting to be written on this blog. I’m loving the whole storytelling and I’m glad that I now have time to continue sharing my trips on this site. Next of my travel tips series, I’ll talk about how I was able to save enough money to travel to those destinations.

Did you ever have to sacrifice your job so you could travel?

Check out my other Money & Travel Tips articles here:


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soloflightEd.com is a travel blog by Edcel Suyo. He enjoys performing headstands and crazy stunts during his trips in the Philippines, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East. Now based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates and working to earn a living, he takes time to enjoy the city and travel during weekends.
For updates, Like his page on Facebook or Follow him on Twitter.
For questions, advertising, and other concerns, shoot an email to ed@soloflighted.com.


28 thoughts on “How to Travel to 4 Countries and 8 Local Destinations within 8 Months”

  1. Wow! that's a feat! I was also being asked by my friends kung nagta-trabaho pa ako… From Sept 2010 to Feb 2011, I was able to visit 13 different provinces from Luzon, Visayas to Mindanao. Time management and scheduling of leaves is really the key. So that you will retain your job, Hahaha! Thanks Ed for sharing these great tips! =D

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  2. Envy much! In my case, your first tip is N/A to me. I teach in a university and we don't have VLs. We have term breaks though, which I usually waste by sleeping 24/7. Haha. Most of my trips are just puslit from work so I can't be away too long.
    As for packing many destinations in a trip, medyo conflicted ako jan. I'm a lingerer (meaning tamad), but with my sched sometimes I have to do this. I had only 1 week in Japan so sinuyud ko from Osaka to Tokyo, as in haggard kung haggard!
    Agree ako sa last point mo. In this day and age of budget airlines and the internet, traveling is made affordable to poor peeps like me. Imagine I spent no more than P17k in Indonesia, and that include 4 flights!
    Great tips, Ed!

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  3. funny how people on Facebook will ask you where are you based? Where the hell are you? Now that i have a full time job, it's only now that i get to experience how it is to file for vacation leaves and then sick leaves. True that traveling doesn't have to be expensive. and everything is possible. it actually ticks me off when people say you don't have enough time to travel. sure you do. i reckon people are born to stay and some are just born to travel.

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  4. ditto. a lot of people think that it's expensive to travel but it can be lowered down by avoiding taxis & posh hotels. my expenses nga in kl for 2 days was around 1k lang. thank heavens for the internet 🙂

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  5. cool! haha kapag madalas mag-travel lageng tanong, nag-resign ka na ba? hehe  true enuff, lucky us kase madale mag-apruv ng VL at pede mag-adjust ng sked, though stress na ako sa work, frm time to time I can escape. Pero xempre, gusto ko din tlga maging financially stable so I can travel all I want,. for the mean time, I'm keeping my job and not hating it at all bec it's my source of fund for my travels. Not all people have the guts to leave their job kase and just be nomads for life coz  it's not easy, kakainggit nga din mga bloggers who are now successful in their nomadic lives pero kase mga foreigner sila eh, iba yung currency nila saten, cguro ang barya nila, malake na saten, tsaka mas madame ang advantage ng foreign passport holders, and of course super successful na ang blogs nila kaya madame silang sponsors, at malamang my mga nakatagong blogs sila at sideline jobs. hehe kaya for the meantime,while we're stuck in the corporate world, maganda basahin itong post mu para ma-inspire naman ang iba na mag-travel w/o leaving and hating their jobs! 😉 good job Ed! 
     

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  6. Indeed Ed and Gael,
    bigla ko narealize kahapon, kung aalis ako at tatamarin sa trabaho ko ngayon, san ako kukuha ng pangsupport sa mga gala ko…kaya medyo nagsisipag na ako at munyit na akong materminate!hahaha!
    wala na ako makikitang ganitong kaganda na work sa ngayon…mahirap na.TIME MANAGEMENT mahalaga talaga!

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  7. You're officially my hero. I thought I was doing well by my travels last year. But I was just taking a first year college course on travel and you were working on your doctorate! Thanks for the tip. I can't wait to try to emulate!

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  8. @pinoy adventurista: it's funny how our friends react when they think that we seem to be out of town every weekend. great feat as well mervin!

    @AJ: sleep is also good AJ! I know I've been sacrificing my sleep as well as the work that I do. Right now I'm back at the office but it helps a lot when you also have people to take care of itineraries for you. swerte ako. hehe. Indonesia is a country I'd like to visit too. Thanks!

    @pinoy boy journals: there are just people who have a lot of excuses for not stepping foot and going out. I say just start walking and the rest will follow. I never knew how huge this feat was until I was able to do it. I had a lot of apprehensions too at the beginning if I were to push through or not. But heck, I did and what adventures they were!

    Edkarl: great one handsome! glad you found what you were looking for!

    @vin: Hi vin, true. I always say this to my friends. Sacrifice your level of comfort! There's a vast set of info online. Thank heavens!

    @thepinaysolobackpacker: hi gael! sinabi mo pa. I never really thought about this entry being an inspiration for employees to be thankful for having their jobs but thanks for seeing this in another light. I read it again and it's actually true! I know what you mean about those digital nomad lifestyle or lifestyle designers especially foreigners. Yeah, their dollars (or other currencies) really have higher value than us that's why let's just work on our blogs to learn more. I'll find a way to follow that path though. Let's keep our jobs for now! Thanks gael! 😀

    @darwin: haha, true! wag kang magpaterminate darwin! lol. I'm really lucky to have a boss that supports my requests pero di naman to the point na pinapaboran ako. so long as I follow rules and finish my tasks, ok na sa kanya yun. 😀

    @smarla: thanks a lot!

    @miranda: ey miranda! haha, this is only once though. hopefully I'll get back on the road soon as it's back to the regular office routine for me. I'll just wait over the weekend to take those quick breaks. good things there's still a lot of unexplored places in the nearby towns here. thanks!

    @jonas: ey, 'twas nice to meet you. thanks for the info yesterday! hope to have that kind of lifestyle in the future so I can carry my work during my travels!

    @rizalenio: thanks lito! haha, time out muna ako sa mga trips ngayon pero thanks!

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  9. @robbie: natawa naman ako sa reaction mo. hehe. i work sa call center lang. natiyempohan ko lang yung leaves. holidays din kasi wala kaming work. eh maraming holidays last year 😀 lipat na! joke. dyan ka na sa passion mo, you'll really be successful soon!

    @pusang-kalye: woi, baka mabasa toh ni teresa. teka, may pamblackmail na ako! hehe. joke. chamba lang ito anton at sana makachamba uli this year! hehe.

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  10. thanks for this article, nice tips! coming from a BPO company too, true enough that it isn't easy to budget one's VL's and even money too, masaklap pa minsan pag wala ako maisama to travel kse kkaiba ang sinusunod naming holidays dito sa work =)
    but amazingly you were able to do much trips in a few months…twice sa buong taon lang kse ako nakakatravel at paisa-isang lugar pa…ill try these, to get my itchy feet back to work =)

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  11. @christian: thanks a lot christian! 😀

    @calai: it's truly a challenging aspect right? probably this year I will lie low. There are consequences too because of traveling too much but hey, that's just life. 😀 let's all travel calai. 😀

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  12. tip #1 – doing it already but having difficulty in filing a leave 🙁 our department has very lean manning
    for the rest of the tips, i was like "oo nga noh?" hehe. will definitely consider joining contests from now on. nice article btw 🙂

    Reply
  13. after reading this post  it made me think why i posted this on my facebook account (kelan kaya ako gaganahan sa pagpasok).. But this post made me realize that my job pays for my bills.. and for my luho.. =D
    i guess i need to love my job for now!  GODBLESS  sir Ed!
     

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  14. @jane grey: naswertehan lang talaga ako kasi medyo relaxed konte and dept. namin compared sa iba. thanks for leaving a comment jane! 😀

    @jell: hi jellyl. thanks for the comment! yes, I agree, it's best if we love our jobs cause source din yan for our travels. Unless we can find other jobs with travel benefits, VLs na lang muna. 😀

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  15. tama! VL's and sobrang pagtitiis.. and God will do the rest! hehehehe
    nakagawa na ko ng IT namin pag punta dyan sa cebu..
    thanx sa mga links.

    Reply

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