I haven’t been anywhere but it’s on my list.

It had been quite sometime since I started contemplating on getting the Air Asia ASEAN pass to enable me to travel all throughout Southeast Asia for almost 12k, but with last year’s Air Asia 0.01Php seat sale, I was able to book the trip all for less thank 9k. Yay!

You could find out more about the Air Asia ASEAN pass here. Tip: it’s a good buy if you plan on going across Southeast Asia, or just travel within the Philippines.

Why 2 months?

So you might be asking why travel for 2 months?

The answer is simply because I travel and work at the same time. I’m a freelance Virtual Assistant at Upwork.com, formerly Odesk, for 5 years already, and counting.

And YES. I DO NOT TRAVEL FOR FREE. This travelling of mine is ALSO NOT A PART OF MY WORK, and I DO SPEND MY OWN HARD EARNED MONEY FOR MY TRAVELS, contrary to what some people who knew me thought that this is all for free or part of my work. Hindi po. Kung sana lang po, eh di ang saya nang life. hehe.

Two months I think will be enough to give me ample time to be able to fulfil my weekly work hours requirements and at the same travel around.

The Destinations.

So many of you might be asking where am I headed?

Here’s a snippet of the destinations I booked based on the availability of promo fares from Air Asia upon booking last September 2015.

All of the above flights cost me only less than 10,000Php.

The schedule is right there, so if you might be in one of these destinations by any of these dates, let me know. Perhaps we could meet, or maybe I could get a free accommodation from you. hahaha!

Credits to my friend, Jerome of https://jeromeentredicho.wordpress.com/ for this illustration map.

Where to Stay?

Let’s be honest, a big chunk of your travel budget will be on your accommodations.

And since I am a budget backpacker, I opted to stay in the cheapest hostels and dormitels if possible for this trip. I booked my accommodations at Agoda.com. Thanks to their pay later and free cancellation features, you could book way ahead of time and if you change your mind it won’t cost you anything.

Here’s a list of my chosen hostels for my trip, range of cost per night varies and is roughly an average of 200 pesos, not to mention, several of that already comes with a free breakfast. Nice huh?

(Note: the most expensive one is in Singapore (considering that this is one of the cheapest na in that country), it’s highlighted in red because of the probability that I’ll no longer be booking it since I might be staying at a close friend’s place in Singapore. Another good news for that to save me roughly around 2k! Yay!)

Total cost of my accommodations is around 13,000 Php for 60 days.

What travel backpack to use?

For this trip, I’ve considered several options on what piece of luggage should I bring. And after doing my research on a mission to find the best travel backpack, I chose to purchase and use the Osprey Farpoint 55L for this 2-month trip.

It had several excellent reviews online. Some of those bunch of features I came to like about it is its removable daypack with a laptop compartment, lockable zippers, suspension system, internal frame, adjustable shoulder straps, padded hip-belt and a bunch more.

The Farpoint 55 is actually a 40L backpack + 15L detachable daypack.

The daypack can be zipped onto the back of the main backpack.

The dimensions of the M/L size are:
In: 25 x 13 x 12 (height x width x depth)
Cm: 64 x 34 x 30

The Osprey Farpoint has a legit suspension system, so the backpack is comfortable to wear — which is great on those long walks to hostels and in your entire trip.

As an added benefit, the shoulder straps and hip belt can be zipped away behind a flap so you can easily and safely check it on a plane or carry it without fear of getting a strap caught.

Overall

So yeah, the Osprey Farpoint is a great backpack. It’s comfortable, it’s durable, it’s functional… it’s just an excellent travel backpack. (FYI, I’m not paid by Osprey for this. hahaha!)

Packing Light with Travel Cubes (aka Packing Cubes)

Another technique I’ll share with you on how to pack light is by the use of travel cubes such as this.

They sure does magic in compressing your luggage and keeping them organized. Hence, why I was able to fit my life in the next 2-months in this single backpack.

My Itinerary?

For the first time, this is perhaps one of the trips that I came unprepared with an itinerary.

In all my previous travels, I’ve always managed to create an itinerary on what to do, must visit places, must eats, etc., on the places I’ll be visiting, then print it out before heading to my trip.

But this time, with a lot of other things going one, including transferring to a new house, I’ve just been so busy that I haven’t had time to do my research and create an itinerary.

So I guess, I’ll just be planning upon arrival in my destination. Any suggestions if you happen to have visited the place already is very much welcome. =)

Lucky No. 13?

Just a little bit of thought that I’d like to share by the way.

I don’t know what’s with the number 13 – but I’ve noticed that my travel dates are both starting and ending on the 13th. My travel date starts today, September 13th, and I’ll be returning back here in the Philippines on the 13th of November, exactly 2 months after.

A little bit earlier in the airport as well, I found out my backpack weighed approx. 13kg.

And if you’ll notice, the number of destinations I have above (pic shown again below for reference) is 13.

Anyway, since then I really haven’t considered this number as a bad luck, perhaps this will be my lucky number for this trip. 😉

My Travel Thoughts?…

This is by far my longest travel away from home to date since I started traveling.

I admit, I’m a bit scared, nervous, with no thoughts on what to expect, afraid that homesickness will struck me along the way. Yet, at the same time, I’m also flooded with excitement on the new places that I’m about to visit, new faces that I’ll be meeting, and a whole lot more.

So for now, I guess, that’s it. This is it.

This is really is it.

Stay tune for more updates as I go about my journey. Follow me on Instagram @adventuroj , and on The Adventures of Adventuroj Facebook Page or my personal FB page if we are friends =)

Feel free to comment below if you have some suggestions on what to add to my itinerary, or any questions at all!

See ya! 😉