Kia ora! Mabuhay!
If you’ve been here before or just dropping by, welcome! This is my personal blog where I write stories about my adventures, experiences and some of my random musings when I’m in the shower or if I can’t sleep at 3am.
Dan lives in Auckland, New Zealand and works in IT project management while constantly finding ways to dabble in anything fun, inspiring, and creative.
I was 17 when I had my first encounter of living in a foreign land as an exchange student from The Philippines to Japan. Albeit short, the experience had a long-lasting effect on me and opened my senses into realising how peculiar but fascinating the world is. It felt strange hearing people speak a language I did not understand, dressed in clothing I wasn't comfortable with and ate food I could barely describe. But every time I was in a situation unfamiliar to me, that’s when I learned the most valuable lessons.
Travelling, regardless of how far the destination is, allows self-discovery. The more you travel, the more you understand others and ultimately, yourself.
At every chance I get I try to adventure outside and sometimes the where doesn’t even matter. In the process of self-discovery, I have met hundreds of people, learned dozens of new cultures and ate countless new food - each of those helped me to understand what and who I am, the things I like and what I don't, what sets me different and what makes me blend in. And in a larger perspective, to appreciate that the only language we can all truly speak is that of kindness and hospitality.
I’ve always seen myself as a creative so in 2011, motivated by my mentor’s suggestion to find a way to do what you enjoy doing outside the four corners of work, I started writing my blog as a passion project. More than anything else, I wanted an outlet to remind myself of my travels and adventures no matter how few they may be, and a space where I could freely write my random musings. Hence, I digress from writing itineraries and instead share stories from my travels. For a period of time, I stopped blogging and as a result of another lockdown in 2021, I had the chance to overhaul the entire site. If you have been here before, welcome back! You may find this totally new from how it used to be and if you have ideas on what else I could add, try, collaborate with or write about, let me know!
*All photos on this website are personally owned. Some features of this website are best experienced through a desktop browser.
