R.O.X. talk, and CouchSurfing

It’s been an interesting week!

Last Thursday, we gave the 2nd round of our talk at R.O.X. Philippines’ “Backpacking around the world, Pinoy style” series. Robert Alejandro  and Jetro Rafael again gave their talk about backpacking throughout Southeast Asia on a tiny budget. The new thing about their talk now is that Robert’s book about their trip has already come out! R.O.X. gave a sneak peek at the book and a lot of people had autograph signing sessions with Robert.

The last speaker, Zia Morales was the hit of the evening. She looks like an ordinary, unassuming woman in her mid-20s but her story was very remarkable! Working out of Greece, she decided that she wanted to see Europe, and proceeded to spend almost 2 years afterwards wandering around Europe and doing a land trip to Asia! What’s more remarkable was that she did this entirely on her own, and on a budget that would make even most backpackers wince! She hitchhiked alone, pitched tents, survived on bananas and peanut butter, walked instead of taking buses or trains,  and from there proceeded to go to Europe, Northern Africa and Asia. Most of the questions from the crowd were for her - we were all inspired by someone just taking 2 years of their lives to see the world!

At the question and answer portion, one of the attendees recommended that we try out CouchSurfing -  it’s a website for travelers who wish to “trade couches” anywhere in the world. We signed up last Saturday, and have been hooked on it ever since! More than the free accommodations, it’s the beauty of meeting people both in your own country and around the world to exchange stories and cultures that is so amazing. It’s a wonderful community where strangers greet you and invite you to their homes, and we’re really excited to be part of it. We are hoping to be able to host someone soon, and hop on a few couches as well when we go on our honeymoon trip.