If we would rank our annual school break backpacking trips since 2013, this year would probably be the most unprepared one. I dunno if we were too consumed with taking care of a toddler or maybe because our initial plans got canceled several times but somehow, we managed to pull it off and spent thirty-one days on the road with our 4-year-old son in tow.
Our backpacking tradition started when Christian (www.lakadpilipinas.com) and I got the chance to be together on a trip, we weren’t a couple back then. Since then, and after being together as partners, we carried on with our school break two-month backpacking trip that became a yearly thing.
2013 > Babuyan Islands, and Sulu
2014 > Nepal, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam
2015 > Cebu, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, and Laos (ASEAN Summer Loop 2015)
2016 > Malaysia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, The Maldives, and Singapore (Beach Hop Asia 2016)
2017 > Malaysia, Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam (Same Same Summer Trip 2017)
2018 > Indonesia, Singapore, and Morocco (SEA 2 Africa 2018)
2019 > China, Mongolia, and Russia (Eurasian Summer Bump 2019)
2020 > Pandemic
2021 > Pandemic
2022 > Boracay (3 Weeks in Boracay)
2023 > Malaysia, Singapore, Siargao, Surigao, and Dinagat Islands (Backpacking With A Kid 2023)
This year’s trip was the most unplanned ever. We were so consumed with the pre-admission process for Akira’s kindergarten school and other adulting stuff that we failed to plan the trip. It was in May when we scored a promo fare to Nagoya in Japan at ₱4,000 each for a roundtrip ticket in July. It was an 11-day stay and we enjoyed going around Central Japan, visiting Takayama, Furukawa, and Nagoya.
My school break was from June to July 2024 so we got the whole month of June to travel nearby. We could easily go home to the hometown of my parents in Zambales but we got an opportunity to travel via the leading passenger ship in the Philippines, 2GO.
After checking our options, we decided to go to Bohol for 10 days and go back again to Manila to rest before our Japan trip. Our trip to Bohol was fun and we didn’t get bored during the 37-hour sea voyage. Akira even thought that we were on a cruise ship.
Our voyage back was canceled though because of some technical issues with the ship so we opted to stay longer which made our supposedly 10-day trip to a 22-day backpacking trip in Central Visayas—Bohol, Siquijor, Dumaguete, and Cebu.
It is true when they say that there’s no such thing as traveling with a toddler but rather, taking care of him in a different location. More than the physical exhaustion, it’s the mental and emotional parts that were truly exhausting. So yes, it’s really hard to portray all the roles in life that are needed from you but at the end of the day, we go back to the reason why Christian and I started to travel 11 years ago—to experience life’s surprises with someone you love. ‘Coz we both believe in what Alexander Supertramp (Christopher McCandless) had written in a diary entry of his, “Happiness (is) only real when shared.”
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