Journeying Jonas’ Journal

Braving Basco, Batanes is the first of the Because Beautiful Batanes series. Getting to Batanes used to be a luxury when the regular roundtrip tickets via SkyJet costed around PhP 20,000. So when I learned in 2013 that PAL Express, which was Airphil Express then, is having a direct flight to Basco, I’d waited for […]

Universe has its playful conspiracy to remind me that I’m still freakin’ single. When I went to Malaysia as part of my first solo backpacking trip, there were couples in Melaka posing for their pre-nuptial photoshoot. And I was like, ‘Why am I doing this trip alone again?’ I encountered such reminders from time to […]

My recent trip to South Korea restored my faith in humanity. I’ve met good Samaritans along the unfamiliar way I traveled alone. It changed how I see South Koreans without all the dancing and festive lens flare in the background. They are far more beautiful beyond their smooth porcelain skin. While I feared of my […]

Britania Group of Islands is the third and the last part in the Summer in December in Surigao del Sur series. We were advised by the owners of Marky’s Hostel to leave for Britania at 7am or later than our original plan to wake up as early as 5am. We wanted to maximize our itinerary […]

Hinatuan is the second of the Summer in December in Surigao del Sur series. We bid our sweet goodbye to Tinuy-an Falls. We headed to Hinatuan, an hour apart from the epic waterfalls. While the beauty of Tinuy-an Falls came as a surprise, we were anticipating more from Hinatuan because Enchanted River. The driving force […]

Tinuy-an Falls is the first in the Summer in December in Surigao Del Sur series. Patrick, Genesis and I were determined to get the most out of the second day of our Agusan-Surigao trip since we haven’t much explored Butuan City after the touchdown. I already warned them a week before our trip that waking […]