ARTICLES
Best Trips 2016: Philippines
National Geographic Traveler (print & digital), December 2015/January 2016
In every family, there’s always an odd one out—and in the clan of Asia-Pacific nations, that member would be the Philippines.
COCK-A-DOODLE-DIE!
BootnsAll.com, April 2003
In the Philippines, cockfighting is a national pastime, complete with big arenas, shouting fans, and betting gamblers.
ENTRIES FROM THE GLOBAL TRIP BLOG CHRONICLES
Excess Baggage
From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted December 23, 2004
DAY 430: To the uninformed, the Philippines may seem like “just another southeast Asian country,” with people that look like the people of other nearby countries. This is a complete falsity, of course. As my Let’s Go guidebook perfectly puts it, “the Philippines has been permanently thrown out of sync with the rest of Southeast Asia.” The Pacific archipelago nation has a history unlike any of the others around, as it was a former Spanish colony eventually sold to the United States. Catholicism is the dominant religion, not Buddhism, and traditionally, no one uses chopsticks. Let’s Go continues:
Described as a hodgepodge of “Malay, Madrid, and Madison Avenue,” Filipino culture fosters a range of ethnicities, languages, and lifestyles among which natives have found unity and an unparalleled love for life. Their willingness to drop everything for a basketball game or a cockfighting match reflects the national philosophy of bahala na, roughly translated as “whatever will be, will be.” At the heart of the Filipino tradition is a strong sense of community; Filipinos can’t bear doing things by themselves and, above all, value family, friendliness, and personal loyalty. This cheerful attitude, along with convenient transportation, numerous English speakers, and inexpensive locales, makes the Philippines a budget traveler’s paradise.
I couldn’t have said it better myself. Welcome to the Philippines.
Learning Tagalog
From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted December 25, 2004
DAY 431: Tagalog (pronounced ta-GA-log) is the official language of the Philippines, along with English. It is unlike any language in the world; at its roots it is a tribal tongue which some have described as “like Malay,” except certain concepts and nouns are taken from Spanish to fill a void. When Ferdinand Magellan landed in the Philippines during his attempted circumnavigation around the globe — The Global Trip 1520 — soon came the Spanish colonialists who ultimately took over in their need for a trading port in southeast Asia. Magellan however, did not reap the rewards of such imperialism, nor did he celebrate a triumphant return back in Spain for he died in the Philippines, ending his Global Trip early.
Delusions Of Grandma
From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted December 28, 2004
DAY 432: You Star Wars geeks out there are probably reading the title of this entry thinking I am playing off the famous Han Solo quote from Return of the Jedi after he is released from being imprisoned in carbonite. Well, as much of a Star Wars geek I am myself, I am not playing off of Han’s line because it has already been done before; “Delusions of Grandma” is the title of a novel by Carrie Fisher, which the actress-turned-writer used in her post-Star Wars career when she was trying to distance herself away from her persona as Princess Leia while still trying to bank on it. I’m afraid it hasn’t worked though, for I will always remember Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia — more specifically, I will always remember Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia in the gold bikini from Return of the Jedi, as most guys of my generation will.
Yowza, Leia! No, that’s not a light saber in my pocket, I’m just happy to see you!
A Lump Of Coal For Christmas
From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted December 28, 2004
DAY 433: In the New Jersey suburbs just outside of New York City, my mother and half of her siblings had relocated and recreated the family communal feel of the Bulacan farm over three houses in the same neighborhood. It is Rivera Clan West, or R.C.W., an acronym I made up just now.
Spider-Man In The Batcave
From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted December 28, 2004
DAY 434: The roosters crowed and the pigs squealed as the sun illuminated my Tita Agie’s old room (who relocated to Texas) where I was sleeping. And then, there was a slight rumbling that mildly vibrated the bed.
Spider-sense tingling. Is that an earthquake?
Nice As Rice
From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted December 31, 2004
DAY 435: Rice is the staple crop in the Philippines, as it is in many Asian nations. Rice production goes year round and is quite an on-going process of soil preparation, planting, maintenance, harvesting and drying, all before starting all over again. Not only has planting rice provided prosperity for countryside Filipinos, it inspired one Blogreader wheat to write the following ditty:
Planting rice is lots of fun
You must do it in the morning sun
I can’t stand it, I can’t sit
Planting rice is full of…La la la la la la la la…
(Continue singing “la” until the laughter dies down from the omission of the “sh” word.)
From City Slicker To Backpacker
From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted January 01, 2005
DAY 436: I have been backpacking for quite a while now and each day on the road I’ve gotten a little more wiser in the game, more so than the average person in the daily routine of sitting in a car and then at a desk and then on a couch in front of the boob tube. My relatives on my father’s side of which I was with, were sort of clueless on backpacker travel; the day before, I had to remind my uncle to not only lock his guest room door, but close his window to keep thieves from entering.
“Ah, you’re already used to [this,]” he told me.
Baguio Bakla
From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted January 04, 2005
DAY 437: The city of Baguio is the “summer capital” of the Philippines, a place to retreat to even if it is technically winter in December. As the self-proclaimed “greenest” and “cleanest” city in the Philippines, it is a city nestled in the mountainous pine forest of northern Luzon, where the presidents of the Philippines go to get away from the smoggy air pollution of metro Manila — although from what I saw, there was still no escape from the brown haze of progress.
A Brief History Of The Philippines
From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted January 04, 2005
DAY 438: December 30 is Rizal Day in the Philippines, a national holiday celebrating the death of Filipino revolutionary Jose Rizal, who, like Cuban rebel Che Guevarra, got his start in medicine. An optometrist-turned-national hero, Rizal led the rebellion against Spanish rule with his controversial eye-opening books like Noli Me Tangere (Touch Me Not) crying for Filipino independence. For his insurrection he was sentenced to death and thus became a martyr of the Filipino patriots who continued the fight against the Spanish.
The Philippines, which were named after King Philip of Spain, has come a long way since the days of Jose Rizal. It being Rizal Day 2004, our goal in the beginning of the morning was to try and finish up the sites in the Baguio area and then head to Rizal Park back in Manila to catch the tail end of festivities if time allowed. However, with so much history in the Philippines, we barely had enough time to cover it all.
Peter Parker’s Rockin’ New Year’s Eve
From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted January 04, 2005
DAY 439: Back in June when I was on a tour in Morocco with Vancouverite Sebastian, we had a good laugh in the minivan talking about how funny it would be to travel around the world with a Spider-Man costume, so one could take photos of Spider-Man out of the context of New York City — Spider-Man riding a camel, Spider-Man in the jungle, etc. Little did I know at the time in Morocco that our idea would realized before the end of 2004.
Casual Saturday
From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted January 04, 2005
DAY 440: On New Year’s Day 2004, I had a pretty hectic one trying to get from the bottom of Colca Canyon in southern Peru to the city of Arequipa with a Puerto Rican couple that simply had to get back in civilization right away since they were slated to be in a wedding in Lima the following day. It was a crazy day of trekking, waiting, and organizing any sort of transport we could on a day when the public buses weren’t running like people said they would.
New Year’s Day 2005 wouldn’t be half as chaotic, or even a third; it would be a casual and laid back one to rest and recuperate from the festivities the night before, and to visit more relatives.
Quoth The Cousin
From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted January 04, 2005
DAY 441: I’m not ashamed to admit that I’m really into the genre of Hollywood stupid-but-funny movies, most of which star alumni of Saturday Night Live after their runs with producer Lorne Michaels. To my surprise, it runs in the family, all the way to the Philippines; I swear my cousins Joey, JayPee, Judiel and Jessica have seen all of them, and like me and many others, love quoting the stupid one-liners. My cousins are quite perceptive too; after just one screening of my bootleg DVD of Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (starring SNL alumnus funnyman Will Ferrell), they seemed to pick out all the one-liners, even the obscure ones that took me multiple viewings to pick up on.
“See, this is how they learn English,” my uncle said with a slight sigh.
Erik Falls On Mount Pinatubo
From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted January 05, 2005
DAY 442: As we’ve seen in recent history, natural disasters can strike at any time, especially earthquakes. Fourteen and a half years before the 8.9 quake that rocked the floor of the Indian Ocean, causing the Asian Tsunami of 2004 — the “largest natural disaster in recent history” according to many news outlets — there was a 7.8 that shook another part of Asia that had lasting effects for almost a decade. This quake in the Philippines in 1990 caused a geological chain reaction that was epitomized eleven months later with the eruption of Mount Pinatubo on June 15, 1991 — the second largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century — which spawned not a killer wave of ocean water, but a killer storm of fire, ash and dust in the sky of Biblical proportions.
While the death toll of the 1991 Pinatubo eruption (800 fatalities) was a mere fraction of the tragedy in South Asia 2004, it was tragic nonetheless; 100,000 people ended up homeless with an estimated half a billion dollars in damage. Geologically speaking, it was tragic as well; the emission of gases from the eruption was so great that it widened the hole in the ozone layer to a new level and further progressed the phenomenon of global warming.
Civilization
From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted January 09, 2005
DAY 443: After practically a non-stop barrage of trekking, rafting, visiting relatives, meeting celebrities, and hanging out with my cousin Spider-Man, the course of action called for a day of rest. I spent this “day off” back in the comforts of civilization at my relatives’ in Greenhills, Manila.
The Guy Behind The Guy Behind The Blog
From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted January 09, 2005
DAY 444: I will dedicate this entry to my brother, Blogreader/Blog Hog markyt who, behind the scenes, has become an indispensable member of the crew behind The Blog. He is the liaison between the writer, the producer, and the guys at the Bootsnall.com, gracious host provider of The Blog. I am dedicating this to him because it’s a tribute long overdue — and, to be honest, because I didn’t do much in the day, and I need something to up my word count.
Filipino-American, American-Filipino
From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted January 10, 2005
DAY 445: Another day of inertia; I did more work on The Blog, more work on the DAY 503 trailer, all while I was “stuck” in the Greenhills house. My apologies for the lack of travel-related activity, but as I once stated in a previous comment, the Philippines has become a great challenge; with the Relatives Factor, where my schedule is at the whim of family members unaccustomed to spontaneous adventure travel, I wasn’t calling all the shots as I had in other countries, nor was I in a tourist-friendly neighborhood where it was easy to get around and do stuff independently.
A Mis-Match Made In Paradise
From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted January 10, 2005
DAY 446: Up until this trip around the world, I never really saw the Philippines as a vacation destination in the “getaway” sense; it had always been the place of my heritage, the place where you go and see a lot of relatives that overfeed you. But to the non-Filipino, the Philippines is a great travelers’ destination, which Let’s Go called “a budget traveler’s paradise.”
Advanced Novice
From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted January 14, 2005
DAY 447: “Hi, I’m Margo,” the slender young woman in a bikini top greeted me the afternoon before at the Aquarius dive shop on Boracay Island. Half-Spanish, half-Italian with a look and an accent that bordered on both, she immediately reminded of a girl I used to go out with back in the States.
“So where are you from?” I inquired, assuming any foreign-looking person was a tourist.
“Uh, I’m from here,” she answered. “[I’m the dive instructor.]”
I apologized for my faux pas, but the following morning she had reciprocated with presumptions of me. “So you are from Manila?”
“Uh, no, I’m from New York,” I answered. “I’m a freelance travel journalist,” I added when she asked what I did.
“Oh, that’s so cool! You could write about Boracay.”
Party By Day, Party By Night
From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted January 14, 2005
DAY 448: During the third week of January, the streets of Kalibo on Panay Island come alive for the Ati-Atihan Festival, which celebrates the black natives of the Philippines, the Negritos, for their resilience in protecting and hiding the statue of baby Jesus from the imperialist aggressors — at least that’s how my Philippine-raised Tita Josie explained it to me. However, according to my American-published Let’s Go guidebook, the Catholic Church had altered the original meaning of the festival for its own gain; originally a pagan event that had nothing to do with statues of Jesus, Ati-Atihan celebrated the sale of Panay Island from the black tribespeople of Borneo.
Let’s Go Fly A Kite
From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted January 14, 2005
DAY 449: Scuba diving has been around for decades, for so long that people have forgotten that technically it should be capitalized as “SCUBA” since it was originally an acronym for Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus.” (The same goes for “LASER,” Light Amplified by a Stimulated Emission of Radiation.) Nowadays, the acronym associated with the diving with the diving community is PADI (Professional Association of Diving Instructors), which some say stands for “Pay Another Dollar, Idiot” since it’s not a non-profit organization, but a lucrative moneymaking business banking on “certification.”
Where The Winds Take You
From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted January 14, 2005
DAY 450: My presumption of kiteboarding was that it would be similar to snowboarding, only with no snow. From what I had seen of the pro kiteboarders of Boracay’s Bulabog Beach, riders strapped into a board like one would on a snowy mountain, and lean back and forth to maneuver and keep balance. Kiteboarding was a bit harder than snowboarding though, as I discovered on my second day of IKO certification class at Hangin.
Super-Size Me
From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted January 20, 2005
DAY 451: I’ve ranted about this before, but I’ll say it again anyway as it becomes pertinent for this Blog entry: Filipinos will find just about any excuse to get together for a meal. That’s not to say that this isn’t true with other nationalities; I remember a Portuguese classmate once tell me in college that you’re not allowed to turn down food from a Portuguese mother when she offers it to you — as she will almost always do. I can totally relate to that; it’s often hard to turn down food when it’s offered to you in the Philippines, as it is almost always offered very frequently throughout the day.
Erik, stop complaining about being overfed, you may be thinking. There are starving children in this world. Yeah, tell that to the spare tire inflating around my waist. If this keeps up, I’ll need an upside-down periscope to see my penis soon.
The New Blue-Signed Tourist Trail
From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted January 20, 2005
DAY 452: I caught a TV program in the suite back in Boracay about the state of tourism in the Philippines. To sum up, the program interviewed many officers of the Ministry of Tourism with their gripes about the lack of development in the tourism industry in the Philippines. They felt sort of embarrassed that almost every other southeast Asian nation is ahead of them, and can’t seem to figure out why. They blamed the government, and their lack of investment into the industry, which is most likely the major factor, but I think it’s also simply because of geography; the Philippines is “out of the way” from the standard tourist routes of Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam. It may also be due to the fact that many people generalize all of the Philippines is dangerous, when in actuality, it is quite safe as long as you avoid the extremists-frequented areas of Mindanao in the south.
The TV program ended with a question: What will 2005 bring to Philippine tourism? They left the answer open with something to the effect of “We’ll wait and see.” While tourism hasn’t developed as fast as a place like Vietnam has, it is developing nonetheless, even in the small island of Guimaras as I saw throughout the day.
Black Baby Jesus
From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted January 20, 2005
DAY 453: Of the numerous aliases of late Wu-Tang Clan rap artist Old Dirty Bastard, there is one significant to this entry, “Black Baby Jesus.” I figured he gave himself that name for laughs, but I wonder if he knew, before his unfortunate death in 2004, that there was actually an annual festival in honor of Black Baby Jesus in the Philippines.
Another Carnaval
From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted January 20, 2005
DAY 454: In Carnaval 2004 in Rio de Janiero, fourteen teams representing the different barrios of the area danced and partied in a competition to a panel of judges and a huge international crowd of inebriated revelers. Each team had a theme, with costumes, music, and colorful floats.
The Philippines has a similar festival in the Visayas region, known in the city of Kalibo as Ati-atihan, where over forty teams representing the different tribes on the island of Panay dance and party in a competition, also to a panel of judges and an international crowd of inebriated revelers. Unlike the Brazilian Carnaval, which starts at 10 p.m. and goes until dawn, the self-proclaimed “Mother of All Festivals in the Philippines” started bright and early at 8 a.m. What better reason to start drinking so early in the morning?
Delusions Of Grandeur
From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted January 21, 2005
DAY 455: Perhaps the “Relatives Factor” I had ranted about before was all just in my head, at least with my Tita Josie. As a savvy single woman, she knew the pros of independence and left it up to me whether or not to stay with her in Kalibo for the second half of the Ati-atihan festival, or venture back to Boracay on my own to complete my kiteboard Jedi training. Because of the downpour over Kalibo that morning and the fact that after two days of parades I was a little “paraded out,” I opted to go back to Boracay. Perhaps it was fate that led me to that decision; I had missed being in the middle of the crowd at the big public shooting that occurred that morning in Kalibo at the festival.
Like Luke Skywalker setting a new course back to the Dagobah system to complete his Jedi training with Master Yoda in Return of the Jedi, I packed my bag and departed the town of Kalibo on that rainy morning.
Waiting In Vain
From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted January 21, 2005
DAY 456: I woke up in the Hangin House on Bulabog Beach with a slight hangover headache to a welcoming sound coming from behind my room’s window: the rustling of palm trees blowing in the ocean breeze. Wind. Soon, kiteboarders were inflating their kites on the beach, launching them, and venturing off into the surf — but not without some snags.
“It’s gusty,” Mars the German-Filipino reported.
Island Hopping
From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted January 23, 2005
DAY 457: “Island hopping” is a term often used in the tourism circuit in the Philippines, and for good reason; there are 7,107 islands in the archipelago, why just stick to one? (Some of the smaller ones are even up for sale if you can afford it.) It isn’t necessarily needed to fly from island to island as there are many modes of transportation available, from big ferries to jet-powered catamarans. For the backpacker on the tightest budget, there is the Roro, an inter-island bus that travels on land by road and over water by vehicle transport ferry from island port to island port.
My goal of the day was to island hop from Boracay to Panay to Cebu to Bohol to Panglao, by air, land, and sea — all before nightfall.
Foreign Local
From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted January 24, 2005
DAY 458: I remember Vietnamese-American Tony (Moshi, Tanzania) telling me he once went on vacation to Vietnam with some non-Vietnamese-American friends and all the local Vietnamese thought he was not a foreigner traveling with the others, but their guide. I was surprised the same phenomenon didn’t happen to me in the Philippines, until I went on a diving trip off the coast of Panglao Island that day.
Not So Chocolate
From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted January 24, 2005
DAY 459: I had first heard about the island of Bohol not from my Philippine-born parents or any of my relatives living in the Philippines, but from the Globe Trekker travel show (formerly Lonely Planet). Host Shilpa Mehta turned me on to seeing the famous Chocolate Hills, Bohol’s signature attraction, which unfortunately for me and my chocolate-loving sweet tooth were not made of chocolate. Upon my own exploration of the island, I discovered that the not-so-Chocolate Hills were just one of many things that made Bohol unique, an island separate from the other islands in the archipelago.
Return To Normalcy
From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted January 24, 2005
DAY 460: While island hopping with my Tito Mike and Tita Josie from beach resort to beach resort was nice, it wasn’t exactly my scene. Don’t get me wrong, beach resorts are nice and all, but they are inherently resorts, relaxing places to get away from the challenges of normal life. My days of resorts and island hopping in the Philippines were over and it was time for a return to normalcy.
Not Quite Up In The Air
From the trip blog: "The Global Trip: Chinese Leftovers and Other Asian Appetizers"
Posted April 21, 2010
DAY 1:“Hi, I’m a cardmember and I’m trying to get into one of the airport lounges,” I said to the American Express representative on my cell phone in Terminal 1 of New York’s JFK International Airport. The customer service rep was attentive until she had to transfer me to another department, which transferred me back to the first department (but with another representative), who transferred me again — and suddenly I was on the phone in a long, long cycle of periodic hold music (like that time I called the monks in Bethlehem). But I had time to kill, so whatever.
Five Filipino Years Later
From the trip blog: "The Global Trip: Chinese Leftovers and Other Asian Appetizers"
Posted April 22, 2010
DAY 2: It has been five years since I was in Manila, which I quoted back then on this blog as a cosmopolitan fusion of “Malay, Madrid, and Madison Avenue.” Five Filipino years later, the bustling southeast Asian metropolis is different in a lot of ways, but at the same time, the same. For example, the Filipino fast food chain Jollibee is ubiquitous as ever (serving food before it can be fancified by yours truly), and locals are still smiling with the carefree philosophy of bahala na. As soon as I exited the airport, there was one obvious thing that was the same:
Holy fuck, it’s hot outside, I thought to myself. (Actually I said that out loud, so no need for inner-monologue italics there.)
Business Before Bourdain
From the trip blog: "The Global Trip: Chinese Leftovers and Other Asian Appetizers"
Posted April 23, 2010
DAY 3: “[Where’s that market that Anthony Bourdain went to where they buy the food from the market and have a cook prepare it?]” I asked my Tito Pepito in that paraphrase. “They made prawn adobo.” A fellow No Reservations fan, he knew what I was talking about, but there was more than one of such a market in the Metro Manila area. He pulled out his netbook to find out. “Look it up on Youtube,” I told him. But when he got online, the connection from the house wi-fi was spotty — the day before we deduced it was a problem with the DSL provider — and we couldn’t get an immediate answer. We made it our goal to find out and go before day’s end, but first, there was some business to take care of.
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ABOUT ERIK R. TRINIDAD
When he’s not making a living as an interactive/motion designer or playing with fast food, Erik R. Trinidad is a travel writer, blogger, video host and producer focusing on adventure and culinary content. His work has been featured on National Geographic Intelligent Travel, Adventure.com, Discovery.com, Saveur, Condé Nast Traveler, and 
Hyenas Laughed at Me and Now I Know Why, which also includes the work of Tim Cahill, Doug Lansky, Jennifer Leo and Rolf Potts. He has also referenced his travel experiences in his solo book, Fancy Fast Food: Ironic Recipes with No Bun Intended.
For over ten years, Erik has traveled to the seven continents of the world — from Timbuktu to Kalamazoo — with a curiosity for exotic foods and a thirst for adventure (and writing material). In his travels, he has been mugged at knifepoint in Cape Town, extorted by corrupt Russian police on the Trans-Siberian Railway, stranded in tornadic storms in the American midwest, and air-lifted off the Everest Trail by a helicopter that was thankfully paid for by his travel insurance. But it hasn’t been all fun; he has also donned a tuxedo amidst the penguins of Antarctica, paraded with Carnival-winning samba school Beija Flor in Rio, run for his life at Pamplona’s “Running of the Bulls,” cage-dived with great white sharks, gotten shot point-blank in the stomach in Colombia (while wearing a bulletproof jacket), and above all, encountered many people around the world, including some Peruvian musicians in Cuzco who learned and played “Y.M.C.A.” at his request. He loves the irony that, after everywhere he’s been, he has never been to Mexico.
Erik writes stories and news articles when he’s at his base camp in New York City, and continues his blog when he is on the road — provided he’s not occupied tracking down lost luggage.
Additional news/article clippings at ErikTrinidad.com.
See Erik talk about travel in an American Express ad:
Read about Erik in this feature article from Filipinas magazine by National Geographic Traveler Associate Editor Amy Alipio.