Meet the Nomads: Dennis of Nomadic Pinoy

Sunday, June 13, 2010 Leave a Comment

I've been reading Dennis's blog for quite sometime. I came across his blog while looking for other Filipino backpackers. He's such as inspiration for me because we do have the same restrictions as Filipino passport holders and yet he was able to take himself to a lot of countries.

He's been to various countries in Europe, North and South America, Asia and even Africa. It might not take that long before he set his feet on all seven continents.

If you want to know more about Dennis, visit him at http://www.nomadicpinoy.com/.

Here's Flip's short interview with Dennis.

How did you discover your passion for travelling?

"As a kid growing up in Davao, my father would always bring me and my siblings to Bohol every summer to visit our kin on his side. In those days in the 80's, traveling entailed a long bus ride to Butuan or Cagayan de Oro and a slow ferry ride to the island province. It may have been an exhausting trip but it helped instill a sense of adventure in my young mind."

What’s the most horrible experience that you’ve had on the road?

"Getting conned in Istanbul. My friend and I were looking for a bar to unwind and some random guy on the street who spoke broken English offered to show us the way. Since he looked neatly dressed, we trusted him enough to follow him, leading us into a basement bar where we were the only customers. To our surprise, he sat with us and took the liberty of ordering drinks and out of the blue came two 'girls' who we soon found out were transvestites. Smelling something fishy, my friend and I decided to leave but he suddenly demands money to pay for the drinks and to pay for his 'services'. We stood up and asked for the bar manager who was thankfully around to explain to him what was happening. While the con man was cornered and some skirmish ensued, we made a dash for the exit and hailed a taxi straight back to our hotel."

What’s the most outstanding travel experience that you’ve ever had?

"Most of my travel experiences were memorable but I should put trekking the Inca Trail to Macchu Picchu at the top. It's a rigorous walk with stupendous views to match."

What’s the biggest realization that you’ve got out of travelling?

"The more I travel, the more I get curious of the world around me. There's a lot to cover and I know I won't be able to do it all in my lifetime."

What keeps you going? What keeps you motivated?

"It's very seldom that I manage to convince close friends to travel with me. Apart from conflicting schedules, it's often my choice of destinations and the inherent "roughing-it-up-a-bit" nature of the trip that turns them off or scares them - which really is what motivates me in the first place to go out of my comfort zone."

This is a silly and hypothetical one. If you would be given a chance to travel with a popular person or a celebrity, who would it be and why?

"Globetrekker TV's Ian Wright is the kind of guy I'd like to travel with. Met this guy once at a travel show and he's as funny off camera as he is on the show. There's a lot of things I can learn from him."

What could stop you from travelling?

"Natural disasters, political upheavals and a boss who disapproves my vacation plans can stop me in my tracks."

Among the places that you’ve been to, which one fascinated you the most?

"India, hands down. This is a country where people wear both their culture and religion on their sleeves."

What's the best travel advice that you could give for a novice traveler like me?

"There's so much out there but since traveling involves a lot of bucks, I save money by traveling off peak or during shoulder season. There's also less visitors to contend with on those visits to temples, museums and parks."

What do you think about yourself?

"Even though I have a full time 9-5 job that demands a lot from me, I'm obsessed with getting to know the world more intimately by going out there as often as I could."

"Nomadic Pinoy was born out of that obsession with travel and the things that relate to it - photography, food, culture, nature and of course, people." - Dennis

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