To The Millennial Who Doesn't Want to Travel,

It's OK.

When I had my job interview in the PR department, one of the perks my soon-to-be boss then said, I will get to travel a lot. I smiled. Wide. My smile reached my ears, I bet, while I was nodding. And then I blurted out, Kewl!

She said I would be having that as one of the perks because we have different communities and there are a lot to be written about them. OK, OK. Sounds exciting, my mind said.

So I started working. I accepted the job, I kicked myself out of bed when there are early pull-outs that we are going somewhere in Manila or even out of town.

I was able to visit La Mesa Watershed, different esteros, Taguig, Makati, Las Piñas, Bulacan, Laguna, until I get to travel by plane to Samar and Leyte which one of my friends told me I'm having Tacloban as my new Cubao. I have been to Palawan as well -- Busuanga. I've sailed on the floods of Bataan and seas of Batangas to Mindoro. I've seen the rough roads and mountains of Quezon and played Pokémon in Camarines Sur. I've walked the mud of Samar and saw the resilience of Tacloban. I was able to hike Sta. Ana and Tuguegarao during my internship.

At Brgy. Panlaitan, Busuanga, Palawan wharf. | Taken by Joemarian Casidsid

There's one problem. I hate packing. I hate to pack then unpack when I get back!

I have a hard time packing my things when they are not the same-day-you-are-back-to-base trips. I have to make a list first before I pack. I always have a list of things I will be needing on the said date. How many outside shirts I will be having, outside pairs of shorts, sleeping shorts, underwear and so on. That includes my pairs of socks and hankies! Which, I keep on forgetting to jot down.

My list for Mindoro this week.

And there's another problem. I'm more of a stay-cation kind of gal. I hate... no, scratch that. I dislike traveling from one place to another, but, I like having long rides. Pwede bang huwag na huminto ang jeep, ang bus, o ang van? See? I like staying. I'm a person who stays! (Most of the time.)

Though I travel, I make sure these travels are the places I really like to go to. My friends have to agree with me if they want me to come. Little of beaches, aside from I do not know how to swim, all I will be getting from the trip will be IG worthy photos. Wow. I am so entitled. But there are exemptions, though. That doesn't mean I am not going to the beach at all. Oh, tara. La Union! Chos.

I like those with historical bearing, like Corregidor and Vigan. And now it has come to my attention that those are the only places I've been to which aren't work, with my friends.

And of course, I love travels when it is with my special someone no matter where the other wants to go. LOL. And most of the time, we just stay inside the hotel because I like intimacy and closeness. Oh, baka kung ano isipin niyo, tigil niyo 'yan. I'd rather watch movies with the person I am with or talk about random things or us. But yes, we do visit the sites.

But with work, it's a whole different thing.

I don't get to choose where we will go. Whether they are IG worthy or filled with facts and history, I don't. I also don't get to pick what time I have to wake up or leave the house or be back to the house. And it's OK because it's work and I chose this. I accepted the job but I have not been way too honest about it when they asked me if I love to travel. I said yes and I do not.

Most of the people my age just keeps on traveling. To unwind, to take photos for their feeds and blog, to do shit, and all those things they like to do. They have their own travel funds or they allot a part of their salary for their next trip because it's already planned, the long weekend is coming! Well, I don't have those. I don't plan to spend my salary on trips (because I have insurance to pay, LOL). I am not getting anywhere with this writing, damn.

But there's something I love about my work when I travel. It's not about the places I have been to. It's not about the photos I will be having with myself in it. It's not about those instagrammable places or dishes. It's not about the place but it's about the people in the place. That is what traveling is for me when it's work. It's not because I can try the zip line or I can row the boat or take a dip in the West Philippine Sea. 

I get excited to know what's the story of the people, the community. Why do I have to write about them? What's in it that makes it so special? It will always be the story of the community that makes the place beautiful and worth of traveling for me. And for that, I am thanking my work for having that perks for me.

I knew different people, I learned their stories. I met sisters who walk four kilometers and cross nine rivers just to go to school and their house is at the middle of a place looking like a forest.

I listened to a grade school boy who searches for Kuday or little crabs under the sand and he won't stop until he gets it even if he's already bleeding.

My heart cried when I learned about how the people who were affected by Yolanda started to get back on their feet again.

I got mud on my pants as I walked under the rain, got my shirt wet, while going back and forth to a remote community where they didn't have a clinic so they used hammocks to carry the patients so they can go down to the center, walking a muddy slippery road for 3.5km in one way. I was tired after the whole experience but my heart was happy.

There are different stories that I will treasure in my lifetime, in exchange of packing and unpacking my things. In everything I hate, there's something that makes me love it.

So if you're a millennial who doesn't want to travel, someone who opts for stay-cation instead, again, it's OK.

You don't have to be like them.