Don’t lose hope, full-time professionals.
Just because you work 5 days a week, doesn’t mean that you can’t engage in wanderlust anymore. Yup, there’s no need to quit your day jobs to purse your passion. This Chemical Engineer will show us how it’s done and how beautiful the destinations in our country are to be ignored.
Mark Thomas de Villa is a Chief Process Engineer in one of the leading petroleum companies in the Philippines and a Chemical Engineer graduate of UP Diliman in 2009. He started getting into travelling right before he graduated from college.
The first province he ever visited was Davao for a National Quiz Bee.
In 2011, he got into photography, and that’s when he bought his first camera. Two years later, he created his Instagram account where he documents all his travels.
Given that he works full-time, most of his travels are done on weekends and an additional of one to two days. Thus, he utilizes his leaves wisely since he only has 16 VLs every year.
When asked how many provinces in the Philippines he has been to already, he answered that he’s actually not tracking the number of provinces that he has been to. Instead, he said that he visited an estimate of around 30 provinces.
Thom also shared that his favorite places in the country are Palawan, Boracay and Cebu where he has been to more than once. Despite being to Boracay around six times, Cebu four times and Palawan three times, he’s still planning to visit them again this year.
Thom also shared, “Travelling has given me a sense of satisfaction. It, somehow, helped me appreciate life. My most favorite experience so far was when I first visited south Cebu in March 2015. Canyoneering the Matutinao River/Kawasan Falls was the highlight of the trip. I have never been surprised with how beautiful places in the Philippines can be. The photos of Kawasan Falls and the river were beautiful but seeing them person takes you on a whole new level. I’ve never thought that a place that beautiful (the river was sooo blue!) exists in the Philippines. I was in awe.”
His advice to those who would also like to go out there and explore the beauty of our country is “To enjoy your travel, preparation plays a big part. Things such as planned itinerary and equipment or materials like camera, sunblock, etc. that  you need to bring are key players towards a fulfilling travel. I’ve been to trips where I was not able to visit good spots because I didn’t research about the place better or I was not able to get a better photo because I forgot to bring the right camera for the trip. So, always come prepared.”
If there’s one thing Thom’s travels can teach us, that would be to go for “it”, whatever “it” is. Because by looking at it on a different perspective, we only work 45 hours per week, so it’s really up to us on how we’ll make the most out of the remaining 123 hours.
Were you also inspired to travel? Share your thoughts with us.
