Seventy three flights in one year. Forty nine domestic. Twenty four crossing borders. Roughly seventy five thousand kilometers in the air, or about one hundred fifty one hours suspended between cities, countries, and versions of myself.
2025 was truly a year of movement and adventure so to speak. It was a year that had tremendous lows and some of the highest highs that I could personally think of. Let’s get started.
January
I would say that I have started 2025 rather optimistic, and right off the bat. I thought it would be a great one – that was until mid January when my client pointed out that our contract is ending and that I’d be jobless come February 1st. I wasn’t ready for that, all my already booked flights to IAO, MNL, and HAN, weren’t ready for that.
And speaking of flying, I started the year in General Santos City. My first flight was a roundtrip between GES and CEB. It’s pretty much the usual, if you wish. One funny thing to note from my journey though, was that I bumped into a friend of mine at the airport, she was also on the way back to Davao after a run that she attended.
In January, my mother also celebrated her 79th birthday. Some relatives came over and everyone had a pretty good time. I also ordered a pair of Germany jerseys for me and Yannah. These jerseys would end up being my uniform in my travels abroad. Hahaha. I also bought a number of pangbalay Mayday Parade ones.
All in all, January was a relaxed start to 2025 with just the two flights.
February – CEB, IAO, and WordCamp Asia 2025
In February, Mr. Jobless traveled to Cebu because he was way to stressed with all the shit that was going on. Yes, on Feb 1 I flew out and I returned on Feb 6. Mr Jobless spent 5 days in Cebu(!!) and I returned just two days before heading out to IAO with my BFF Andrea – which in turn was just 1(!!) day away from my Manila flight for WordCamp Asia 2025 which was held in Manila. Absolutely crazy how Mr. Jobless was able to go on these 3 round trip flights.
My WordCamp Asia 2025 trip also pretty much kicked off my connection with Louie, the organizer of WordPress Iligan. Dare I say, we became good friends because of the time we spent at WordCamp Asia, where I have tried to introduce him to all of the connections that I could. It was fun! I met so many people that I have met at other WordCamps before. And yes, I was still pretty much jobless at this point.
I also quickly had a catch up with Mai, who at this point wasn’t doing well. (As of end of 2025, she is doing much better!) February boasted 6 flights for me, 3 round trip adventures.
March – The first (of many) Hanoi visits
In March, it was time for me to depart internationally again. This time, it would be my first time to exit from Manila. The dreaded Manila IO, you could say. All went pretty well though. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. It was also in March when two of my former colleagues at MBGSP decided to visit me in Davao. Leo and Rich came over for a couple of days. It was great to have had them over and it was awesome to see them doing so well.
This month also presented a return to Iligan for me. I was there to talk about How to Work Ethically For Global Companies) a topic that I would bring onward with me to Nepal for my talk there. Yes, your jobless boy was headed for WordCamp Nepal 2025 in Kathmandu.
Part of that connection was my two week stay in Hanoi, Vietnam. I flew in via Manila and was able to snag a really affordable place. My BFF Twinnie even gave me my first millions in the form of 2,000,000 VND. Yes. That was all the pocket money that I had and whatever was left to be used on my credit card. Luckily, I had someone locally that I was able to borrow money from to get me through this tough times.
I fell in love with Vietnam and the small Bia Hoi stall at Old Quarters where I’d bump into other tourists and foreigners. It was nice to have different people to talk to every single day. This was just one of many more Vietnam visits, you’ll see.
At any rate, I bid Vietnam farewell on the 31st of the month as I was headed for KUL via AK513 (Air Asia).
I spent overnight at KUL T1 and proceeded onward the next day, but yeah, that’d be the next month. :p
April – WordCamp Nepal 2025, BKK, SIN, and the journey home
On April 1 I flew with UL onward to CMB and on April 2, I was set for Kathmandu, still on UL. To this day, I have to say that I enjoyed the food on UL the most.
At WordCamp Nepal – and throughout my stay in Kathmandu in general – I’ve made a lot of friends. I even became tighter buds with Corey, also an active personality in the WordPress space. And as the month dragged on… it wouldn’t end just quite yet, not until I was able to finally land a job! Yes. 3 months of no income was about to end for me!!
I can’t be thankful enough that I was able to go on this Kathmandu journey. I learned so much about different cultures, about myself, and about the people around me. It was such a privilege to be able to do this without much money in my hand. I left Davao City with less than 8000PHP in cash to my name… but yeah, I did have my credit card with me though… :p
I left Nepal on the 11th of the month and even had a quick catch up with a close connection I made there – even until now – in the form of Aditya. We still talk about F1 and random things!
I was bound for BKK on TG, on a 777-200. I have to say, I wasn’t as impressed as I was on the UL flight. The food was okay, nothing amazing. To this day, I still kind of long for the service I got on my two UL legs.
I spent good 24 hours in BKK and traveled onward to SIN with TR. I was in SIN for yet another 18 hours before I flew on to Manila the following day. Once I got to Manila, I was set to yet again chill for a couple of hours as my flight wasn’t until another 10 hours onward to CEB. And from there, I had to wait until the next morning for my flight to GES. Yes, from departing KTM on April 11 – I made it back home to DAVAO by April 15 in the afternoon. It was quite a tiring journey… but hey, it was just practice for more to come, I guess. Oh, and before I forget, I was also able to visit the Pokemon Center at SIN! I forgot to do so the previous two times I passed by here in 2024.
At the tail end of April, someone dear to me also celebrated her graduation, but more on that at a later point.
All in all, I have flown 7 times in April. Bringing my total to 18. In 2024, I had 13 at this point. Jobless (but not anymore!) me takes the cake for this. For now.
May – just chilling and Yannah’s birthday
I had a lot of things to repay and I even had another set of flights booked towards Nepal for another WordCamp that I was supposed to talk at. Come June, however, you will know that I have pretty much wasted 20,000PHP on a journey that I did not end up taking. (Well, I just told you)
In May, I didn’t end up flying at all… and Yannah’s birthday was pretty much the highlight herein.
One journey that I took though, was a looong bus ride to CDO for yet another talk I did there.
June – myself gets the best of me and some canceled Pokhara plans
In June, I was supposed to fly back to Nepal. I had flights towards Manila, Singapore, Colombo, and Kathmandu already booked. I suppose the one thing that was holding me back was the uncertainty still of the job that I had at this point. I wasted around 20,000PHP – but I wasn’t really feeling it yet.
I’m sad that I wasn’t able to go, and it took a bit of a toll on me. I suppose, it was also a blessing in disguise as I instead was able to redirect my funds to some other travels that would take place in August.
All in all, I continued my Cebu streak whenever I was flying with DVO – MNL, MNL – CEB, and CEB – DVO flights. Yes, just three, instead of possibly flying 8 or 10 times, had I decided to undertake yet another Nepal adventure.
July – more work responsibility and uptick in travel
In July, things have drastically changed at work. There was a point where I was even worried if I still end up having a job! But all is well, so far. July was also the month that I traveled to Manila for the launch of a new WordPress chapter there. All in all, I took 4 flights in July.
Other than that, I also traveled to Cagayan de Oro with Yannah, for a quick chill weekend there.
And before I forget, on my way to Manila I fell from the bus (don’t ask me how) and severely bruised my left knee. Damn, it hurts just thinking about it. The pain accompanied me for quite some time after my travel.. and it got even worse! But more on that in a succeeding month.
August – HAN, SIN, KUL Travels
Not much happened in early August. It was in the middle of it when things really kicked off. I flew to HAN via MNL. It was the first time for my companion to travel out of the country (seems to be a trend now, that I accompany people out of the country on their first trip lol)
So yeah, I was back in Vietnam for the second time of the year. I just fell in love with Hanoi and with my routine there so to speak.
After the quick visit to Vietnam we flew onward to Singapore and my “home base” of SIN. To some extent, I consider it my office away from home lol. It just brings me joy to see people being amazed about the surroundings or the new places they get to visit, and so was the case not just about Changi, but the whole of Singapore.
From there, we went on a quick land travel over to KUL and spent a day there before flying back to SIN and eventually parting ways as she flew on to DVO and I went to CEB.
I stayed in Cebu for a couple of days before heading back to DVO… and I thought that was it for my travels in August.
Before you know it, I found myself back on a flight to SIN and eventually onward to HAN on August 30, due to some personal reasons that happened to my best friend in Hanoi. Yes, my 3rd time in Vietnam, my second time in the same month.
With that said, I’ve flown 8 times in August.
September – HAN staycation, PVG and SGN (Vietnam again!)
I departed HAN for PVG in the middle of the month. Other than traveling to Sapa and spend a few days there, I really enjoyed the routine that I’ve built up with my best friend and how I was rather productive with work and all that from her apartment. In PVG – for the first time ever – I was pulled over into an interview room. It was a rather scary experience, I mean, it’s mainland China!! I guess they just wanted to be sure that was I was really a German or whatever. Also, I had a rather quick layover time in PVG so that could have raised suspicions.
Nonetheless, I was allowed to enter the country and joined a quick tour through some Shanghai tourist spots.
Onward I flew, still on MU to Manila. From Manila, I flew onward to Davao.
Late September, I was speaking at the WordPress Iligan Meetup (yes, I took the dreaded half day long bus journey). From there, I stayed for a day in CDO at my favorite hotel and flew onward with the same Hanoi companion to CEB and then to MNL for the highlight of the year. Mayday Parade’s 20th anniversary concert at the Araneta Coliseum!
That’s not where my travels for the month of September would end though… because after returning to Davao, I was set to fly out again 3 days later towards… Ho Chi Minh. My fourth time fourth time in Vietnam for 2025, and my third time in two months…
It was my first time in SGN, so I naturally toured around a little, went to a Capybara Cafe and all that and had a good time. After 3 days, I was headed for SIN to claim headphones that I have left there for warranty repairs when I last visited. I got them replaced, yay!
It was just a couple of days until race weekend and the city seemed all prepped and ready for that. I went to my usual routine spots in SIN and headed back to the airport for my return flight on Philippine Airlines to Davao via Manila… but hey, that’s October territory already.
All in all in September, I have flown 7 times. I was up to 40 flights already by September, whilst I had 45 in total in 2024.
October – Japan
In October, I had another 6 flights. Yes, my return flights from Singapore and my onward flights to NRT and the Japanese Domestic Flight to KIX. I was in Japan for WordCamp Kansai 2025 and I spent my first couple of days in Tokyo, before making my way to Osaka. I have a whole other post talking about that experience here.
November – the crazy run
Returning from Japan, I realized that I have been on quite a number of Philippine Airlines flights already… I decided to make a run for it and gain status with them.
I went to CDO again to talk there and flew out from there back to Davao. Yes, racking up the flights, I guess…
All in all, I flew 12 times in November. Other than returning from Japan, most of them were domestic of course.
December – WordCamp Malaysia and Vietnam… again.
I attended WordCamp Malaysia along with another member of the local WordPress scene in the form of Harcy. That’s pretty much how my month started… rather chill and laid back, just another flight outside of the country… which would be followed by yet another flight just 3 days upon my return… to Ho Chi Minh. Again.
This time, with 13th month pay in hand, I decided to splurge a little and have more fun in the city, and that I had. (This flight only cost me 9,000 RT from TAC)
All in all, I flew another 15 times in December. 12 times on PR for my status.
A year of flying
I started out the year piss poor and doing bad. I never expected that I would get to travel as much as I was able to travel… but I did!
I am thankful that I was able to fly 73 times. It could have been more if I took my forfeited international June flights… but regardless of that… It just feels surreal to be here at the end of 2025 – or well, the beginning of 2026 – still going on, still surviving despite all that.
As of writing, I am again going through some internal turmoil, but I suppose it rests more on the fact that I haven’t figured out yet what I want out of 2026 and there are just so many options to choose from. Let’s see if I can get that into writing and whether I can go on with pursuing those goals once more.
In Other News
I have added some tech this year. I don’t think I really lost any. In August, I got an iPhone 16 Pro (yes, right before the iPhone 17 launch. I know, I’m crazy. I think I mentioned that already a few times).
In the latter part of the year, I also upgraded my M2 Macbook Air with an M4 Macbook Air. It’s not that my M2 Air was doing bad, just that 16GB RAM is a bit more useful for all of the things that I tend to have open at all times – plus the this 13″ form factor is a bit more fun to carry around compared to the 15″ one that has now been handed over to Yannah. I also got myself AirPods Pro v3.
That’s pretty much it in terms of tech that I have added… maybe we can add the XM5 Headphones that I bought in January as well or the M3 iMac which was basically just a quick buy and sell (with a deficit of 5K) just so I have some cash on hand for the travels in March.
As you can see, most of my money was allocated to tickets and accommodations… or food. I think the only game that I bought this year and I do apologize in advance, was FC 26. But only during the deep Christmas discount period.
Let’s see what 2026 has in store for all of us. Cheers to moving forward meaningfully.
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