“I’ve been to around 20 countries in at least three different continents. I think my favorite country is the Philippines. I am biased because I’m from the Philippines, but it’s really nice to see my relatives, since family is very important to me, and also my culture from its original country. I also love Filipino food too, which makes it better. I think my favorite island in the Philippines is probably Bohol. The beaches there are very pretty and the temperature of the water is very warm. It’s a very memorable place.

I don’t have a least favorite place, but I don’t love places with rude people. The rudest people I’ve encountered are Europeans though, but I still think that the locals shouldn’t deter you from visiting a place. Europe is still a really beautiful place to travel to but it is important to be aware that people might be disrespectful to you.

My parents love traveling so much because they never got the opportunity to do so when they were younger. Since they are able to go on vacations and spend time with family more now, they always take every single opportunity they get for winter break or spring break, and they’ll use it to go on a big vacation. And when we do have those types of opportunities, we do like to go somewhere far, and not just travel in the area. 

One thing I hate about traveling is the long flights. But what makes traveling worth it for me is eating different varieties of food, learning more about people’s culture, and, most importantly, spending time with my family.

I think Japan was a big culture shock for me; everybody there is very respectful and very organized. Even in escalators, too, everyone’s always lined up to the right-hand side and they leave a big gap for people that are in a rush at train stations. It’s very clean, modern, and different from our systems in America.

One time in the last 2 years, my family was in Switzerland, and we were in a very isolated city. It was around two hours away from Zurich, one of the biggest cities in the country. My family and I missed our bus, and we were stranded there for eight hours. I started to grow a little worried, but I was comforted because everybody in the town was very sweet and kind. They let us stay inside because it was really cold and rainy. It was a really memorable experience, because it made me appreciate Swiss culture as well and how generous they are.”