Interview With Monette and Ron of flip n travels
•Please give my readers a background about yourselves. What made you want to start fliptravels.com?
Ron worked as a paramedic nurse and now a medical investigator in Singapore. I, Monette, am a Senior Training Manager for a Medical Management company in Makati, Philippines. Fliptravels is the brainchild of our boredom and the 2008 Taiwan Best Trip Contest. A website was necessary to enter the competition so we made one. We lost and decided to keep the blog, continue traveling, and never visit Taiwan in the next few years while the wound they left on our egos is still deep... lol!
•In all of your travels, in your opinion what country has the best food? and the worst food?
Best food comes from Thailand for Ron because it has the right amount of fused flavors from the neighboring countries. For me, it's the Philippines because it's seldom spicy, and I don't eat spicy food. Ron refuses to answer where he tasted the worst food because he enjoys everything edible. As for me, I guess that leaves almost all Asian countries. I have to specifically say "not at all spicy" otherwise the "little spicy" is ginormously spicy for me...
•When you both first started traveling, did your family support your decision?
Ron's family is very supportive. He started traveling at an early age, college if I'm not mistaken, while I was and still am, unsupervised. When my mom who's based in Hong Kong found out, she didn't have any choice but to trust me.
•If you both had to choose one favourite destination, which one would each of you chose?
Siquijor for Ron. The island is unlike what we've seen before. It's peaceful, friendly, enchanting - everything that you are looking for in a quiet vacation is there. For me, it's Bali because the place is nothing short of love. Their religion, their culture, their food, their temples, their people,, their fabric - everything is love.
•What has been the least exciting destination you've traveled to?
Bangkok, Thailand. This one, we agree on. It was, perhaps, a bad timing because every turn we made did not carve a happy memory and everyone we talked to told us we are crazy not to have liked the place. Given an opportunity, we would love to give Bangkok a second chance.
•Did you both always have a love of travel or did you develop your passion for traveling as you got older?
It has always been clear for Ron. Like I mentioned earlier, he started traveling at a very young age, getting lost in the mountains and sleeping by beaches. I started reading at a very young age so I guess that's what opened me to traveling. I grew up and found out that I can travel for real.
•What impact has fliptravels.com have on your lives?
Both of us are trapped in a corporate rat race. The blog gives us an alternate life, it's like moving in a different plane. It helps us keep our sanity. Somehow, we can convince ourselves that we are still cool despite the suits and three-inch heels.
•What has been the most surprising destination you've been to? Meaning, you had a specific mindset about a certain destination but it was totally a different experience than you had imagined.
Siquijor, Philippines. People who've read about Siquijor would probably cower under their mother's skirts and swear on the graves of their forefathers to never visit it. The island is know for sorcery and witch healers. We did not know what we ate but we decided to visit. We got back without a scratch nor a cockroach coming our of our ears.
•If you had to decide which destination has been the most influential in your lives, which destination would you chose?
Macau-Hong Kong because these places were the first places we've been to, internationally. I made us realize that we can go out of our comfort zone and explore the world.
•What advice would you give to a newbie traveler?
We are also relatively new in traveling but the things we have learned hold true. Enjoy every second of it, don't hurry yourelf, sit down and savor the place, immerse yourself with the locals, be a child at heart so you get to experience everything for the first time, be kind and trust in the kindness of strangers...
•In 10 years, do you see yourself still traveling or slowing down?
Traveling, most definitely! But given that we are older, we would like to enjoy our trips a little bit so we may have to say goodbye to bunk beds and hello to private rooms. No, we would still have the allergies for packaged tours.
Thanks Monette and Ron for the interview. Visit their site @ flip' n travels
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