Where Ian has been

Traveling has always been a source of tremendous joy.

I am blessed to have parents who have understood its value, first as a parenting tool - from appeasing my pre-school heart with a short drive around our block before they leave (me at home) for work in the morning to rewarding good academic standing with a weekend out-of-town-er to restoring my med school-weary body. Second, they have unwittingly employed traveling as a very effective medium for learning practical things, from how NOT to pack 3 pairs of shoes for a four-days, three-nights vacation to being a streetsmart tourist in Hong Kong to soaking up quality family time through a joint experience of historical places and the personalities who go with these. Fortunately, even if my parents are abroad and my siblings and I are captured, willing slaves to our places of work, there are many "work-related" traveling involved in our careers.

While rummaging through the uber-cool and popular blog An Apple A Day, I came across this ingenious rendition of the Philippine map where one's erstwhile whereabouts can be plotted. I just followed the links, and voila! Here's the LAKBAYAN map of where I've been.

My Lakbayan grade is C+!

How much of the Philippines have you visited? Find out at Lakbayan!

Created by Eugene Villar.

And I must say, I'm a bit sad that I still haven't even visited- what- 1/4 of the Philippines! Here's to hoping that I'd raise my Lakbayan Grade to B+ in a year's time =]