World Travellers: Flip From Flip Nomad

In my ongoing series of World Travellers I catch up with fellow globetrotters who are scattered across the planet. I tracked down Flip from Flip Nomad in Siem Reap in Cambodia and interrogated him about his nomadic lifestyle…

Who are you?

Hi to all the readers and followers of Don’t Stop Living. You can call me Flip, I’m the blogger behind FlipNomad.

Where are you from?

I’m originally from Manila, Philippines.

Where have you been?

I’ve been traveling for two years now and have been to China, India, Nepal, Laos, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and Cambodia.

Where are you now?

I’m currently in Siem Reap, Cambodia (as of the time of writing).

What are the top 3 places you’ve visited?

Ugh, this is a tough question as I immensely enjoyed all the places that I’ve been to. But if I have to pick three then that would be Bangkok, Thailand (for the food), Himachal Pradesh, India (for the mind blowing landscape) and El Nido, Philippines (for the gorgeous islands and beaches).

What is the best travel experience you’ve had?

This is quite difficult for me to answer as I really enjoyed the whole trip. It varies depending on the activities that I’ve done in those places. For snorkeling, nothing beats my trip to various islands in the Philippines as the whole country is known to be one of the most bio-diverse regions in the whole world when it comes to marine life. For landscape, I love my trip last year in Northern India. The whole place is mind blowingly beautiful. And of course, a lot of my memorable trips always happen whenever I meet interesting and very nice people.

What is the worst travel experience you’ve had?

I don’t know if this is the worst but one of the things I hate in travels is bumping on bad people (scammers, etc) especially those who targets tourists. Luckily I was able to dodge them and did not lose anything significant in my trips.

What is the funniest travel experience you’ve had?

One of the funniest would be my trip to Taj Mahal. Me and two other travelers that I met along the way decided to have a group pic and asked a local guy if he could take our picture.

This local guy gladly agreed, so we sat and positioned ourselves and showed our big smiles and we were dumbfounded when that guy started taking pictures of Taj Mahal… yes just the Taj Mahal and not including us in the picture.

What is the scariest travel experience you’ve had?

My most scary trip happened when I was backpacking in China. I was on my way from Kangding to Xiangcheng in Southwest China (by public bus)and we were traversing the mountains and in one area the fog was so thick. Our driver continued driving but a little slower that time when a truck just suddenly appeared in front of us, he tried to steer away and I really thought that we’re going to fall off the cliff. Luckily, he was able to think fast and hit on the brakes real hard. Fortunately, no one was harmed nor badly injured. But it surely kept everyone awake the entire trip.

What 3 tips would you give a new traveller before they set off on their adventure?

• Kindly respect local culture and traditions. I always keep in mind that I am a visitor of the countries that I go to.
• Make some research about a place. The best way to dodge a scam is to be a bit knowledgeable about it. Also if you’re traveling on a tight budget, reading travel forums, blogs and other resources could help you score great deals and save money.
• Be there! I was reminded of this by an old traveler I met in Vientiane. When you travel try to stay present as much as possible and leave your worries behind. Try to interact with locals and fellow travelers. Try to walk and explore other places of interests. Try the local cuisine and learn a few phrases. Enjoy the whole trip, you’ll never know if you’re gonna have another chance to go back to that place again.

 What are your future travel plans?

This year, I’m planning to travel around Southeast Asia again to visit some towns that  I’ve never been to before. I also plan to go to China, Nepal and back to India.

Author Bio:

Flip is a travel blogger from Manila who writes a lot about budget travel tips and off the beaten path destinations in Asia. You can follow his adventure at FlipNomad. You can also follow him on Google +, Facebook and Twitter.

Thanks to Flip AKA Flip Nomad for being the latest in my series of World Travellers! If you travel the world and run a travel blog or are a travel writer, please get in touch, you can be featured (there’s a HUGE waiting list at present), either e-mail jonny (at) dontstopliving (dot) net or head to my contacts page and get connected! You can also subscribe to Don’t Stop Living by filling in the form below! Safe travels!