In high school, I’m one of those kids who doesn’t get the luxury of having new bags every start of the school year. While my classmates brag and exhibit their “In” pop-swatch bags, less fortunate kids like me can only salivate admiring the oversized wall clock adorned backpack. Which in retrospect, was so retarded!

A hand-me-down yellow ”MR. FLYER” school bag, 1987
In the 90′s, there were only two kinds of school bags, Jansport and everything else. Thanks to the ever so believable Gwapings who pretty much capitalized the culture of my generation. …

HO-Kay! I’m not really a gadget and gizmo guy when I travel. Like what we always say, we travel bringing only necessary things and try to pack as light as we could. We bring light fabric clothes or buy cheap shirts when we get to our destination and leave it behind on our departure. The DSLR is bulky enough so there’s really no room for a laptop or some star trek-ish mobile phone with portable skate board-sort of thing.
For so many years, I have been using a jurassic era phone, …

Hidalgo is the “Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory” for photography enthusiasts, shrouded with street vendors selling all sorts of knickknacks ranging from dvd’s, delicacies and vegetables to nonsensical bagatelles. Its texture, colors and even smell is so rich and chaotic even the tubattaha reef will be upstaged. Nested in the middle of Manila’s core of oddities—Quiapo. Here you can get DSLR’s, point-and-shoot and every imaginable photography accessories at a rock bottom price. Malls are selling the same items at a more expensive amount, I mean 150% marked up as compared to the …

Christmas is here, so what’s the best way to celebrate this joyous season than through love and giving, right?. So here’s our OFFICIAL HOLIDAY 2009 BACKPACKER’S WISH LIST:
hahaha
Ron’s Wish list

1. The perfect Narrow brimmed straw hat. This one may seem easy to find, but I’m telling you, I can’t find the one for me, I want it unembellished, narrow brimmed, soft and a bit ragged. now tell me where to find it.
2. Vacuum storage bags. I want to carry less baggage as much as possible. Who wouldn’t?
3. Victorinox Travel wallet (sling …

we ultimately believe in providence
and this is the answer to our blog a month ago
http://flipntravels.wordpress.com/2009/07/26/calling-sponsors/
ladies, gentlemen (and everything in between)
presenting…
“THE” BACKPACK
I got the Terra 60, Marco. I named it after the historically popular explorer.
Monette got the Terra 40, baptized as Dora, named after another famous, well.. ex(gulp)plorer

CAVE BLACK NORTH FACE TERRA
“the 77 cm x 35 cm x 22 cm piece of heaven”
Here’s a quick rundown of the reasons why we are so loving this: Sabre 6, 420D rip stop nylon, High-volume capacity, Easy-to-use adjustable Opti-Fit suspension strap, Verti-Cool back panel …

Disclaimer: this is for travelers who cannot live through going out of town/country without the presence of electronics. Personally, we’d rather fly with less wires. We’re more of a Tom Sawyer rather than 007.

Portable hard drive – it may be a bit tasky to bring your portable hard drive but it is a lifesaver. Compared to bringing a laptop, it is much more convenient. It is a magic hat where you can store hundreds, no thousands of pictures, music and even videos. If you are like me (this is …

OK.. KAPALAN NA NG MUKHA!
Monette and I are both dying to buy this fabulously glorious  bag that we want need to use as our official backpack for all our travels going forward.
*queue choir of angels

THE CHARCOAL GRAY NORTH FACE TERRA 45 & 60!
(45 for Monette and 60 for me!)
Every time we pass by the malls, we are like kids in front of a candy store, pressing our noses against the glass window, mouth open, teary eyed, with a solo violin playing in the back ground! Dreamily looking at those 77 …