Making Travel Dreams Happen NOW

"Go for it now. The future is promised to no one."

~ Wayne Dyer

Last September 11, 2010, we launched a new travel club called ClubTravelNOW!^TM With the enchanted Coron Island in Palawan as backdrop, I and my Travel Buddy Pao launched it with a total of 46 other awesome friends. Prior to the launch, we had been travelling regularly with friends, until we decided to finally formalize it and put up the club.

Why ClubTravelNOW!^TM? Here is our manifesto of what the club is about:

ClubTravelNOW!^TM is a FAMILY!

Mekeni: The Pampanga Food Trip (October 16, 2010)

We are a community of travellers who love to travel together! Love of Travel - that's our common denominator, the bond that glues us together, the magic that makes us wander away - but always together. We are Like attracting Like. Our goal is to cultivate a circle of travellers who are very close to each other, who have wonderful relationships with each other, who look out for one another, and who loves to be with each other on many travels. Yes, exactly, a FAMILY!

ClubTravelNOW!^TM is TOURISM with a HEART!

At the Children's Chance for Tomorrow Foundation: Coron, Palawan (Sept. 11, 2010)

We make travel our business, but we want a business with heart: making meaning as Guy Kawasaki would put it. We want to be better travelers, and we want to help cultivate better travel through an advocacy for better tourism standards in the Philippines, better tourism promotions, and responsible tourism. We encourage teamwork and community, and we want to promote social contribution to the places we travel to. We don't want travel to be an adventure that takes more than it gives, but we want travel to be a blessed exercise both for the traveller and the travelled-places. WIN-WIN, that's the word. Tourism should always be WIN-WIN.

ClubTravelNOW!^TM is a PHILOSOPHY!

A spontaneous roadtrip from Manila-Bicol-Samar-Leyte-Cebu (Sept. 15, 2010)

It is about a belief in making things happen right NOW, about seizing the day! Carpe Diem! There is no better time to live your dreams than NOW. And yes, that applies to your travel dreams, as well as other aspirations in life. :) It is NOT about WAITING, but MAKING THINGS HAPPEN. It is about a SENSE of URGENCY in the need to travel, it is about travel as a VITAL part of life, of truly LIVING LIFE to the FULLEST, of making each day count. ClubTravelNOW!^TM is about LIVING DELIBERATELY; it is not just a way of travelling, but a WAY of LIVING.

I entitled this piece as 'Making Travel Dreams Happen NOW', but in that equation, there is a part that ClubTravelNOW!^TM provides - which is setting up the venue, a community and mechanism to making your travel dreams happen. The NOW part - the seizing the day part - well that's a decision only you can take.

Will you make it happen? 

We'd like you to be a part of ClubTravelNOW!^TM To become a member of ClubTravelNOW!^TM, all you have to do is join any one of our future trips. After that, you're automatically a member and then you get to enjoy discounts and privileges we offer only to members on future trips.

All the balloons you want: Sto. Nino Shrine, Cebu (September 17, 2010).

To know more about ClubTravelNOW!^TM, visit our website:
http://www.clubtravelnow.org

Also, please Like our Facebook Fan Page:
http://www.facebook.com/clubtravelnow

Check out our Photos there.

You can also join our Facebook Group:
ClubTravelNOW@groups.facebook.com

And, follow us on Twitter:
http://www.twitter.com/clubtravelnow

Here's a rundown of our upcoming trips for 2011:

April 9 : Mt. Pinatubo + Pampanga Food Trip
April 16-17: Mt. Pulag: Adventures Above the Clouds
April 30 : Dagupan City Bangus Festival Food Tour
May 2-3 : Hundred Islands, Pangasinan Tour
May 14-15 : Pahiyas Festival, Lucban, Quezon
May 26-29 : Breathtaking Batanes Tour
June 4-6 : Lake Sebu, General Santos
June 11-12 : Mt. Pulag: Adventures Above the Clouds
Aug. 27-28 : Mt. Pulag: Adventures Above the Clouds
Sept. 10-13: El Nido Palawan (or Bohol)
Oct. 29-30 : Mt. Pulag: Adventures Above the Clouds
Nov. 26-19 : Vietnam/Cambodia

This list is incomplete, as there are other trips we come up with based on members' requests; others are spontaneous, as we like to live in the moment. :)

To join our upcoming tours, email us at travelbuddies@clubtravelnow.org.
You may also call or text these numbers: 0917.246.9888 (Tristan) / 0917.663.8888 (Pao)
If you'd like to be part of our mailing list, send us an email with subject 'Subscribe.'

Book Recommendations:
Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel
1,000 Places to See Before You Die, updated ed. (2010) (1,000 Before You Die)
The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment