flashback: march 24, 1998

san jose, costa rica

eleven years ago today was a landmark day, i truly opened my eyes that day. it was the first time that i had traveled abroad. the dot-com newspaper conglolmerate disbanded the company i was working for and i had a little break in work from the other dot-com start-up i was working for.

at the same time, g-thefamilyc had submitted his resignation to bvideo, along with his worker manifesto.

we decided to touch down to costa rica. he had heard great things about it. i was still wet under the ears and had never flown internationally in my adult live.

at that time, g-thefamilyc was already a seasoned traveler. spanning only one week long, the memories filled up my head to the point of near explosion. i still can close my eyes and imagine the rainforest and the beaches.

it got me hooked unto the travel. i still travel for the feeling of coming home to close my eyes and get carried away. eleven years later, i've been to six continents, forty-five countries and countless airports. it seems ever three to four months i'm away.

the above picture doesn't look like much. it just a street in san jose near our hotel, but it was one of the first i took abroad. then i packed just two disposable 35mm cameras. in someways i envy that past.

in two weeks, i go away again. and i have to decide whether to bring a medium format slr with 2 lenses with a 35mm rangefinder 2 more lenses and a point & shoot; or four 35mm cameras (2 rangefinders, one slr, one point & shoot) with 5 lenses. either case i will be packing about 120 rolls of film.

photography gives me a chance to not be that jaded traveler and keep my eyes open towards enlightenment.