Trip of Wonders: Wonderful Indonesia 2016 in a Nutshell

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbfJrT5R36s

 

What will do you if one day, you will receive an invitation to explore a country that you haven’t been to?

[caption id="attachment_4228" align="alignnone" width="800"] Sunrise in Gili Trawangan, GIli Islands., Lombok[/caption]

This happened to me last June (2016). I was invited by Pinneng Muljadi & Gemala Hanafiah-the author of www.WetTraveler.com in behalf of the Ministry of Tourism of Indonesia. I got so excited after I read what the email was all about.

The email stated that I’ll get a chance to travel around Indonesia along with other international bloggers from the 6^th till the 19^th of August. Hooot hoot. When I left Dubai and after my previous backpacking trip around Europe and Australia, I told myself that it is about time to explore Southeast Asia. Although my home country (the Philippines) is part of this region, I haven't really explored it that much in comparison to Europe and North America (so I was really excited!).

After passing all requirements and I was about to announce in all of my social media platforms about this upcoming collaboration with the Ministry of Tourism of Indonesia, I got an email that after I sent my travel documents, they realized that I am holding a Philippine passport. Unfortunately, the invitation (or let me say this specific trip --- I’ll get into this later), was only for Middle Eastern, American and European bloggers, and because of that, it is unfortunate that I will not be able to join the trip. I was a little bit (well more than a bit) sad. I was ready to explore this beautiful land and also I was looking forward to meet bloggers from different countries. The confusion came upon because I am originally an ‘Influential’ based in Dubai (the Middle East)…. still feels weird whenever I call myself as an ‘Infulential’ haha.

Right before I’ll get fully disappointed, the representative from the Ministry of tourism told me that they have a different trip being planned for South East Asian Bloggers. YEY! Let me check again, I am from the Philippines, my passport is from the Philippines and I am currently in the Philippines! YES! I am very much qualified this time.-----------fast forward: after a few weeks, I just came back from this amazing trip!

I can’t be more thankful that I got moved to this batch of bloggers who will visit Indonesia. This easily became one of the best trips that I have ever been (and as you know, if you’ve been following me, I have been to a lot of places). Aside from exploring the wonderful Indonesia, I was able to meet amazing and humble South East Asian Influencers who I considered now as my friends.

For 11 days along with 39 influencers from Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines, we explored the cities of Makassar, Lombok, Banyuwangi and Bandung.

[caption id="attachment_4223" align="alignnone" width="960"] #TripOfWonders Group photo in Makassar (Photo cred: Indonesia.travel)[/caption]

The next few blogs will be a series of stories and retelling of what went down during this wonderful trip. To watch our trip in a Nutshell, check out the video above by clicking in play.

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@kennethsurat

Indonesia.travel