My Georgia Travelogue :) (Part 3)

Since early this year, I was thinking of travelling solo, atleast once in my life. I will be turning 40 this year, so I wanted to do it and push myself out of my comfort zone by travelling without a family member or a friend with me. I couldn’t decide which would be the perfect city for this pursuit, a few cities on my list were:

(i) Seoul (I travelled to Seoul once, in 2011, has become an instant favorite since then, so I know I need to go back, as soon as possible), (ii) Tokyo (I have been to Osaka, Kyoto, Nara – so my next target city is Tokyo), (iii) Singapore (I had a 2 day trip to Singapore in 2010, since it was so short of a visit, I wanted to go back to explore more and create better memories), (iv) Taipei (I haven’t been to Taipei but I was told that it would be ideal for a solo trip and “milk tea hopping” :)), (v) Hong Kong (I haven’t been to Hong Kong, so I also wanted to check it out atleast once in my lifetime).

As you can see, my list only included nearby Asian countries from the Philippines because of budget reasons. I have also considered travelling within the country, either to visit El Nido or Siargao for the first time, or to go back to Boracay. I have travelled to Europe for 2 consecutive years so I have to start saving up again and keep myself from going back to Europe so soon! 😛 But if budget is not an issue, my ideal destination for this solo trip or any other trip is Europe, always Europe. 🙂

My plan is to travel solo either before I turn 40 or shortly after my birthday. Little did I know that God has other plans, much better than my plan, as always, as usual. 🙂

The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps.
Proverbs 16:9

In late April, my boss asked me to join him to his business trip to Tbilisi, Georgia. You may check out the amazing back story from this post. 🙂

So it happened, my first ever business trip, God’s answer to my prayer, was in Georgia – Georgia is a small country in the Southern Caucasus, in between the two of my favorite continents, Europe and Asia — “Eurasia.” Such a sweet, unimaginable treat from Above! How amazing is that? 😉 Just how awesome and great our God is!! 🙂

a simple souvenir which was taken on our way to the historical monuments of Mtskheta, an hour trip outside Tbilisi

He has answered my prayer to experience going on mission atleast once in my ADB lifetime, He also answered my prayer to experience travelling solo. Oh well, not exactly solo, because I travelled with my boss, but since he is not a family member or a close friend, (but definitely a very dear boss not only to me but to many of us, a wonderful family man, a beautiful person), I considered this as my first ever solo travel experience, which makes it very special. I experienced flying on business class for the very first time, I stayed for almost a week in a very beautiful hotel, I loved my room soooo much, the view was perfect, the food was so delish, the service was great, all the meetings and arrangements went well, so it was a perfect experience for me. All praises and thanksgiving to our great God!!

Being on a solo trip, I barely had photos of me, so what I had were mostly random “mirror selfies” and “shoefies” or what I call as “I was here” photos. 🙂

But let me share with you some photos of my room first.

I love all things vintage [insert heart here]
I’ve used the phone several times 🙂

“ryahfied” the part of the bathroom as well ;P

yes to refillable shampoo/conditioner/liquid body soap! good job, Rooms Hotel!

Here are my “mirror selfies” just to document my OOTDs 😛

While the Welcome Cocktails was ongoing on 29 May, I was able to explore a nearby “boutique”. It is basically walking distance from the cocktails venue.

This “unique” boutique or concept store is called “Chaos.” It has a cafe/bar inside but no one was there, if someone was manning it, I would have probably bought a cup of coffee there and had my own little fika. 🙂 Next to the cafe/bar, there was a retail shop, there were some interesting pieces of clothing, shoes and accessories.

One of my fave things to do while travelling is checking out quaint, beautiful, interesting cafes and shops. So it was such a sweet treat to find something unexpected just a few steps from where we’re having the welcome cocktails. 🙂

Lookie, found my country’s name on this bench 🙂

Hope you enjoyed this mini-travelogue of my first ever business trip/solo travel experience. Definitely, one for the books! 😀 I’ll have one more travelogue post to wrap up and that will be it. Please stay tuned! 😉