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c h i k k a
w a n d e r l u s t
3
DOUBLE YOUR
ESSENTIALS
Bring an extra phone just in case yours gets lost or
damaged, and a battery pack for your gadgets.
4
BRING A RAINCOAT
I was at Mount Putuo, Putuo Town in
Zhoushan, China for my annual spiritual trip. I was
going from temple to temple in the middle of the
mountains when a thunderstorm hit. I got soaked
and was wet for almost the whole day. The sudden
drop in temperature gave me a fever.
5
SUIT UP
Always bring one set of of smart clothes, like a
casual suit — you never know when you’ll need to
bust out the dapper look for a night on the town.
6
MAKE COPIES
Take photos of your itinerary and government-
issued IDs on your cellphone.
7
JUST GO AHEAD
If you plan to travel with friends and flights are
involved — and you know they have trouble waking
up or take forever to get ready — my advice is to
meet them at the airport. We were traveling for our
Boys’ Night Out
nationwide tour and Sam YG made
us miss two flights in two days! He ended up having
to pay for my flight.
8
DO YOUR RESEARCH
Be open-minded with a country’s customs and
practices. I went to Tamil Nadu in India to find out
more about this Nadi reading. “Nadi” means “in
search of”, a collective name given to palm leaves
and manuscripts by ancient sages. I also found out
that a few temples didn’t allow footwear, so we
had to go barefoot. Walking the grounds of a huge
temple felt like walking in a wet market.
9
TURN TO A
TRANSLATOR
If you have an LG phone, you can download
the Quick Translator application. I’m sure other
smartphones have their own apps too.
10
GET PROPER
FOOTWEAR
Wear diving boots or anything to protect your feet
if you’re thinking of snorkeling. I was shooting
the first episode of my local travel show,
Where’s
Tony?
,
when I learned this the hard way and
stepped on a sea urchin while snorkeling.
I believe in the power of visualization so I
look at a picture of this beauty every day
Hanging out with the guys
Certain places like the ancient temple towns
of China just have a calming effect on me
Sometimes you
need to get away to
recharge — mind,
body and spirit
A photo-op always helps to
remember a great vacay
Open up and say ‘aaah!’
