ABOUT

VIAJERO is the newly found online home of traveler and entrepreneur, Cedric Valera. He is a Managing Partner of Travel Factor, the Philippines’ leading adventure travel company. Through VIAJERO, Cedric aims to share to the world his stories, journeys and misadventures. While this blogger believes in the cathartic power of travel, he also swears by the sand between his toes and the cold bottle in his hand. Already a trying photographer, he is now a beginner blogger. Welcome to VIAJERO.

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SMF2011

Bigger, Badder, Better

Way back in 2006, I mounted a surf event for beginners in San Juan, La Union. It was called “Surf’s Up!” and it was an event of GO! Travel Magazine (R.I.P.). The event was a unique concept then because it was a surf trip specifically for beginners and anybody could sign up. It was also on that particular trip that I met Tikoy and Leia who would later on become my good friends and business partners at Travel Factor. At ...

Red Hot

Red Hot High (Part 1)

Some four years ago, I was in the States backpacking and a random traveler told me he was heading for Texas to watch a Red Hot Chili Peppers concert. I was in Chicago then and I really wanted to just take a train to Texas and watch the concert. I consulted my map and my wallet and realized it was too far from my original itinerary. I boarded the train to Seattle with a heavy heart. Fast forward to 2011. ...

LoveLoveLove FI

Love, Love, Love

I’ve been to Coron about 6 times already and now I realize that the smattering of islands over there in Northern Palawan has got to be one of my favorite places in the Philippines. Limestone cliffs jut out of the sea and stand tall, like a naval blockade protecting its treasures – inland lakes, sandy beach pockets, magical reefs. And Coron never seems to run out of it. For four days we traipsed across the sea in our cozy boat, ...

Vientiane Bus (Photo by AJ Fajardo)

The Road to Vientiane

“Where the hell are we?” That’s what I thought when we broke out of Udon Thani Airport in northeastern Thailand. Sort of a border town between Thailand and Laos, it’s the city we chose to fly into when Air Asia went on a mad sale. I say “sort of a border” because the actual border is about 2 hours away. You see, crazy low cost carrier sales drive us nuts into buying all sorts of tickets. We should have bought ...

VIAJERO DOCUS OBB FI

Come To Marlboro Country

I cannot even recall how many times I’ve been to Sagada but each and every time I go there, I take home with me a new experience. This time around I’m on a Travel Factor trip, observing CONQUER Sagada 2.0. Just as I thought I’ve done everything in Sagada, Kuya Erwin, our main man in Sagada shoves onto my lap a white, live chicken. I clutch her with me until Marlboro Country, our campsite for the night. About an hour ...

JR The Traveler FI

Jose Rizal The Traveler

When the PNOY government announced a June long weekend, we at Travel Factor didn’t waste time in scheduling tours. This 2011 has been a rather tough summer season because almost all the holidays fell on weekends. Couple with that PNOY’s abolition of Gloria’s holiday economics and you got a competitive domestic tourism industry clamoring for extended weekends. We have 7 trips ongoing this weekend all over Luzon. I pray that the arriving tropical depression doesn’t make its presence felt as ...