St. Augustine once said, “The world is like a book.  Those who don’t travel read only a page.”

Well, if the world was indeed one book, then my featured traveler for this month would already be near the last chapter, if not in the sequel already.  Why?  Simply because he’s been to ALL CONTINENTS, except Antarctica — but even Antarctica isn’t slipping his mind!  He plans to go there, too — hopefully SOON!!!

And that person — June’s featured traveler who will wrap up the first half of my 2012 blog project — is none other than my friend Anthony. 😀

He has been to 25 countries (including the Philippines): four in the Americas (North and South respectively), two in Oceania, one in Africa, four in Europe, and the rest, in Asia.  In fact, two more countries will be added in his list this year as he plans to visit Japan next month AND Burma in September!  Cool, huh?

But before knowing about the African country he has been to, let’s take a look at how his interest in traveling started.  Anthony shared, “My first travel as far as I can remember was in Hong Kong and Shenzhen, China way back in 1994.  It was followed by an American vacation four years after. From 1999 until 2005, my passport was never stamped for several reasons.  First is school, second is — I guess — it’s expensive for me to travel since I’m from Davao, and third, I really never thought of traveling then.

“My addiction to traveling started when I was in college.  During my college days, I was learning a lot about other countries and that made me interested.  The next thing I knew, I was bookmarking travel-related websites here and there!”

And TRAVEL was exactly what he did!  Luckily, our featured continent for this month (Africa) is one of Anthony‘s favorite places.  He said,“Whenever people ask me my top three favorite visited countries, I usually say Brazil, India, and South Africa.  Brazil for the Caipirinha and drinking marathon, India for its food and intact culture, and South Africa for having Cape Town.”

The South African Story

Anthony traveled to South Africa with one of his closest friends named Daby.  “This South African trip was supposed to be with her cousins and siblings but because of certain unbelievable reasons, they all canceled.  If you travel with her, the best thing to bring is a camera.  She drinks thrice of what I can, and the only way to remember events is by checking out the photos the following day.”

Anyway, they both went to two South African cities: Johannesburg and Cape Town.  Anthony recalled, “South Africa geographically is on the southernmost part of the African continent.  For the flight, it took 15 hours (or maybe more) to get to Johannesburg via Hong Kong.  South Africa is the richest country in the whole of Africa.  Its economy is two times larger than the Philippines, so it’s not surprising that 1 South African Rand is equivalent to 6 Philippine Pesos.

“Actually, I find South Africa expensive.  But according to locals, city centers are really expensive and the suburbs are cheaper.”

But between Johannesburg and Cape Town, Anthony felt more drawn to the latter.  He remembered, “Cape Town was really unbelievable.  It’s the best place I’ve been to so far.  I was able to try their food called ‘pumba.’  It’s a warthog and it tasted like baby back ribs, but it’s a little bit expensive.  I also enjoyed our wine tasting tour, but that gave me a hangover after.”

As mentioned earlier, Anthony‘s not yet done with traveling the world.  Aside from Japan and Burma, he has other dream travel destinations.  He admitted, “I actually made a list of countries that I would love to visit.  It’s so long but the ones on top are Nepal, Egypt, Argentina, Peru, and Turkey.”

As for his travel tip, he has only one: “Spend less to see more.”  True that!

All in all, Anthony considers traveling an investment.  “Traveling is where my salary goes.  I invest in it a lot because I think that it’s something that will remain with me for as long as I live.”  Well, I couldn’t agree more!  After all, memories will always be GREATER THAN material things!  Riiight? 😛

So thanks to Ton for “touring” us to South Africa!  And of course, thanks to YOU for reading THIS and my other “Traveler of The Month” features!

As always, KEEP CALM AND TRAVEL ON! 😉

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This post is brought to you by The Lady’s 2012 Blog Project.

You can also check out my other featured travelers HERE.