At twenty-four, Carissa (Issa) boarded her first flight to Dubai on a tourist visa, chasing work and a sense of direction. While with an international pharmaceutical firm, a trip to Petra, Jordan, changed everything: a donkey ride through its canyons sparked a lasting hunger for exploration. In El Nido, Palawan, that spark became resolve. She chose to stay and uncover the beauty and stories of the Philippines’ 7,000+ islands. Back home, she turned her blogging hobby into a career in copywriting and SEO, later co-founding a travel website that amplifies fellow travelers’ voices while writing for local magazines and ghostwriting for businesses. Rooted in Camiguin and Albay, raised in Manila, and now based in Cebu, Issa explores, sometimes solo, often with her kid, and sometimes with her big, boisterous families, chronicling each journey with humor and reflection as she rediscovers home, one trip at a time.