By AISHA ECHAVEZ

In my years of working as a flight attendant, I really enjoyed—and I still am enjoying—the travel benefits. I’ve been to several capital cities in the world more than once on and off duty.

For most rookie flight attendants, it is a must to visit these places at least once in their careers. Or for tourists, to tick these places at least once off their checklist. I used to be like them until I got a job with a low-cost airline in the Middle East. I then started flying to cities my fellow flight attendants have never
even heard of.

The premium airlines I used to work for allowed me to visit capital cities and go to the must-see touristy places. Taking the road less traveled, however, changed the way I saw the world and I became a rookie traveler once again.

I’ve become more curious of the smaller towns I pass through in between the bigger ones during train rides. Could the smaller tropical islands be as beautiful as the bigger, more well-known ones? Are side trips to the less familiar cities worth considering when planning my trip itinerary?
The answer is yes.

I wonder what hidden gems and heartstopping beautiful nooks and crannies a town can offer. So, city by city, I started exploring whenever I could—Johor Bahru and Tioman Island in Malaysia, Karlovy Vary in Czech Republic, Cappadocia in Turkey, Gudauri in Tblisi, Halstatt and Innsbruck in Austria, Liverpool in the UK, Pokhara in Nepal, and Berat in Albania to name a few.

Every month, flight attendants, including myself, bid for flight destinations for the next month’s roster. My bids mostly consist of places I haven’t been yet. Why do I prefer Astana in Kazakhstan or Yekaterinburg in Russia, for example?

First, when I resign from my job, chances are, I wouldn’t be able to visit these places. Second, from my experience, the locals in these places are nicer to tourists. Lastly, every place has its own unique charm and definitely has something to offer its visitors. I just need to spend more time

Googling and researching where to go, what to do, where to eat. The most recent place I visited when I took the road less traveled was Berat, Albania. It’s a two-hour road trip from the capital, Tirana. I drove there in December of last year with my colleagues from India and Seychelles. We read on Google that the town was famous in Albania because of its wineries, aside from the historical places in the area. Coming from tropical countries, my colleagues and I had forgotten we came in the dead of winter and the wineries were closed as almost nothing was growing in the vineyards. Tourists don’t usually visit the wineries in winter.

When we visited Çobo Winery, it was closed, but the son of the owner graciously gave us a free tour of the grounds. He explained that they didn’t offer wine tasting tours in winter as it would be a waste of wine to open several bottles just for a small group of people. The opened bottles of wine would get spoiled as no other group would come for wine tasting. What he did instead, because we drove all the way from Tirana, was to open a bottle of Kashmer, one of their premium wines for us to taste for free.

We also didn’t go home empty-handed. He gave us wine openers as souvenirs.
When he saw that I admired the lemon tree beside the winery entrance, he told
us we could take as many lemons as we wanted. The best months to visit the winery again, according to him, would be in May and September and we definitely needed to book for an appointment. We weren’t disappointed at all to take another two-hour drive back to the city. The food, sights, and welcoming Albanian locals were memorable. Almost every house that we passed by in Berat had an orange tree and my colleague had a lovely idea to stop by a house and ask the owners if he could take three oranges. Despite not speaking English, the homeowners understood and even gave us a bag to fill with not only oranges from their tree but pomegranates as well!

The spirit of hospitality and generosity is truly alive and well in Berat. This is why I am inclined to visit not only the capital cities but more so the lesser-known townships and countryside. I would like to hope that one day, tourists from the other parts of the Philippines and the world would also take the road less traveled and say the same of my hometown. “Come to Iligan! The people are friendly. It is famous for its waterfalls, cold springs, and— dare I say?—the best lechon in the Philippines.”

Editor’s note: The author, an island girl from Iligan City, Mindanao and cancer survivor, has been a flight attendant in the Middle East since 2005.