With the pandemic scare easing up, the travel bug's bite has begun to spread as frustrated travelers have broken their Covid shackles with revenge and have plunged head-on to visit favorite shopping, sightseeing, and gastronomic destinations both here and abroad.

A few weeks ago, the bug infected once more a handful of senior citizens' card-bearing adventurers who liken themselves to the Los Viajeros, a handful of wandering Upsilonians who try their mightiest best to regularly travel sans family (or caregivers) to spend a few weeks outside comfort zones to savor the sights, the delights and the eats that the world has to offer while legs and lungs can still function.

I have been fortunate enough to have joined this motley band of fraternity brothers on a few wondrous occasions, the first being a month-long adventure to exotic Brazil several years ago when our spiritual leader, the late Gari Tiongco, laid down the rules that the trip would most certainly not be of the 5-star variety but would be a rough and tumble affair reminiscent of our Diliman days.

Since then, the Los Viajeros have traveled to several disparate destinations such as Russia, Mexico, Nepal and Vietnam. Unfortunately for me, I have not had the stamina to join most of these other trips and so I would typically find myself just listening with gleeful envy to the Viajeros' misadventures during our get-togethers.

With the passing of my wife in 2020 due to Covid-19, I resolved that I would take advantage of every opportunity that would come my way to relish whatever life still has in store for me.

And so after a covid induced hiatus of almost three years, when the Los Viajeros, spearheaded this time around by advertising whiz Tong Puno, announced that Thailand would be our destination this year with New Zealand, God willing, waiting on the wings for 2023, I raised my hands enthusiastically and declared unhesitatingly, count me in!

So off we went to Amazing Thailand, five not-so-hardy geriatrics, but still able and vigorous, most of the time that is. Our first stop was Bangkok, a city I last visited almost four decades ago, which was not exactly a pleasant memory then, as I was unmercifully struck down by a stomach virus due to the traditional extremely spicy Thai cuisine, probably responsible for permanently damaging my digestive system. Upon reaching Bangkok, I was immediately awed by the vast airport that greeted us but also aghast as the reality of the city's reputed nightmarish traffic slowly crept on us.