Traveling, for award-winning actor Piolo Pascual, is “transformative.”

“Traveling is what keeps me grounded because when you’re incognito, when you’re abroad and no one knows you, it humbles you,” he said at early this week’s launch of Esquire Philippines’ April issue, on which he is on the cover.

“Because of traveling, I realize the value of self-worth, of being independent, but at the same time, you have to be responsible. Because in the Philippines, yes, they say everyone knows you. But because of traveling, I get to know myself better… so that way, it’s transformative.”

Piolo has always been a person who is in constant transit.

“Growing up, I wanted to become a pilot. When I was in college, I wanted to take up… engineering. I wanted to (work on) cars). I also wanted to become a newscaster. I wanted to become a journalist… I don’t want to give up on myself. I just want to keep on growing, exploring.”

Among the most favorite places Piolo would consider to go back to anytime are Amman and Petra in Jordan.

“I like ancient civilizations. I like studying about history and culture.”

Of course, as a proud Filipino, Piolo feels most at home in travel destinations in the Philippines.

“And the second one would be El Nido, Palawan. That’s my top of mind in the Philippines… I always look forward to coming home because I want to visit El Nido for some reason because it’s island living. It’s quaint. And it’s very laidback. I like the limestone cliffs, the island tours, I like the whole vibe of the place.”

Batangas, where he lives, is also his “happy place.”

“It’s like being on vacation in your home. You’re actually living in your vacation home.”

As for places he would like to visit, these include Russia, Antarctica and some parts of Africa. “I’d like to do the safari tours also,” he declared.

As for his travel tips, these include:

“Try to blend and always be aware of everything around you… Don’t let yourself be seen as a tourist because that would make you an easy bait for the bad people.”

When booking accommodations: “Look for different options. Don’t splurge. You have to be frugal and practical.”

“Stay in places with better options in accommodations.”

“Buy what you can’t bring.”

“Go for discounted tours… I’m not a stingy person. When I treat my family, of course, we make sure that we have the best room, we did the best tour, but of course, there are times when you have to be practical where you would stay, what you can hire and where you can go, so if you could go for discounts in all those tours as well.”

“Cook if you could in an Airbnb.”

Do your laundry: “I look for a house where we could do our laundry. Since I do a lot of jobs, my sister and I always look for accommodations with a washer. Since you always pack light, you always have to wash your clothes… when you go to another country, do your laundry again.”

“Look only for things that you need. That’s important because we bring in so much and you also have to pay extra for your luggage. But if you find things that you don’t need, then that’s being impractical. It’s just going to be waste.”

“You just really have to pack light.”

He once rented an Airbnb in Florence for two months. “I just make sure we have a base for two months, for eight weeks, and then the rest of the time, we did everything without plans. I just made sure we had a place where we parked our bags… I’m very spontaneous when I go to a place. I plan or I just decide when I get there.”

Now that prices of commodities are high, he said, he’d happily give up using cars.

“Tatakbo na lang ako, magbabike to save time and money pa (I’d rather run or ride the bike to save on both time and money).”

Since the cover shoot was in Dubai, his message to his Filipino kababayans in the Middle East, as a former overseas Filipino worker himself, is: “We could only pray because we don’t have too many options. We just have to pray that this too would pass. Just pray for peace.”