I love getting lost.

There’s so much going on in your head when you have no idea where you are. It might be scary…but at the same time, there are so many doors open to you.

I was lucky enough to have taken a couple weeks off to visit my parents’ as well as my in-laws’ motherlands: Taiwan and the Philippines. And even though I have been back there once before (Taiwan), it had been 25 years since my first and only visit to the little island (in addition to this being my first trip to the Philippine Islands). So you could say much has changed. And that I was plucking myself off the concrete of NYC and into “Oh Sh*t! Where the Hell Am I?!”

As a creative, its always great to get away when you get a chance. I’m not talking about getting away so that you can sit yourself in front of a TV or perhaps go to the beach and soak in the sun. I’m talking about the type of getaway where you leave something familiar and go some place where you’ve never been…where every corner you turn, there’s this feeling that you’re totally lost. Culture shock. It can be frustrating at times and you’ll find yourself outside of your comfort zone more often than you’d like. But at the same time, there’s this feeling of freedom…as in “I’ve never been down this road, so let’s just keep walking and see what’s up ahead” …that type of freedom where no one’s there to tell you that you can’t go there. In the end, it gives you a fresh perspective and a new angle at approaching things. Whether you’re a creative or not, you should at least do this once in your life. Scratch that. Once each year.

Enjoy some of the images I was lucky enough to grab.