#RoadTripperMonday – a weekly feature of our very own Road Tripper.
Today, let’s get to know one adventurous Road Tripper – Jonathan Roque.
met Jonathan back in 2014 when we organized a road trip to the beautiful island of Palaui. Since that time, Jonathan has joined 10 road trips with us. Now, that is the ultimate #Kaladkarin! A seemingly quiet and shy person but with a talent for taking photographs. If you get a chance to travel or meet with him, ask him about his insane baking skills. Haha!
Thanks Jonathan for allowing us to get a glimpse of your life. You rock!
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1. What do you do for a living?
I am an accountant for a real estate company.
2. What is one of your guilty pleasures?
I love having a 2 hour deep tissue or shiatsu massage followed by relaxing in a hot sauna.
3. What is the title of the movie of your life?
It depends on if the title of the movie of my life is either:
1. An already existing movie title that embodies who I am.
2. A self-made description of a movie that would accurately describe who I am as a person. Since I am assuming it’s the first, it would have to be the “The Wrestler.” The character Mickey Rourke plays in the film (warning: minor spoiler alert) shows such an absolute dedication and zealous passion towards his craft. I can relate to having that level of dedication and passion in my own hobbies and interests.
4. If you could go back in time what would you tell your 16 year old self?
Don’t be afraid of failure and learn to quit at the right time.
5. If you can be teleported anywhere around the world, where would it be and why?
Anywhere beside Blanch Gutierrez hihi. Anyway, seriously, I would have to say it would be the country of Bhutan though of course with Blanch Gutierrez beside me. For those that don’t know (or are too lazy to Google this), Bhutan is a land locked country in between China and India. It’s known as a land possessing Buddhist monasteries, large fortresses, and amazing scenery consisting of sub-tropical plains along with majestic mountains and verdant valleys. For this reason, the country is often called “the last Shangri-La.” The country only recently opened up to tourism starting in the 1960s so the culture is relatively unspoiled. Bhutan also has several mountains with unclimbed peaks along with many class IV and V whitewater rapids for adventure seekers. With the amazing scenery, unspoiled and unique culture, and the opportunity for adventure, I would absolutely love to go to Bhutan.
6. Which celebrity would you go on a “one-night-only-date” with?
It would definitely have to be Rachel Weisz. I have had an enormous crush on her since I first saw her in the movie, “The Mummy.”
7. You, unfortunately have been condemned to die, but fortunately, you get to have any meal in the world before you go. What is your menu?
This depends on whether I am craving for comfort food or decide to go for a gourmet meal.
If it is comfort food, I would probably pick a meal consisting of beef and cheese nachos, mozzarella cheese sticks, pizza, fried chicken, and New York style cheesecake with Coke as my beverage.
If it is a gourmet meal, the appetizer would be French onion soup with melted Gruyère cheese. The meat entrée would be genuine Kobe beef steak cooked medium topped with crispy beef brisket and served with a porcini mushroom risotto. The fish entrée would be fresh Chilean sea bass topped with pan seared foie gras served along with a potato gratin topped with truffle oil and Maldon sea salt. The dessert would be a chocolate souffle. Paired with a well-aged, excellent vintage bottle of both (I couldn’t pick just one) a wine and single malt scotch.
8. If you could trade places with anyone right now, for a week, who would it be and why?
It would have to be Anthony Bourdain. He’s a chef that currently hosts a series of adventure and culinary programs on television. I would love to travel around the world experiencing new cultures and cuisines while getting paid for it.
9. What is the best present you ever received?
The best presents not only show that you love and care for a person but you know the person better than he or she knows himself or herself. The best present I have ever received was a Nikon D80 DSLR camera from my dad. If you were to know me well, I am not an artistically inclined person. After I received that gift, I finally found an artistic outlet in photography when I originally thought I would never find one.
10. If you could meet a famous or not so famous person, who would that be and why?
It would have to be Ronda Rousey. I admire her for amazing performance and excellence in the field of mixed martial arts. As an outstanding performer in her field, I would love to interview her to learn if the way she approaches her craft and sees the world could be applied to other domains to improve performance.
11. How old should a person start traveling?
This is a tricky question to answer depending on what you mean by traveling since I actually believe people are always traveling. Even if we’re all standing still, we all are still traveling through the journey called life (said in my best Neil deGrasse Tyson imitation voice).
However, if you are talking about travel around the world, I believe that a person should start traveling as early as possible. I see no other better way to learn about the world and to grow as a person.
12. What is your best experience in traveling/living in the Philippines?
If I was asked this question earlier this year, I would have absolutely said El Nido, Palawan. Right now though, I would have to say my best experience traveling so far in the Philippines would be when I went on Experience Philippines Random Road Trip #14: Albay.
13. In one sentence, how would you like people to remember you?
I want to be remembered as someone who never discovered all the answers but remained forever curious and always exploring.
