Quenching Wanderlust with Destination Getaways

This generation loves to travel. May it be to an exotic place, a popular destination, or even a quick road trip to Tagaytay, this generation’s wanderlust is simply insatiable. The desire to go places has been so great that some people have turned their life’s passion into what they do for a living. This can be said for power couple Paolo Roces and Mia Geronimo. The couple, who I have been friends with since our grade school days in Colegio San Agustin, Makati, has turned this whimsical dream intro reality through Destination Getaways, a modern day travel agency which helps travelers make the most out of every adventure without spending much.

Destination Getaways was a serendipitous instance for the two well-traveled individuals, “Just like for most people, traveling started as hobby. We were both always curious, always thirsty to discover something new and just discover new places.” This lust for life has led to a passionate attention to the details of their travels because they simply wanted to make the most of each moment. Mia recalls, “Planning trips have always been a stress-relieving activity for me and eventually people close to us started noticing already and started asking for our help in terms of travel tips and whatnot.”

This passion turned into a business in 2014 when Mia, a graduate of the University of the Philippines and a former pre-school teacher decided to take a break from teaching. Pao, who graduated from the University of Sto. Tomas and has four Elorde branches under his belt, then spontaneously invited her to a travel agency seminar, which he believed they would both enjoy, “I knew Mia needed a breather so we just attended the seminar out of curiosity.” Before they knew it, everything was already in the works for them, “Everything went by so fast that we knew the opportunity was personally handed to us as if God really wanted us to nurture the opportunity and take care of this ‘baby’”.

What makes Destination Getaways set apart from the rest is the fact that it has this desire to help people find what it is that makes them “feel happy to be alive” and for them, more than earning, what makes their business fulfilling is the fact that they can “connect their clients with authentic and life-changing experiences as they travel in the best and most convenient way we laid out for them.” For them it’s all about experiences, “Traveling easily makes anyone a storyteller and what better way to make the world a better place by telling more beautiful stories about it?”

And when asked what it’s like to work with each other, especially since they have been together for ten years (I really believe they’re gifted with superhuman powers), “We both influence each other to live to be inspired and to be inspired to live. We dream together, we pray for our dreams together, we pursue our dreams together. We are each other’s best mentors and best critics and hold on to being the best versions of ourselves to able to share it with the world.”