This is it.  Plane tickets- check. Luggage-check.  I'm on my way to the airport.  I haven't spent Christmas there for the last 10 years.  You see , I have been away for almost a decade.  I can count the number of times I've been there in one hand.  I'm heading home to go back to my roots and see family.

 I'm happy to have started this sojourn last year when I visited  the islands of Coron, Palawan.  This time I'm heading  Southeast traveling with my college best friend.

They say that " True friends are the ones who never leave your heart, even if they leave your life for awhile.  Even after years apart, you pick up with them right where you left off."   ---I think that's absolutely true!  Zepy of Travel Explore Beyond and I are of kindred spirits.  She has been my high school and college classmate, maid of honor when I got married, and one of my best best friends who  has always been there for me like  a sister.  After graduation, we started working together on a beach house re-design project.  At that time we were oblivious to our passion for adventure.Two years later, we reunited to go backpacking in the rice terraces of Banaue and caves of Sagada - just the two of us with no hotel bookings and no idea what the itinerary was.  This was during my first home visit alone as a Dubai expat.  This life changing trip  triggered our love for travel.  It opened doors to more adventures in both of our immediate futures. Over the years, she has explored every corner of the archipelago and the surrounding countries many times over.

I am so thrilled to have a blogger friend, Helen here today, author of Eat.Enjoy.Live as she shares with us today what gives her utmost joy..

Please don't ask me what my favourite book/author is because I just couldn't answer. I do have the top 5 books I think you should read though.

1. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens.
2. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte.
3. The 5 people you meet in heaven by Mitch Albom.
4. The crimson petal and the white by Michael Faber.
5. The end of Mr Y by Scarlett Thomas.

What is your favourite book?

Thanks Arni for letting me indulge my passion for books.

Don't forget to head over and say hello; Blog, Twitter, Facebook, Bloglovin', Pinterest.

The past decade, I spent all my life looking for that perfect feeling of home. This quest motivated me to start traveling. At a tender age of 4 when I grew fascinated by a book that my Mom gave me, the fire in my heart to leave my country burned so bright.  Somehow, I felt I didn't belong there.  It is a beautiful country to see as a tourist, but at a young age I felt like an alien. I  remember looking up at the night sky wondering if  before we were born,we were given a choice, maybe there was a mistake. There was something missing. So this search for home and peace, wherever that may be, became a distant goal.