My passion for travel began in college. As my budget solely depended on travel scholarships and financial aid, I always stuck to backpacking. Entering the luxury travel business now, I find myself at times awestruck at the world of spas, resorts and luxury hotels a college graduate like myself once only dreamed of!

My first experience at a resort wasn’t really at a resort at all. It was from the window of my room in a small motel for scuba divers on Mactan Island, Philippines, just off the coast of Cebu Island. The Hilton Cebu Resort and Spa could have been the tallest structure on Mactan Island. It stood as a tall, pink frosted building on the tip of the island, just basking there in the sun. While I was appreciating anything my $10-$20 a night budget could provide, I couldn’t help but stare at this isolated pink world with its own private beach every day. Their sand was whiter. Their water was clearer. Their palm trees were more lush and green. At night, I couldn’t ignore the long pier, illuminated with lanterns leading to a restaurant sitting on the water with floor-to-ceiling windows.

Luxury! The idea of it haunted me every night as I lay in my creaky cot, gazing out the window. My cousins, who traveled and dove with me in the Philippines, were also low-budget travelers who appreciated the local life of the islands and enjoyed supporting the smaller, locally run businesses. On this particular night, however, we could not resist. In the “finest” backpacking attire we could find, we strolled through the breathtaking fantasy of a lobby, calling each other by names we felt better resembled a luxury traveler than our own and taking pictures of ourselves posing in ways we felt looked “natural” in this setting. We didn’t fool anyone.

My view from the motel window did not lie to me. The sand was better. The water was clearer. Even the palm trees seemed happier. Fortunately, our budgets did allow one night of splurging at the restaurant on the pier. We sat on the balcony of the top floor of the restaurant, which mimicked the sensation of standing on the bow of a large ship. We could see our motel from the pier and we waved. To me, this was luxury: indulging in whatever we could afford, enjoying life and knowing exactly where we came from!

-Courtney Centeno, account executive