I want to take this time to thank the Pista ng Mapa and State of the Map Asia 2022 event’s primary organizers for selecting me as one of their grantees to attend this huge event. Attending Pista ng Mapa and State of the Map Asia 2022 last week was the first five-day open conference I had experienced. It is a great privilege to join this mapping event where mapping professionals, volunteers, students, and presenters from all over the world emphasized the significance of open maps, open data, and open source in today’s technological growth. In addition, this gave us an opportunity to share our knowledge during the session about Collaborative Mapping for the Community along with my colleagues, and I cannot help myself expressing immense pleasure to be a part as participant of the lightning talk in the mega event. As I attended these conferences, what piqued my interest is when Mr. John Louie Fabila’s efforts in developing 3D animated maps utilizing QGIS Temporal Controller For Communicating Hazard Data and about the Project Noah on How Open Data are Utilized for Disaster Risk Reduction and Mitigation in the Philippines by Janice Carpo-Aldea and Kenneth Liporadato as they promote greater interactions among people. Indeed, every person you meet knows something you don’t, so learn from them as what H. Jackson Brown said. So meeting new people was one of the best features of the conference since I appreciated hearing about their experiences and mapping interests. I was amazed by the individuals I met and their commitment to promoting free and open source. I learned a lot from experience and can use it in my chosen field. This experience of attending the PnMxSotMA2022 Conference in Legazpi, Albay, will become an invaluable treasure of memory to be cherished in my life. I am looking forward to meeting you again in PnMxSotMA2023! Was it worth it all? Yes, it was.