this is a backtracking entry: the travel story when we went to the Philippines, which i’m slowly posting in to this journal. it was written on 6 November 2008.
we though it started out well: we woke up on time, aina didn’t fuss when we woke her up at 5:30 in the morning, our cab arrived with no problem… well, we were wrong. as soon as we got to Changi Airport and ready to check in, we realized that we left aina’s stroller at home… ack!
so, at 6:30 in the morning, ari took another cab home and back to the airport, picking up the stroller. thank god that the cab driver was nice and understanding. he tried to drive as fast as he could, and ari made in 5 minutes before the gate closed. we literally ran to the gate with aina in the stroller… whew.
the flight went well and the food was great. aina, who was having cold and runny nose, did well during take-off. she had a bottle of milk to finish. during landing, though, she cried really loud… i guess people were right: landing is more harsh to the stuffed nose than the take-off. it was a four-hour flight, and we think aina did well for her first flight that’s longer than 2 hours.
we arrived at Cebu International Airport around 1PM, and there is barely anyone in the airport. i forgot to arrange the cab from the airport to the hotel, so we kinda had to find it our own. another thing that i forgot is to research about tip! what a stupid mistake: hanging around outside of the airport with big bills, wondering how much we should tip the porter who carried our bag to the cab.
we ended up tipping the porter with our smallest bill: PHP1000!! that’s like giving a $30 tip! what a tourist!
our cab driver couldn’t stop laughing at us. he was nice, though. he explained to us how much we should tip, how much is the price for lunch and dinner, both for the more touristy places or the local ones.
our hotel, Cebu Midtown Hotel, was located right at he heart of Cebu City and on top of a small mall. but at that time, we were too tired to take a walk around and get lunch, so we just ordered room service and ate in.
the hotel supplied us with the cutest looking crib. it’s one of those vintage ones, with light blue color and wooden toys. aina squealed when she saw those colorful toy things on the side of the crib. i soooo want to take the crib home!
after lunch and the loooong nap (i think we woke up around 4-5pm), we took a walk around the mall downstairs. the mall was small, but it was super crowded. it took us half an hour standing in line to pay two bottles of water, where at least there were 5 different people trying to cut line right in front of us… tough shopping crowd, eh?
we were planning to have dinner at the food court downstairs, but aina acted up. i think she didn’t feel comfortable being in such crowded and strange place. so, we ended up eating in our hotel room again.
but aina loved the bath tub! you know, she loves swimming and anything with water. we only have shower at home, so this is the first time she actually played in a bathtub full of water. she kept splashing around and didn’t want to stop!
you know what i like about vacations? we all go to bed before 11PM… today, we all fell asleep at 9:30PM! woohoo!
more photos of the trip: Cebu 2008, Siargao 2008 and Bohol 2008
Philippines trip entries:
– day 1: to Cebu
– day 2: fly to Siargao
1 comment
Hello Thalia!
I came across your blog a few years ago and check in every now and then. I think your artwork is beautiful!! I’m writing to see if we could purchase a license to one of your illustrations for a website – want to email me back? Thanks!
Catherine