Mahal

Cebu 2011 Part 1 – The Trip

The airline tickets for this trip was purchased about six months ago in August 2010, during a seat sale.

It cost us about this much for two round trip tickets (MNL-CEB-MNL):

  • Base Fare: PHP 2,796.00
  • VAT: PHP 339.12
  • Aviation Security Fee: PHP 30.00
  • Web Admin Fee Fee: PHP 224.00
  • World Wide Fund: PHP 240.00
  • Total: PHP 3,629.12

The World Wide Fund item is to offset the carbon footprints for the plane ride 🙂

I know of some people who have gotten their fare for a much lower price – 17 pesos! – but I don’t have their luck and speed when it comes to making online reservations. I also remember regular local airfare costing no lower than 6k roundtrip per person a few years ago, so I know that I’m not getting a bad deal with this price.

A Cord Taxi took us to the airport (this is the name of the new World taxis), and cost only 200 pesos from QC to Pasay. We arrived with a lot of time to spare for our 1515 flight. This despite the fact that I came at noon time from work when I planned to have been home by 10AM. The line at the check-in counters was quite long but we found ways to entertain ourselves ;). We didn’t have much money on us so we decided not to grab any snacks before the flight. I took a few photos with my BB and tweeted them too!

V for Vera!

And the sign pointing to Gate 133

As well as Alfred while waiting to board

NAIA Terminal 3 is a huge place and the waiting areas are spacious and normally very cold. The Gate for our flight was at the ground floor where people from three or four other flights were waiting to board. The place was packed, most of the seats were taken! I guess that’s a good sign for local tourism. The boyfriend played a game on the iPad while I started reading one of the books I brought with me for the trip – Can You Keep a Secret?. I didn’t get too far with reading though – I ended up taking a nap until boarding time 🙂

Since we were at the ground floor, I’d already expected to walk to the plane on the ground rather than through a tube. We actually had to board a shuttle that took us to where our plane was:

While waiting for the rest of the passengers to board the back bus, I snapped a few more photos 🙂

And this was the plane that took us to Mactan, safely:

Although boarding was on time, takeoff was delayed a bit. There was a lot of traffic at the runway. I wasn’t surprised, seeing that our flight was rescheduled a week or two earlier. It was supposed to be the noon flight but was pushed back by three hours.

It was a full flight and all seats were taken. There were a few babies too although I didn’t notice them cry so much because of the pressure on my ears. I thought I was going to endure the pain and get a migraine on my first night in Cebu, until I remembered I could always do the diver’s equalizing trick to relieve my ears of that pressure! I had to do it a few times until after arriving in Cebu, but it was well worth it.

It was a smooth flight, except for the boyfriend spilling his orange juice all over both our legs (yes it was Minute Maid, no I did not win the blog contest :(). Oh, a tip when you’re taking Cebu Pacific on budget airfare – bring your own drinks. The drinks that normally cost 20 pesos at your corner grocery store is sold at 50 pesos! Since it’s a short flight anyway, just drink lots of water before the flight and you’ll be packed until touchdown.

I’ve always commented how we don’t have a lot of photos together, so while on the plane, we took a few goofy ones! haha 🙂

From Mactan International Airport, we took a metered taxi to the hotel. It probably took 15-20 minutes and the fare was about 300 pesos, I felt that that was too high compared to what we had to pay from QC to Pasay, but what the heck.

So that’s part 1 of our Cebu trip. Stay tuned for the next one 🙂

I Am Thankful

I may not have the best job in the world (and I say this only because it’s WORK, and not because I don’t really like it), and I certainly don’t have everything I want. But this one’s for sure: I have much to be thankful for.

I have always said that I had a wonderful childhood. I grew up with a loving family around me – a big one at that. There may only be mom, dad, and my big brother in this small unit, but there was never a lack of aunts, uncles, grandparents, and cousins as I was growing up. I also had lots of opportunities to be a kid and to discover who I was going to be. For that, I will always be grateful to my parents. And I will always thank God for choosing them for me 🙂

I will have to admit, I don’t always look forward to going to work. Everyday I wake up and know I have to go, so I do. But when I get there already and I start working – I do it without grudging. After all, no one is forcing me to be there. And truth be told, I love what I do. I love that the work challenges me until I sometimes become frustrated. The stress that comes with the job? I welcome it too. Yes, I would still choose to stay home and bake and blog all day if it can pay for all my bills, but that doesn’t mean I hate what I do now. I don’t. Whenever I pray, I say thanks for the job that I have, and the opportunity to work with a lot of people on a daily basis.

I am not at my healthiest – I think I was there maybe six or so months ago – but cheers to health and well-being!  Tons of self-discipline and one big lifestyle change is what I need. Thank you in advance for the healthy mind and body that I know I will someday achieve. Someday soon I hope. 🙂

Thank you for another year to do all that we didn’t do in years before. Isn’t it great that we are given the chance to live our lives a day at a time, and a new year offers so many possibilities. This year, we hope to do more, and be more. And let me say that I am thankful to have the boyfriend to continue with this journey. 🙂

There’s so much more I should be thankful for and it will bore you to pieces to read all about it. So let me just sum up by saying THANK YOU for being in my life. You may be a passing stranger who happened to read my blog or a very dear personal friend who just likes stalking my blogs, all the same, your visits are appreciated and your comments are most welcome ;).

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Prayers Needed

Alfred is currently in Bicol – Jose Panganiban town to be specific, in Camarines Norte. Unlike other times that he visited his grandmother there though, he considers this the worst time. His lola is probably around 88 years old already, and very frail. They are there to spend some time with her, and perhaps, see her alive for the last time.

The boyfriend was pretty close to his lola. She lived with them for many years, and he even had to share his room with her. So I understand how this is very hard for him. His Lola has been sickly, and I’ve urged him to go visit her since last month but he refuses to go. I think staying away was his way to deny the possibility that she might go very soon.

He sent me a message today saying that he’s finally come to terms with the inevitable. Of course, we all continue to pray for longer life for his Lola, but whatever God wills…

It is sad that I still have not met Lola, although we have talked about her a lot, and she’s asked for me over the years too. We always said that this year would be the year I’d get to visit her. Unfortunately, I decided to move to a new job and going on an extended leave just isn’t possible for me at this point. So the boyfriend left with his brother yesterday, without me.

But I don’t need to be there to pray for her, and to send her virtual hugs and warm thoughts. You could too. Pray for her well-being and we’ll forever thank you for doing so. While you’re at it, pray for their entire family too.

(more…)

Happy Lunch!

Abe at the Trinoma Mall is easily becoming one of our favorite restaurants to dine in. And this Pako Salad has become a staple of our meals there, it is yummy and healthy for you, plus it brings back memories of short but fun summer in Baler. 🙂

Anyway, on this particular afternoon of October 15th, we had salad, pork sinigang, and binukadkad na pla-pla (fish). I took a few more photos but don’t have time to edit just now… That was a LOT of food and we were both sooooo full by the end of the meal. We were done eating but couldn’t get up just yet, so we stayed to talk for awhile – specifically about eating TOO much, ALL the time together.

Me: If you weren’t my boyfriend, siguro hindi ako lumaki ng ganito (I wouldn’t gave grown THIS huge)

Him: Hindi ka naman masaya (but you wouldn’t be happy)

Both of us: Heaps of laughter!

So true! 🙂

Cooking Master Badodong

I’m not the only one who’s been working around the kitchen. Alfred’s been helping me out. On top of that, he’s also been cooking up our lunches.

First was the Afritada. Next came Chicken Curry. His latest? Chicken Kaldereta.

We didn’t meant for them to all be chicken dishes, it just happened that way. 🙂

He’s been cooking a lot this past two months. It used to just be for my SBD meals, but we continued on to food we could both share. He’s cooked shrimps, tilapia, and veggies too. Sadly, we’re both very hungry by the time I get home that we don’t get to snap photos of his culinary experiments.

Just thought I’d share 🙂

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