Vacacion En Grande and Then Some

Its been, what, almost four years that I haven't had a proper vacation. By proper vacation, I mean a weeklong, mindless, carefree, aimless wandering and doing nothing but living a pig's life (buhay baboy ^_^ of eating, drinking and sleeping round the clock) vacation. The last time I did that was back in 2002, right after graduating from college. It's been that long!

I've had mini vacations here and there. There are the annual summer/birthday celebration (most of my family members, including yours truly are summer babies, so we tend to tend to hold the birthday celebration together with the summer outings that we do. Actually, I can count in my hands the number of birthdays I didn't spent inside a pool or by a pool) jaunts to Laguna where everyone goes to for a quick dip in the pool if you don't have one of your own, which is the prevalent status quo in this country of ours *rainbow eyes*. Then there was this trip to Nagcarlan, Laguna, courtesy of Pet/PJ/Riasan, where I, together with JT, got a taste of our very own version of a Simple Life. No, we didn't get to milk cows or any other bovine for that matter like Nicky and Paris did, nor did we do chores to earn our keep. The Simple Life factor in our version of it is the laid back community that played host to us in our stay in Nagcarlan. Everybody knew everybody and it seems that Pet/PJ/Riasan and her family were like local celebrities. Everywhere we went with Ninang, Pet/PJ/Riasan's aunt with whom we stayed with, introductions would start with, "Eto si PJ, anak ni (insert PJ's father's name here), and the other person would say, "Ay, siya nga ba! Aba, ang laki laki mo na a! Kamusta na ang tatay mo? Naalala ko pa...blah blah blah." (Pet/PJ/Riasan ano ba ginawa ng pamilya niyo sa Nagcarlan at ganun kayo kasikat? O sadyang maliit lang ang community nung lugar kaya everybody knows everybody?) And finally, there were those trips to the summer capital, Baguio City! (say it the way beauty contestants do...hehehe). If my memory serves me right, I've been there three times. The first when I was too little to remember anything. I only know because I got pictures (Kodak moments with Lola). The second was with my brother, his friend, Ate Dory, and Tia Rosing. Didn't get to move around that much cause I had to be consentious of the elders we had with us, hence our jaunts were limited to the town proper and traditional places that hilaw na tourista like us would go to. The last one was with Pet/PJ/Riasan and JT (hey guys! Aren't you noticing a pattern here? Its always us three that gets to go on vacation...hmmm...mukhang dapat tayong magplano ng vacation ulit na tayong 3 lang...kasi pag tayong 3 lang, natutuloy ang vacation e...bwehehe) where Mary's sacrificial lamb was born (this is another story that I decline to elaborate on).

Sembreak is fast approaching with only four exams and a paper to go. I've already got a few things lined up to do as soon as I print and submit my last requirement for this semester and before I get anxiety attacks waiting for my grades in the email. First up would be to meet a friend who arrived from somewhere who would be treating me out to a gimmick which I'm SO looking forward to kasi...libreng inom to mga chong! Lolz! Lahat ng bagay, di ba, mas lalong sumasarap kapag libre! Second would be being a dakilang driver to my younger cousins and two nieces. My brother got this bundle (and I mean BUNDLE) of tickets for Star City that entitles holder to 5 free rides for just paying the entrance fee of (I think, not sure) 50 bucks. Since the tickets are only valid till the 27th of this month, we'll probably going on the 21st. Third would finalizing the deal with the photo studio of our choice for the Forum and coming up with the details for me and my batchmate's grad photo shoot schedule. It doesn't really sound relaxing but it does have its perks as there are 2 bidders that are offering test shots. And being the photo editor, I get to be in one of those test shots! Libreng glamour shot! Ang saya! After that, I'm free as bird to do some proper vacation! Yippiee!

So where do I want to have my so called proper vacation? Locally, I'd like to go our beaches that haven't been that commercialized or exposed to tourist. I remember watching Team Explorer on Studio 23 and they featured this island off Bohol that looked like Boracay before the deluge of commercialism hit the place. DOT (Department Of Tourism) under Gordon has been pushing over the years that we shouldn't be aliens in our own country (wag maging banyaga sa sariling bansa) and this is also the overriding theme of his successors. I'd love to heed that call but how can I when the prices for trips to those tourist spots they keep on advertising on TV and magazine are tourista prices?! With the kind of economy we have, its no wonder why people would rather bear the traffic on SLEX (di ko na pwedeng i-include ang NLEX dahil, according to their ad, "walang traffic dito!") everytime Gloria declares a non working holiday to hit Laguna, Cavite and Batangas to unwind than hit the domestic airport and fly out the other provinces of our archipelago. On the other side of the coin, if I were to go out of the country this sembreak, I have four countries in mind as my destination: Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Hongkong, and Thailand (not necessarily in the order they appear, though).

Yes, I don't speak Mandarin nor is the place considered a tourist destination, so why Taiwan you ask? Simple, I've got a place to stay there. A friend of a friend, who is also considering going me on this trip if ever it pushes through, lives there and is willing to house us, which in turn will make it easier for us to obtain a visa (rainbow eyes! haiz, ke-arte naman kasi nitong mga chekwang ine! may pavisa-visa pa, e di pa naman totally recognized as a country in the family of nations...asus! pa-improtante...tsk!tsk!tsk!) since the first thing they ask is where you're staying at. Free lodging, and most probably board as well, translate to more dough for me to spend on myself. Saan ka pa di ba? Kebs na kung mag-sign language ako sa pagtawad sa night market nila! The same goes for Thailand.

As for Singapore and Malaysia, there is a tour package for like $223 for a 5 day tour of both countries. I haven't checked out the details that my cousin told me but if the details are iffy, then I could just opt to go on TigerAir or AirAsia that has the lowest airfare going to both countries. Yung nga lang, sa AirAsia, you have to go to subic to take their flight. But, for the price of a $67 ticket going to Singapore/Malaysia, I wouldn't mind the 3+ trip to Subic. Lastly, hopping on the bandwagon of Disneyland crazed Asians is my "reason" for going to Hongkong. Sama mo na rin ang shopping!

Sigh...sana lang talaga, hindi lang siya puro plano...sigh...