Everything Under The Tropical Sun

I’ve been overloading this blog with photos from our Bantayan trip. It just goes to show how unexpectedly pleasant that trip was. So it’s just fitting for me to tell you all about our trip and bore you to death! Hahahaha! Sit tight and get ready to snore…

It was our first time to go there. Though we have friends (plus my siblings) who’ve been there but none of them went with us. We were supposed to take Neptune with us but since she moved her flight (made her regret that!), we couldn’t move our booking and we were going to leave for Bohol 2 days after she gets in Cebu, my hubby and I decided to just go ahead and go to Bantayan.

We didn’t really know where we were going but getting away from the city brought out the adventurous spirit in both of us. All we knew was that we had to drive all the way to the northen tip of Cebu and from there we ride a boat to Bantayan. Nine municipalities/cities and a 3 – 4 hour drive before us. The farthest we’ve ever been in the north was Compostella. That’s only about a 45 minute drive away. But the sun was shining… we were in high spirits and was in the mood for a road trip. We were so excited by the mere idea that we were going to be over a hundred kilometers away from the city… away from our offices… away from the stress. It was going to be just the two of us but we didn’t really mind. We love being with each other even through the silence between us. It was always comfortable.

About halfway through our drive… it started to rain. It really worried me because I felt our vacation was under threat. Our once-in-a-blue-moon fantasy (well, that was what we could afford – time wise) vacation was under threat. For a while there I felt sad… and worried. Then I said it out loud: “Nevermind… who cares if it rains? Then we’ll just lock ourselves in the room and just hang out. As long as we’re not getting stressed out at work or worried that we’re simply a phone call away from work.” My husband agreed… my mind was at peace once again and I continued to enjoy the road trip. Rain or shine… nothing was going to jeopardize this trip. As I looked outside the window, I found myself silently praying for the rain to stop.

The sky opened up just as we hit Bogo… one city away from San Remegio which was where we needed to go: The Hagnaya Wharf in San Remegio… The view was breathtaking…

We got a little lost along the way to Hagnaya wharf and had to stop at a gas station for directions but all in all, we were able to get to the wharf where we parked our car in a private parking lot. For P100/day (about $2/day) charge was great savings rather than bringing our car with us which would cost P1,700 (about $25) and that was only one way. Usually it would just be around P500 plus 2 passengers free of charge but something about the day (maybe because it was Saturday) made the cost higher. But it’s okay. We just paid the lot a total of P300 (about $6) and P120 (about $2.40) each for the boat fare to Sta. Fe, Bantayan. The rest, you’ve seen through my photoblog. It was such an amazing experience and I’ll recommend it to everyone who plans on going.

This is the last time you’ll see anything about my previous Bantayan trip. I promise. Until the next one…

So the summer’s not over yet but it is for me. I’m back to my good ‘ol routine: Work and Home. Not much excitement will be coming my way ’til maybe the end of the year and it was good while it lasted. I had such a blast and we got our much needed break. I’m still a little hung over from the vacation but I’m good to go for another barrage of work ’til the end of the year.

To be honest, I’m having a hard time adjusting. I’ve been working hard before our vacation and seeing Neptune again brought back really good memories of my once carefree days. Which by the way led me to make a promise that I’ll have to put my future kid/s to work so that they won’t have a hard time adjusting to real life. Everything just came too easily for me back in the day.

Things will get easier and I’ll be able to fall back into my old routine soon and my splendid 2009 summer vacation will eventually become a distant reality. I don’t want to let go yet so I’ll be sharing (and re-living) that fateful vacation with you in the entries to come. I have enough ammo to last me through May. Right before the rainy season starts. Here I am. Back to my regular programming but still quite hung over from the vacation I’ve had. *sigh*

So busy! But happy busy.

Neptune’s here and we’ve been having a blast catching up. She hasn’t changed one bit. Same “oplok” girl I knew in high school. Now, I’m on my way out the door to pick her up. We’ll be spending the night at my mom’s house because we’re leaving for Bohol tomorrow!!! Bright and early. The boat leaves at 8:45 AM.

Bohol is a separate island from Cebu… another city and a 2-hour boat ride away… but equally as beautiful. I’d say they have better beaches than the ones found in Mactan. Cebu’s mainly made of rock and Bohol has beautiful white sand beaches. I’ll shall say it again: I LOVE LIVING IN A TROPICAL COUNTRY! I LOVE CEBU! I LOVE THE VISAYAS! I LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!

Hopefully, I’ll have internet connection so I can post. But I doubt I’ll have the time. We’ll be spending our days just lounging about… catching up on some reading and generally having a great time. I won’t be surprised if I’ll put this blog on the back burner for a while. So for now, I bid adieu my precious blog. I’ll be going on a bloggie break for the next four days. I’ll miss you… I really will.

Have a fun and great Holy Week everyone and an advance Happy Easter!

We just got back from Bantayan… but we’re leaving again in an hour to pick Neptune up at the airport! I’m so busy… even when I’m not working… I love it. I love my work, I love my downtime. What more can I ask for?

Well, the trip was a blast. Had a great time with my husband (as always). Spent most of our time laughing, eating (no surprise there) and getting a little tan. Bantayan is such a wonderful place. Though we had hoped to have had better accommodations, Beach Placid is so-so. They’re in dire need of some proper branding by the way but it seems like they don’t have too big a budget yet so maybe later on… when the island picks up more tourists. Right now, main tourist pool are Cebuanos then some white people. The good thing was I didn’t see a single Korean. Thank goodness.

I’ll be posting a more detailed account of our trip a little later… right now, I need to nap a bit before we head on out to pick Neptune up from the airport. She’ll be spending a whole week here in Cebu so I’m very excited! I just hope Ann would be able to come home too. It won’t be the same without her. Nep will be going to Bohol with my family on Thursday so that should be a blast.

Expect ONLY beach photos from me during the whole of April!

I’m so excited! We’re going away on holiday next week. We’ll be off to bantayan then on to bohol. I hope I can get a decent internet connection there so I can upload photos. It’ll be awesome!

My husband needs the break. This morning he tells me that he might go to work (when I specifically told him to make sure he doesn’t) after our bantayan trip. I’ve been bugging him to take a load off and relax because his mind’s not what it used to be. He’s so forgetful nowadays and end up making bad PERSONAL decisions. He tells me that he blanks out sometimes and we’d had conversations wherein he’d ask me where I got a certain information from… I’d say: “FROM YOU!!!” Those times would get me really worried… scratch that. I AM worried.

I thought a good long vacation would do the trick. Since Neptune’s coming and all, we took a leave of absence… or so I thought. Now he’s telling me he’s going to go to work. I WANT MY HUSBAND BACK!!! He’s not the same man anymore. Too much work related stuff is cluttering his brain… and instead of him ramping up his disk space… he opted to just delete some of the stuff in there.

So I WAS excited. But what he told me this morning kinda dampened the whole thing. It’s not about me… I’m okay about him working if his mind wasn’t as jumbled as it is now. He’s turned into a workaholic and I’m not happy with the way it’s affecting him. If he still hasn’t improved after this vacation… I’m going to put my foot down. It’s not funny anymore. I can’t ask for advice from anyone close to me because they’re ALL workaholics themselves. If he doesn’t learn how to balance his job and his personal life… what’s the point?

Oh well… at least we’re going away for a while. I just pray it’ll be enough for him to regain some of his mental prowess… I love that mind. I miss it. I want it back.

Ahh… a glorious vacation away from the daily hustle and bustle of what would normally be a day full of phone calls, emails, or meetings. Don’t get me wrong. I love what I do in the office but it’s just so nice to catch up on my reading, spend the day at home and do some organizing that’s been bugging me for months now: organizing our growing DVD collection, organizing the files in my external hard drive… basically things that I usually fore go on a usual working day.

I had a very very pleasant Christmas with my family. We didn’t really catch up on much really but just being around them gives me a feeling of comfort only families can do. Sure, we’ve had our squabbles and our petty bad feelings toward each other… What family doesn’t have any of those? But around Christmas, forgiveness is always abundant. Many things are forgotten and all is forgiven (until the next round, that is.).

My husband had to go to work today but it’s still okay. It’s just the production department that came in and it’s actually fun for him. Though having us in the back of our heads isn’t really entirely relaxing (he checks up on us here at home), he was still able to cook dinner when he got home. A clear indicator that he wasn’t so stressed at work.

I thought I was going to get sick, too. But thankfully, I didn’t do anything that’s particularly taxing and I got to sleep. Sleep… I’ve forgotten how sweet it could be. During working weeks, I normally take sleep for granted and because I have nothing to worry about the next day, my dreams nowadays are sweet and not filled with usual dreams about work (though I get my great ideas during the time before I wake up… I just hope I remember them half of the time).

I know I’ll be rejuvenated by the time we start work on the January 5. It’ll be a new year and it’ll be time to roll up my sleeves and get down to business. But for the meantime, I have a week to enjoy this glorious vacation to do whatever I please, to catch up with my reading, to dream sweet dreams. I hope you’re all enjoying your vacations as much as I am!