Summer Trip

May 19, 2013 - June 10, 2013

About six weeks ago, Dianne and I went on a rather short three-week trip for our church wedding with family and friends in the Philippines. As much as I wanted to thoroughly document the whole trip, I did not get the opportunity to take pictures of everything that really mattered. I really wish that I took my camera with me everywhere I went during the trip.

Our day started very early on May 19. We took a Super Shuttle to the airport and arrived there a bit too early for our flight, which was perfect because we had to move some items in our check-in baggage to our carry-on bags to avoid paying extra. Fortunately, we got through check-in smoothly and headed to the assigned boarding gate. We had enough time to relax and take care of last minute calls to the bank and phone companies. 

I did not get a good sleep during the 3 hours that I was laying in bed the night before our trip because Dianne was awake. She was super excited for the trip and was making a lot of weird noises while clearing her throat. So, during the 4-hour flight to LA, we both grabbed the opportunity to catch some sleep, and took some photos out of the window when we would wake up every now and then.

We arrived in LA semi-refreshed, but still lacked quality sleep.

We met an extremely nice and lovely couple in Houston, who were also bound for the Philippines. Coincidentally, they met this older lady who was scrambling to find her carry-on luggage that was checked-in courtesy of the airline. We helped them wait for her luggage on the baggage claim area, only to find out that it was checked-through to her final destination. Since we had to transfer terminals in LAX, we had to rush to catch the shuttle, recheck-in with the international airline, go through security, locate our boarding gate, and grab a quick bite before departing for South Korea.

After about an hour or so, we were seated and ready to fly to Seoul.

This was probably the best in-flight meal I've ever had... DIY bibimbap.

After about 11 hours of some zzz's, food, movies, and tetris on the in-flight entertainment system, we were approaching Incheon International Airport.

South Korea looks amazing from above, especially with the lovely late-afternoon warm light, low-lying clouds and fog on the ground.

Incheon International Airport is probably the best airport that I have been to so far. The airport seemed like a high-end shopping center with big-name designer stores. I would go as far as saying that the airport felt more posh than most of the malls in the US. 

Unfortunately, we only had a couple of minutes in between flights, so we did not really get the time to visit the shops. In fact, we were more eager to board the plane and get the 4-hour plane ride done and over with. 

We spent the hours playing tetris and watching a Korean romantic-comedy movie, and before we knew it, we were only a few minutes away from touching down in Cebu.

We were too tired when we arrived so we just headed to the hotel. We chatted a bit with my sisters and went to get some sleep. The following day, we had lunch with the whole family on my mother's side.

After the short time spent with family in Cebu, Dianne and I were headed to Iloilo, which means another good three to four hours wasted travelling.

Most of our days in Iloilo were spent preparing for the wedding. We also had our engagement photos taken at our high school, and at a special event for world peace in the UPV campus in Miag-ao. The Light of Peace event was an attempt at breaking the world record for the most sky lanterns released in a specified time period. It was simply magical... looked and felt like that scene in the movie Tangled. Sadly, I never got the chance to snap some photos of the sky lanterns being released because I was busy modelling for the camera. hah! Nevertheless, it was an awesome experience - a once in a lifetime deal.

Photo by Daisty Maye Yap

Here's a very cool video that my brother took of the event (I still regret not having had him take a video of us).

Light of Peace from Pritchard Yap on Vimeo.

Two days after that, we packed everything we needed for the wedding and made our way to Boracay. The road trip to Caticlan and the boat ride to Boracay Island was super scenic (still, no photos due to having to carry a lot of stuff). When we were settled in at the resort, I just couldn't resist the amazing view, thus the photo.

Waking up to this view everyday for 4 days was just out of this world... paradise.

The day of the wedding started out really nice, with a faint rainbow greeting us early in the morning. But dark clouds rolled in at around 9 and eventually the sky gave in, pouring everything it had. That sure gave us quite a scare, but luckily the rained stopped after about 30 minutes, and the sun shone brightly for the rest of the day. 

The weather was perfect during the wedding and the reception, since the rain cooled the air down a bit. The light was also perfect after the wedding and we got one of the most beautiful sunsets by the beach. 

http://ceajan.com/blog/

http://ceajan.com/blog/

After the day of the wedding, we finally got the chance to relax and walk along the main beach. We were too exhausted to do any activities. Our high school friends, aptly named D' Gang, surprised us with a spa treatment later that day. It was perfect. 

On our last day in Boracay, we got the chance to dig our toes in the fine white sand and take a dip in the crystal clear water. Punta Bunga beach it is! 

From Boracay, we went back home to Iloilo, spent some time with family and friends with good food and drinks. The downtime in Iloilo was badly needed after the crazy 2 weeks of wedding preparations. It also energized us for the crammed up trip to the southern part of the Philippines, Mindanao.

The trip did not start off good. Our flight to Davao was cancelled due to an airport closure caused by a plane that overshot the runway. Our airline rerouted us to General Santos City, which was 4 hours away by land travel. We wouldn't have that spoil our trip so we took the adventure and arrived in Davao even if we were more than half a day late.

Since the Davao airport was still shut down the following day, we were forced to travel to Iligan by land, again. Another more than half a day and a good night's rest lost, and we found ourselves in Iligan. We visited Maria Cristina Falls...

... took a dip in Timoga...

... had coconuts fresh from the trees...

... and visited Tinago Falls with the brother, sisters, and cousins.

On the day that we were supposed to get back to Iloilo, a storm was brewing and it was fast approaching Cagayan de Oro, the closest city to Iligan with an airport. Thus, our misadventures didn't end just yet. Our flight was eventually cancelled, so we decided to take the overnight 8-hour "non-stop" bus to Davao and fly to Iloilo from there the next day, since their airport re-opened. The lost day did not ruin our brief time spent with family in Iloilo, though. We still had a great time during the send-off party, and we left with our hearts filled with much love for our return trip back home to Houston.

With all the necessities packed up, we flew to Cebu and met with more family, more food, more laughter, and more love.

Our flight back to Houston was scheduled at 1 AM the following day, so we had to be at the airport that night. We were both very tired to the extent that we almost missed boarding our flight because we fell asleep in the waiting area. Fortunately, an airline crew woke us up in time before they closed the gate. 

Dianne and I had a completely different adventure in Seoul, which I will be posting up in another entry. It was a fun-filled day tour in Seoul, South Korea. That was like the last hurrah for the short vacation.

Back to reality for us, and that means setting foot back into American soil... LAX.

Then, it was off to Houston, and back to super reality.

I just really wish I was back in vacation. At least today is the fourth of July, which means no work, and the weekend is a day's work away. It will be a mini-mini, super mini vacation for now.