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Traveling Alone, and a Comeback

February 17, 2012February 17, 2012 Tina 1 Comment

Also known as: A little send-off for a milestone

BUT FIRST! Thanks to everyone who sent messages, tweeted and shared my Valentine’s Day 2012 post. :)

It’s been a strange week, not only because of Valentine’s Day but because I had to battle fatigue with my sudden work schedule change and again, work stuff. It’s weeks like this that make me just so relieved and glad that it’s the weekend. I’m looking forward to this weekend more so than usual because it’s not a weekend spent at home or anywhere in the city, for that matter. Tomorrow, I fly to Bohol.

bohol-chocolatehills — Dear Chocolate Hills, I hope to see you this weekend! (image from funtim.com)

But wait, there’s more! Tomorrow, I fly to Bohol alone.

I haven’t really traveled alone, so I’m a little bit apprehensive with the trip. But I figure that if I want to travel alone at one point in my life, I would have to do it sometime. And what better time than ~~today~~ tomorrow?

Like I said, I wasn’t really planning to go there, but circumstances had me deciding to go in a snap. Oh, it’s not that I will be in Bohol alone. I will just fly there alone and meet my SFC friends who have been there since early this week. I’m attending the SFC International Conference (ICon) in Bohol with them.

I’m considering this conference as a comeback of sorts. The last conference I attended for community was the YFC International Leaders’ Conference in Naga back in 2007. I joined SFC the year before too, and there were several times when I could have joined the SFC conferences (one time I even paid for my Metro Manila Conference registration but ended up not going), but I never did. It’s a part of me fading away from my community, I guess.

My attendance to this conference is actually a funny story, but maybe I’m write about it next time.

But since I did include going back to community in my 2012 goals, I have to make time for this. Even if it means spending a bit more than normal. Or traveling alone. Or not knowing what to expect.

But that’s good, right? I think God will surprise me in the next few days. :)

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Salamat, Alabat!

December 7, 2011May 5, 2014 Tina 5 Comments

Also known as: Quezon trip with book lovers

I realized when I got back from Europe that I did not hit the beach this year. I don’t really count the one in Pinatubo because…well, I didn’t get to swim then, and it wasn’t really the ocean, so no sea breeze. I was feeling kind of sad about that fact, so when one of our book club moderators invited me to join them for the (now) annual Alabat, Quezon trip, I said yes ((Even if this meant I had to offset my sudden leave for the trip)). Who was I to say no to the beach?

Okay, so it wasn’t entirely a beach trip the entire time, but I think we got to spend most of it there. :)

It was my first overnight trip with my book club friends, so I wasn’t really sure what to expect, save for talking about books all day. But it turned out to be a weekend with more than books, and it was a very, very welcome getaway.

alabat01 — Alabat Year 2, at 3 in the morning!

Danke, Vienna!

November 22, 2011June 7, 2014 Tina 2 Comments

Also known as: Vienna, where we became missionaries

I have a confession to make: I think that out of all places I went to in Europe, Vienna was the one I got to experience the least, in terms of doing touristy stuff or photo opportunities and all that. Looking back at my photos, I realized that I hardly had any photos of myself there, save for some I took of myself when I just woke up (I know, lame).

I can only attribute this to two things:

Traveling is stressful. Going from one country to another with only a few days in between (and it’s not even rest) is exhausting, so by the time I got to Vienna, I still wanted to sleep. Since I did not sleep for the night before I flew, I was completely knocked out during the plane ride and I was tired for most of the day.
Vienna was really more of the mission place than a tourist place, unlike how the visits to Geneva and Paris had been. So this is really where the term “mission trip” comes to reality. We actually had something to do here.

Oh, and one more thing: our last day in Vienna was “stolen” by a 13 hour train ride from Vienna back to Geneva. So…there.

But the short time I was in Vienna to do the mission was quite enlightening. It was my very first time to go on mission, because whenever I wanted to join mission trips back in college, I always couldn’t join because classes in my university started too early. So I had to adjust my mind set when I got to Vienna that I was there for a mission and not just a tourist.

But much thanks to our hosts, SFC Vienna, for making us do touristy stuff while we were there, though. :)

When we left Paris, it was raining and it was so cold, so I was sort of prepared for a cold Vienna, too. Nope. The weather played tricks on us again and it was terribly hot in Vienna. Kuya Glenn fetched us together with his two girls, Gwyneth and GrÃ©, and after brunch, our first tourist stop was The SchÃ¶nbrunn Palace Garden Gloriette: