Entry 1: Leaving on a Jet Plane

Song of the Moment: Butterfly by Mariah Carey

Location: NAIA 1 Waiting Area, next to Great Panda Chinese Food and Duty Free Liquor and Cigarettes Section.

The scenario looks like this: A girl in black (from the clothes to the MacBook) is seated on non-ergonomic indigo chairs, killing an hour or so by writing about the excitement she has all bottled up inside her. She’s all alone, ecstatic, and if it were not for her composure, she would have been sent to a psychiatric ward cuz she has the tendency to start skipping around in extraordinary glee.

Here I am, people. Waiting for the boarding call to the ultimate vacation of a lifetime.

For the next 14 days, I will be hopping from one city to another all over Asia in this order: Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Ho Chi Minh, Siem Reap, Bangkok, Hong Kong and Macau. I will be all alone (hence the excitement) albeit equipped more than ever. I have the following neatly organized in my hand carried Samsonite bag:

• my Black MacBook;
• a flexible point-and-shoot Canon PowerShot SD1000;
• barely enough cash as my credit card will be my friend;
• too many hotel vouchers and one-way e-tickets booked by yours truly;
• a mapped out daily wardrobe plan because yes, I planned that too, including wash day provisions;
• medicines and kikay essentials;
• and a ‘lil ol companion who will be known henceforth as Enzo.
  

I’ve been traveling with family since I still had bangs (and it’s worth carbon dating those bangs photos btw); and I’m so thankful I’m from a family that loves to travel. I have all these magnificent memories from unique experiences all over the world: marveling at the great Iguazu Falls, wine tasting at Robert Mondavi wine country, spending the night at the Palace of the Lost City Hotel in South Africa, watching an authentic Argentine Tango Dinner show, pigging out at a real life Hawaiian Luau, climbing the Great Wall of China, exploring the Louvre Museum, trying not to stare at real hookers at red-light stores in Amsterdam, getting soaked in London, and so much more.

But admittedly, this is the first time I’ll be flying out of the country on my own without a semblance of family as a safety blanket. (Okay, Japan doesn’t count cuz I had a foster family there.) This comes as a much deserved break from a near imprisonment I had the past year, being the caretaker of the family business while the parental units travel all over the world. But more importantly, this is the trip that will test my readiness to be thrown out into the ocean and survive with ease. This is going to be THE trip of ALL TRIPS (and previous travels have set the bar high) that will go down in history as the ultimate experience I’ll have before I get married.

I’ll come back a reinvigorated woman, with stories to tell my friends and family.. And soon, my children and my grandchildren.