I Didn't Want to Write About This

Because I am sick and all of my fingers are broken. But if I'm not going to do it now, I'm not going to remember any of it and this will never be written at all. 

This is something that doesn't happen often. Thought about writing this to remind us that we survived this ordeal, we could get used to it, we could do better, and nothing can stop us from traveling (except funds or lack thereof). 

I can't promise that this is going to be a hopeful post or one that turns lemons to lemonades though. It's purely just one of those sh*t happens stories. 

Here goes.

I started planning our Singapore trip three months ago, just right after booking our flight tickets. I made sure I had Plans A-Z because I want everything to go smoothly since we are traveling with two little humans. It's my mom and sister's first time to travel out of the country as well. Jan and I prepared ourselves mentally and emotionally for any meltdown, or for the annoyed and incredulous glares that will be shot at us if the feral two acts up. I also had all docs ready in case one of us gets held up in the immigration or security for trying to smuggle a pickachu.

But despite our best efforts, shit happens. The series of unfortunate events had me convinced that every force outside our control is conspiring against us to ensure that we would not make it to our destination.

First, our direct flight from Davao to Singapore was cancelled. 

I have gotten emotionally invested in this trip. I have wasted precious time packing for everyone else. We all got new outfits, new insulated tumblers, new umbrellas, new luggages, and whatnot. And above all, we already paid around Php 60,000 for a one-week hotel accommodation and a few tourist attractions amounting to Php 35,000—all of which have fixed dates and are non-refundable. So, nope! Backing out or moving the trip to a different date is not an option. 

So, we rebooked. 

But the only available flight is not the best time when you have toddlers in tow, unfortunately. What choice do we have anyway? 

Our plane was scheduled to leave Davao at 12mn and our connecting flight to Singapore at around 5am. Talk about no sleep huh? Not to mention, the limited time would have us sprinting across the airport with two little sleeping kids on strollers.

At the airport. The little ones got knocked out.

Next up was the 3-hour delay that obviously made us miss our connecting flight. 

Good news is, we can rebook (again 🙄) at no cost since the missed flight wasn't our fault. The bad news is, the earliest available flight would depart at 8pm the next day. That would cut our vacation two days short but still better than not having to fly at all. 

For the record, I am not blaming the airline because everything that happened is beyond anyone's control—which is kind of a bummer since the airline doesn't compensate for delays caused by force majeure. 

We had to stay in Manila for a night which only meant another gastos. We paid Php 6,500 for a condotel in Newport City just across NAIA T3.

But then, the supposedly convenient walk from the airport took a lot of our energy because Google maps led us astray. I honestly wouldn't mind getting lost but we have two little kids, one 15-kg luggage, and four 7-kg hand-carry luggages to drag along the beautiful albeit horridly hard and uneven cobblestone sidewalks, and it was drizzling!

And we could have maximized our stay in Manila by visiting some places we haven't been to (like the new Manila Bay) since we had more than 24 hours to spend but it was raining the entire time we were there. 

So we ended up just checking out all the passing car's RFID balances on the skyway's toll gate which was just below our room at the 7th floor (I shit you not, one car has 47k balance in it).

You can see the aiport building from our window.

A lot of things happened before we were able to finally board the plane to Singapore. But to cut the story short, we left home in Davao on June 10, 9pm and arrived in Singapore on June 13, 12mn. The 4-hour flight turned into a 72-hour misadventure. Beat that!

The only upside to this streak of bad luck is that we got to splurge and eat seafood and crabs from Orange Bucket. It's something I haven't had in a long time. It really is expensive, but it's definitely worth it. Yum!

Inside the condotel with our seafood bucket.

Anyway. 

We're really glad we all made it. We all had a good time. And that in itself warrants another blog post. 'Til the next!