World Archives – Page 2 of 3

Repatriation to the Philippines during a Pandemic (COVID-19)

The story of my repatriation to the Philippines begins with the reopening of Juan Santamaria International Airport and the only way of getting back to the land of promise being through the US, particularly Houston where our high school valedictorian by the name of Joey was wrecking havoc. After my Spirit Airlines flight got rescheduled and cancelled at least twice and the airline postponed the resumption of their operations to Houston, I conceded to flying with United Airlines. From there I was to fly to Manila through Taipei via EVA Air.

Hiking the Acatenango Volcano in Guatemala

NelsonLeave a comment

I know, Volcan de Fuego as seen from Acatenango Volcano oozes soo good that you might question your purpose in life. While the experience was not a series of unfortunate events as told by Lemony Snicket to children, I am saddened to say that this post will be an expectation vs. reality one, in that while the weather forecast was the most ideal on the day of our hike, the clouds seemed to have gotten too excited with our arrival at the camp that they wanted all the attention to themselves. You have been warned and if you still decide to carry on, my, I must’ve said something right in this paragraph. The photo is courtesy of Tropicana Hostel’s Instagram account.

What to Do on a Layover in Mexico City

NelsonLeave a comment

When I went to Singapore to meet my family I had a layover in Mexico and another one in Tokyo. Considering the timing of the purchase of the flights and where I was coming from, it was already a very good deal. The downside of it was the total duration to get to the final destination (not the movie, please). Layovers included, it was 44 hours and 40 minutes. One-way. Yup, no typos there.

Biblioteca Vasconcelos: Mexico’s Futuristic Library

NelsonLeave a comment

After securing a Telcel SIM card at MEX airport—which I thought cost 129 USD until I checked that “$” is also used for Mexican peso—and making sure it was gonna keep me going in the city, I booked an Uber to Biblioteca Vasconcelos for $91.96 and stepped out in ~23 minutes, muttering the palabra one has to know in the Spanish world: Gracias!

The Skydive Dubai Experience

NelsonLeave a comment

I don’t really have any recollection of when I started ~~having adrenaline in my junk~~ becoming an adrenaline junkie but I do remember that when a Middle East-based high school classmate did Skydive Dubai with “Beauty and a Beat” in her footage, I didn’t only look forward to doing the same but I also looked forward to what music will be used, which I hoped would be something of the same caliber. (#Belieber?)

The Best of 2 Days in Athens

NelsonLeave a comment

Note: These two days in Athens were originally part of a A Week in Greece, right after Santorini.