Ever since I tried going to Panay via 2GO Travel I’ve always thought that the island is easily accessible from Metro Manila for a quick weekend getaway. If you’re working on a day shift, you just have to work undertime on a Friday to catch the vessel in the evening and go half-day on Monday (the vessel may arrive early but there’s still the bus ride from the port and it’s a manic day). It wasn’t long until I did it again to bite a late summer escape in Hinugtan Beach in Aklan.
“Denied ba?”
“Approved po.”
And the smile never left my face. That was the only question and answer I wanted to hear when the travel agency called to tell me that my passport was already ready for pickup. After being denied of a Japan visa and even after acquiring one for Taiwan, the fact that you can never really can never can really can tell ever (okay, that was a long one) if you will be granted a visa seems to have traumatized even my hardest bone. In an ambitious plan to give Japan another shot the soonest time possible, I thought of collecting other visas first. And with that, winter in Korea became inevitable.
For a change, I spent Valentine’s Day on the beach with two of my roommates when I was a college freshman. On the eve of the Dinagyang Festival, we were out drinking, celebrating it our way. That’s when they mentioned their plan of visiting Maniwaya Island in Marinduque. As I can’t just let this life pass by without seeding my seemingly growing love for the beach, I didn’t bother putting up a fight.
The year’s Independence Day brought me back to the place where I earned my degree. The holiday fell on a Tuesday so one just had to file a leave for Monday and call it a looong weekend. As for my ticket, booking it was semi-accidental; I was just playing around with Cebu Pacific Air‘s Travel Funds when… Boom! Flight to Iloilo confirmed. The destination? Kenyama Beach Resort in Guimaras.