i've popped my travel cherry since moving back. it was a not-so-quick getaway to manila and it wasnt much of anything overly adventurous for me, other than i did it all with my 2-year old in-tow. all my childhood family vacations were spent in the philippines so much of it felt familiar. i was able to put one of my best weapons to use: speaking tagalog fluently and i'm not talking about that half-assed taglish conyo stuff either!
almost all of the traveling i've partaken in the last decade and a half of my life was done for the sake of a wedding and this trip was not an exception! i am a self-proclaimed SME (subject matter expert) in wedding planning, wedding attending, and wedding partying! trust me, we do exist and we are important to the few people out there who actually care. but other than wedding to-dos, i did manage to steal more than a handful highlights within my NINE day stay.
-ubering in a foreign country
-the mindblowing foie gras burger i ordered at 1am from a shack in front of a club
-a pilgrimage to the Che'lu bar, in a seedy part of the city with the company of genuinely fabulous trannies and other gays with whom i partied with until 5am
-a visit to my mom's childhood home, which I've fantasized many times about renovating and restoring to its original splendor
-an as-real-as-it-gets speakeasy that transported me to all the feels of a prohibition-era bar in old New York.
the absolute best parts: a flight to manila is insanely accessible. just a mere two hundos and three hours and you are back in the concrete jungle. it was in 2008 when i last visited manila. since then my parents purchased property that had made it so i would never have to spend a peso on lodging!
my eyes were far hungrier for my own good. there was too much food, all of which i planned on eating but could not get myself to. that is what the return trip is for so stay tuned.
