Musings From An Overseas Trip

2018 was not too long ago yet it feels like it was a different time considering current world social climate under COVID. Up to that point, I had never travelled overseas before. I was 39 years old and had been living in Australia for just over three decades after moving here from Philippines as a child.

It was only in the previous year I had finally applied for a passport, figuring that I would get to use it in the allotted 10 years it was valid for. To my surprise, a friend of mine from work was getting married to a lovely lady and that he was having two wedding ceremonies, one in Australia and one in the Philippines. I was invited to the latter ceremony in the Philippines, alongside other colleagues from work, and I RSVP'ed that I would attend.

I felt like I was faced with a dauntless unfamiliar task of organising my first overseas travel. Indeed it was my first holiday away from home as even when I took holidays from work, I generally stayed at home and only went to places within driving range. Fortunately, I had seven months to look into and figure what I needed to do.

After substantial research, I booked my flights, accommodation and my activities outside of the wedding. Choice of accommodation was the easiest as I ended up staying at the same hotel in Manila as the wedding party, as well as most of work colleagues as it turned out. Flights were a combination of cheapest yet convenient in terms of time of arrival/departure.

As for the activities outside of the wedding itself, that had more choices to be made. My being in the Philippines all up was for five days of my actual being there. The wedding itself of course took up one of those days, specifically the second day, so I had four more days with which to fill. First day I left free for wandering around and for acquiring a Barong Tagalog, a Philippines formal shirt. The third day, I had earmarked for an aquarium trip in Manila.

As for the fourth day, well I left for further exploration on mother's behalf. She had requested that I purchase for her the particular brand of eyeliner she had been using since she was a teenager. I figured I'd give that a day in itself as my pre-trip research was showing that the brand was a bit hard to come by.

The last day was for my history and sightseeing tour, while the following day was when I would depart so I decided to keep it open for whatever took my fancy.

The months flew by, with the only hiccup become my double charged for the deposit for my room and the subsequent refund of the second charge taking a couple of months due to a processing error (It was fixed amicably) As my trip came closer, I purchased and acquired the various accoutrements I wanted for my trip (luggage, travel bags, dividers, toiletries, Philippines money etc).

I was prepared and packed for the trip the day before I was due to leave. The next day, I was accompanied to the airport by my Filipino mother, who gave a few pointers to what to expect when I got to Manila. When boarding was called, I said my goodbyes to my mother and, with little fanfare, boarded the plane bound for my first overseas trip.

The trip was a memorably liberating, educational and downright enjoyable series of events that I still think about from time to time.

The moment the plane flew away, I realised I was going on my own to a different country. The redefinition of freedom was profound. I was away from all of the possible responsibilities I had at home that tended to ameliorate or negate the enjoyment I had of my stay at home holidays. Here I was on my own, responsible only for myself and could do what I wanted. With that, I got to be myself more as I didn't have to keep in the back of mind the things that I normally would keeping an eye on in case people needed me. Being myself in a different country was liberating. Indeed, some of my work colleagues with whom I got to spend time with before and during the wedding noted and appreciated that they got to see the side of me that was capable of planning and taking a holiday and just let my hair down.

Indeed, one of the more candid moments came at the night of the wedding when the reception had finished and surprisingly most of the work people had crammed into one of the minivans that took us back to the hotel. We were all a jovial relaxed bunch. One of the guys I worked with provided entertainment by calling out trivia questions. In this instance, one of the questions ended up being "What do you call the penis of a whale?" From the depths of my university days came my unbidden answer of "Free Willy." It cracked up the entire minivan. (For context, during my university days, there was one lecture where the picture of a sperm whale penis was shown. I turned to the friend of mine and whispered "Oh look, Free Willy." at the exact same time that the lecture and the whole audience had gone quiet. So they all heard and turned towards me, some with smiles, some with laughter.)

The whole trip literally was a holiday from who I am normally and I got to enjoy being me unreservedly.

Being in the Philippines was a cultural eye opener and it was surprising on the subtle and not so subtle ways that it was different.

I learned to be glad that I didn't have to drive as I redefined what I considered to be bad traffic. The peak hour congestion in Manila was insane and it appeared that the stripes on the road were just for suggestion (as in, for example, there were 6 lanes of traffic on a 4 lane road). It made the congestion I've seen before look sedate. There was also, as explained to me, a difference in the use of the car horn. In Australia, it is used aggressively particularly when another car does something near you to make you feel aggrieved. In the Philippines, it appeared to be used for both as a way of indicating one's presence and as non verbal thank you.

The traffic was a reflection of the high population density of Manila, some 42 million people living in a city which was mind boggling to one such as myself growing up in Australia which only had a population of just under 25 million at that time spread over an entire continent. There was so many people around in my wanderings and it was incredible to see the infrastructure that were in place to hold and service that. Indeed the shopping mall near the hotel had 4 levels on the equivalent of 2 city blocks.

The cost of living is comparatively cheaper in the Philippines. Generally things were about a third to a half of the equivalent item in Australia. I purchased my Barong Tagalog for the wedding for about half of what it would have been and was still of exceptional quality (I still use it for formal occasions). I was still gobsmacked that on my first day on my own after the wedding, the cost of my fast food lunch and dinner combined was the cost of one fast food meal in Australia. The final kicker of note was when I tracked down and bought the eyeliner for me mother. The 6 eyeliner pencils I acquired translated to $5 AUS (I bought all that was there)

It was fascination to be immersed in the language, history and culture of my childhood, all of which brought a sense of familiarity. The people are friendly, welcoming and enthusiastic. Tagalog is the national language and it is fast and loud. It was one I lost in my childhood although it was the reason why my spoken English often came out fast and took sometime to correct it. I had always wondered why Tagalog incorporated Spanish words and during one of my historic tours, I finally learned that while Philippines was under Spanish rule, where the indigenous population were employed as servants, the Spanish words for things like shoes and windows were used as commands for things that needed to be tended to, eg cleaned or mended

There is a lot of history in the Philippines. As a child, I had been told that one of my great grandfathers had been a governor of the Philippines. The sights and places that were visited during a tour I undertook invoked a sense of the heritage I left behind. Parks and old architecture abounded as tributes to great people and as reminders of the past, reminders of where the people of Philippines had come from and they placed importance upon. As an example, Philippines is primarily Roman Catholic and its churches were large and ornate. Wherever one went, one could see the blended influences of Spanish and American, old and new.

There was a startling contrast when you looked around between how clean and modern the city itself was and how rustic things got the further away from the city one gets. It harkened back to memories of my childhood where I grow up in the city yet visited my relatives in the more rural areas. Out and about, you would vehicles known as Jeepneys, make shift public transport whose ancestors were Jeeps left by Americans. I would see people just hanging on the sides of these vehicles as if it were perfectly normal. To me, the pace of things lessened as one got away from the city but yet the people went about with the same zeal for life, regardless of vocation. It is perhaps summed up best to say, the people made the place.

All in all, the sights and sounds of Philippine culture were truly unforgettable, different yet familiar and I felt blessed to have observed it as I undertook my intended activities of my trip

For the most part, the activities of my trip were planned out but there was a surprise for my first day in the Philippines in that I was invited by other work people for a sightseeing tour to Tagaytay (a town south of Manila) and Taal Volcano Island (an active volcano in the middle of a lake).

It was fun day with my work colleagues, with a visit to gardens, markets and following lunch the trek up the volcano. It was an active volcano, with gas escaping from fissures in the caldera somewhat covered by water. (Indeed it did erupt later)

It was a slow return back to the city, due to vehicle restrictions that only allowed the vehicle I was in later that evening. Fortunately, the nearby shopping mall was open late so I was able to complete my original task to buy a Barong Tagalog (a pale red shirt) for the wedding the next day.

The wedding itself was a wondrous affair, with a progression of minivans taking the guests to the church. The church was lavish ornate and the ceremony was simply beautiful. Following photos of the wedding party, we all bundled into the minivans once more and made our to the reception, where merriment, eating, dancing was had as we went through the traditional parts of the reception.

Throughout the day, I sat with my work colleagues and we were simply just happy for the couple and enjoyed the reception until it was time to leave. After procuring what was left of a bottle of Tanduay Rum that was present at every table, it was again to the minivan for a very merry drive back to the hotel. I used the bottle of rum, a brand that was a particular favourite of my Australian step father, for night cap purposes over the next few nights

The next day, after catching up with two lady work colleagues for hotel breakfast, was my trip to Manila Ocean Park. I was able to bid them goodbye as they were headed back to Australia that day before I did my due diligence on what I was to do that day. After figuring out the Philippine equivalent of Uber, I made my way and did the touristy thing.... saw various marine life, bought a hat, took many photos including my favourite selfie where I was photo bombed by a big lipped fish. Later that evening, I was contacted by other work colleagues who were intending on seeing Bohemian Rhapsody, for which I joined them.

The third day was for a personal matter, the search of my mother's eyeliner. After finding possible places to look via the internet, I set out midmorning on foot for the whole day going to various shopping centres that could possibly stock the eyeliner only to no avail. Walking around was not to be taken lightly as it was rather tropical weather. However, I persevered and chanced upon the idea to look into a particular salon which fortunately for me did stock that eyeline. I returned back to the hotel and rewarded myself a swim in the pool before deciding upon dinner.

The last day and half of my trip was taken up by a historic tour and exploration of the nearby mega shopping mall.

The tour lasted for many hours and consisted of stops at the American Cemetery and Memorial for the US soldiers that died in WWII, Rizal Park, Plaza Roma and Fort Santiago Park with various other minor stops in the day. It was quite informative to learn about Philippine history.

The following day, as I was to leave only later in the evening, I checked out of the hotel and had them hold my luggage, while I explored the mega shopping mall that I had only started getting acquainted with. I was able to take lunch and a movie while looking around. I ended up finding an ice-skating rink and bowling alley. If it weren't for my leaving, I would have tried ice-skating but decided I'd best make sure I could leave Philippines unharmed

As the hour of my departure loomed, I returned to the hotel where, after a slight mix up, I was picked up to be taken to the airport. It was with a heavy heart, I watched as the hotel retreated from view and saw the cars and people go until I arrived. I waited for my flight and as I lined up for boarding, I took one final look around as I realised I was leaving Philippines for home.

To say that the trip to the Philippines changed my life both within and without, would be an understatement. It gave me a glimpse of what my life would have been like and made me appreciative that I grew up in Australia. It enabled me to see what I am capable of doing and being like in terms of planning a trip and enjoying what such a trip could bring in experiences and what it could bring out of myself.

What's more, this was seen by my work colleagues and it was a profound enough that it changed their views of me such that it lay the foundations that led to one of my work colleagues (the only woman I would have even remotely considered dating at the time) asking me out which led to a relationship that culminated in our marriage (which in itself another story).

I would definitely recommend and wish to travel again but, of course, with the COVID pandemic in full swing, international trips are but a pipe dream, one that I (and my wife) would hope to make a reality some day and enjoy together