I’m always looking forward to going to the Philippines. It’s great to see my family again, especially my little nieces and nephews. And I can’t wait to take my first bite of the mouth-watering Philippine mango from the huge tree in front of my in-laws’ house. This will be my 10th time, so it’s kind of an anniversary moment. I will try to write about our earlier travels at a later time. Also, it will be the first time for Quint to meet his overseas family and explore the exotic archipel.
Added to that, this is our first trip in our sustainability journey. I just received the certificate that proves we invested in sustainability projects to compensate for the CO2-emission of our return flights from Amsterdam to Manila and from Manila to Singapore. And I must say: It feels good!
If you’re interested, I shared how you can compensate for your flight’s CO2-emission in a previous post.
Chared likes preparing our backpacks early. And even after 3 years of minimalist travel, we’re still surprised that everything we need fits in two small packs. To be honest, this time we will take one extra bag. The last couple of weeks, we gathered gifts for our Pinoy friends and family that won’t fit in our tiny bags. And we’re also planning to buy new clothes in the Philippines to take home. Once there, we will leave the extra bag at my in-laws’ house, so that we don’t have to lug it around.
Currently we have the following trips planned:
Manila
Since our family lives in Metro Manila (Quezon City), we always start and finish in the capital of the Philippines.
Boracay
The bounty island that President Duterte closed last year because of environmental issues caused by mass tourism. It reopened for a limited public this year so we’re hoping to see if the closure helped restore its natural beauty.
Singapore
A melting pot of cultures and a cocktail of modernistic design and cultural heritage. Looking forward to that!
We like to keep some space in our schedule, so we will be adding some more interesting destinations along the way.
Just a few days to go. I can’t wait!
