Squeezing in one last trip for 2011

After spending Christmas with my family, we decided that we wanted to fit in one last travel adventure this year! So we headed to Chicago.
Chicago is a 4 hour drive from my hometown and is not exactly NEW to me and my family. I know my way around downtown Chicago like the back of my hand and I love it! We use to have a tradition of spending the weekend after Thanksgiving, together, in Chicago. It was always perfect! There was the perfect Winter Chill in the air, but there was no snow, and Downtown Chicago would be decorated for the Holiday Season and it was always so gorgeous. However, due to my traveling I have missed the last 2 Thanksgivings and therefore I missed seeing one of my favorite cities at my favorite time of year. So, needless to say, a quick rendezvous to the Windy City was a MUST!
**Note: All pictures were taken with my NEW iPhone 4s. Merry Christmas to Me!! Thanks Parents!**

As usual, we decided at the last minute to jump in the car and make the drive to Chicago. It was so spontaneous, we booked our hotel from my sisters phone. BTW Booking your hotel at the last minute on Priceline.com, easily gets you a 5-star hotel right in Downtown for Cheap, Cheap, Cheap!
We decided to ditch our cars in a parking garage just North of Chicago and take the metro into town, to avoid the $25/day parking charges in the city.

Mom made a friend :)

Coming out of the metro station, I was SOO excited to see that Downtown Chicago was still decorated in its Christmas Glamour! We checked into our hotel and then headed down the Magnificent Mile, which is Michigan Ave. The numerous stores and restaurants on this strip are amazing and seem a little more colorful during the Christmas season.

We stopped by some of our favorite stores: Mac Store, Banana Republic, Victoria's Secret and some new ones: Lululemon. I didn't buy much, the Christmas season has left my heart feeling full and my wallet feeling empty :/ But I just enjoy walking down the streets of Chicago.

The next day, it seemed little girls with American dolls were EVERYWHERE. This is, due to the American Girl Place in Downtown Chicago. It had been my dream when I was young, to go to the American Girl Place with my Samantha doll....I was never able to :/ So I spent the day living vicariously through all those little girls who are 'living the dream'.

For lunch, we headed to our favorite Chicago tradition, Giordanos for some Real Deep Dish Pizza then we took the metro back to our cars. The trip was short, too short if you ask me, but it was a MUCH needed trip. The closest I've been to Chicago since early 2010 is the airport. Not to mention, the weather was GORGEOUS, the perfect winter chill and No snow (which is quite uncommon here in the Nort') and the Decorations were 'Merry and Bright'. It was everything I dreamed and more.
Now with one last trip to add to 2011's miles, I say, "Bring on 2012!"

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas!!! 

From:

Your Favorite Frequent Flyer <3

"For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord"

~Luke 2:11

"I'm Coming Home, Coming Home, Tell the World I'm Coming Home."

In the Manila airport, waiting to board our flight to Korea.

On Midnight of December 12, they opened the gate for boarding on our 4 hour flight to Seoul, Korea. LeAnne and I were so excited! We were FINALLY going home!

Watching the Sunrise in the Korean airport.

We were so excited that we couldn't sleep, even though it was after midnight. We landed in Korea at 4:15 am and were still wide awake. It was then that we saw a sight for sore eyes.....Starbucks!! It had been 2 months since our last Starbucks drink and we were SOOO excited, especially because they had their holiday specials out. So we each got a nice, hot drink. This, of course, didn't help with the sleeping issue. We spent the remainder of our 5 hour layover, on the internet and talking 30 miles/min. 

Keeping up with appearances in the Korea airport. lol, jk.

I would just like to take this moment to say, The Korean Airport is THE BEST! Not only is it spacious, with comfy seats, and numerous shopping/food options, it has FREE wireless internet and they also lend you power converters. After my last trip home, every time I went to U.S. airports and found the accommodations less than desirable, I would wish to myself that I was in Korea....which is probably not common to hear. ;) So as far as I'm concerned, the Korean Airport and Korean Airlines receive A+++ rating!

Finally at 12:30pm they called for boarding for our flight to Chicago. We boarded the plane with excitement...partly because we were going home and partly because we were overly tired and running on pure caffeine.

Seriously, do we look anything besides OVERLY tired. ;)

We soared down the runway and began our 12 hour flight to Chicago. The inflight accommodations we amazing, as is their usual. Almost the entire time we were flying over the Pacific their was crazy turbulence, enough to make me a little nervous. ;) I just tried to make myself sleep, which you'd think would be extremely easy, but I had to try every trick in the book!

Our long flight plan...

The last 3 hours of our trip we watched the sunrise from the plane.

It was gorgeous!

Finally, we made our descent into Chicago and just like that, our Filipino Adventure came to an end. It was a lot of fun. The new memories and added "miles" will be cherished for years to come. But, as usual when returning from a long trip, nothing beats sheer excitement of Coming Home!


 

"You're only as good as your TRAVEL BUDDY"

In my travel experience, I've ALWAY had a Travel Buddy. I can't even imagine those who enjoy traveling alone. Not only is there safety in numbers, but also, I can only imagine how lonely you would get. Maybe I still have some growing up to do, but at this moment, solo traveling is NOT my calling.

In my traveling career, I've really only had 1 Travel Buddy. My sister, Sam. She is a traveling whiz and has taught me EVERYTHING I know! So when I realized last April, that she wouldn't be returning with me, I became very nervous. How could I possibly travel by myself?? Would I get lost? Would I be lonely? I prayed that God would ease my mind when it came to this next Traveling Adventure. And he answered my prayer by sending me LeAnne.

This summer, while working together, God matched LeAnne as my travel buddy. Though I was excited, I was also VERY nervous. When traveling with Sam, we would fight and get sick of each other every once in awhile. But in the end, I knew everything would be okay, because we were Family and technically, she had to Love me. :) But traveling with a friend?? Though fun, that has the potential to ruin even the best of friendships. What would happen if we had a falling out, in the middle of the Filipino Jungle?? I prayed that God would bless our friendship and help us to withstand ANY and ALL obstacles while on this trip.

As far as I'm concerned, God blessed me with the perfect travel buddy! LeAnne was so fun and took every unique opportunity as an adventure. She has this talent of remaining positive even in the worst of situations, a talent that I have not quite mastered. Even while sick with Malaria, she maintained her kind, pleasant personality. She also has this talent of thinking rationally even in the most stressful situation, another talent I have not mastered. Therefore, we were a perfect match!

Another thing I love about LeAnne, is that we were both in Choir groups at school; she as an alto, me as a soprano. So whenever I would randomly break out into song (which is quite frequently), she would back me up with gorgeous harmony.

She is so funny and could always make light of the situation, but at the same time knew how to handle any conversation in serious manner. Many times throughout this trip, I would go to her with problems or questions that I had and she always had the right thing to say or knew where to look for the answer.

I've heard it said, In Travels, "You're only as good as your Travel Buddy." Well, if this be the case, then I'm totally awesome! LeAnne helped to make this trip so much fun and I can't imagine the trip without her! I would just like to take this moment to say a Huge Thank You to LeAnne's family. I know it may have been difficult to share your daughter/sister/niece/aunt/granddaughter during the holiday season, but this trip wouldn't have been the same without her! So Thank You for Sharing!!

So, this post is dedicated to LeAnne. Thank you for being an awesome travel buddy! You made this Filipino Adventure amazing! Love you, buddy!

Last days in the Philippines

Thursday morning we woke up at AWA, very excited for the day ahead. We're flying to Manila today!

We don't fly home for a couple days yet, but with the non-chalent way they run the airport here in Palawan, we figured its better to be safe than sorry. 

We pack up our stuff and head to the airport about 2 hours before our flight, because we had to send some of our stuff Air Cargo. 10 minute job, right? lol, Not Here! After almost 2 hours of sending us ALL over the airport and completely ROBBING us, we were finally done sending 2 of our suitcases air cargo and then had to run to check in for our flight. 

As we boarded our flight to Manila for the last time. Everything finally started to set in for me. My last trip to the Philippines, I had already decided that I was coming back. This time around...I don't know when and/or if I am ever returning. Thats hard when you've allowed yourself to fall in the love with the people and culture. For a time, this place had been home. Leaving home is never easy, especially if you don't know when and/or if you'll ever return. And as we headed down the run way, I felt all these things and I let slip a few tears, because this was goodbye...Goodbye until further notice :(

Upon arriving in Manila, we took a 2-hour bus ride to Cavite. Here we stayed on the campus of AIIAS (Adventist International Institute of Advanced Studies) to stay with Steve and Peggy Guptill, Wendy's Parents. 

We spent the rest of Thursday and all day Friday bumming around the house. On Saturday, we realized that it was our last full day in the Philippines, so we wanted to make the most of it. Steve and Peggy were kind enough to tour us around the city of Tagaytay. There we went and saw the Taal Volcano and all the beauty that comes with that. It was amazing. It was quite funny, Tagaytay is a very popular tourist destination, so when people saw 4 white people driving around in a car, they would, quite literally, attack our car to offer us "good deals" on boat rides to the volcano. One man was SOO persistent, he even followed us on his motorbike, yelling deals at us for about 2 miles or so. 

Little fishermen :)

It was a very eventful afternoon, and we were very appreciative of the Guptills for touring us around. Later that night, we witnessed the eclipse. That was an interesting way to end our last night in the Philippines.

The next morning, we were really excited. By the end of that day, we would be on our way home! Six o'clock came around and we had our stuff packed and ready to go, we took our last showers for the next 36 hours or so, and we said our thank you's and goodbyes to the Guptill family.

But of course, our trip wouldn't be complete without one last "Wow-God-you-are-WAY-to-good-to-us" Moment and by moment, I mean entire NIGHT! First we need a little back story: Towards the end of  our trip, or any trip for that matter, our funding is in short supply and before we left Palawan, we planned  ahead for the amount of money it would take for us to get to the airport and through the terminal. But if you recall earlier in this post, when talking about sending our baggage air cargo, and I had mentioned the words "...completely ROBBING us", that was a very accurate statement. You see, we only had 1900php left over (not including our "Exit Money"), but the air cargo place charged us 3500php! This meant we had to dig into our Exit Money, leaving us with only 1400php. After doing some quick math in my head, I realized that THIS was NOT going to be enough! But we knew God would take care of us...so we went forward in faith. Upon arriving in Manila, we took a bus to AIIAS which ended us costing a grand total of 162 php, leaving us 1238 php to get back to the airport, to air cargo to pick up our suitcases, small taxi or something to take us to the international airport, any baggage fees that may occur while inside the airport, terminal fee, and any visa fee that may occur. :/

Sunday we learned our first miracle, Steve and Peggy knew some friends on the AIIAS campus who were headed to the airport that night as well, so they asked if they would allow us to carpool with them. They were taking an airport taxi, which though is very comfortable, is also VERY expensive. I was nervous they were going to ask us to split it, because if that was the case we didn't have the money to split it. But they didn't. So we carpooled with these REALLY nice people to the airport. Praise God!

Later we learned our second miracle: They plan was for them to drop us off at air cargo and then we would find our own ride to the international airport. Sadly, though the distance between the 2 is not far, the fact that we would have 4 large suitcases and we were white, that ride could end up costing all we had. The entire ride from AIIAS, I prayed that God would provide us cheap transportation from air cargo to the airport. As we neared air cargo, the people we were riding with asked "How long will it take to pick up your bags?" "Not sure, shouldn't be long. We just have to show them our I.D. and they'll bring them out." we replied. "Ok, well we made good time on the way here. So we can wait." they said. We were so excited! Not only were they bringing us to the airport, but 4 Americans traveling home for the holidays=Lots and Lots of Luggage! But they managed to squeeze our two suitcases into our tiny taxi. PRAISE GOD!

Upon arriving, we received our 3rd miracle. After saying goodbye to the kind people who gave us a "First Class Ride" to the airport for FREE, we went to check into the airline. Lucky for us, our Flight Check-In Gate was opening right as we walked in the door, so we were like the 6th in line. (Score!) And as we checked in there were NO extra fees for baggage! PRAISE GOD!

Next we headed towards our 4th miracle, our terminal fee. The fee was 700php, which is RIDICULOUS! But what can you do....The total for the 2 of us was 1400php and we only had 1238php on us. But then we read the sign above the booths that said "USD accepted". "Man, if only I had some cash on me!" I said. "Wait, I do!" LeAnne replied. Miraculously, God had been planning for this moment for a long time! The day we left Chicago, LeAnne had to withdraw money from the ATM. She only need $60 but the machine would only let her withdraw $80. So she took the $80, paid her $60 and just had $20 chilling in her bag our entire stay here in the Philippines. So, we went to the gate, gave them all the pesos we had and asked if they could take the rest out of the $20. Sure enough, they let us do that and even gave us the change back in USD (United States Dollars). PRAISE GOD!

Next we headed to customs, for our 4th and final miracle of the night. For this, you need some back story. We were scheduled to stay in the Philippines until December 15th. However, after getting our first Visa, we realized that it expired December 11 and the next Visa was a 6-month Visa that would cost $220 each. We realized that spending $440 to spend 4 more days in the country was REALLY stupid. So we contacted Korean Air to see how much it would cost to move our departure date up a few days. Miraculously, if your arrival and departure dates are more than 2 months apart, you're allowed a one time  flight change for FREE! (**Fun Fact**) So we switched our departure date to an 11:45pm flight on December 11 (Way to cut it close, eh?) However, as time went by, Korean Air moved our flight time up a bit so we were departing at 12:30am on December 12....this made us nervous, because even though we would be checking in on the 11th, be stamped and technically living in "No man's land" (as I like to call it) on the 11th. We were afraid that the Visa Officers would look at our ticket, see December 12, and charge us for the next Visa, which sounds absurd, but honestly, I wouldn't put it past them. So we had spent the last month or so praying that this moment would go by with as little inconvenience as possible....and without costing ANY money...because at this point we have 0php and a couple dollars to our name...God is so good! I don't even think the lady looked at our ticket, she just stamped our passports and sent us on our way! PRAISE GOD!!

So there you have it, our last "Wow-God-is-WAY-to-good-to-us" moment in the Philippines! Now as we sit outside our gate, waiting for our flight home, we feel nothing but Praise and Excitement in our hearts. It had been an amazing ride, and He has been there every step of the way. Praise be to God!

"Those who love me, I will deliver; I will protect those who know my name. When they call me, I will answer them; I will be with them in trouble, I will rescue them and honor them." 

~Psalm 91:14-15