A heavy rain during the summer season is now a common sight. Seems like global warming has manifested one of its more obvious consequences…changing all the weather patterns our grandparents got used to…and perhaps…even to the earthworms (who were claimed to predict incoming weather disturbances). Blame it to the sun who refused to shine (well, I won’t) but this is only one of the reasons why this summer- ender proved to be one of my most memorable by far. Here are the complete top ten list of the reasons why:

10. I was able to see two new airports of the Visayas namely Bacolod-Silay Airport (IATA code: BCD) and Iloilo Airport (ILO). Sadly, I got no photo of any of the two.

9. I had the chance to visit the town of Silay, the so-called “Paris of Negros” with all its well-preserved ancestral houses used to be occupied by the filthy rich azocareras of Negros who came all the way from Iloilo island. I’ve never been to Paris so I could not tell the difference yet, but I’m sure the Eiffel Tower will be one towering difference. =)

8. I got to see Panaad Festival in Bacolod City. I’m not fancied by festivities, but seeing in flesh what I’ve seen on TV is an exciting experience.

7. I got a bagful of delicacies from Bacolod that I have to carry from island to island…so I can have something for my beloved workmates back in Manila

6. I was able to climb the old lighthouse of Guisi Point in Guimaras. The ruined and rusting lighthouse is perched high up on a cliff at the edge of the Island, that you will be able to see the whole stretch of the sea. It was raining and the island is rich in limestone. The lighthouse has to be reached by foot..so expect your slip-ons to be twice as heavy before you finally get yourself portraits beside the structure.

5. Mango: My fave of all fruits. And since I have some kind of affinity to postharvest product handling (which was my elective back in college) I was too excited to finally see, touch and devour the only mango in the country that passes the USDA regulations for fruitfly. And guess what…I brought home no less than 4 kilograms of the Mangifera Indica (ripe and unripe) to Manila!!! Well, imagine the ordeal of carrying that much.

4. I got to experience privacy + affordability + serenity all packaged into one - at Baras Resort nestled among one of the rocky and greenish coasts of Jordan, Guimaras (yes, it’s a beach, not a river).

3. I was able to satisfy my tastebuds with the mousse of the famous Calea Cakes of Bacolod and the rebel bars of JD Bakery in Iloilo…and made friends/acquaintances along the process.

2. I got to see caves, bats and turtles during our island-hopping spree in Guimaras. I don’t see those stuff everyday in Makati you know….

And finally…to cap it off…my most exciting slash (/) chaotic summer ender ever…

1. I arrived late for my ILO-MNL flight. It’s raining pretty hard, taxi cabs are hardly available. The gates had closed minutes before I arrived, and worse is, I am not on the list of passengers.  Someone using my name rebooked my flight to an earlier schedule (that was actually me who rebooked it…harhar…). And since all the seats are gone in favor of the chance passengers, I needed to upgrade my ticket to business class…(well, thank goodness, the A320 plane has business-economy configuration, otherwise, I’m dead. I will be filming Terminal sequel without an FA named Catherine Zeta-Jones). With several kilos of baggage tagged along.

Though I have to pay a huge price difference, I was thankful I can finally go home and marvel the chaotic yet exciting weekend I just had, on-board the business class cabin of PR146. This is in fact, my first time to be on a higher-than-economy class…and I tell you, it’s too expensive for an hour flight. But the experience, the food, entertainment and accomdation plus all-smiling attendants make the ordeal all worth it. We experienced several turbulence due to the bad weather, but PAL pilots always do it well all the way to touchdown. So overall, the flight went well until it reached NAIA Centennial Airport.

The lesson here is very simple. Book or rebook your flights early on and be at the airport on or ahead of closing time.

And above all…put a twist to your usual summer getaway with a chaotic and exciting finish. Whatever that means, it’s up to you to figure out….

Next up…Welcome Rainy Days!!!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 6th, 2008 at 5:38 am and is filed under Getaway. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.