first trip

my parents both hail from the province of balamban. both sides of their families are cebuanos, purely “bisdaks.” vacations are unheard of in our family. thus, going out of town is not a frequent occurrence. the only time we leave the city is when it’s fiesta time in the barrio where my mother grew up. however, as soon as i entered high school going to balamban became few and far between until it stopped altogether.
though i’ve read a few books telling me about beautiful places on earth, the idea of traveling simply didn’t occur to me. heck, i didn’t even think that it was UNUSUAL.

NOT traveling is simply IT.

it wasn’t until i was 23 when i first had my first travel experience. it was then that i had my first ever boat ride. [and yes, at that time i haven't even ridden a ferry boat going to mactan]

and i have this person to thank for. she tapped the wanderlust in me.

michelle torres-mabatid [with husband bagloi]

my first ever trip was actually chelle forcing me to come with her, bagloi, jasmine, joshuani, and jude to go to bohol. she quipped that i got no reason to refuse because bagloi had already bought tickets for the six of us.  although scared about traveling by boat, i eventually relented with chelle’s incessant prodding. in the end, it was only bagloi, jasmine, chelle, and me who went to bohol.

unfortunately, all four of us didn’t have a camera with us. thus, my first ever trip was undocumented saved for these two tickets:

Cebu – Tagbilaran [July 19, 2003 22:00:00] via Sr. San Jose de Tagbilaran… Tourist B-0297 … Fare: PhP 230.

Tagbilaran – Cebu [July 20, 2003 22:30:00] via San Ramon de Bohol… Tourist B-0026… Fare: PhP 230

Travel Highlights:

“Pwera bisita, pwera bisita… the boat is now leaving the ship.” — this was what the boat ‘announcer’ said when the boat is about to depart from cebu to bohol. no kidding.

Boat Ride at the Loboc River

Meeting chelle’s lola diva [as jasmine called her].

Breakfast with chelle’s family from the States at the MetroCenter Hotel.

Meeting jasmine’s family at Loay, Bohol

Attending a local concert sponsored by San Miguel Corporation. First ever taste of San Miguel Draft Beer straight from a keg.

This trip was mostly jeepney ride as I learned that points of interest in bohol are real far from each other.