one thing is guaranteed. i will not be able to forgive myself if i pass up the opportunity to travel to palawan this feb 16. due to changes in the company, i only have 5 days leave this 2008. for only 2,900++, i’m sched to depart cebu for puerto princesa on feb. 16 and back on feb. 21. this entails that i use four days of my 5-day leave. i could take a dive, but at the expense of my december plans. taking a dive means i only have one day leave ’til december. it further means that for december, if i plan to travel at that time, i could only use the said leave for december 29. granted that i reserve it for december 29, it means that i only have 4 days to travel to wherever it is we [line and hopefully some others] plan to go to because we have to report back to work on december 31. furthermore, it means i have no right to be sick, tired, or whatsover from feb. 21 until december 29 because i no longer have available leave credits to fall back on.

tough.

has to change plans.

i thought about taking the feb. 16 sched and then returning on feb. 19, earlier than the others. in fact, i filed for leaves on feb. 18 and feb. 19. the problem now is that on our itinerary, we depart from puerto princesa on the 17th to el nido. from pp to el nido, travel time is roughly 8 hours regardless of whether you go by land or by sea. it wouldn’t be advisable for me to take this because i just learned that buses from el nido to puerto princesa leave at either 6 a.m. or 8:30 a.m., no night buses. taking this means that my whole stay in palawan will all be moving from point A to point B minus the pleasure of actually experiencing the beauty that palawan promises. this is because i would need to leave on the 18th and take the morning bus in order that i would reach puerto princesa and be there in time for the 12 pm-flight back to cebu on the 19th. i couldn’t very well leave el nido on the 19th because then i would miss my 12 pm-flight. there’s no available flight on the 20th. i couldn’t take other transportation arrangements also because the fees are rather exorbitant to which i’m not willing to pay, much more afford.

option 3.

i could take the safe side and just remain in puerto princesa. however, this defeats the purpose of going with a group. coz then i would have no one to share expenses and experiences with. although it’s not something new [i've traveled on my own before], it’s something that i don’t like to do primarily because i’ll be departing with a group. i have this thing about “if you begin your travel as a group, then return home with the group” mentality. plus i don’t want to be a party pooper. palawan is meant to be experienced with a group.

 option 4.

forego the plan. wait for a refund within the next two years from cebu pacific. then, torture oneself for letting go of something that i truly love: exploringthe philippines - the one thing that enlivens my otherwise mundane existence.

 p.s. hey universe! if you were in my shoes, what would you do?