JUNE NA!
30 days to D-Day
*Insert Macaulay Culkin’s screaming Home Alone face here*
Yesterday, I hyperventilated (and actually performed above action) due to the sudden realization that it was already May 30, and that therefore, the first of June was at hand, and that means that I only have one month left before I go on my 2.5-month trip around SEA.
I have not done much apart from booking my ticket out of Manila, and my ticket back to Manila. I might have to literally pay for my procrastination because my lack in fondness for planning might force me to shell out bigger sums of money than if I had done my research, bookings, and shopping earlier on.
Having said that, and having just posted the 10 Lame Excuses, I am taking it upon myself to get my lazy, excuse-making ass into action and finalize the following things within the next week:
- Find place to stay for week #1 in Cambodia.
- Figure out whether to go to Laos / Thailand / Myanmar after maxing the 21-day Cambodian tourist visa and find out how to get there.
- Book additional flights to that / those countries if necessary (which is most likely).
- Book flight to Sri Lanka already. (Yes, Jen. You know for sure you want to go there. BOOK IT ALREADY.)
- FIND OUT AND WORK ON VISA REQUIREMENTS, if any.
- Avoid last-minute shopping: secure all the LIGHTWEIGHT travel essentials ASAP! (Okay, I’ll give myself 2 weeks for this :P — and I can’t wait to write my light-packing post! Packing light is one my advocacies.)
How are you doing with your own plans?
What get’s you motivated to get crackin’?
Bringing her heart rate back to normal,
Jen
Travel plans (or a semblance thereof) for the rest of the year
Last March 28, I booked a one-way ticket coming back to Manila from Bacolod for Masskara.
Last April 16, I booked a one-way ticket from Manila to Siem Reap on July 1, for an intended 2-3-month trip around SEA.
When I shared this with my friend Kitty, she let out an intense: “Bakit ba ang hilig mo mag-book ng one-way?” (Why are you so fond of booking one-way tickets?)
I like stories that allow for reflection.
I like movies that let the viewer add a bit of his/her own interpretation to the ending.
I like having my options open.
I like hoping and waiting for better fare prices.
In other words, I HATE TRAVEL PLANNING.
So if friends plan trips and it’s more or less within my means, I’m there! But it’s usually a struggle to get travel plans jumpstarted on my own. :P I wish I could just get up and go somewhere, but Ms. Logistics is a bitch.
But anyway, last May 2, during a Cebu Pacific sale, I finally pretty much finalized all my plane-reliant trips for the rest of the year, or the start and end points of them at least (I found out the other day, thanks to Lois, that I might have to book additional flights to get to certain SEA countries that I thought I could travel to overland…meh).
This is relevant content for this blog, but somehow I felt a bit shy to post earlier because I didn’t want to look like I was gloating, when in fact, I’m feeling scared (mostly because of the pending credit card charges and the money I have to earn / save up for my upcoming travels, among other things).
So here’s the drilly yo:
- 05/16-05/19 : MNL-Boracay-MNL (4 days)
— c/o a prize my friend Andrew won! Free Cebu Pacific airfare + 2 nights at Regency. :) - 07/01-09/15 : MNL-Cambodia-Thailand-Laos/Myanmar-Sri Lanka-KL-MNL (2.5 months)
— Gah this is happening! I just booked the Cebu Pacific KL-MNL flight thinking I’d book an AirAsia flight from Myanmar-KL and KL-Sri Lanka-KL, but I haven’t booked that yet because I couldn’t decide, and based on findings from Lois, I’ll have to book even more AirAsia flights than I thought. - 10/14-10/23 : MNL-Dumaguete-Bacolod-MNL (10 days)
— Didn’t book Dumaguete when I booked Bacolod because I couldn’t find good-ish rates then, but I kinda knew I wanted to come from Dumaguete. So there. - 10/25-11/05 : MNL-KL-India-KL-MNL (12 days)
— Okay, this was unplanned, and I’m probably really pushing my travel budget and may be ridiculously broke (but hopefully not in debt) by this time. But my friend Jane had planned a trip. And that makes me weak. And hey, what are you going to do with savings if you’re dead, right? But seriously, I hope I’ll have at least 2 months’ worth of money to live off after this.
So there you have it. THE PLAN.
I’m also hoping I can continue going vegetarian and maintaining my yoga practice while traveling.
Wish me good luck or something.
The not-a-planner planner,
Jen
How To Stick To Your Weekly Schedule
09.11.2011 10:58 a.m.
This post is actually how I have NOT been able to follow my weekly schedule.
So this is really more of a confession of my failure to meet the above title.
Yes, I lied.
Last week, I was able to create a relatively jampacked (compared to my lifestyle before) schedule, filled with productivity and hopefulness for success in life. :P However, given the fatigue hangover from Anteroom Sessions, my Monday went down the drain as I spent the day recuperating. Then the rest of the week, I was busy with catching up on work, doing some preparations for the Community Creativity Camp that Punchdrunk Panda organized with My Masterpiece Movement and Yabang Pinoy, and I attended the Martin Lindstrom seminar at SMX (which I really promise to blog about very soon! I’m targeting to finish it either by this evening or tomorrow).
I think the lesson here is not so much as to compromise one’s schedule, but to create it such that it allows for such routine-disruptive though ultimately life-enhancing activities. The way I created my schedule at the moment seems quite rigid, and in the long-run may lead to burnout. :P So today’s learning really is about creating a truly sustainable weekly/monthly schedule.
I can already foresee that with the upcoming bazaars we’ll be having in November and December, there will be times when my initially drafted schedule won’t be followed. Add to that trips in both November and early next year.
So yeah. Weekly/monthly schedule, and consequently life plan, is pending reassessment. :)
