Travel and Competitions

PART OF THE duties I commit myself as a human being is to travel the world. This is quite impossible as of today since I'm only one of the average Filipino workers who doesn't earn much. Seeing the world is still a farfetched dream etched in the chambers of my desires. So I opted to tour my beloved country first, even though that already bleeds my pocket.

Soaring through the Hills

Anyway, my friends at the office decided to grab discounted plane tickets for Boracay and Cagayan de Oro. We took advantage of the recent price slash of Cebu Pacific airfares and we'll be off to the white beaches of Bora on September 22-24. My good ol' college buddy Evan will join us in the trip to serve as guide because of his countless times he's been there.

We later on book an earlier flight, sometime in June, to experience the water rafting and caving the City of Golden Smiles boasts. We will also include in the itinerary an overnight visit to the Camiguin Island and certainly a stop-by in Pizza's home in Misamis Oriental.

It is still a long way to go before these scheduled travels but we are already endorsed to the idea of a great getway to the sand dune clinging into everyone's toes.

However, while wailing away through time and day dreaming of the most awaited moment, I spotted a competition in Cebu Pacific Air's inflight magazine Smile. The airline is on its 11th year and they are hosting a photo contest for the best destination photo along with its description.

I'm so much in love with my camera and I immediately thought of joining the contest.

And so, after several days of finding the suitable entry in a haystack of digital pictures embedded in a hard disk drive, I finally was able to select four entries, with one of them shown above. These pictures were taken during our escape to Bohol last December.

I'm greatly convinced that these photos will hit a score with the following categories:

• Composition — 20%
• Artistic merit — 30%
• Originality — 30%
• Execution (exposure, sharpness) — 20%

I was supposed to include the other three here but something inside me wanted to refuse. Aside from the winning photo to be published in the June/July edition of Smile, there are other great prizes at stake here. And I'm sure that cozy plane tickets are part of it. Supposed I win and they found out that I already posted the pictures here, it may be disqualified. Even if it's not declared in the contest that blogged photos are not meritable, I'm still adamant in posting them considering that I emailed the last entry exactly a minute before the deadline expired.

But maybe, I'm just too assuming and already counted the chicks before they even hatched.

Going Bananas Over a Peso

THE WORD IS indeed true: "All for Juan P1 for All"

Today is the last day of the promotional gimmick of Cebu Pacific Airlines. They dropped all their airfares to as low as One Peso to all their local and international destinations. Apparently, this news has shaken the world of those who love traveling and to those who have not rode in an airplane, but think that such offer should not be ignored.

All destinations for just P1, excluding surcharges such as tax (damn! why does the government always have a slice in every pie?) and fuel is such an inviting premise, but lo and behold! Reserving a flight online is equivalent to having your car stuck in EDSA traffic. It seems that every online Filipino has been accessing the site trying to get a ticket for Boracay, Bohol and Palawan. The Oops! page was persistent since day 1 and my fingers have been punishing the mouse by clicking the refresh button almost endlessly.

I immediately informed my trekker friends about the situation, that one ticket goes in every breath they take. But still, we manage to hoist passes for Boracay and Palawan. And finally, I will be able to experience rafting in the waters of Cagayan de Oro, the city of golden friendship.

I'm so glad I'll be seeing the town of JVandep, swim literally in hot waters, eat the best breakfast in a white island on second installment. Camiguin, see you in June!