The Philippines: A Week in Paradise

During my 12-month teaching contract in South Korea, I get two full weeks off as well as a long weekend for public holidays almost every month. Just like teachers back home, we don't get to choose our time off; we're off when the school is closed. The first full week off is the last week of July, and the second is the last week of December. Knowing this ahead of time, I really wanted to make the most of the limited time we had, since most long weekends still aren't quite long enough to leave the country (especially since most of the borders closest to us are still closed to tourists).

This whole first part is about the logistics of planning a trip to the Philippines, so if you don't have interest, feel free to skip down to the photos!

My initial idea was to spend the week in Japan. Japan's border has been closed to tourists since 2020 due to COVID, but there were rumblings about a border announcement for the month of July, so I waited an uncharacteristically long time to book anything in the hope that I could take the short flight across the East Sea. Unfortunately, their big announcement turned out to be a border loosening for guided tours only (and a guided tour of Japan is way out of my budget; "budget-style" weeklong tours often run well over $2,000 USD). So I pivoted and started planning a trip to another bucket-list country: the Philippines.

The hardest part of planning a trip to the Philippines was deciding where to go. With so many breathtaking islands to choose from, I struggled with where to start. I narrowed it down by determining that I really wanted to experience marine wildlife, which made Cebu a pretty obvious choice. On the island of Cebu, you can swim with whale sharks and it's the second-best place in the Philippines to see sea turtles, so I was totally sold.

The next step was coordinating with my friends who were also interested in visiting the Philippines. Naturally, I assumed the role of trip planner (which is my favorite role, no sarcasm) and as there were somewhere between four and 10 people interested, I figured Airbnb was the way to go. Chloë and I both felt strongly that for a week in paradise, we wanted a beachfront rental, but as Cebu is a decent-size island, I had a hard time deciding what part to stay in. Cebu City is the second-largest city in the Philippines and has a lot of interesting history (as you'll hear from me later, LOL) but the city proper isn't known for breathtaking beaches. I read wonderful things about Moalboal and other areas near the southern end of the island, but most of them were at least a three-hour drive from the only airport, and since we only had a week, I wasn't thrilled by the idea of a 5 hour flight followed by a multi-hour drive. All of this research is how I finally decided on looking around Mactan, which is a smaller island that is connected to mainland Cebu with several drivable bridges (and it's also where the airport is).

Initially, there were multiple beachfront rentals available on Mactan so it seemed like the right choice. Getting multiple people to approve Airbnbs I found (as some of them also filled up and became unavailable even as I was searching) was a challenge, and I feel bad that my friends had to deal with so many messages from me about locations and dates and times. Even after we all agreed and I finally booked one place, the host messaged me to apologize and explain that it had been accidentally double-booked for the second half of the week. Our final arrangements ended up being 6 people splitting our time between two different Airbnbs. The worst hurdle dealt with, we then booked our flights. We got lucky and Philippines Air had a direct flight from Seoul to Cebu (no stopover in Manila, as I was expecting). It was $600 USD roundtrip, which was more than I wanted to spend, but with gas prices the way they are and considering it was a 5-hour flight during Korea's busiest summer holiday, I figured it was worth it.

We booked our flight on May 28. Our flight was scheduled to leave on Saturday, July 23 at 8:30am, putting us in Cebu at noon, so we'd have half a vacation day. On June 9, we got an email that our flight time had been changed to 9:05pm, which would mean we'd be landing at 12:35am. Obviously that was a huge bummer so I attempted to contact the airline to change it; however, the only option they had was via Manila, which would get us there even later. Then, on July 12 (11 days before the trip) Philippines Air canceled our flight altogether.

As the six of us scrambled to rebook (at the same time that everyone else on that canceled flight was trying to rebook, I'm sure), we ended up on two different flights. Joanna, Cáitlin and Charlotte booked a flight leaving at 6pm on Saturday that ended up being cheaper than our original flight, so at least that was a bonus! I had booked the tickets for Peter, Chloë and myself on one reservation, and by the time I tried to book us on the same flight as our friends, it was sold out. I ended up finding an alternative flight that left at 9:15am, landed at 12:40pm, and the price was the same as our canceled flight. So we didn't save any money but we didn't have to spend any extra, and we got our half day back, so I consider that a win. Furthermore, now that we were getting to Cebu during the day, our Airbnb host offered free airport pickup so that was a bonus as well.

Our final hurdle of getting to the Philippines happened 9 days before the trip: Peter and I both tested positive for Covid on the same day. Thankfully, the quarantine had been shortened to a week, which meant it shouldn't affect our trip, but obviously our friends were nervous wrecks who tested every day in fear that they would turn up positive and miss the trip. Peter and I also got an official Release from Quarantine from our local health center because we needed negative test results to board the plane back to Korea; since many people continue to test positive for weeks afterward, that was a whole other layer of worry.

Finally, July 23 arrived. Everyone was basically healthy, thank God, and Peter, Chloë and I left for the airport around 6am. Because of Covid restrictions, we couldn't do online check-in 24 hours ahead of time, as it was required that we prove we had a return flight back to Korea and that we weren't staying in Cebu indefinitely. The airport was incredibly busy when we got there so we were very glad that we got there early to wait in the check-in line. Nothing about living in Korea is easy (nor was planning this trip, I'm realizing, as I type all this out) and I definitely would not recommend it for the faint of heart, so the whole time we were waiting to check in and then to get through security, the three of us kept expecting something to go wrong. When we finally got through and started heading for our gate, we were all a little hysterical with laughter because none of us could believe that we actually made it. But somehow, we did!

Our flight was blissfully uneventful, although we left late, so by the time we got through passport control and customs, it was 2:30. Roland, our delightful Airbnb host, found us outside the international terminal and drove us to the rental. The neighborhood around our Airbnb was really poverty-stricken, with a lot of dirt roads and livestock or stray dogs to be seen. Roland explained that the area had been hit by a typhoon in December and a lot of rebuilding was still ongoing. But our Airbnb itself was in a gated condo with security, and who could resist this view?

View from our first Airbnb

The pool was even nicer than it looks in this photo

Once Roland showed us around (the condo complex included a pool, a gym, and a sauna), we got some Italian food delivered and chilled for most of the afternoon. It turned out that calling this place "beachfront" was a bit of a white lie, because while there is a beach across the street (behind the maroon-roofed building in the photo above), we had to pay to access it because it's owned by a beach club. Roland was a member of the beach club, and if he was with us, we could get in for half price (350 Philippine pesos per person, which is about $6). But he had to be with us each day to sign us in, which was just more hassle than I was expecting (i.e., I asked him to meet us at the beach club at 10:30 on Sunday morning and he said "I'll be there at 11:30." The man has to live his life, obviously; I just didn't expect to have to be on his schedule). Between that and the fact that the typhoon wiped out most of the waterfront businesses—including restaurants, which meant we were dependent on an Uber Eats-style delivery—and also that the Airbnb had a minor cockroach problem, the area wasn't everything I had hoped it would be. But that view is definitely an 11/10, and the pool was absolutely lovely, as is the beach club across the street. Overall, no real regrets, but I doubt I would stay there again.

After our Italian food and a nap, Peter, Chloë and I went for an evening swim down at the pool, then waited for the rest of our group to arrive. They got there around 11pm and we all had a moment to catch up and laugh and praise the almighty that we all actually made it to the Philippines in one piece, and then we went to bed.

Evening swim at the condo pool

In the morning, we got breakfast delivered and then Roland signed us into the beach club, where we spent the rest of the day. Sunday was a great day, just hanging out and relaxing after all the work we put in to get there!

Cáitlin kindly took this photo and it really captures the essence of the day

After we went back across the street and showered, we took a couple of taxis into the more developed area of town to have dinner and go to the grocery store/pharmacy to stock up on snacks and more sunscreen. Much to my delight, the Philippines has American-style crunchy Cheetos and that might have been one of the best discoveries on the whole trip.

On Monday morning, we took the first of three guided tours we booked for the week (If you've read my blog before, you know how much I love a guided tour). A driver picked us up and drove us into Cebu City to do a sightseeing tour. He didn't speak to us hardly at all, and we thought for most of the long drive into the city that he was going to stop somewhere to pick up a tour guide, but we arrived at the first stop without a guide and we just rolled with it. Joanna figured out later that we would have had to pay extra for a tour guide; I had seen it mentioned on the tour listing but it said there was an upcharge for a "Department of Tourism certified tour guide," so I didn't realize that by not paying extra that meant we wouldn't have a guide at all and only have a driver. But thank God for Wikipedia because we still learned some stuff along the way!

Our first stop was the Yap-Sandiego Ancestral House. One of the oldest residential homes in the Philippines, it was built in the 1680s and has survived multiple earthquakes, despite being made of wood and coral stone. The name is a nod to the families who owned it, beginning with the Yap family of Chinese origin, who eventually married into the Sandiego family of Spanish origin. The house is full of antiques and touches that reflect both architectural influences.

The Yap-Sandiego Ancestral House (and our driver, who barely spoke to us lol)

View of the house from the back garden

Antique furniture inside the house, complete with scary-looking religious stuff everywhere

Our next stop was just down the street: the Heritage of Cebu Monument. According to EverythingCebu.com, "The Heritage of Cebu Monument is a tableau of sculptures made of concrete, bronze, brass and steel showing scenes about events and structures related to the history of Cebu. The construction of the monument began in July 1997 and it was finished in December 2000...The scenes depicted in the Heritage Monument are the baptism of Rajah Humabon, a procession of the Santo Niño, a Roman Catholic mass, and the Battle of Mactan between Lapu-Lapu and Ferdinand Magellan."

The day was kind of gray and drizzly, and I feel like the photos don't do this monument justice, because the detail really is incredible.

Our group at the Cebu Heritage Monument (me, Joanna, Charlotte, Cáitlin, Chloë, and Peter)

The battle between Magellan and Lapu Lapu

A procession of the Santo Niño

On our way to our next stop, Magellan's Cross and the Basilica del Santo Niño, we read Magellan's Wikipedia page to learn about why he has a cross named after him. Turns out, Magellan "discovered" the Philippines (LOL) in March 1521 on his attempt to circumnavigate the globe. After a few weeks there, he had converted more than 2,000 Filipinos to Christianity, but he met his waterloo in Lapu Lapu, the leader of the Mactan people, who resisted conversion. Magellan was killed in the Battle of Mactan against Lapu Lapu and his people on April 27, 1521. Magellan was, like so many white explorers of that time, the worst, but he did introduce Christianity to the Philippines, where it is still thriving (up to 85% of Filipinos are Catholic), so I can understand why he has a cross named after him.

Magellan's Cross is inside this building

Magellan's Cross (the unlit candles are stacked around the base as an offering)

I hope that I didn't insensitively take a photo of a protest or something but I thought it was interesting that Cebu's City Hall sign was in English

Basilica del Santo Niño

After that we visited our last stop of the tour, the Fort San Pedro. According to the fort's Wikipedia page, it was built by the Spanish originally out of wood. History isn't sure exactly when the original structure was built but their best guess was in the 1630s. Eventually, a stone fort was built "to repel Muslim raiders," according to Wikipedia. Also from Wikipedia: "Today's structure dates from 1738 and is the oldest triangular bastion fort in the country. It served as the nucleus of the first Spanish settlement in the Philippines. During the Philippine Revolution at the end of the 19th century, it was attacked and taken by Filipino revolutionaries, who used it as a stronghold."

Awkward group photo with the Fort San Pedro sign, which makes me laugh

Tried to take an artsy pic inside the fort but I don't think it really worked

Love me some cannons!

Since that was the last stop on the tour, I asked our driver to take us somewhere in the city for lunch and he recommended the House of Lechon. Lechon is roasted suckling pig and it's one of the most popular dishes in the Philippines. For lunch, I was so excited to finally be eating authentic Filipino food that I went a little overboard; I ordered a small serving of the lechon, prichon (crispy lechon bits over garlic rice with a fried egg), and cheese lumpia (deep fried cheese sticks in a spring roll-like wrapper) with a mango shake to drink. I was in hog heaven, pun fully intended.

Lunch at House of Lechon. It was even more delicious than it looks.

After lunch, our driver took us back over to Mactan, which took about 45 minutes. I planned on taking a nap and hitting up the pool, but the weather didn't cooperate for most of the afternoon. I did get an hour of pool time in late in the day, and then Cáitlin and I got Jollibee's delivered for dinner. Jollibee's is supposedly the best fast food in the Philippines, and they're particularly well-known for their fried chicken. I tried a chicken sandwich and a hotdog and I was honestly underwhelmed, but I did really enjoy the two pies I ordered: one peach mango, one ube (Filipino purple yam) and cream cheese. We went to bed early that night because Tuesday was our big, action-day.

We had a guided tour of the southern part of Cebu island planned for Tuesday and since it's a three hour drive, we got picked up at 4am. Most of us slept in the car at least a little bit, but a lot of the roads were very bumpy so it wasn't the most restful sleep. But three hours later, we made it to Oslob, our first stop of the day. The tour included breakfast, which was two fried eggs, two pieces of toast, and half a mango. After we ate, we headed off to our first activity: swimming with whale sharks.

So the whale sharks are wild, as in they're not in captivity, but the locals feed them every day to ensure sightings for tourists. If you're wondering about the ethical complications of something like this, you're not alone; when I mentioned it to him, my dad promptly sent me an article from the New York Times about both sides of the issue but also assured me he would do it too if given the opportunity. I don't know if it was the wrong thing but I will say that it was incredible and I'm so happy I did it!

Safety first! (Although the guides promptly told us to take the life jackets off once we were in the water because it's too hard to dunk under to see the whale sharks with them on)

Whale sharks range from 18-33 feet. The bigger ones can be the size of a school bus!

Personally I wasn't afraid of them because they're nicknamed "gentle giants," and also because they baleen feed and therefore don't have teeth; they couldn't take a chomp out of you even if they wanted to

It was truly the coolest thing

Two in one photo!

The guy feeding the whale sharks literally hit me with some food at one point (by accident, I'm sure), so they kept coming super close to me (as you can see!). There are strict rules that humans can't touch them, as the guides kept reminding me, so that I was literally holding my hands out of the water at one point so the knew it wasn't my doing.

I actually thought one of them was going to bump me with its tail at one point

So happy lol

Charlotte heroically took all of the photos above except literally the one that she's in, so I'm extremely grateful to her for documenting our experience with the whale sharks. Ethical or not, it was the experience of a lifetime, so I can't say I have any regrets.

After our guides rowed us back to shore, we got on another boat (this one motorized) to our second stop: Sumilon Island. Famous for its white sand bar that sticks out of the water at low tide, the photos don't even look real. We were there at high tide so we didn't see the sandbar itself but who cares when the view looks like this?

Cáitlin and I on the boat out to Sumilon

Stepped off the boat and this was the view!

These are my photos and it doesn't look real to me

Living my best life

Charlotte continued to be the best trip photographer

Walking back to the boat

After paddling around in actual paradise, we hit our next stop: Tumalog Falls. Our guide told us that because of our action-packed day, we were on a time crunch, so we should each take a motorbike (as a passenger) to the falls to save time, as it was a quarter of a mile from the parking lot to the falls and the walk back was up a steep hill. We all agreed that this was a wildly irresponsible thing to do and then did it anyway. Cáitlin actually managed to take a video and it makes me laugh every time I watch it.

I'm up in front in the dark blue. Not a helmet or anything protective to be seen. We're in bathing suits, for god's sake! It's just a funny story now because nothing tragic happened but all of us agreed that our moms would kill us if they knew. Hi, Mom!

However, taking our lives into our hands notwithstanding, Tumalog Falls was absolutely breathtaking. It's one of those places that photos absolutely don't do justice. Cáitlin said to me she thought it might have been the most beautiful place she's ever been.

Tumalog Falls

The water was like a cotton candy blue. It was breathtaking

This is a better depiction of the water color. I've never seen anything like it.

Taking the motorbike back up the hill was even scarier than coming down, but as a rollercoaster lover, I have to admit I giggled the entire way like a child. Another bucket list item checked off, since I've never been on a motorcycle before!

We then had lunch at the same place where we'd eaten breakfast, and lunch was just as delicious. We had chicken adobo, the national dish of the Philippines, which is chicken thighs braised in a soy/garlic/vinegar sauce. It was absolutely delicious, as were the numerous side dishes that they served us, including rice, noodles, vegetables, salad, and watermelon for dessert.

We then hopped in the van for an hour and a half drive to the other side of the southern part of the island: Moalboal. Our tour was supposed to include snorkeling at Pescador Island, just off the coast of Moalboal. But we got held up at Sumilon Island and that threw off the timing of our day, so we got to Moalboal at high tide when the coast guard was no longer allowing boats to go out to Pescador. Fortunately, we had an island hopping and snorkeling tour planned for Thursday, so if anything got dropped from our action-packed day, I'm glad it was that. Furthermore, the tour company was the same one all week (Cebu Tours, in case anyone is planning a trip!) and they took the price from the Pescador snorkeling and subtracted it from our balance for the island hopping tour on Thursday, so I think we made out quite well.

We continued on to Turtle Point, so named for the abundance of sea turtles in the area. This was the reason I chose Cebu but obviously with anything wild there's no guarantees, so we swam out to the edge of the reef with our aquatic guides and hoped for the best. While we were out there, we saw the sardine run for which Moalboal is also famous, but we were there at high tide and they were pretty far below us so I don't think anyone got pictures of them, and they were too deep to swim with. The novelty of the sardine run is that you can swim into the middle of the school of sardines and there are so many of them that they block out the light. Sounds pretty cool but I think it would be easier to do if we were scuba diving instead of snorkeling, and I was on a mission to see a turtle anyway.

I am not a strong swimmer and I am very much not the picture of fitness, so I got my workout in swimming parallel to the shore while we kept our eyes peeled for turtles. I think we probably swam for 20 or 30 minutes before our guides finally found some turtles for us—three, to be exact! I only saw two because I was swimming so hard to keep up with them but beggars certainly can't be choosers.

Again, Charlotte came through the the photos. She was the MVP this day for sure!

She even got one of me with the turtle! Or my legs, at any rate, but again, I'm certainly not complaining.

Trying to get back in to shore from the edge of the reef was a good time because the current and undertow had gotten pretty strong, so as we were approaching, a wave threw me into Cáitlin so that I knocked her off the rock she was perched on and I also scraped myself up on the rock at the same time, so that was a highlight. I then struggled so much to get my footing that one of our guides basically hauled me up and escorted me to shore, holding my hand the whole time. I guess there's a reason my parents didn't name me Grace.

That was finally our last stop for the day, so we had the opportunity to shower and change before the three hour drive back up to Mactan. We got back around 8pm, had some food delivered (more Jollibee's; I had a mediocre burger) and went to sleep after our amazing, action-packed day.

We all slept in or took it easy on Wednesday morning but we had to check out of our current Airbnb and check into the new one. Roland, our amazing host, let us stay an hour later until 1pm and our second host let us check in an hour early at 1pm, so it all worked out! We took two taxis to the new Airbnb, which I was extremely excited about. This was was supposedly actually beachfront and it had a private pool. Obviously photos could be misleading though, based on our previous place, so I was trying not to get my hopes up. But omg, they were absolutely surpassed when we got to the new place.

Video from my room at the second Airbnb. I've stayed in some nice places in my life, especially because my Aunt Erin had a very important job for Marriott, but I think this was the best one ever.

Unlike our first Airbnb, this place was actually beachfront; it was shared with the resort next door, but the private pool was so incredible that we spent most of our time there.

We spent the rest of Wednesday just enjoying that incredible property, except for when we walked to the grocery store for provisions (more Cheetos and dried mango for me) and so Chloë could get ingredients to cook dinner for us, which was lovely. Then we went for a night swim, which is my favorite kind of swim! (No chances of sunburn if it's after dark ;P)

Night swim!

On Thursday morning, we got picked up for our final tour of the week: island hopping and snorkeling. The same driver we had from Monday picked us up and drove us down to the Cordova RORO Port (and continued to tell us nothing about the tour. Props to that guy for doing the bare minimum). We went snorkeling at Gilutongan Island, swimming in the crystal clear waters off Caohagan Island, and had lunch on Nalusan Island. Our guides even brought coconuts on the boat so that we could drink out of coconuts with out lunch. It was another amazing day.

Snorkeling in a fish sanctuary off Gilutongan Island

Approaching Caohagan Island

Beautiful white sand beach at Caohagan Island

Living my best life

Lunch stop at Nalusan Island

We motored back to the mainland and were back enjoying our breathtaking Airbnb for the rest of the day, then crossed the beach outside to go to a restaurant at the resort next door. I had more chicken adobo and it was delicious.

In the morning, we got in one more swim in that beautiful pool before we went next door to the Cebu White Sands Resort. We paid for a day pass, which was about $20 each and then we had access to their pool, beachfront, showers, luggage storage, and an included lunch. It was a delightful way to spend out last day before our late night flight.

Cebu White Sands Resort on our last day

We needed to get Covid tests done in order to board the plane back to Seoul, so I had found a place online and so had Joanna that each offered rapid test results in one hour. Joanna's find was a nice place at a resort that marketed massages and such while you waited for your result; the place I found was just a lab at a medical center and was unsurprisingly cheaper. We talked it out and Joanna pointed out that she'd rather save money and wouldn't even be able to enjoy a massage anyway because of her sunburn, so off we went to the medical center.

We booked the test for 4pm and our flight was at 11pm. We had to wait awhile before they started testing us, but all of us had been tested by 5:15 at the latest. The listing online said results would be emailed to us "within 1 hour," but the lab tech told me it would be more like 1-2 hours, which wouldn't be a problem. Rather than kill time somewhere else with all of our luggage, we decided to just go hang out at the airport and wait for our results while we got something to eat, because we couldn't check in for our return flight without test results.

As we sat in the airport, 7pm came and went and we still didn't have results. We are all frantically checking our email but nothing is coming in. Charlotte and Cáitlin asked people working at the airline desk to try and call the lab for us, since our phones didn't work. The airline desk tried, but at 8:15 when we still didn't have results and they weren't getting anywhere, we made the decision to leave the airport, take a taxi 30 minutes away, get another test, and hurry back and hope we had results in time for 10pm when flight check-in closed. Charlotte and I ran to the ATM to get more pesos in cash to cover the test and the taxis and hustled downstairs. We get down to the taxi stand and of course, there are no taxis. Joanna managed to get a Grab, the Southeast Asian version of Uber, so she, Peter, and Charlotte jumped in that. Cáitlin, Chloë and I hustled over to the domestic terminal in the hope that there would be taxis there. We found one and explained our plight: we needed to get tested and get back to the airport as soon as humanly possible, so he took a back road out of the airport through a side gate and I think he had to pay a guard to let us through that gate. Cáitlin called him our angel and I totally agree with her.

While this chaos was happening, Chloë had plugged in her American SIM card and had tried to get someone on the phone who could help us. Someone on the other end of the phone gave her an email address to try, so she was frantically typing out an email even as we were running to the other terminal to get a taxi. As we're speeding to the nearest hospital, we're all checking our email and have gotten nothing. Charlotte messages from the other taxi that she found the next flight leaving to Seoul after ours; it left at 1:40am, 6 seats were available, and it was only $110 USD per person. I was totally convinced we had no hope of making it back to the airport in time for the 10pm check-in, considering we got to the hospital after 9:00 and there was a wait, so I went ahead and bought a seat on that flight. We were frantically filling out the testing paperwork and trying to pay for the flight at the same time. Chloë and I filled out the paperwork first and went to pay for the test; everyone else was trickling after us. As we were waiting in line to pay for the tests, Chloë gets an email with all 6 of our test results attached and they're all negative, even me and Peter. It was 9:23pm.

We had asked our angelic taxi driver to wait for us, since he understood the situation, and he said he would try but he made no promises in case a call came in. We came barreling out of the hospital down the hill to the dark parking lot, and there he was. In the chaos, we decided to bring Peter with us in our taxi because he, Chloë, and I were on the same reservation, and we hoped Joanna and Charlotte would be able to get another ride in time (since they came in an Uber, their driver didn't wait for them). We basically sped off on two wheels and our driver gunned it all the way back to the airport. We had gotten an email address from the airline desk of where we could send our test results, so Chloë sent those from the taxi while made a plan that Peter would run ahead when we got there to tell them we were coming, and we would follow behind with his bags. We screeched to a halt in front of the terminal at 9:49pm and I handed the driver literally 4 times the taxi fare because we were so grateful to him (and I had to convince Cáitlin not to give him 5 times the fare). In the struggle to get out of the taxi and get all the bags in order, by the time I looked up, Peter was nowhere to be seen; he had taken off like a rocket and was probably already inside the terminal. Chloë and I were trying to run into the terminal but of course there was a long bridge to cross to get there and I'm not a runner and obviously we were both a little hysterical and couldn't stop laughing, but somehow, we made it. We got in the terminal and ran up to the desk panting and the employees told us, "It's okay, you can calm down; you're going to make the flight." And we all just laughed some more because of the surrealism of it all. While we were standing there I canceled the other flight I had booked and immedaitely was told I'd get a full refund; it all felt like a miracle.

There was no line at security and we even had time to sit at the gate once we actually got checked in. We still had to fill out the paperwork we needed to get back into Korea, including uploading our negative test results, which included Cáitlin scrambling to find her address in Korean while also hunched on the floor trying to charge her phone, so it remained ridiculous until the moment we boarded the plane.

Unfortunately, Joanna and Charlotte weren't able to get a taxi in time. Joanna was able to cancel her flight and get a partial refund, which covered the cost of the new flight so that part evened out, but Charlotte lost money, which I still feel bad about. But at least we all made it back safely to Korea, as they were able to get seats on that 1:40am flight, and that's the most important thing.

Once we actually got on the plane, the flight was blissfully uneventful, and we even landed in Seoul early. Upon landing in Korea, we needed to take a PCR test within 24 hours, so Cáitlin decided to do hers at the airport. Peter, Chloë and I didn't want to pay for a test and planned on taking one later in the day, so we took a taxi back and got home a little before 6am. I promptly went to sleep and slept until 11:45, went to a health center to get a PCR test done, and spent the rest of the weekend lounging in bed, except for a brief reprieve when my friends met up for brunch to discuss our various Philippines trips or a trip to Jeju, in Keir and Becca's case. The planning and the testing snafu in the Philippines were stressful, to say the least, but overall it was a wonderful trip and I still consider it a week in paradise!