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mariemariemarie-blog1 · 9 years ago

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Another New Year

Another new set of struggles.

So, I made it back home from the US. It was quite an experience, and I think I managed to make it the best one yet. I’ll be making another post about all the things that we did.

But this post is about how I feel right now. Halfway through the first month of the year, how am I doing?

#1.

Honestly, I hate talking to people about my feelings in general. It’s not that I hate conversing, because I do love talking to people comfortable with talking to me. I just hate the part where I open up to them, and I don’t get the response I expect. To me, it’s as good as rejection.

I guess I’m talking about a specific event right now.

I have a friend. Let’s call my friend Trent.

Trent used to have the habit of chatting me up from time to time, either to drop a pun, or to rant for a good five minutes, and then he’d drop the conversation entirely. I’ve been ok with that. He also had the habit of making friendly conversation everyday or every other day for a few weeks at a time, and then he’d suddenly just stop chatting me up entirely, for months at a time. I’ve also been ok with that.

But starting last month (or the month before that), Trent had been chatting with me everyday, even when my family and I finally flew to the US for our trip and our timezones weren’t synced anymore. Sometimes he would wait for me to be online, other times he would just drop me a message and I’d read it when I regained internet access. But whenever we were both online, we would talk, and both of us would really keep trying to sustain our conversations for as long as we could. Like if the conversation died off, we’d try to pick up with a new topic, until one of us had something to do or somewhere to go or had to go to sleep.

So that kept going on until I flew back home. Eventually we agreed to meet so I can give him his pasalubong.

So we met. It was fun meeting him again, for the most part. But there was a moment where I confessed this: there was a time when I wanted to tell him that I missed him, so I began to type it in chat, but then I thought that it would be too much (too intimate?) for the type of friendship that we had (whatever that is), so I didn’t send it. I deleted it instead and carried on with conversation. But then, there was this one time that I was still in the US when we were just chatting, and suddenly he said that he missed me. I was surprised, and then I said that I missed him too.

I dunno, maybe I misread a few signals somewhere. I thought it meant that we had a special kind of friendship. That time when we met again, I asked him what kind of friendship we had. He couldn’t give a solid answer. But I understood that I’m a friend he considers close with, but he wouldn’t call me a best friend.

Cute, right? Except that deep inside, I was hoping he’d call me a best friend.

Like, I thought we had something special going on (platonically), because I thought that him telling me he missed me meant a lot. Because that’s how I was, I missed him, and that meant a lot to me, especially since I’m not the type to miss people. Somehow I thought that him saying that meant that I was a lot special.

Trent has two best friends, he said. I remembered that he said he reserved the term “best friend” for those people. I guess it’s silly that I expected to be equally as special as them after chatting with him consistently for two months. Because of course, how can I compete with his other friendships that had lasted for years, longer than ours. Not that I even have a need to compete, but still.

It bothers me a lot right now, but maybe it’s because we met only two days ago. Maybe I’ll get over it after a few days, or a few weeks. I just hate that I’m so hung up on it in the first place.

Friendships are really a touchy subject for me. Maybe that’s why I have too few of the quality ones.

#2.

I am so overwhelmed by the sheer number of things I haven’t gotten done yet.

When we got home from our trip, I came home to a room full of pre-departure mess. I couldn’t tidy up immediately, so I kept my room untidy and dusty for a long while. And then I got sick with another bad cold, so I stayed in bed for a few days, and still just kept living with the mess. I only got to tidy up yesterday when I mustered enough willpower, and I only got to vacuum this morning, but I still haven’t changed my sheets or dusted the shelves, so halfway through the month I am still not yet fully done cleaning my room.

And then there was also the additional chore of unpacking, which also took me more than one day. I had two suitcases, one full of clothes, and another full of souvenirs and toiletries. I also only got to finally finish unpacking the toiletries last night, which I did along with tidying my room, because I dragged my suitcase in my room and let it collect dust in the same spot for a few days. The only thing left to do is to finally put the suitcases in a proper place. I temporarily put them in a spot in the house, but it still looks like a mess.

My mom has a project where she collected survey data, and needs help encoding them for her report. Naturally I have to do the work as a “freelancer”. I’m not actually a freelancer, just a temp doing whatever work comes by, without any formal negotiation of a fee, especially when the work comes from my parents. The current work from my mom is tedious, as it entails counting raw tallies on heaps of paper. And then I still have to encode all of it into a file. It is not interesting nor fulfilling work, but it needs to be done.

On that same note, my dad decided, just today, that I should be helping his billionaire acquaintance with a powerpoint presentation, potentially to be presented to the President of the Philippines, not that the significance has any effect on me. My issue that I’ve been given this today, and I wasn’t even asked if I wanted to do it, and before my dad even told me, he already told Mr. Billionaire Guy that I will be doing it. I have no choice but to do the damn thing.

And then there’s other chores, like scanning documents, documenting repairs, cleaning the office because I swear, nobody in this house has the sense to tidy up as they go.

And then there’s the stuff I planned to do because I wanted to do them, like compile vacation pics because I barely took any pics, learn more kanji, watch this one anime that the boyfriend shared to me.

And then there’s the stuff I feel I should be doing, like crafting an elaborate plan to get me back in university, or anything at all for me to fully shift career from programming to environmental.

Lord give me strength

#me

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mariemariemarie-blog1 · 9 years ago

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My 2016 in Review

(warning: very long post, but if you’re interested in my life, sure have a go)

It has been one hell of a ride. And by ride, I mean a series of (emotional) stopovers.

Oh my where do I start.

Actually, let me backtrack a bit further and start with the later half of 2015:

My team on my last day. Leavers must wear the Crown

On September 24, 2015, I finally cut free from the corporate life. Goodbye Nokia.

Actually, that wasn’t my intention. My original plan went a little like this:

Resign from the intolerable atmosphere that my beloved company gradually grew to have (I’d rant more about this but honestly, after more than a year of cutting ties, I’m all out of vitriol)

Go on a few weeks vacation then go look for a new job, more aligned with my intended web developer/scrum master kind of position

Save up enough money to be able to live alone (because independence sounded like a great idea)

Eventually move to Singapore because of my childhood dreams of The Sunny Island

Get married to my genius (future) doctor fiance

Somehow I made it up until the “look for a new job part”, and during my job hunt period, my parents decided that it was a great idea to assign me as a delegate to the 2015 WasteMET Asia Symposium, at least to accompany my mom, who was to be a speaker there. That, and my mom wanted to bring me to Sentosa for my birthday #blessed

Siloso Beach, or one of those other beaches in Sentosa, I don’t remember

Coincidentally, I was trying to also apply for a scrum master job in Singapore, and one company decided to respond to my application. I said that I was going to Singapore soon, and requested to be scheduled for an interview there. So that was another thing for me to look forward to. I felt great about my life decisions.

The WasteMET Asia Symposium was a networking event where leaders and experts in the waste management and recycling industries discuss business with each other, in between sessions of presentations relating to the businesses and organizations present. It was a great energy-driven event, full of potential, with everyone present having their own ideas on how to benefit/profit from the global garbage issues. My mom is currently the president of SWAPP (Solid Waste Management Association of the Philippines), so she was an important attendee.

The night before she was to go on a Panel Session, my dad had the idea of telling my mom to incorporate this idea that I worked on years ago for a school project, when I was still taking my master’s degree, into her panel. Basically, it’s a web app that could track the movement of garbage from one place to another, and it includes a feature where people could auction their recyclables to interested parties.

The thing is, because it was just for a school project, we never really took it seriously, and I practically haven’t thought about it ever since. What my mom actually did during the event was to plug my idea on stage, in front of all these businesspeople and experts, point me out in the crowd as the sole developer (truth is it was a group project and I don’t even have the files), and told them that there was a prototype that only needed a bit of tweaking but was basically set to be deployed (an exaggeration, she’s never even seen the project personally).

There were people who came up to us and told me that they were interested in seeing (and possibly funding!) the project, which I didn’t actually have. And also because of that, my parents decided that it was a great idea to actually have me work on it full-time, since I just got unemployed. (And also, eventually it turned out that the company in Singapore that interviewed me didn’t hire me.)

Basically, I was stuck with the project that I thought I abandoned for good.

So did I stay unemployed to work on the project full-time, and never looked back at the corporate life. From November 2015 to January 2016, I learned the needed technologies (programming stuff) by myself, and it was hard to look for the technology that suited my current knowledge. By February, I started coding everything from scratch. By March, I was done with an output, an actual working web app for buying and selling recyclables. I nixed the original idea with the tracking system and auction feature, because it didn’t seem profitable.

My parents, being environmental experts, knew lots of people who would be interested in the project, and kept recommending that I go to those people. As a Nobody who was building her own reputation from scratch, I didn’t know how to go up to those people to present. My parents promised that they’d help me.

I thought I would be introduced to people when I asked to attend the 2016 SWAPPCon, a solid waste management conference organized by SWAPP. My mom plugged my project for a few minutes but nobody seemed interested.

My certificate of participation. It feels fake because my mother is the signee lol

In April, nothing really happened for a while, so I volunteered to be part of the Homestuck PH Promstuck committee.

Let me rephrase that: nothing was happening for a while to the point that I felt like my project was a dud. And then depression came to visit. It was difficult to stay productive. Then I saw there was a call for more volunteers to help out with preparing the Promstuck decorations. I thought that maybe if I couldn’t find any reason to be proud of myself for making the project, I could at least be proud of my craft skills.

Out of all the decorations I helped out in making, I am most proud of the scepters.

I maked these. I had a bit of help, but most of the effort was from me.

Homestuck ended on April 13. Promstuck happened on April 16. As Homestuck was what brought us all together in the first place, it was a very emotional event, and I loved every minute of it.

Good Group. Best Family.

In May, my uncle, the designated driver, had to go home to the province for one whole month. I took his place, so I drove my brothers to and from school, and my mom to and from meetings. I wasn’t used to driving, so by the end of the day I was always exhausted. I couldn’t work on my project at all.

In June and July, I couldn’t find motivation either, and the lack of socialization was starting to drive me nuts, so I resolved to attend as many hohols as I could.

Aramstuck

Aze’s boodle party

Alystuck

Leastuck

Brielstuck

Andiestuck

Picnicstuck

By August, I had enjoyed myself so much for the past few months and ate and drank and became merry that I didn’t know I was doing harm to my body, by messing up my hormones a lot more than usual via all the junkfood and softdrinks and alcohol that I’ve been consuming. Mid-August, I started to notice abnormalities in my body, and the week after I was diagnosed with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS). I was prescribed oral contraceptive pills to regulate my hormones, because they gave me extra doses of estrogen. Those first few batches of pills wrecked me emotionally, and made me plunge into a depression far deeper than I’ve ever experienced. I was crying every other day, and I really really wanted to kill myself. Additionally, I was also prescribed Metformin to help with my insulin resistance (apparently that’s why I’ve been gaining weight way too quickly), but the dosage was also too much that I had stomach problems for weeks at a time. For up until October, I was suffering both emotionally and physically.

Still, I was struggling to prove that I still was worth something by going on a suicide mission of going through 10 online courses at a time.

In September, I attended a one day startup workshop, in hopes that it would help me get back on track. In a nutshell, everyone in the workshop was impressed with my project, and the facilitators saw its potential, that they said they can connect me to people who can fund my project. They inspired me to continue, except that there was one problem - I had yet to build enough confidence to do proper primary market research.

My certificate of completion for attending the startup workshop.

Also, my parents decided that I go with my mom to attend the 2016 Asia Future Conference in Kitakyushu, Japan. I had to quickly acquire a conference visa before my trip on September 29.

My mom submitted a paper for the conference, and was set to present her paper in the event. She won Best Presentation at her session. Meanwhile, I had caught a bad cold right when we arrived in Japan. I was sniffling and sneezing during all the presentations and sessions I attended. It was very embarrassing. Thankfully, a few of my mom’s colleagues offered me decongestants and tissue. But what really helped me was this Japanese medicine that a family friend gave me. I got better a few days after, and I was able to enjoy the rest of our trip.

At the conference

My favorite part of our after-conference tour was when we went to Mojiko to visit the underwater pedestrian walkway. It was deep beneath the Kanmon Strait, and had a span of 700 meters.It connected Kitakyushu City on Kyushu Island with Shimonoseki City on Honshu Island. An elevator took us down to the tunnel entrance. We walked all the way from the Kitakyushu City side to the Shimonoseki City side to look for lunch, but couldn’t find any nearby open restaurants, so we walked back to the Kitakyushu City side. 1.4 km walk on an empty stomach, and then we walked some more.

Kitakyushu City side

The tunnel. There were actually more people when we first got there

Shimonoseki City side

But really, my favorite part of the whole trip was knowing that we rode Hello Kitty airplanes to and from Japan.

Best days of my life tbh

Also, during the trip, I got to complete one of the few online courses I actually strived to finish. I hoped that the certificate would serve as extra credentials for the project.

Statement of accomplishment for completing the “Municipal Solid Waste Management in Developing Countries” online course

When we got back on the first week of October, I visited my doctor again, and she gave me a different brand of pills, this time with a lower dosage. I’ve had a lot fewer depressed days since then.

Also, I signed up for a Japanese language review course, to help me pass the JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test) N5 level. I dedicated two months to studying and drilling through mock exams. I still did not have time nor motivation to continue my project.

I took the JLPT on December 4. I have yet to see the results. I can only hope for the best.

On December 22, we will be flying to the US, and we will be back in January. So I should currently be in preparation mode.

But to be honest, I am caught in another slump right now. I’m stressed over the fact that I didn’t push through with my needed market research, and used it as an excuse not to restart the project. I feel like I’ve wasted a whole year doing virtually nothing, despite actually doing everything I could. Depression dropped by again, so I’m having trouble getting up in the mornings again.

I mean, sure 2016 has been good enough, that I had a lot more adventures than I ever had as an employee in the corporate world. But it presented me with challenges far more daunting, especially emotionally and spiritually. I don’t know how I’m going to recover from my current slump.

But I’m hoping that tomorrow’s me could figure it out.

#me

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mariemariemarie-blog1 · 9 years ago

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How to: Apply for a COL Financial Account for College Students

Note: I am not affiliated with COL Financial in any way, besides as an account holder satisfied with their services.

When I was in college, I never bothered to learn about the stock market, I wasn’t interested at all, and I kept hearing that it was risky business. But when I started working, I saw that some of my colleagues were checking up on their stocks during lunch break, and I heard of how some of them actually earn money from trading in the stock market. Everyone likes the idea of earning extra money, and I was no different, so I started to get a bit curious, but I didn’t know how to start.

And then one day, I found this book in the bookstore called “My Maid Invests in the Stock Market” by Bo Sanchez (ebook), and he literally says there that he convinced his maids and his driver to invest some of their salary into stocks, so that their money would grow, of course with proper guidance and advice (fun fact: as of last July, one of his maids was already declared a millionaire). I showed the book to my boyfriend, and he too became curious, so we both opened a joint account at COL Financial, because that was the online stock broker recommended in the book.

It’s been three years since I started buying and selling stocks, and I can safely say that I’ve actually earned money from there (the price at which I sell my stocks at is always higher than the price when I first bought them). And recently, because of the dip in the stock market due to current world events, I also convinced my brother that now is the best time to buy stocks while the prices are low. But to do that, he should have an account with a stock broker first, unless he prefers to transact directly with the companies selling the stocks themselves (which really is such a hassle, my uncle actually bought shares straight from the companies, and whenever his checks expire due to negligence I have to be the one to actually go to the company building to ask for a new one. And the commute sucks every time. Please transact via online broker instead, it’s much easier).

And so this week, we applied for an account at COL Financial, because I am more familiar with them. He’s still a college student, so the process for him was a bit different than mine.

3 tips for applying for a COL Financial account (for college students):

1. Visit the website and download the forms

(link to the website) (link to the forms)

To be able to participate in the stock market, first of all, you need a bit of money. The minimum amount for opening an account is 5,000php (for a COL Starter account), which gets deposited straight to your COL Financial account, so that you can buy your stocks. Other available accounts require a minimum of 25,000php (COL Plus account) or 1 million php (COL Premium account) with more perks but I doubt college students could easily afford those. Anyway, once your money in the account reaches those levels, your account is automatically upgraded.

Once you’re sure you have money to invest, you can start filling out the application form. You can open an individual account or a joint account. ITF means In-Trust-For, and I think that’s for if the account holder is still a minor. But my brother isn’t a minor anymore, so we chose Joint, with him as primary account holder and me as secondary.

2. Get a Student TIN

The COL Financial website says “Note: Tax Identification Number(TIN) is required.” (the form also indicates SSS but it is optional). I already have my own TIN, since HR of my previous company helped me acquire one. But because I had help last time, I wasn’t sure how to help my brother acquire his own TIN.

The COL Financial guide (link) says that for student taxpayers, one should apply at the “RDO (Revenue District Office - the BIR branch of your area) having jurisdiction over the place of residence of the applicant”. It also says to bring BIR Form 1904 (link), and to bring “Photocopy of Birth Certificate and original Barangay Certification (proof that you live in the area)”

2a. Clarify inconsistencies

The COL Financial guide said that Barangay Certification is also needed, but the BIR Form 1904 said that only birth certificate is needed. I should’ve called BIR instead to check if Barangay Certification was still required.

Instead, because I hate making calls, I decided that we should get the Barangay Certification to be sure. So my brother and I went all the way to the barangay hall. They asked for his name, address, number of years stayed in the residence, and purpose of getting a certification. Then they asked him to pay 40php. (Then they gave him the certification, unsigned, and told him to look for the person who should be signing. Smh they sent him on their errand)

So we got the Barangay Certification quickly. But it turned out not to be needed at all, so we didn’t pass it along with the other requirements. Heck.

Also something to note: Barangay Certification is different from Barangay Clearance. Barangay Clearance requires a cedula.

2b. Clarify which RDO to apply at

Our house and lot lie on disputed land, at the border of the Municipality of Cainta and Antipolo City in the Province of Rizal. My brothers and I got our voter’s IDs in Antipolo, but Mother got her voter’s ID in Cainta. It’s confusing.

But our land title indicates that the land is within Antipolo (which was why the barangay we went to was the one under Antipolo lol). Again, I should’ve called to clarify. But I didn’t.

So I tried checking the BIR site (link) and it was confusing. RDO 45 - Marikina plainly states that Antipolo was under their area of jurisdiction, but RDO 46 - Cainta/Taytay seemed to only specify boundaries, and our lot was within their boundary. RDO 46 was nearer our place, so we went there first. Long story short, it turned out that we should’ve gone to RDO 45 instead.

The actual documents that we submitted:

Two copies of filled-out BIR Form 1904, with taxpayer type “E.O. 98”, classification “Individual” and tax type “Others” (we actually did not specify what type under Others, the TIN Issuance lady accepted the forms anyway)

One photocopy of birth certificate

One photocopy of the filled-out COL Financial form (just the Customer Account Information Form is enough)

The TIN Issuance lady was quick, so after passing all the requirements, my brother immediately got his TIN. Now he’s a full-fledged adult who can pay taxes. Much proud.

3. Submit the form, along with additional requirements

An additional requirement for Filipino citizens, to be submitted with the COL Financial application form, is a “Photocopy of one (1) valid government issued ID (Photo and signature must be clear)”. I saw in one website (blog? Can’t remember) that the photocopy needs to be countersigned twice, so my brother and I signed twice on our passport copies.

So I went all the way to the COL Financial Business Center, located at the 24th floor East Tower, Philippine Stock Exchange Center, Ortigas Center (another option is to mail the requirements there instead, if you cannot go personally). I went alone because my brother went to class in the afternoon.

The actual documents that I submitted for joint account application:

One copy of the filled-out COL Financial Customer Account Information Form (with TIN), signed FATCA disclosure, and Online Securities Trading Agreement (link)

One copy (for each of us) of valid government issued ID (we used our passports), countersigned twice

Apparently, if an applicant doesn’t go there personally to apply, they classify that as a “lacking requirement” and will email you to schedule a Skype interview, so that they can verify that you are real, I guess. My brother has yet to schedule his Skype interview, but besides that, we’re all set.

So besides my blunders (2a and 2b), applying for an account is actually easy. But how do you know which stocks to buy?

I would recommend subscribing to the TrulyRichClub (link), a group founded by Bo Sanchez to help financially challenged people such as myself to earn more money. Benefits include WealthStrategies and StocksUpdate, which are newsletters (emails) that include guides on how to invest, which companies to invest in for that month and why, tips on how to earn additional income from other types of businesses, and interviews with people who they helped made successful. And because Bo Sanchez is a Roman Catholic preacher, the package also includes resources to guide one spiritually, in the Roman Catholic ways.

But if you don’t opt to get the whole package, maybe because you’re not Catholic or for some other reason, I can also guide you personally. A former colleague of mine is also subscribed to the TrulyRichClub, but she was the one directly advising her friends, based on what she learned from the group. If I know you personally, I too would be happy to assist you. (If I don’t know you personally, message me so we could become friends :)))))

#howto #colfinancial #col #college #philippines

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mariemariemarie-blog1 · 9 years ago

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How to: Plan for a Vacation Abroad

My family is well-traveled. We’ve been to so many places together, within the Philippines and as well as abroad. When I was still young, my parents would do all the planning and manage the itinerary and budgeting, but ever since I managed to travel alone when I turned 20, they decided that I should already be old enough to help them out with preparations. It was frustrating at first, and nakakatamad, but eventually I got used to it.

7 tips for planning for a vacation abroad:

1. Know where you want to go, and how feasible your desired trip is

This year, we were planning to go to Japan in the summer, because that’s when we usually plan our trips every year that we travel. It was easier for us to plan for summer vacations years ago when our school/work calendars were still synced. Planning got more challenging when my brothers’ school calendars shifted from the familiar schedule (one brother goes to college and his school sched is trimestral and the other brother is still in high school so their sched has only two semesters, but school started a bit later this year because he’s in senior high school). We couldn’t work out our vacation sched well, so we dropped the plan.

Months after, Father suggested we go to the US (New York/New Jersey) in the winter, for Christmas vacation, and to celebrate my tito’s 60th birthday, which happens to be also on Dec. 25. This plan seemed more doable, since everyone goes on Christmas vacation, so we shot for it. We’re leaving on the 22nd of December, and flying back on the 2nd of January.

Feasibility also includes costing. My parents took care of that part, and they made sure that we have enough budget for necessities, tours, and pasalubong.

2. Know how to get to your destination

Since we live in the Philippines, and we plan to go to the US, that means that (1) we each need to have a passport, (2) with a US Visa and (3) we should acquire round trip plane tickets. We already renewed our passports last year, a few months before our previous passports expired. We already got our US Visas a few years ago, and they allowed us multiple entry for 10 years, and it’s still valid for a few more years. We only needed to secure our flight. Last month, I went to our trusted travel agency and paid for our trip in full, in dollars. We’re flying via Eva Air, which means we’ll be changing planes in Taiwan. It’s neat that we could still go for a bit of sightseeing in Taiwan, even if it’s just at the airport. They do have a beautiful airport.

3. Draft an itinerary

I was tasked to collaborate with my cousin (who lives in the US) to draft our itinerary for the whole 10 days of our stay. I had no idea what people considered “fun things to do in winter”, since I live in a tropical country, so my cousin, who knows what winter is like firsthand, decided to send me a list of activities that sounded fun. My brothers and I picked out the top 10 things to do that we found most interesting. Then my cousin and I chatted on Facebook to arrange the activities by date. We emailed our relatives the itinerary afterwards so that everyone has a clue on how we want our trip to be like, so they can arrange accommodations and stuff. My father’s side of the family values communication and transparency, I guess. That’s a good thing. I hate chaos.

4. Go shopping, pack up

First, you need to know what kind of stuff to bring. Besides the usual toiletries (liquids need to be secured so they don’t spill) and enough underwear, knowing the climate of the destination is also important. We’re going to the US in the winter, so we went shopping for jackets, scarves, thermal wear, gloves, bonnets, and boots. When I plan my outfit, I imagine myself going through the specifics of the itinerary, where I would be on a certain day, what would I be doing on that day. Am I going to a party? To a club? (yeah I am going to a club on one night lol). Should I bring a dress? Should I bring slippers to use at the place we’re staying? Will they lend us towels, or should I bring my own? Like really specific happenings.

You also need to expect the unexpected, such as sickness. The last time I traveled, I caught a bad cold, and I had allergy medicine with me, but nothing to relieve colds. I had a hard time enjoying the trip, and looking for the right people / drugstore to offer relief. Note to self: bring extra medicine.

And don’t forget your camera!

Then, you need a place to put all your stuff in. Since my family is well-traveled, we already have our collection of suitcases of different sizes and colors and designs. The last time I bought a suitcase, I made sure it had a TSA lock (because the first time I traveled to the US alone, my suitcase did not have a TSA lock, and so TSA decided to wreck my suitcase lock open for manual check, and so my suitcase was unlocked throughout my whole flight going back home. Tragic). I also made sure it had no pockets / the pockets were lockable (because I don’t believe stories that the Laglag Bala scams are over). We also have those thick suitcase belts to prevent our suitcases from bursting open.

Important: know the allotted weight limit per person/per group allowed by the airline, as well as the allowed carry-on baggage and items. We usually weigh our suitcases on a weighing scale at home to check if we’re going over the limit. The airline personnel will also check your luggage weight before check-in. If you go over the limit, they will request you to decrease the luggage weight, which means you gotta open the suitcase in the airport and get rid of a few things, and there’s usually no private space to do that, so you’d be exposing your suitcase contents to the public. For me, it’s a bit embarrassing, so I don’t wanna go through that.

Lastly, don’t overpack, because you need space to put your pasalubong.

I’m done with shopping; I have yet to pack up.

5. Check-in online

Father always reminds us to check-in online 24-48 hours before our flight. This includes filling out your personal information, as well as choosing your preferred seats and other preferences. There’s also an option to print out your boarding pass. Online check-in saves time because by the time you get to the counter, you just need to present your passport, drop off your bags and you’re good to go.

6. Make sure you bring your documents

Whenever we are about to go to the airport, I get paranoid about leaving documents behind. Usually I have one hard copy of the ticket, and then a small laminated version of my passport identification page (because sometimes you gotta whip out your passport for filling out stuff like immigration forms but a laminated copy is safer), photocopies of my visa and other official documents, and then soft copies in my phone. And then I triple check before we ride to the airport.

7. Have a safe trip, enjoy your vacation

I’ll update once we’re actually there. Can’t wait!

#howto #plan #vacation #abroad

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