Manila Travbuddy Meetup

Rise and shine, a new day of mischief and mayhem.. haha j/k.  Still a bit scary because I was about to stride into the city, a city that I didn't know would accept me or not.  Granted I do understand the language, but being that I don't speak it fluently I've always been given the impression that it is a shame that I don't, or don't even try.  Oh well, what to do?  Just do it, I'll be just as I am in any other foreign city that I visit.  And I still have my communicators to help me say things when I need to.. my mom and sis. =D

First thing we do is eat breakfast and I text Jenneth about meeting up today.  We made plans to meet later a bit earlier than the meetup to site see, chit chat and shop a little if possible.

  I told her we had appointments at the salon and we agreed to text once I would be almost ready to meet up.  So we drove to Medical City (where the salon was, a hospital that apparently has shops, and stuff inside) and we waited and waited in TRAFFIC.  This was our first encounter with the horrendous traffic and it wouldn't be the last.

We were dropped off at Medical City, the salon was located inside.  Funny, when we walked in I didn't know that we would occupy this small little salon for so many hours to come. Lol.. oops!!  My poor travbuddies Jenneth and Shaun, who I had made plans to try and hang out with before the meetup.  After the numerous amount of texting and e-mailing Jenneth and Shaun we decided that we would have to meet at TriNoMa Mall.

  So very nice of Shaun to come and visit at the salon and chat a bit before they called me to work on my hair.

So the hours passed, my nails we done, and my hair was done and I was loving the color of it.  Gosh, I haven't had my hair done/colored since college, so it was a change, but a good one ;).

We took another taxi to TriNoMa and I texted Jenneth that we were on the way and we'll meet her there.  I introduced this sweet girl to my mom and grandma right before they left and of course they said to watch out for us.  We had delicious coffee at Figaro, and we shopped for CD's, and we we walked all around.  We had a fun time.  It was getting close for the meetup to begin so we made our way to the restaurant.

We walked up the the hostess at Krocodile Grille and informed that part of the party was here.  Shortly after Wouter, Manila Travbuddy guess from Belgium walked up with Brenda.  We did our introductions, and the restaurant decided to seat us.  And so begins the Manila Travbuddy Meetup for March 6, 2008.  All the beautiful and handsome travbuddy faces started to appear. We talked, we laughed, we ate, we laughed, we took pictures, and we laughed so more.   I was so interested in hearing all the travel stories, and those hot spots that they recommended that I visit next time I come to the Philippines (since this trip was planned pretty much every single day), and what got me more excited that I was going to Boracay was the look and sparkle in all their eyes each time I said "We're leaving for Boracay tomorrow," all things good were mentioned about Boracay, and they said I would LOVE IT!  So I couldn't wait =)

Unfortunately, the night did have to come to an end for my sister and I.

  Since we were leaving for Boracay the very next day, noontime to be exact.  We just arrived the night before and we hadn't packed our luggages or duffel bags for what we would be taking to Boracay, and leaving the rest of it in Manila.  So sad, we said our good-byes, so longs, and farewells.. "When will I see you again.." soon I hope ;).  Jenneth and my good buddy Josh were sweet to take us home, and they would be meeting the rest of the buddies in Timog for some more drinking, chatting and fun (I was jealous of course, but I couldn't help it, I had to take a rain check).

The Manila Travbuddies are definitely a great group, and I'm glad they took the time to come out and spend some time with us visitors.  I'm glad I have finally met you all, and I'm sure we'll be friends for a very long time, till next time.