First International Trip: The Super Excited Duo

Last October 27, we embarked on a new journey to explore a new land. We've conquered some of the Philippines' beautiful spots before, like Palawan, Baguio, Cebu, Hundred Islands, Majayjay, Tagaytay, Villa Escudero in San Pablo Laguna, Laiya Batangas, Pagsanjan and Boracay. This time, we decided to venture outside the country together to meet the world of Mickey, the Great Buddha and the lazy Panda.

Our day started out early. We were excited to wake up at 6:30AM even though our flight was scheduled at 7:15PM. We agreed that it is better early.

According to our source, it will be a three hour drive from Manila to Diosdado Macapagal International Airport in Clark (traffic included). We don't want to risk getting late and missing our flight. Since we'll be coming from Laguna, thirty to one hour drive going to Manila, we decided to leave at 10:30AM from Jessiline's house. We expected to be at the terminal two hours before our flight. 

So we fixed ourselves, ate breakfast, bid our farewells to our parents and went straight to Jessiline's house.

Minutes later, we hit the road. 

11AM. We were entering EDSA already. I never expected that there was no traffic jam in SLEX. 

12PM. We were in NLEX already. I was starting to worry because we were too early. 

12:30PM. We were getting hungry and decided to stop in the next gasoline station. We ended up in Razon's somewhere in Mexico, Pampanga, few kilometers from our exit. Edel and I ate Sisig with rice. Ninang Lilian bought us Razon's special Halo halo. 

At around 1:00PM. We went back on the road. 

At 1:30PM. We were already in Subic! We were really early! 

I realized that I miscalculated our travel time. Adding four hours to 10:30AM means being at the Clark at around 2:30PM. That was 3 hours early! My mind was set to catch the 11:30AM or 1PM bus in Philtranco. Oh, well. 

Nayong Pilipino sa Clark (aka Expo Pilipino): Abandoned?

Good thing along the way to the airport, we saw Nayong Pilipino sa Clark (aka Expo Pilipino). We decided to visit it first before going to the airport to make the best out of our time. By the way, Ninang Lilian paid for our entrance fees which is P50 each.

Upon entering Nayong Pilipino sa Clark, I had high expectations. I have never been to Nayong Pilipino even in Manila, so I was excited to be there. However, my expectations were not met. Nayong Pilipino sa Clark does not look good anymore. There were only few visitors, lots of closed stalls, cracked paint walls, etc. I felt I was entering a ghost town. Edel felt the same thing. While walking, we kept on discussing about the place's history and my previous visit when I was still in high school.

Anyway, the list of our frustrations about the place grew. To add more, the scorching heat of the sun immobilized us from exploring the place. We just sat down at one spot and decided to play Monopoly. 

Seven houses and almost hundred dice throws later (2:15PM), we decided to go to the airport since Ninang Lilian needed to go back to Manila before 7PM. 

At about 3PM, we arrived at Diosdado Macapagal International Airport. We learned that we cannot check in yet because it was still early. I also learned that Tiger Airways is under the umbrella of SEAIR. So our plane has the SEAIR logo on it and not Tiger Airways. 

First Panoramic shot of Diosdado Macapagal International Airport

At 5PM, we started to fall in line at the check in counter. I noticed that our flight was the only one scheduled that night. The next one was scheduled at 12 midnight. It is safe to say that DMIA is a not-so-busy international airport. 

After depositing our baggage, I was surprised that we needed to pay travel tax amounting to P1,620 each on top of the P200 terminal fee. Oh, well.

We waited for one and a half hour more before our plane left the country.

.. to be continued...

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Two Stories About Relationships

For today’s post, I’ll share two great stories that would teach us a valuable lesson in understanding what really matters in life.

Story 1. Lemonade Store Story.

I got this story from Seth Godin’s blog. It is about two lemonade stands run by kids.

The first stand is run by two kids. They use Countrytime lemonade, paper cups and a bridge table. It's a decent lemonade stand, one in the long tradition of standard lemonade stands. It costs a dollar to buy a cup, which is a pretty good price, considering you get both the lemonade and the satisfaction of knowing you supported two kids.

The other stand is different. The lemonade is free, but there's a big tip jar. When you pull up, the owner of the stand beams as only a proud eleven year old girl can beam. She takes her time and reaches into a pail filled with ice and lemons. She pulls out a lemon. Slices it. Then she squeezes it with a clever little hand juicer.

The whole time that's she's squeezing, she's also talking to you, sharing her insights (and yes, her joy) about the power of lemonade to change your day. It's a beautiful day and she's in no real hurry. Lemonade doesn't hurry, she says. It gets made the right way or not at all. Then she urges you to take a bit less sugar, because it tastes better that way.

While you're talking, a dozen people who might have become customers drive on by because it appears to take too long. You don't mind, though, because you're engaged, almost entranced. A few people pull over and wait in line behind you.

Finally, once she's done, you put $5 in the jar, because your free lemonade was worth at least twice that. Well, maybe the lemonade itself was worth $3, but you'd happily pay again for the transaction. It touched you. In fact, it changed you.

Which entrepreneur do you think has a brighter future?

Nice story huh?

Okay. I’ll share some more.

Story 2. Dreams Discussion.

Last night, Edel and I had a serious meeting. We’ve been discussing our dreams, our plans, our strategies etc. Basically, the things that we want to happen in the future.

The discussion went well when I shared my dreams with her. She listened patiently. She nodded. She agreed. She wrote everything down in a paper with the dates next to my dreams. She wrote everything I’ve said like house and lot, house renovation, parents’ retirement, wedding, gadgets, and the list goes on.

Then, minutes later, I’m done. It’s now Edel’s turn to say her dreams.

I got the pen and the paper. It’s my turn to write down her dreams.
Then, she spoke with much eagerness and conviction that she wanted to have freedom. Her dream is to have freedom to have time with her close friends. She has this dream of visiting them on a weekly basis.

I said, “Is that your dream?”

She answered yes.

Actually, I didn’t expect to hear this from her. I’m expecting something more tangible (just like my dreams). That’s why I kept on arguing. I tried my best to squeeze out some juices from her brain to come up with a tangible dream just like I presented.

To cut the long story short, we had a debate. It’s a debate between my pride and her dreams. In the end she won. She won the debate.

How?

She explained that her dream is to establish a strong relationship with her friends, with her colleagues, with her loved ones.

Edel has this dream of loving from the start. She has this dream of nurturing friendship. She has this dream of building a strong relationship.

Yes. I got this dream of providing material stuffs to the person I love but it does not specify that I’m giving them love.

I failed to dream to love others which Edel reminded me of doing. I just dream of providing them what they want or I guess what I think they want.

But if I provide them what I think they want? Would that make me happy? Would that make them happy? Perhaps yes. Perhaps no. Why? Because I just provide them superficial things. I dream of providing them temporary happiness.

Edel's dreams are long lasting. Edel's dreams will give her sacred happiness. (Click here if you want to know sacred happiness?) It will not be taken away from her.

This idea hit me hard. Really, really hard. I almost cry in front of her. But hey, I know it is okay. She loves me. Even if I think that way.

After our discussion, I gave her the tightest hug I can ever give. I gave her my apologies for acting so rude and lastly I thanked her for helping me realize that one important thing.

Friend, build a long lasting and a strong relationship. This will give you not superficial happiness but a sacred one.

Invest time with your loved ones.

Story of the Elephant Sized Lechon

Imagine yourself in a fancy restaurant. You ordered one whole lechon. Then your order came. You were shocked and overwhelmed. It was so huge! It’s almost the size of a baby elephant. You started to wonder if you can eat all of it even if you haven’t eaten for quite some time.

Do you think you can finish it all at once? I don’t think so.

You need to slice chunk of it then slowly eat it piece by piece (you won’t be able to breathe if you eat it whole at once, if that happens you’ll die). I suggest you start by eating the skin part, then the belly, then goes to the head, then lastly the apple on the pig’s mouth. By the way, don’t forget to pause and celebrate for a job well done after finishing one of its parts.

Same goes with our dreams. We need to cut them into chewable slices in order to achieve it piece by piece. We need to focus our attention on one part then once we’re done shift our attention to the other parts. In between we need to celebrate for our success for finishing one task. This will motivate us to advance and finish the next mini goal.

But I’ll share you one secret cheat that would simplify the bite-sizing process. I got this cheat from Bo Sanchez (actually he used the word cheat just to catch our attention, so it’s not really a cheat). In order to achieve your dream as fast as you can, create your own dream team. This will definitely work with the lechon example I used in the earlier paragraph.

Let’s end this with one of my favorite success stories.

One man thought of an unrealistic dream. He dreamed of having 10 special ministries for the poorest of the poor. He wanted to care for abandoned elderly, visit the prisoners, house the orphans and send the street kids to schools. That dream is really unrealistic.

But here’s what he did.

He devoted his attention in building his first ministry. It took him 10 years to build this ministry. So he did his math. If he wants to fulfill his dream of having 10 ministries it will take him 100 years in order to finish it. So he decided to cheat. He looked for a team that has a passion for the poor. And together they are expanding their ministries. To date his unrealistic dream of having 10 ministries is no longer a dream. Why? They have now seven ministries for the poorest of the poor (Three more ministries to go). By the way, that man is no other than my spiritual mentor Bo Sanchez (be part of his wealth coaching program).

Do you have your own elephant sized lechon dream? Learn to bite size it. Learn to focus your attention into one part then celebrate then move to another part. And lastly, to fast track this process, find/create your own dream team.

More stories on my next posts.