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I enjoy visiting my relatives and our hometown, but they say there's no place like home. Visiting our province is my sole opportunity to unwind, get away from the hustle and bustle of city life, and spend time with my family.
But what excites me the most is coming home and bringing one of my friends to feel how relaxed my life is and for her to breathe from the tension she's experiencing at work.
Jenny agreed without hesitation when I asked her to accompany me. We both took a two-week holiday and planned to make the most of it. I'm quite happy for her, and I know she deserves to treat herself to a trip.

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We started arranging the trip a month and a half ago since I had no trouble filling a vacation leave, however she has to wait for the approval and file it at least a month before we depart.
It was intense, and she was terrified that her holiday leave would be denied. So I have to wait till we can schedule a flight to ensure that neither our ticket nor her ticket is unused. When she finally got the approval I immediately go online. We attempted to purchase our tickets online but the app was not responding. Because of the issue, instead of flying to my hometown, we ended up getting a boat ticket and merely booking a flight on the way back. I suppose there's a reason we ended up traveling by ship so we could take a lot of bags as well as some goods.

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We departed Cebu on a Friday night last August 19, using Roble Shipping for 930 PHP apiece. And the fare from Ormoc to Tacloban was 200 PHP, and the fare from Tacloban to Guiuan was 280 PHP. This fare was lower before the pandemic, but with the rise in fuel and diesel prices, I can see why it is now a little higher.

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The Arrival

We arrived in Ormoc at 5:30 a.m. Saturday and traveled to Tacloban, where we had brunch with my friend Alyyssa, whom I finally introduced to Jenny. Alyyssa took us to the terminal after we finished our coffee and boarded a vhire to Guiuan.

We finally arrived after 3 hours of sitting in a van, and my dad picked us up and drove us home, which is when I introduced Jenny to my family.

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First Morning and breakfast with my Family

My father woke me up and asked us to brunch with my Aunt and the rest of my family. My father accompanied us to the market since I was craving some Kakanin, and my aunt prepared the table and shared the food I bought, which Jenny also enjoyed.
Jenny was also able to meet every member of my family that day, including my Aunt from Davao City.

Lunchtime

We Filipinos are really big on food and in our province, we are very abundant in kinds of seafood. Food and fresh fish are something that I always look forward to when visiting home. So each time they know I am coming they always fill the fridge with food and fish. I wanted Jenny to be able to enjoy the things I enjoy as well as the food that my Aunt made.
We were also making some dishes for the next day on the same day. This vacation is not just for pleasure, but also to commemorate the anniversary of my mother's passing.

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I'd like to tell more about our vacation, but because we spent a week in our province, I'll talk more about what we did and where we visited in my next blog.

Thank you very much for reading this far, and I hope you will return for part 2.

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_{Explorewithsasha Blog about her passion, daily and weekly routine, travels, and experiences, and in between. I welcome comments and feedback to improve my content and to continue learning.}

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