A SAD day for my family. My 80 - something grandmom on my father side died 2 nights ago. I am torn between taking a 26 - hour bus ride roundtrip to see her wake in my hometown in Irosin, Sorsogon.
However, one of the biggest trips in my life is gonna happen next week, Thursday. I will be going to Indonesia with 30 other internationally - based bloggers plus 10 Indonesian bloggers. This is a press trip courtesy of Indonesia's Ministry of Tourism which means it is an all - expense paid trip of going around the country in exchange of a blog write - up and promotion across all my social media accounts.
IT IS EVERY BLOGGER'S DREAM to be part of an international familiarization trip like this, let alone it is free and there's a huge travel allowance included. To give you an idea, this amount can buy me a cheap laptop and an SLR camera! It is 250% more than what I receive every month as salary.
When is my flight?
My Malaysia Airlines flight is Sept 8am from Manila via Kuala Lumpur to Jakarta. It is only 12 days but I requested to add a few more days for me to spend it in my own time. I will be going back Sept 22 on an Air Asia plane, same stopover in Kuala Lumpur. This is going to be my 4th and 5th time in Malaysia always as connecting flight.
What is the itinerary?
It will be Jakarta - Bintan - Medan - Bandung - Lombok then back to Bali. My last 2 days are my own expense but it is completely fine with me. I am thinking of contacting Quinci Villas, a luxury resort in Lombok where I won 2 nights many months ago. But I think if I'm gonna spend it alone in a gorgeous super romantic beachfront resort with no one to share it and take a photo of me, I'd rather find a cheap hostel and sleep in a dorm bed where I can meet fellow backpackers and that is what's more important to me.
What is the hardest part of this trip?
An SLR camera. Who would have thought that I survived 7 years of travel blogging without an SLR camera? Now with this trip, I NEED to have one. I found one in Lazada that's currently on sale. I plan to buy it via Shopback for Lazada because of 2 reasons: it gives me back a few percentage off and amount can be converted to my Air Asia BIG points. Plus I need to learn how to use it asap! Will update you once I have it in my hands.
UPDATE: Just bought one! Click here.
UPDATE: Just bought one! Click here.
What else?
Need to buy some nice dresses and footwear,to look good on photos. Meaning this trip, will cost me money. The travel allowance will be given once I'm there.
Wish me luck guys! I will be going to Indonesia NO.MATTER.WHAT. This will be so far the longest time I will be out of the country.
Originally dated Aug.30th.
Originally dated Aug.30th.
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