I have to tell everyone who has never done this before, like I hadn’t at the time, that there are no words that do justice to the effect that getting on a plane in the dead of winter and getting off it about 3 hours later in absolute summer has on the psyche emotionally, intellectually and metaphysically.

 

Ok, maybe there are three words that come close: relief (as in orgasm), revelation, and magic.

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Once you’ve come out of that original stupor (and if you hate being cold as much as I do) you could probably recognize a few distinct thoughts floating to the surface of your mind:

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That is all it takes to cancel winter??!

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Why the hell haven’t I been doing this forever??!

And my personal realisation:

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I’d trade a white christmas for a white beach ANY DAY!

P.S.:

A few small things to keep in mind about the Philippines:

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– Local folks are super nice and friendly (plus, most everyone speaks enough English to make your life a breeze)

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– Local food is off the scale (I still dream of Soup No5 and Arrozcaldo with calamansi juice)

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– You can go cheap

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– Mangos!