Journey & Adventure

In less than a week, we are off to the Philippines for two glorious weeks of scuba diving, snorkeling, eating, drinking, relaxing , more relaxing and maybe some shopping. I’m looking forward to everything - except the journey to get there. The first leg of the trip will see us depart Toronto for a 15 hour flight to Hong Kong. Then it’s another 2 hour flight from Hong Kong to Manila and then another 2 hour flight from Manila to Cebu and then a 2 hour bus ride to the dive resort. Estimated time in transit to get there, including flights, wait time at the airports and bus time = 25+ hours. A previous trip to Palau was 36+ hours of travel time, BUT we had an overnight stop over in Hawaii, which softened the blow a bit. All of our travel companions are pretty easy going, but I’m sure someone will have a meltdown before that excursion is over. My money is on one of the smokers in the group. Should be interesting. I’ll be sure to let you know how it goes. The suitcases are ...

Only 28 more days until my journey to the Philippines begins. I can’t believe it is getting so close. To be honest, I haven’t thought much about it with everything else that’s been going on with my life at the moment. I know it seems insane, but I’ve already started to pack. Packing for a scuba trip is a completely different form of packing and because we take all of our own gear (with the exception of tanks and weights), we need to start early to make sure everything is still in working order. Believe me, there is no such thing as “packing light”. With all the scuba gear, including regulators, suits, boots, BCD’s, mask, fins, snorkels, underwater flashlights, batteries for the flashlights and underwater camera equipment, my “gear” suitcase is usually just shy of 40 lbs and then when the first aid kit, sunscreen, medications (decongestant, Pepto Bismol, Dramamine, Tylenol, toiletries and anything else we think we might need that won’t be readily available) is added, I’m push...