Daydreaming of my next Holiday

For people who work for banks and financial institutions here in the Philippines, it’s a well-known fact that the BSP (Central Bank of the Philippines) requires employees of banks and financial institutions to go on a two week leave every year. They say it’s a form of audit to have someone temporarily take over your job while you go on leave others say it’s because working for banks are very stressful so everyone’s mandated to go on leave.

Whatever the real reason behind this I wouldn’t bother researching, or maybe I’ll reserve it for some time when I’ve reached that level of boredom but now I’ll contend myself with knowing that I’m allowed 10 days off from work. I haven’t taken my mandatory leave yet, I scheduled to do it on the 2nd and 3rd week of November and so I’m racking my brains out trying to figure out how to spend my holidays.

I wasn’t always like this you know, there was a time when I considered going on leave quite bothersome because of all the prep work I had to do transferring my work load to another person in the team. But I grew up and grew weary of working, this would be the third straight year I would go on a mandatory leave.

Last year I went on a solo and spontaneous backpacking trip of Central Visayas. I did the Cebu-Bohol-Negros Oriental-Siquijor route which I did for 10 days. The result was a once in a lifetime experience worthy of a separate blog post. Here are some pictures.

Exploring Bantayan Island on a Motorbike

Bantayan Island, endless stretch of white sand

Supercat going to Bohol from Cebu

Man made forest in Bohol

This year, I haven’t made up my mind yet. Early this year I had in mind this Northern Mindanao route which would take me to Surigao, Siargao and Dinagat Islands and making a beeline to Bucas Grande then after some googling session I fixated on a Indochina Route going from Cambodia to Thailand then crossing the border to Laos. Then, I found out that air tickets going to Osaka was quite within reach, I’ve always wanted to go to Kyoto which is quite near Osaka.

Option 1: Bucas Grande (photo from bucasgrande.com)

Option 2: Cambodia-Thailand-Northern Laos Route (phot from tucantravel.com)

Option 3: Osaka-Kyoto (photo from 123rf.com)

I’m planning on going by myself again this year, a solo trip for me is easier as you do not have to constantly consider what the other person wants to do, where to eat, where to go next or where to shop. Now if I could only make up my mind and also find money to spend on my holiday haha! Maybe I’ll just surprise myself, spontaneously buying plane tickets and booking rooms right before my leave starts.