Let’s have a short vocabulary lesson! To “wander” means “to move” and “lust” means “a strong desire”. That takes us to our word of the day- wanderlust. “Wanderlust” means “a strong desire to move, to travel, or to explore new places”. Let me share a story that might give you wanderlust.
Not a long time ago, two of my former students Jeeny and Megumi and a coworker/friend Teacher Amber invited me to travel to the beautiful province of Coron, Palawan. I don’t know why, but I willingly said YES without even thinking about it. Just hearing the word “Palawan” could have made me too excited then! Coron is famous for its virgin islands, rock formations, white sand beaches, and a lot more. We had two months to book our 2-day tour, our flight, and our accommodation, and to prepare all the stuff we needed. The four of us counted the days until it finally came. Early morning of October 15, also a day before my birthday (Yay!), Teacher Amber, Megumi, Ginny, and I started our trip to Palawan! As you can imagine, the four of us were pumped!
Our flight was short and smooth, but Lo and Behold! The weather in Palawan wasn’t what we were expecting. Little did the four of us know that Coron had just had a typhoon, and the sky was still gloomy, and it was also drizzling. This also meant that the coast guard wouldn’t allow us to sail to ensure our safety. Did that mean we wouldn’t be able to see the beautiful islands and rock formations of Palawan?! Well, you’ll find out eventually.
No matter what, we went on our first day itinerary. We went around the city, hiked a mountain which overlooked the entire Coron, and visited some souvenir stores. Coron is also famous for its cashew nuts, so you should definitely give it a try if you visit there. In the evening, we went to natural hot spring to have a bath. The hot spring was very wide and really hot (like boiling hot), but once your body has adjusted to its temperature, I can assure you total relaxation.
On our second day, the weather hadn’t changed at all, but of course, the show had to go on! Our next destination was a safari. We were also excited to see the animal life in Coron. We walked and fed giraffes! If you have the guts, you can even give them a kiss! We watched horses and zebras run in the wild, held some baby crocodiles, fed some turtles and wild cats, saw monkeys watching us on trees, and took pictures with a herd of deer. It was unexpectedly exciting!
After that, we dropped in a nearby church and a waterfalls. We finished early in the afternoon and it was still raining, which meant no sailing! We headed back to our hotel and hit the hay for our early flight. We kissed the thought of seeing the beautiful beaches, islands, lakes, and rock formations of Coron goodbye.
Guess what happened the next day– the sun finally shone! It was a bright and beautiful Sunday, but unfortunately we had to go to the airport to catch our flight back to Tagaytay. Such a bad timing!
As soon as we check in the airport, our airline staff informed us that our flight was overbooked, and that we would need to wait a day to have our seats available. That would have enraged us, but it didn’t. Why? To make up for the inconvenience they caused, they offered us one day free accommodation in a 5 star hotel and in Coron and a free round trip ticket to various destinations in the Philippines! Who could have said NO to that? So we headed back to the city, checked in a hotel, and decided to find someone who could take us to the beautiful beaches and islands of Coron since the sky had already cleared up. In the end, we managed to sail around the vast oceans of Palawan, explored pristine lakes and lagoons, go snorkeling, and be awed by the magnificent rock formations in Coron.
Even though some unexpected things happened, everything worked out for us in the end. I couldn’t thank my companions Megumi, Jeeny, and Teacher Amber enough! We surely had a blast and a worth-remembering getaway.
