Lone Ranger

I am officially on my own. My friend had to jet off yesterday for work, which left me with some work of my own to do. Work that I've been putting off all week, with unparalleled avoidance. Those of you that know me know that I'm a ridiculous procrastinator, as in I could win world-level prizes for the skill. This trait, combined with an intense dislike for planning of any kind combine to make me the WORST at travel planning. Love travel, hate the planning. Makes for quite the conundrum.

It seems the reason the flights are so cheap is because you get
so little space. Had I not had an empty seat next to me and
been able to sit sideways, I'm pretty sure my knees would
have been permanently indented from being jammed so tightly
into the seat in front of me. For realz.

And as this whole trip had been so up in the air until the very last moment, I arrived with even less plans than I normally would have, which was quite a feat in and of itself. Upon landing in Seoul, I knew that I was spending about a week in Seoul and I had an approximation of a date that I will be heading back to the US. And that was it. The rest was wide open to, well, whim. Which is usually how I travel anyhow, so that part didn't concern me too much. I should have started to get concerned as the week progressed, but no. I should have been concerned once I realize that J was leaving Saturday and I had to be out of the hotel by Sunday and had no plans after that, but no. Pleeenty of time to figure such things out.

But finally, after J took off Saturday, I could put it off no longer. I headed up to the lounge I'd come to think of as a second home and hunkered down to get serious. I decided that my future destinations would be decided by two factors: 1) places that I haven't already been and 2) places where I could fly to the cheapest. Asia has started up some 'discount' airlines so it's feasible to fly from place to place rather inexpensively. Kind of like EasyJet or RyanAir in Europe but slightly nicer and slightly more expensive. But still a pretty great bargain overall.

Asian airline food. So different and, yet, still so bad.

Based on the above criteria, my first post-Seoul destination is...... Manila, Philippines! I booked the flight and the hotel, feeling rather proud of myself. Booking the hotel was a bit of a challenge as, having never been there, I didn't know how much time I would want/need, but I'm also in the mode of not wanting to move around too much, preferring to be 'rooted' in a place at least long enough to unpack a little.

After booking the Manila part, I decided I may as well ride the wave of motivation while it lasted and book the next flight. I found a super cheap flight ($89!) from Manila to Kuala Lumpur so figured I might as well grab it while it lasted. I have rarely gone to a place with a flight already in hand to the next place but, in this case, it turned out to be a tremendous stroke of good luck that I'd done so. When I got to the airport in Seoul, I was informed that I wouldn't be allowed to fly to the Philippines if I couldn't show a departure ticket. Amazing that I had booked one just 12 or so hours before and could whip it out as if, yes of course, I'm a totally informed traveler and knew that and came prepared. Whew!

So here I am in Manila. I had to set my alarm for an obscenely early hour (4:30 am) and stumbled my way through the morning, but here I am. I have a feeling the adventure has just begun.