sam heart travel

Day 1 - NAIA terminal 3 - Trapped in Manila's Monsoon Mayhem: A Race Against the Rain to Catch My Flight   Manila had been a soggy mess all week. Rain, relentless and torrential, had transformed the city into a watery labyrinth. It was the kind of downpour that made you question your life choices, especially the decision to book a flight to Vietnam during monsoon season. An orange alert, a constant digital companion on my phone, served as a grim reminder of the flooding chaos engulfing the city. News reports of cancelled flights, including one to North Vietnam earlier that day, fueled my growing anxiety.   My 8 pm flight to Da Nang loomed, a source of both excitement and palpable dread. Mader and Badet’s earlier flight had successfully braved a typhoon in the Philippine West Sea, their tales of gloomy Vietnamese weather offering a bittersweet comfort. Despite their experience, the uncertainty gnawed at me. The weight of a looming Thursday deadline at 4 pm ad...

Day 4: Siquijor's Typhoon Tango (and a Greasy Food Fiesta)   Ah, Siquijor. The island that promised adventure, relaxation, and maybe even a glimpse of the mythical "Siquijor magic." Instead, it delivered a typhoon, a cancelled ferry, and a whole lot of greasy food.   We woke up at the ungodly hour of 3 AM, not to the sound of chirping birds or crashing waves, but to the howling wind and the rhythmic drumming of rain on our roof. The typhoon, a mischievous little gremlin named "Typhoon Whatever," had decided to make Siquijor its playground.   Now, the Sunshine Girls (that's us, in case you didn't know) are known for our sunny disposition. We're the kind of people who see the good in everything, even a typhoon. So, with our trademark optimism, we packed our bags, grabbed our few extra snacks, and headed to the port at 6 AM, hoping against hope that a ferry would magically appear.   But alas, the rumors were true. The ferry was c...