One of the reasons I blog in a blockchain is because I wanted to preserve my experiences into something I could go back years after and it's still there, intact and readily available for reading. The thing is, I suddenly felt sad today for no apparent reason. Maybe this quarantine is one of the factors since I haven't out from our compound for 1 month and 17 days already. I experienced several times like this before and my usual response is to go somewhere, may it be hiking in the mountains here in Cebu, going to the beach, or convincing my friends to go food tripping.
Since I can't do those things this time, I tried to remember one of the happiest moments I had. This was definitely not the ones where I was laughing out loud, but one of the moments where I felt at ease. This was the time when life seemed to slow down and I didn't have to think of all the problems for a while. Since I haven't shared this to you, now's the perfect time to have this post.
I didn't include this in my travel series because although it can still be categorized as travel content, this is more about me, my friends, and our activities during that time. I made a post about some travel content creation tips and this will definitely violate those tips. As you can see later on, the place didn't matter on this one. By the way, if you're interested into travel content creation and you want some tips, you can check out this post:
Sometime during our birthdays last year, we decided to have a 2 days staycation at San Remo Oasis at City di Mare. San Remo is a condominium complex that's located in Cebu South Coastal Road, Cebu City. Condo units are available for accomodation that can be booked online. Included in the booking are the outdoor swimming pool, fitness centre, children's playground, garden views, and the terrace. These are the basic amenities offered when you book in one of the units there.
We booked on a long weekend for a 2 days and 2 nights stay. Unfortunately, I had a work on that Saturday so I filed a half-day leave and I would just go there immediately after my work in the morning. My friends, Daphnie, Ivana, and Glebert went ahead of me because they want to attend a free yoga session at Il Corso.
Yoga at Il Corso Mall
Il Corso is Cebu's newest Lifestyle Mall and it's just across City di Mare in Cebu's South Road Properties. It's a destination for recreation, shopping, and dining by the sea. As part of their promotional activities, they commissioned a yoga teacher to do a free yoga session at space facing the sea.
Since I was late, I became the photographer. I didn't join the yoga session but the scene was so relaxing. I envied my friends for enjoying the session, but the breeze from the sea was comforting enough.
It was already dusk when the yoga class ended so we decided to go to SM Seaside to buy food. We thought of having a takeout for the dinner since it was already late if we would cook and my friends were already hungry and exhausted from their yoga class.
Dinner/Birthday Celebration
After SM Seaside, we immediately went back to the condo unit to have dinner. It was one of the simplest birthday celebration I had. Our food was just a takeout from the famous fast-food chain here in the Philippines.
I'm not really particular about birthdays and celebrations because most of the time, we would not celebrate for my birthday. But that dinner was extra special for me, maybe because of the people I'm with during that time. They were the ones who were with me in one of the lowest times of my life. We were already there for each other's heartaches and life difficulties.
I felt I'm a little bit off track here, but I felt that as you grow older, it gets lonelier because people seemed to be very busy with their own lives that you would feel embarrassed to bother them with your own problems. To have friends who will be with you when you're dealing a lot with life, you should treasure them. To be honest, we haven't really done much for each other except be there when talk about our problems over a bottle of beer. Okay, maybe a little more for we had sleepovers, late night talks, food trip, and watching movies together.
Back to the main story, we decided to practice some yoga poses after dinner which turned out to be a bad choice to be done after dinner. Anyway, after the yoga mini session, we watched a movie on Netflix in which they all slept halfway through it. I was the only one who finished the whole movie.
Early Morning Jogging and Some Yoga Poses
This one was a special request. We agreed that would wake up early and jog around the property. We could ditch all other plans, but not this one. True enough, everyone woke up early and prepared for the jog. I could feel their excitement as they put on their jogging attire. As we have agreed, we would have a relaxing and holistic weekend (I don't know what that means).
After jogging a few meters up to the main road, we decided to go back and do some yoga poses, again for the gram. I tried to do a tripod headstand for the first time and I guess a was able to perform it, albeit not perfectly. It was fun because we were the only people in the area that early in the morning.
Roaming Around San Remo
We were supposed to be swimming, but there were a lot of people in the pool that time so we just roamed around while taking some photos for instagram (which I didn't upload). We didn't have specific itinerary that time so whatever activity is open for agreement. We decided to be back in the pool in the afternoon when those who were swimming are gone.
We decided to go back to the unit to watch movies on Netflix and sleep. We all woke up late in the afternoon, exhausted and hungry, so we just cooked for dinner and do nothing else. The original plan to have swimming was ditched so we were not able to visit the swimming pool again. We stayed in our unit most of the time, but it was one of my most memorable experiences.
I brought my laptop with me so that I can write a post, but I was not even able to open it. But I was able to rest, rethink of priorities in life, and recharge for another week of stress at work. We even decided to have another staycation again, one that would not require special planning and itinerary. It was my first time have such kind of vacation as most of my travels are grueling and really required effort. Maybe it's a sign that I'm growing older because I never thought I would enjoy such kind of activity. I'm usually into adventure and thrilling experience, but it feels good not to do anything except relax somewhere.
This post is just a mumbo jumbo of how I remembered the staycation we had last year. Please don't expect too much from this. See you in the next one! Maybe I'll share another post which was my last travel before quarantine.
Kim Ybañez
Welcome to Kim's small corner in Hive. He is a chemical engineer by profession, but a blogger by passion. He is a wanderlust and an adventure seeker. Join his quests as he visits secluded destinations, climbs mountains, tries new and exotic dishes, and explores his country (The Philippines) and the rest of the world even if he's still a poor corporate slave with tons of bills to pay and two siblings to support in college.
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