This unexpected idea to hold a batch reunion in Cebu was first coined when I went there last July to meet some friends (read about it here).  It was just a suggestion to try a different location for our usual, almost monthly, reunions in Manila.  When Air Philippines (and later Cebu Pacific) announced a seat sale sometime in August, I immediately sent an SMS to Lenlen, our batch’s designated person-who-sends-SMS-to-everyone, to contact the rest of the gang if they’re interested.  If you know our group, you’re fully aware that most of us are the “kaladkarin” type, who need not be coaxed to attend such events.  So long story short, 8 of us - Lenlen, Loradel, Janice, Myra, Romevic, Ivory, Clifton and myself,  immediately bought tickets and psyched ourselves for an adventure a couple of months later!
 
I immediately created an event invite in Facebook to extend the invitation to the rest of our batchmates, from other locations.  Some declined due to personal reasons while the rest tentatively accepted.  What was funny was, while there were 8 of us from Manila, those who accepted from Cebu were less than half our number! 0_0  How could that be??? One of our classmates, Francis aka Franzmac, also came home from the US and even promised to pay for our accommodation which was good news. Whad’ya say? Thanks Francis!
 
Here are the events that transpired on Friday night on our flight to Cebu …
 
 
6:00 PM – I left the office and went straight to the airport to meet the rest of the gang.
 
7:00 PM – I was the first one to arrive at the airport and decided to eat dinner first (which proved to be the right decision).
 
7:30 PM – Lenlen and I were already queued infront of the check-in counter with Loradel nowhere in sight. Her taxi driver made the wrong turn and took the route to Terminal 2 instead. We were scheduled to take the 9PM Air Philippines flight. The others would take the CebuPac flight at 10PM.
 
8:00 PM – We checked-in without Loradel and just “reserved” her spot, thanks to the kind lady at the counter.  Loradel, however, needed to be at the counter by 8:30 or else her spot would be given up.
 
8:28 PM – 2 minutes before the deadline, Loradel arrived! Breathing a sigh of relief, we then proceeded to the pre-departure area.  By this time, Romevic and Myra were already at the airport.
 
8:45 PM – An Air Phils personnel announced that our flight will be delayed due to late arrival of our turnaround aircraft. My companions decided to grab a bite first, that is, a sandwich, just to satisfy their hunger. See? Told ya, I made the right decision to eat earlier!
 
9:20 PM – We finally heard the announcement that we were ready for boarding.
 
10:40-ish PM – We finally arrived in Cebu! As usual, Virgil was there to meet us!  Since the others would arrive at around 12 midnight still, we decided to go ahead and meet the first batch of Carigara delegates ^^ - Jovy, Lucy, Renalyn, and Joy with her daughter Yuffa.
 
11:30 PM – We found were the Carigara group was staying, after taking a few wrong turns. Lol! Because another group was still to arrive later in the morning from Carigara, them being Ysan, Aline and Joseph who were not very familiar with the place, Jovy, et.al. decided to stay behind and wait for them.  Us, Manila group, on the other hand, decided to take the early morning bus to Maya port.
 


12:30 PM – The second group from Manila called us that they were already at McDonald’s somewhere in Cebu City, our meeting place, so we headed there.  Nolan, Frazmac and Francis (Canuda) joined us, too.  Since the bus was to leave by 2:30 AM still, we just killed time sharing our experiences with each other:

• Loradel’s photo finish experience at the check-in counter
• Clifton’s “warfreak” mode at the airport when his group (actually Janice and the others) was told that their flight would be delayed and they had to wait for the 1 AM flight still
• Franzmac and Francis’s experience at the port area (when they were about to take the ferry) where they were told that only one of them could be accommodated because the tickets were sold out.

 
2:00 AM – We left for the North Bus Terminal to take the bus to Maya port which was a 4-hour ride still. Sigh! All 11 of us got on the bus and Nolan said goodbye coz he chose to go with Lorenz with the Carigara group.  We had an agreement to sleep all throughout the trip to allow ourselves to rest but of course, this didn’t happen. Our group was the noisiest bunch the entire trip until we arrived at Maya port around 6AM.
 




We took a 30 to 45-minute ride to the island from Maya port.  After a little adventure, we had to ride on a small boat first before the bigger one coz it was low tide and the bigger one can’t go near the shore, we were finally at Malapascua Island!!! Whew! That was a very loooooong but fun trip!!!


 
Stay tuned for the next parts! We haven’t even started with the REAL fun yet!