What a difference 12 hours make

Seventeen hours ago, I was lying on my back, soaking in some UV rays in the gorgeous white beach of Alona, Panglao, Bohol.

Fourteen hours ago, I opened my pink Emily the Strange pouch and commented how roomy it was.

Thirteen hours ago, I realized why said pouch was so roomy: my MP3 player wasn’t in it.

Ten hours ago, my friend and I were hounded by eager taxi drivers wanting to take us whereever we’d like to go. At a fixed price.

Nine hours ago, we were told by a harassed airline staff that the system was down and can’t accomodate early check-in after we lined up for more than thirty minutes.

Four hours ago, a cabbie wanted a fixed fare price. We managed to convince him to use the meter instead.

Three hours ago, tired and weary, I trudged into our house and to my computer for my 8 hours of work. It booted, but Windows wouldn’t start.

Thirty minutes ago, another cabbie doesn’t want to give me change and said I should give it to him as a tip instead.

Ten minutes ago, the computer I was using in an Internet cafe got hacked.

Life is so much better in the country, away from the city.

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We work hard to earn money to support our families and to indulge ourselves once in a while. Our daily expenses continually rise everyday. It’s not surprising we are looking for other ways to earn money.

It’s not right when you have to steal just to get money to pay for your hospital bills. I’m sorry that it had to happen to you, but it doesn’t make it right for you to steal.

I don’t have anything against tipping. If you did a great job and provided great service, I would tip you. Just don’t ask for it, please. Don’t insist that I should give you a tip, specially if you did a haphazard job at it.

Just because we travel doesn’t mean we’re rich. We could afford to travel because we worked hard to earn and save our money. We budgetted, we sacrificed, we found legal and ethical ways of earning extra money.

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I had a wonderful time in Bohol. I was able to relax, de-stress and spend some time with my bestfriend. It’s just disheartening to have it end this way.