I am scared. The thought of being alone in an unfamiliar place scares me. No one close by to save me when I’m in a pickle. But the thought of being in an unfamiliar place excites me too. Even if I know no one’s around to save me, it gives me a great sense of satisfaction that I can handle things on my own.

I am paranoid. There’s hardly a time when I don’t think about death when I’m inside a moving vehicle. I think about boats capsizing, trains derailing and planes crashing, usually when I’m inside them. I’m paranoid that someone would take off with my bags as soon as I let my eyes off them. I can think of a hundred reasons not to get out of the house, but I can think of a thousand more reason why I should go out and explore the world.
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I’m writing this from the dining area of the Lavender Lodge in downtown Kota Kinabalu. I’ve been here since Saturday, and if it weren’t the start of the week, I probably wouldn’t be blogging this early.

I meant to write a day to day update, as I did for previous trips, but I figured I owe it to myself to have a break from blogging and to travel just for the love of it, and not because it’s a great material for my blog. The daily recaps of my travels take a lot of discipline and energy and somehow made it seem as if everyday should be interesting just so I would have something to write about. I’ve done a lot of interesting things this weekend, though I wouldn’t write about it until the coming days or weeks.
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The number 9 has always been my lucky/unlucky number. Maybe I’m just thinking too much into it, but I’ve noticed that through the years, things happen on the 9th. Doesn’t help that I’m the 9th kid in the family either. Travel-wise things have been really great for me this year. I’ve been to a lot of places and traveled more than I ever had in the past years. When this year started, I said I do not have major plans for travel, except for a couple of trips. Much to my surprise, I ended up taking trips I never really planned for (a month’s headstart is considered not planned for!).

My doll Tina getting really friendly with the locals in Singapore

While going through some past entries, I came upon a list I made back in 2007: 10 Places I want to visit in the next two years. I have totally forgotten writing this year and reading it again, I was so proud of myself for taking out 7 out of 10 places. Six of those places were also visited just this year. My year-end post for 2009 will be a recap of that list from two years ago.
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There’s another on-going seat sale right now, and despite my vow not to use my credit card this month, I ended up abusing it. My last tally of 7 tickets have now risen to 13 tickets. Total damage to my credit card: Php 2,335.80 for 6 one-way tickets to different destinations. Next year is going to be totally crazy. Fare thee well, Japan.

Random photo of an airplane just so this entry has a photo.

So how do I end up with these cheap fares? Here are some of the things that help me score tickets at rock-bottom prices:
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Hi, I’m Nina and currently, I’m holding seven airline tickets. Some are for local destinations, some for international; some one-way, some round trip.

Boarding pass from 2007

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Here’s a short break from my Boracay and Malaysia posts: a video clip for the upcoming Philippine Blog Awards:

This year’s blog awards will be held in three different cities in three different islands: October 9 in Manila, October 17 in Cebu and October 24 in Cagayan de Oro. Can’t attend? You can watch the awards night live over at Flippish.com. For more details, visit the Philippine Blog Awards website at www.philippineblogawards.com.ph.

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While I have been back in the Philippines since July 6, I haven’t really been “home.” My sister who lives in Australia arrived on the same day that I did, and I stayed with them in their rented flat until yesterday, when they left to go back to Melbourne. Since I came back from my trip, I have been to our house exactly twice, and I didn’t even stay longer than three hours on each occasion. I just went back to pick up some clothes and things before heading back to Makati.

Where the last two weeks was spent

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Just as I have a list of things to see and do when I travel, I also have a list of food to eat when I come home from a long trip. These are usually local favorites that I don’t get to indulge on while on the road. This time though, it’s mostly fast food.

Galit sa gravy

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