My journey begins

---

I left Sydney to start my journey on Saturday afternoon. I had been counting down the days till my departure and I couldn't believe it was finally here. I had thought that I would have everything finished before last day - but as always things slip through the cracks and I saw myself still lugging boxes to a storage centre on the same day that I was due to leave for my trip.

After a manic morning I was glad to be finally sitting on that plane, champagne glass in hand, watching the world go by and planning for my year ahead. (Ryan, I had an extra glass for you too).

I arrived in Manila later that evening and met my dad so that we could make our way to the hotel together. Manila was like a sauna even at 10pm in the evening and as we went for a walk around Glorietta to find something to eat for dinner, it didn't take for the sweat to start running down my face.

Later that evening, exhausted after my very hectic week and long flight - sleep wasn't difficult to elude and I happily went to bed looking forward to the next few weeks in the Philippines.

---