Lazy Narration of Some of My 2019 Vacations

Apologies for the late upload. I forgot to click Publish after setting the schedule. dang it

I promised before that I was gonna do posts on my 2019 vacations, but I got super lazy, and I've now forgotten many of the important details about them.
I'll be honest: I'm not a fan of some of my family vacations. I think that some of them are not significant enough to be worthy of a blog post that would be helpful to at least half of my readers. This is also why I don't pay attention when a celebrity or YouTuber (even if I like them) talks about their vacations (unless it's Hypixel Studios staff).

So here are my lazy narrations:

New Year 2019: December 31, 2018 to January 2, 2019

My family and my big brother's family went to a 5-star hotel (not gonna say the name or location) to celebrate the New Year, as we did on New Year 2018.

We booked our own rooms, but mostly spent time in Big Brother's room, where I played with my niece, who I think is as cute as Dedenne. (Big Brother has requested that I don't show her name or face.)

When we entered Big Brother's room for the first time, my niece was so excited, she rushed towards my mom and hugged her.

Mom and Dad gave my niece a small, pink, and sturdy-looking bike with a basket as a late Christmas gift.

We had a ton of food, including chicken, fries, onion rings, and Mom's custom-cooked spaghetti, which is my niece's favorite food. I enjoyed the onion rings the most.

Mom said my niece likes anything she considers "play". My niece and I played Hide-and-Seek, then I pretended to be zapped by touching her big cheeks.

When I got tired, I pretended to be a member of the Queen's Guard by standing still, and she was eagerly waiting for me to move. A few seconds later, I scared her, shouting "DO NOT TOUCH THE QUEEN'S GUARD!" and she ran away in laughter, then I stood still again and she tried to get my attention again.

Before sunset, we went to a place in the hotel that serves coffee and snacks. I drank cappuccino, which I haven't drank for many years--I enjoy "eating" the "bubbles".

The hotel came with a heated indoor pool (no surprise--it's 5 stars), and, no doubt, I took advantage of it since I rarely swim nowadays. My younger brother and I went there at night.

However, I personally find swimming boring--it's almost like walking around aimlessly, except in water. All I did was test my stamina by swimming from point A to point B, test fighting moves, or occasionally and reluctantly accept my younger brother's race invitations...until my boredom was cured by a cute toddler.

After several minutes of waiting, Big Brother and his daughter went into the pool. She was unenthusiastic about it at first, so she had a "meh" face upon entering. But I don't care--at least I still get to stare at her big cheeks!

Fortunately, we were still able to play games. I think I played a game where I tell my niece to say words I say, including ridiculous ones like "volt", "ampere", and "thunderbolt". But the best part is when I pretended to be electrocuted by her; since impure water conducts electricity, I shook my body harder and said "zzzzt" louder while sinking underwater. She laughed SO hard.

After swimming, we spent the rest of the night in the hotel room waiting for midnight of January 1, 2019. While my parents, brothers, and sister-in-law chatted, ate, and watched movies, I played with my niece, and she sometimes stopped to look at the sky from the big window. She often saw fireworks at angles I didn't pay attention to, and every time, she pointed them out excitedly to us and her toys.

I didn't react much to the New Year other than lazily shouting "Happy New Year!" because most days after this day will be much like the days of 2018 to me (except for Hytale indirectly helping me--and other students--do my school work, such as this one liked by Hytale's Twitter account).
At 12:01 AM, though, I got a message from an old "friend": "HAPPY NEW YEAR!"

I think we were asked to leave at 1 AM. However, when we did, my niece cried.

The next morning, we had breakfast at the same place I had coffee. I had hash browns and cereals...and the hash browns were bland and tasted like leftovers.

After some slacking off in our hotel rooms, my mom, dad, and younger brother checked out of the hotel at 12 noon.

We then moved to another more budget-friendly hotel to relax for two days (January 1 and 2), and in those days, I either don't remember what happened other than slacking off, or, in fact, mostly slacked off. All we did outside the hotel was eat our regular meals in restaurants.
I pulled an all-nighter though while playing Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones on January 1...and then trained with Coach G-Force on January 2 after checking out of that budget hotel.

Bland story, I know, because I'm not satisfied overall with the trip. Besides playing with my niece and being "electrocuted" by her, I was mostly stuck in a hotel room and I wasn't allowed to bring our PC.

February 2019: Boracay

Ah, Boracay, one of the Philippines's most well-known beaches and tourist spots.

Before February 2019, I spent 3 vacations in my lifetime on Boracay. The first of which was also my first vacation outside Metro Manila, which my 6-year-old self was scared to go to because of my fear of the aircraft crashing. I don't remember the second one, but the third time I went, it was on February 2016 and I didn't enjoy it because of the thought of school work.

Big Brother told us that he, his wife, and his super cute daughter will have their vacation at Boracay on February 2019, and I think Mom was interested, so she asked me and my younger brother if we want to come.

I said yes, and he said no. I wanted to come because, #1, I was curious of what the newly rehabilitated Boracay looks like; its beach used to be dirty due to litter until President Rodrigo Duterte had Boracay closed and ordered the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to clean up Boracay within 6 months; #2, beach vacations make me feel like a Pokémon Trainer; #3, I CAN PLAY WITH MY NIECE! As for my brother saying no, read this blog post on why he dislikes traveling.

The combined weight of my luggage was quite heavy.

I brought four gadgets with me: a laptop (because I had school work), a DSLR camera, a tablet, and a small cellphone (because my tablet doesn't support SIM cards). Individually taking them out of my bags to have them inspected multiple times was a chore, especially with the thought of Mom waiting a long time for me, which made me panic.

I also had four days worth of clothes plus backups, which occupied a lot of space in my backpack and prevented me from easily storing other stuff.

My sling bag remained light as usual; it contained my tablet, notebook, writing tools, citronella lotion, and bandages because, at the time, I was obsessed with camping and survival, and I was also paranoid of getting scratches while swimming. (I've worked, jogged, sprinted, cycled, and practiced fighting while wearing my sling bag, so I'm used to its weight.)

I can't remember much of what happened on our first day after our flight. All I remember are that, once we got inside our hotel room, I wanted to slack off and eat the snacks we brought because of having to carry so much weight, and at dinner time, I ordered a chicken steak at the hotel, and it was rather small and bony despite the price being roughly PH₱400.

Big Brother wasn't around--he told us in advance that he will be in Boracay the next day.

On the second day, Mom went swimming early in the morning while I slept longer because of my awful sleeping habits before vacation. I woke up when Mom arrived.

She told me I can eat at McDonald's, which is approximately 400 meters from the hotel. I didn't remember where it is since my third Boracay vacation (yes, I stayed in the same hotel as on my third vacation), so I had to ask Mom and look around carefully in case it's located at a blind curve.

When I arrived, I ordered pancakes. Unlike other McDonald's branches, this branch gave wooden utensils and a paper straw for my drink, thanks to plastics being banned in Boracay.

I can't remember what happened next, but for lunch, we went to an Italian restaurant where I had pizza and some pasta coated in pesto (I can't remember). I wasn't a fan of either--I picked pesto out of curiosity.

Later before sunset, Big Brother told us that he and his family have arrived in Boracay. Mom bought a ball for my niece before we met up with them at KFC, and she was so happy to see the ball that she bounced it around the place alongside a balloon. At the same time, once again, I pretended to be zapped by her big cheeks, but I added something new to the play: She doesn't just touch my face or hand, but other parts of my body or even my tablet, so whenever she touches those with her hands, I also play the zap sound effect. After knowing this, she grabbed my legs and I shook my legs extra hard for added effect, and of course, she laughed and ran all around KFC. As for my tablet, I put it in my sling bag to protect it from her "electricity".

We then had swimming at their hotel, but I think at that time, my niece got bored.

I got bored too, so, since I passed through Sooubway (Subway) multiple times before, I asked Mom, "I'm curious about Sooubway. Can I try a sandwich there for dinner?" After she said yes, I had roasted chicken as my meat. (I can't remember what else I wanted inside the sandwich.) I was ready to be weirded out, but to my surprise, I enjoyed it so much that I gobbled it up like a wild animal.

ISO 1600, f/4.5, 1/80 sec. TheOdd1sOut is awesome.

I ordered the exact same thing at Sooubway the next morning, and it was still amazing. Not only did I feel proud that I'm eating healthy because of the combination of bread, chicken, and veggies, but I also got reminded of TheOdd1sOut's videos.

I slacked off after breakfast for about an hour, then checked out of the hotel and moved to Big Brother's hotel.

All of us ate at Shakey's for lunch. My niece ordered spaghetti--I think seeing my mom made my niece remember spaghetti. Meanwhile, I gobbled up pizza.

After eating, everyone was still busy eating, so I took photos around the beach. Since the sun was shining brightly, I could use fast shutter speeds at low ISO levels, so I tried Krunker trick shots with my camera, such as this one which I think is a 360 no scope:

ISO 800, f/16, 1/1000 sec., +250 points

I also tried getting 360 no scope headshots by aiming the center of the lens at my niece's head. All of them missed because she moved so fast and my arms were shaky.

After lunch, we went swimming in the hotel's pool, and I was once again excited because my niece was there. She looked bored and unwilling to swim, but when I showed up ready to play, she also became playful.

I chased her like a crocodile, and while laughing, she moved away from me while sitting on the stairs.

But the best part was pretending to play Krunker with her, where she laughed whenever I used specific classes. Triggerman (assault rifle), Spray N Pray (light machine gun), and Detective (revolver) were okay, Hunter (sniper rifle) and Vince (shotgun) were meh, I didn't use Run N Gun (submachine gun) or Marksman (semi-auto rifle), and she LOVED Rocketeer (rocket launcher) and Agent (double Uzi), especially when I made my finger rush towards her while pretending to shoot a rocket.

Again, I pretended to be zapped extra hard by her big cheeks, but I ended up hitting the stairs with my forearm and got scratched while almost saying the F-word. Thank goodness I brought bandages.

After swimming, we relaxed in our hotel room, but my niece still wanted to play, so I did with my mom joining in. We were chasing each other, I sometimes hid from her, and every time she found me, I raged in a cartoony way. I still played Krunker, and she still loved it.

At sunset, Big Brother invited me, his wife, and our mom to parasailing, but he said I can't bring my tablet or camera. (I have two bags for them, dang it!) The wind was extra strong on that day, so the boat sailed very fast and I was pleasantly cooled down.

After about 10 minutes, we took a break at Starbucks.

For dinner, we ate at a Japanese restaurant. I think I ordered tonkatsu? (I also wasted Big Brother's Poké Balls in Pokémon GO--I haven't played Pokémon GO in a long time. I didn't catch anything significant other than a Charmander.)

Before falling asleep, I roamed around while randomly taking photos, then binge-watched and browsed social media. Gotta stalk Hypixel Studios regularly...

The next morning, I ate breakfast at the hotel. It was a buffet, so I picked up a lot of pancakes and bread loaves. (I was weirded out by everything else.) I got stuffed, but I ate it all anyway.

I eagerly waited for my niece to wake up, but she was still fast asleep, so I took photos again then checked social media and Hytale's new character customization post when she woke up. She approached me up close while I was closely examining Hytale's hairstyles and clothing, and I tried to make her go away (playfully) by shooting rockets at her, and she raced towards Big Brother or Mom every hit. (By the way, I don't think any of the available Hytale hairstyles closely match my real-life flat hairstyle.)

Mom and I later packed our bags for check-out while Big Brother and his family stayed. However, my niece didn't react when we left--I think she's upset that she was told to stop playing with me because she was being "malikot" (restless?) and join the others at the beach.

Oh well, at least we picked up all our things quickly!

In the aircraft, I was ready to see a lot of water below since the sky had small clouds, but I was surprised to consistently see land, and I kinda like it:

ISO 100, f/9, 1/320 sec., taken behind an aircraft window

Nothing really significant happened after we landed.

As for how impressed I am with Boracay, it's great, but far from perfect. I still saw isolated pieces of trash, but they're being regularly cleaned up, and there are cops constantly patrolling. There are trash cans all over the place, so carrying trash was no problem at all. Some Chinese girls who I thought were thots asked me to smoke cigarettes with them, though...

April 19

I'll probably release a post about this vacation on April 24. It's with my niece again, as well as my mom's relatives.