summer is here.  well, sort of.  early dawn and mid-afternoon temperatures are still kinda cool, not to mention the sudden downpour that happened over the weekend.  yet undoubtedly, it is the start of the summer season.  and this has got my mind thinking of only one thing:  hitting the beach.  putting what happened over the botched plan i had last year in the rear-view mirror, i started to look around for potential getaways and found two–with at least one solid plan.  in other words, i'm finally going to the beach this year!!  finally!!  i can't say that enough with much emphasis and excitement.  damn it, i so much want to get out of city life for a change for maybe two nights at the most and enjoy the sand, stare and drool at the eye candy babes, and breathe the sea air.  if this still doesn't happen, i honestly don't know what's wrong with me.  but, as they say, "think positive," so here are my (crossed-fingered) plans:

getaway plan number one:  puerto galera

when:  late april 2007

this is the more solid of the two plans i have.  some batchmates at work and i thought of spending a post-holy week vacation and what better place to be at than, well, the beach.  i, of course was the most animated one in the discussion since i haven't been to puerto galera since, well, ever.  it's a given that it's going to be on a weekend, when most of the group are off work and only the remaining few can file for a vacation leave (me included, that is, if schedules for the second quarter of the year stays as it is).  the only challenge i have is the time i have in saving money for this trip.  the most i can do is try to pay off my credit card balance as much as i can to free up the limit.  then, it's swipe, swipe, swipe!  god, if my old self can hear me now about credit cards.  he would have a field day running me down.  but hey, the beach is calling so what the hell, right?  🙂

getaway plan number two:  boracay

when:  june 2007

this is my backup plan in case number one goes kaput.  wait, this is my backup plan?  what the hell am i thinking making this my "backup" plan?  i must be going beach crazy.  well, thanks to cebu pacific's ongoing promo, fares to boracay have been reduced.  i just don't know if the reduction amount is that significant–taking into consideration that i haven't planned a trip to boracay before–but i pretty much think that it's a good deal.  i tried to see how much a two-way ticket to and from kalibo on their website costs and it came up to PHP3,484.32.  hmmm, not bad.  but that's just the airfare.  from what i heard–and you can correct me on this–accomodations range from four to six grand, depending on how long the stay is.  so for me, that's roughly around 10 grand.  and that's for a two-night, three-day deal.  and i still don't have pocket money for that.  so throw in an additional two grand (at least) and that would bring the total expenses to around 14 grand at the most.  uhm…. am i losing my mind?  well, the only positive thing here is that i have more than enough time to save up.  but the downside is that i have to book and pay the flight online–and i don't even like making online purchases–between now and march 8th in order to avail of the discounted rates.  and it's non-refundable.  now that will put my credit card in a bind.  *sigh*  seriously, it's something worth saving up for (after paying the airfare now) and enjoying it later.  but again, as i've mentioned, the first one is the more solid than this, and if that pushes through, i will more likely put this one off.  unless i can get free boracay accomodations for my birthday then that would be a different story.  but airfares will be back to their normal rates by then, so go figure.

just mentioning those two plans make me want to leave the office, go home, pack some stuff and go to whatever beach on my own, right now.  must be the coffee talking.  plus the fact that i'll be having a six-day work week this week.  well, at least i already have beach plans.  and that's just half of it.  getting there is the other half.  and i hope i don't end up just taking the first half.  that would be a major nut-numbing experience.  like i know how it feels to have my nuts go numb.  😛