Where Was I?

I picked The Philippines during this time of year for a couple of reasons. The first being that I thought it would be a good time to visit another island and spend some more time on the beach. The second was that I wanted to spend Christmas in this country. I’m not a religious person and don’t celebrate the holiday myself, but I had read about how Filipinos go above and beyond during the Christmas season and I wanted to experience that first hand. It ended up working out even better than I anticipated.

The Best Thing I Saw in The Philippines

Sunset in Boracay

This would probably be a good chance to talk about the weather.  Up until this point, I had been traveling about 2.5 months and had very few weather issues.  I went through one monsoon in Vietnam for a day and had some minor hiccups, but for the most part I had great weather almost everywhere.  

That changed in Boracay and it was too bad, because there were not many indoor options or things to do during the storms.  Most of my next few days on the island were spent in my beach hut watching movies and sorting out my blog.  I had a few things planned around the island that I was forced to cancel because of the flooding, so the highlights after that initial sunset cruise were limited to a few of the meals I had at some of the local restaurants.   

I did manage to take a few nice walks on the beach when the rain had stopped periodically and it would be hard to really complain about anything when living life on Boracay.  

Manila for Christmas 

I flew from Boracay into Manila on Christmas Eve and went to see a Disney Christmas light show that was playing in the Makati district.  

It was an impressive display of lights, lasers, and music where Disney always seems to set the standard, even when in a city like Manila.  

It was nice to see much of the city lit up for the holidays and I was glad to be there during this time of the year.  

 

As for the real highlight of my time in Manila: my Airbnb stay with the most hospitable Filipino family. 

When I booked this stay about two months prior to arriving in The Philippines, I intentionally booked a room in a family home with the idea that there was a chance I could join the family for the holiday.  So when I arrived in the afternoon on December 24th, I was delighted to hear the hosts welcome me to their family dinner that night.  They explained that their festive holiday meal was on the 24th (Christmas Eve) and that was when their entire extended family would be coming over for food and presents.     

View this post on Instagram

Merry Christmas from Manila 🎄 #Type1Travels #Type1Diabetes #T1D #Type1 #Travel #Manila #Philippines #ReimagineTheMagic

A post shared by Jeremy Hyman (@type1_travels) on Dec 25, 2018 at 8:51am PST

 

It ended up being so much more than I imagined, with roughly 25 guests and enough food to feed the entire block.  I was able to eat with the family, watch the kids open presents given to them by their grandmother, and talk with many of the family members about life in The Philippines.  English was spoken intermittently when they spoke with each other and many of the family members, especially the younger ones, could speak nearly fluent English when talking with me.    

These were the kind of experiences that made this year of travel so fulfilling.  

 

Other Highlights 

Fort Santiago

A 16th century citadel, this was a cool historical site that was on the top of pretty much all of the ‘what to do in Manila’ guidebooks.  

San Agustin Church

Another historical site in Manila, this church dates back to the early 1600’s and both the interior and exterior architecture were pretty impressive.  

 

 

Manila Airport 👎

While my experience in The Philippines was memorable for mostly all good reasons, the Manila airport was not one of them.  

I had read on travel blogs that this may be the worst airport in the world for a variety of reasons, but after experiencing it first-hand I could now echo all those sentiments as it stood out as being just that; the worst. 

I had thought a 2.5 hour window to transfer terminals would be ample time, but I had thought wrong.  Transferring terminals at the Manila airport wasn’t as simple as a long walk or a quick shuttle.   After waiting for over an hour for a shuttle that claimed it would take me to my desired terminal (it never came), I was then forced into taking the dreaded taxi scammers that were notorious for this airport.  But, if I had any chance to make my connecting flight to Boracay I knew I would have to give in to the scammers and pay them off in USD.  To jump right to the end of the story, I made the flight by about one minute and was the last passenger on the last flight of the day to the island so I guess it was worth it?  

Besides the scammers, the long lines at immigration getting out of the country, the four terminals that were separated by a few miles and could take 20+ minutes by car, the dirtiness, and the poor communication from the staff, the airport was efficient. 

But, I really don’t like spending too much time complaining or writing about things that went poorly so I’ll leave it at that. 

The Sugars

Highest high: 227

Lowest low: 43

Avg Morning: 100

Avg Afternoon: 111

Avg Night: 136

Insulin Pods: 4

Avg Basal Rate: 1.10

Emergency sugar supply: Skittles, glucose tablets, M&Ms, energy drinks

  

With the weather keeping me inside for most of my time in Boracay, it was easier to keep my sugars stable.  I did eat a lot of carbs, but was able to balance pretty well and could over correct when needed. When I knew I would be spending an afternoon or a night indoors doing very little physical activity, I knew I could overshoot my insulin and if I did suffer a brief low, I had my juice right next to me.  It was harder to do that when I knew I’d be active or outside in a city when a low could be more troublesome, but in this case I didn’t have to worry.   

The Christmas dinner in Manila was interesting because my sugar was low most of that day after traveling.  The dinner itself consisted of a lot of foods I was unfamiliar with, but in that case I had to use my best judgement on which foods consisted of carbs and which sauces tasted sweet.  I ate a lot and must have guessed pretty well because my sugar was 124 on Christmas morning after the big dinner. 

Another small issue I had on Christmas day was how few restaurants were open and the difficulty finding something to eat.  I had my emergency supplies and some leftovers from the night before, but I remember struggling to find something open for dinner.  I eventually found a Domino’s Pizza open, ordered through the app, and somehow managed to spend Christmas night eating Domino’s and watching NBA basketball on my TV.  

The one real low I had in Manila was at Fort Santiago when my sugar dipped to 43.  I had done a lot of walking around the city that day and that was many times the cause of a low.  I didn’t have my Skittles with me but instead had peanut M&M’s and a Gatorade as I sat on a bench for about 15 minutes until my sugar went back up.  

This low was on my final day in The Philippines so I almost made it the full week and a half without any serious lows, but the heat and the exercise finally got me on that last day.  

 

After an awesome Christmas in The Philippines, I was ready to head to Singapore to celebrate the new year.  

 

Keep the sugar levels steady. 

Jeremy

 

 

THIS WEBSITE IS NOT INTENDED FOR THE PURPOSE OF PROVIDING MEDICAL ADVICE.  PLEASE CONSULT PROPER MEDICAL PERSONNEL FOR ALL HEALTH RELATED ISSUES