What 2015 brings
Change is always unsettling. Getting unconscious comfort from usual things in the usual ways, we get jolted when change occurs. However, one thing that is constant is change. It happens at the most unexpected instance in the most uncomfortable manner. Askance, out of balance or in control, we have to deal with change in our lives the best way possible.
A new year heralds change -- a year older, due dates to be met, marked anniversaries, another set of events to be undertaken with a wiser viewpoint and hopefully with renewed vigor.
From the cozy warmth of our comfort zones, we venture forth to face the challenge of change with the operative word: hope.
In 2015, we look forward to the 2016 International Eucharistic Congress as we have been making preparations for it in mid-2014. Aside from the Sinulog festivities -- notching 35 years this year -- we anticipate with great joy the unscheduled visit of Pope Francis to the Yolanda victims in Leyte and his papal Mass in Manila. He is change personified...as Jesus was, exhorting change in His time. People who bring about change create a maelstrom of discomfort around them. But they too emanate the aura of hope.
Travel always bring changes -- of location, of time zone, of weather, of culture , even of attitude. It is the distance that makes us realize how beautiful is our home country, our place of residence; the strange language and way of life, that make our own so dearly significant. That is why travel for me is a never-ending quest for better climes, even as it is a constant reminder of the treasures that I already own. Travel brings with it the hope of what adventure awaits in the destination, even as it invariably springs surprises - pleasant or otherwise.
March and early April is cherry blossom time in Japan. Delmar Travel has a couple of tantalizing packages in late March -- March 23 -- and in early April. I imagine it will be magical to walk under a canopy of candy floss pink with floating petals that become a fairy carpet of pink.
Airlines offer cheaper fares during the first quarter of the year, especially towards March, which is the beginning of spring. This is my favorite time of the year to visit the countries in the temperate zone. Cool enough to wear my sweater sets but not freezing; the flowers are beginning to bloom on the branches of burgeoning greens all around. Even the air still has that nifty coolness in the bright sunlight.
Nearer home, you may opt to visit Korea as it too has a lovely spring. After that first Korean Travel Fair in Cebu, I am sure there are good offers by Asiana, Korean Air and Jeju Air.
Be patriotic and check out the offerings of Cebu Pacific, now that this airline has increased its foreign destinations; so with Philippine Airlines, which now flies to more cities in Europe and in Australia.
I wish you all the best in 2015. What it brings all really depends on you, how you meet the challenge of what is changing and what is new.
Happy New Year! More travels this year!
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