Travel Diary: Outside Manila & Our Engagement Story
It’s now October and 2 days away from my birthday – and I’ve put off writing for a while because life has been full of some major transitions!
If you read my previous post, you probably got a recap of all the cool places to visit in Manila like Manila Bay, Greenhills, and more! And if you read through the section about ABS-CBN, then today, you get to read that Kenny wanted to propose on LIVE NATIONAL TELEVISION. Unfortunately for him (great for me!), they ran out of time and he couldn’t propose on TV. My dad had even ordered flowers for when we got back to the hotel but needed to return them because no proposal.
So now, we’re leaving Manila and heading for Boracay – a gorgeous island in Visayas. It’s under quite a bit of restoration due to past pollution that the Philippines is now trying to clean up. Boracay was shut down for 6 months to restore the beaches to its former glory (STOP THROWING THINGS IN THE OCEAN!!!).
We had three days to explore and have some fun, so the day we arrived, my cousins and I hopped on a banana boat. What’s a banana boat? Well, it’s shaped like a banana and a speed boat pulls it quickly on the ocean. Try not to fall off.
The second day was island hopping, swimming in the water, getting a tan (still using SPF), and what I thought was family dinner.
Turns out, it was more than that.
We had finished island hopping and headed back to the hotel to take a shower and freshen up. My cousins told me they were dressing up for dinner, putting on light makeup, doing their hair, etc. so I figured I should do the same.
I went downstairs to the boys’ room to check on Kenny and when he wasn’t there, I asked my brother where he went. “I don’t know,” he said. Not weird to me, so I left and hung around in my room.
Time for dinner. We all meet in the hotel lobby but my dad and uncle are missing? Again, didn’t think anything of it – I was just told they were hunting for a place for dinner.
We get to the dinner location. It’s this beachfront restaurant called Epic. When I say beachfront, I mean you can walk out the front door and step onto sand. Love love love tropical places!
We went upstairs to our reserved table, but I noticed a two-person table on the balcony labeled “Bartolome” which I found weird. Even weirder was when a waitress came up to me and asked if I wanted to sit outside. Kenny says, “Oh, your dad told me that he and your mom are gonna have a date night after dinner.” Cool, normal, nothing weird – except I didn’t even think to ask when they had that conversation?
We sat down and everyone’s talking about how we NEED to get sunset beach pictures. I just wanted to eat, and we already ordered! My drink came, my appetizer came, and my actual dinner came. All of a sudden, the whole table is getting up because we NEED these photos. I just want to eat.
Kenny and I are up first once we get to the beach. We line up and every single one of my family members has their phone out – I guess that’s not weird either.
Kenny started to say something, then I slowly turn to him as he’s talking. All I hear is my full name, then he’s on his knee.
All I remember is nodding yes, covering half my face, saying “are you serious??” 20 times, and bawling! At this point, the ring’s on my finger and we’re engaged! We. Are. Engaged.
Holy cow, we’re engaged!
It’s been 3 months since that day, I’ve processed it all, and I’m so in love with my FIANCE! The rest of the Philippines trip was a blur, but we visited my mom’s hometown in the Bicol region and island hopped some more (see highlights below).
I’m thankful every day for that trip and after (almost) 5 years, Kenny and I were engaged on July 9, 2019! That’s 9 days before our anniversary, but now July is an extra special month for us.
- I graduated with my bachelor’s degree in Marketing and a minor in International Studies.
- I got my first big girl, full-time job! I’m a real marketer now!
- As the title suggests, my then-boyfriend/now-fiancé and I are ENGAGED.
I’ve taken the last few months to transition into my new role at work, appreciate where I’ve come, and start planning a wedding, but now I’m ready to share more about the Philippines and the absolutely amazing time I had overseas.
The Story
I had absolutely no idea that Kenny would be proposing to me. In fact, I told my best friend that it wouldn’t be until 2020, late summer/early fall. Apparently, this whole proposal thing has been in the works since the summer of 2018, with my fiancé officially deciding in November 2018 that he’d be proposing in the Philippines. By March 2019, he had the ring and was waiting for July.If you read my previous post, you probably got a recap of all the cool places to visit in Manila like Manila Bay, Greenhills, and more! And if you read through the section about ABS-CBN, then today, you get to read that Kenny wanted to propose on LIVE NATIONAL TELEVISION. Unfortunately for him (great for me!), they ran out of time and he couldn’t propose on TV. My dad had even ordered flowers for when we got back to the hotel but needed to return them because no proposal.
So now, we’re leaving Manila and heading for Boracay – a gorgeous island in Visayas. It’s under quite a bit of restoration due to past pollution that the Philippines is now trying to clean up. Boracay was shut down for 6 months to restore the beaches to its former glory (STOP THROWING THINGS IN THE OCEAN!!!).
We had three days to explore and have some fun, so the day we arrived, my cousins and I hopped on a banana boat. What’s a banana boat? Well, it’s shaped like a banana and a speed boat pulls it quickly on the ocean. Try not to fall off.
The second day was island hopping, swimming in the water, getting a tan (still using SPF), and what I thought was family dinner.
Turns out, it was more than that.
We had finished island hopping and headed back to the hotel to take a shower and freshen up. My cousins told me they were dressing up for dinner, putting on light makeup, doing their hair, etc. so I figured I should do the same.
I went downstairs to the boys’ room to check on Kenny and when he wasn’t there, I asked my brother where he went. “I don’t know,” he said. Not weird to me, so I left and hung around in my room.
Time for dinner. We all meet in the hotel lobby but my dad and uncle are missing? Again, didn’t think anything of it – I was just told they were hunting for a place for dinner.
We get to the dinner location. It’s this beachfront restaurant called Epic. When I say beachfront, I mean you can walk out the front door and step onto sand. Love love love tropical places!
We went upstairs to our reserved table, but I noticed a two-person table on the balcony labeled “Bartolome” which I found weird. Even weirder was when a waitress came up to me and asked if I wanted to sit outside. Kenny says, “Oh, your dad told me that he and your mom are gonna have a date night after dinner.” Cool, normal, nothing weird – except I didn’t even think to ask when they had that conversation?
We sat down and everyone’s talking about how we NEED to get sunset beach pictures. I just wanted to eat, and we already ordered! My drink came, my appetizer came, and my actual dinner came. All of a sudden, the whole table is getting up because we NEED these photos. I just want to eat.
Kenny and I are up first once we get to the beach. We line up and every single one of my family members has their phone out – I guess that’s not weird either.
Kenny started to say something, then I slowly turn to him as he’s talking. All I hear is my full name, then he’s on his knee.
“What??” came out of my mouth.
“Will you marry me?” was his response.
All I remember is nodding yes, covering half my face, saying “are you serious??” 20 times, and bawling! At this point, the ring’s on my finger and we’re engaged! We. Are. Engaged.
Holy cow, we’re engaged!
It’s been 3 months since that day, I’ve processed it all, and I’m so in love with my FIANCE! The rest of the Philippines trip was a blur, but we visited my mom’s hometown in the Bicol region and island hopped some more (see highlights below).
I’m thankful every day for that trip and after (almost) 5 years, Kenny and I were engaged on July 9, 2019! That’s 9 days before our anniversary, but now July is an extra special month for us.
The rest of the Philippines trip was spent on cloud nine, but check out some of the other cool places we visited below!
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