back to romania

We realized that the course of action was completely absent from the series of our departure from the Philippines. Just as we, to our shame, have been completely absent from here since August. And since we can’t get over what was the most stressful, the most anguished, and the most painful experience of our lives in Port Barton, let’s get to what will be, as you realized, the trip to Romania. That’s while our memory is still fresh 🙂

We said that we won’t make any plans, but the least familiar with the plans, structuring and drawing a concrete itinerary but definitely, the most stressed by the situation in Port Barton (and the most control freak of the two) got her hands on the phone and made a reservation at Qatar, the only company that I trusted in the whole period of the pandemic (obviously, from the experiences of others). We chose as our departure date on the 23rd of August, after extensive research and coordination attempts with the planes leaving Palawan. The situation of the flights on July 17th, when we made the reservation was as clear as possible, in Philippine acceptance: 6 flights a week were leaving Palawan (two with Air Asia, two with Cebu Pacific, and two with Philippines Airlines) but we avoided to book one because the situation when it is clear locally is as volatile as possible for anyone who has a little “common sense”, as the Englishman would say. The only flight we bet all our money on was the one with Qatar on August 23rd, departing Manila at 23:40! (the date was not chosen at random, considering and hoping that after 17 August, Romania will have “debanned” flights from Qatar, which were forbidden until that date). 23 was chosen not to be right on the lip of the event but not too far either to implement and apply new rules (I still want to laugh at the “great” plan and what “deep” thinking I had when the poor people who came on the 17th from Qatar were rerouted to the Sofia airport just when they had to land in Bucharest just because the NOTAM did not update the data on time … another story).

After we booked our tickets we had to make our plan of “evacuation” and as intensely we put on the conveyor belt as many sunsets, as many trips around, and as many memories gathered on the last mile. Do you know how hard and funny (if it wouldn’t be annoying) it is to sell something in the Philippines during the pandemic? No, no, actually: TO SELL SOMETHING, ANYTHING in the Philippines?! Imagine putting an ad on OLX, having to go 200km to get the product to the courier, another month to reach the recipient, and another month to collect the money unless the recipient has changed his mind in the meantime. How does that sound? 🙂 We gave up on selling small stuff (the drone, te Gopro, equipment) and focused on the ATV. We succeeded after a few months and this took off our shoulders a burden that hanged quite hard (remember what we said about possessions and how hard it immobilizes us?) But we got the dispensation to use until the last day, which brought us an extra relief and 3 stresses to go 🙂

Anywho, a few weeks later, an announcement by president Duterte hit us in the head: from one day to another Manila and four other provinces of Luzon were put in ECQ (Enhance Community Quarantine) which meant that no domestic flight left and did not arrive in Manila. The same applied to maritime transport, the measure to be implemented on August 4th and to last, perhaps, until August 18th, which was close enough to the date of our departure, so much so to make our nights more hectic than they already were. If that wasn’t enough, two days later, an email from Qatar informed us that we are not allowed to board the plane without the presence of an RT-PCR negative test done at one of the clinics in Manila accepted by them (8 in number, that is far too few to accommodate us in a timely manner). And if that wasn’t enough, a few days later, our flights were completely canceled! Take that!

Is there any point in reminding you that we’re at the point where the only thing we did for our departure was the farewell party? No luggage, no plan to plan, no nothing? 🙂 And as hope dies last (yes, the same hope despised in previous articles, which I said with pathos is a damn consuming feeling). She also didn’t make us talk on Whatsapp (can you believe it? I can’t!:) ) with Qatar and explain to them that it is impossible for us to have a valid test since not even one of the clinics with which they collaborate can guarantee the release in 72 hours, as they also demand. After a few days, a dozen more clinics were added and the deadline extended to 96 hours after the test. Okay, one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind 🙂 All we had left was to leave 🙂 

All we had left was to leave 🙂 We decided not to take any further steps until the 18th: not to try to rebook our flight with Qatar and not to try to buy an exit flight from Palawan and, most importantly, to prepare ourselves mentally for another two weeks in Port Barton. And probably at this point, you’re wondering what’s so bad and why it takes a psychological preparation for a place in heaven?! I’m telling you with my hand on my heart that I’ve never wanted anything more than to leave the Philippines. And I don’t know if that happened because the whole situation had become a personal vendetta, the uncertainty I was living in was something I wanted to leave from as soon as possible and I need to speak in the first person because the situation had a stronger impact on me than on Matei. Strange as it sounds. I wanted to “spend” the Pandemic among the known without feeling lost in a country where the laws are applied out of fear, where no one disputes anything, in which everything is taken as such and put on the table as fact and the letter of the law. I thought about what’s going to happen to us, to our business, to our lives? How are we going to travel, if we’ll be able to travel? How long are we going to be locked up in Palawan? What’s going to happen to us as expats? What are we going to be exposed to and what should we be related to? What and how will our freedoms be taken away and how will we cope with the news interpreted by people who are strangers to us? How are we going to be looked at? What’s going to happen to us in a God-forsaken place? When are we going to see our family and friends again? A few questions I asked myself that led me to: now or never! The decision to leave has been assumed, made aware, and turned all over. I knew where we were going and I didn’t regret a moment, anything.

On August 17th, at 11 pm, President Duterte held a press conference announcing “the fate of Manila”, the conference I watched for an hour, like New Year’s Eve. Among the lines in Tagalog mixed with English, I understood only that “Manila will downgrade to GCQ until the end of August”. This meant that under “General Community Quarantine” sea and air transport were resuming operations, which meant we can leave! Ten minutes after the announcement, I sent a message to Qatar who helped me to book a flight for the same date, but with a new layover, which bypassed Bucharest, which means another 13 hours gathered to the existing ones. We had made 2 changes so far, all free, therefore we were able to secure the price that, at the time of cancellation had increased exponentially (I think a ticket was around 2300 USD compared to about 500 USD as it cost when we purchased it). The next day we booked two tickets for Air Asia departing on the 20th and then we packed two years of our lives in two large suitcases and… a lot of small ones 🙂

It makes no sense to tell you that at the airport we got weighed, like never, every piece of luggage and it makes no sense to tell you all the procedures we have gone through because, without a doubt, a long haul in the time of the Pandemic is something we never wish for anyone, ever (we have two dedicated vlogs that we’ll link here and here). The fact is that after 30 hours of flights, days on end on the road, and immeasurable other days of stress, we arrived in Romania!

Matei confessed to me that he would have stayed until December but for me, it would have been too long. The feeling that “we stayed too long” and that “we should’ve left earlier” haunted me for a long time. I was beginning to live with the feeling that something was going to happen, that this was the “last chance” we had to leave. The Romanian Embassy in the Philippines told us that we are on our own as long as we made the decision to stay and not leave with the last sweeper flight which was in June. Life in Port Barton had become a struggle and survival was something I could never assume. Or maybe I’m just exaggerating and I couldn’t handle the uncertainty. A bigger one I didn’t sign front-to-back when I left…

The fact is that I’m now in the place where I wanted to be, neither happier nor more unhappy, with many more plans on the list. In a period of transition, of accommodation, of desire for peace. Among family and friends, in uncertainty that speaks the same language as me. Port Barton is in lockdown because they have a case reported recently and all those who post on social media without a mask break the law and are subject to it. But what’s more important is that Tom FINALLY got a goat!