While it looks like Typhoon Kristine technically won't be within the Philippines Area of Responsibility by the time I arrive back in Manila, I'm sure it's still going to be pretty rainy. I can take a rougher landing over a significant flight delay, so let's see how things go. But in my experience, international flights aren't as severely impacted by lingering rain - the ongoing baggage issue at Terminal 3 is probably more "dangerous" to flight schedules, in a manner of speaking.
I'm down to "two sleeps" before I fly home and I can certainly say it has been a productive trip for the most part. Being able to help my sister out with the nephews while her helpers are away was an unexpected aspect of this trip but ultimately a welcome one. There's easy stuff like helping with the dishes when I can or working through their laundry. But the real difference is just all the little things that go into taking care of two young boys who clearly have minds of their own. A lot of our daily routine sort of orbits around their schedule in terms of meals that need to be prepared, getting them prepped for school and eventually settled for bed at night are just some of the many, many things one has to worry about with kids. I may not be an actual parent, but trips like this have certainly given me a taste of what that really entails.
In other Alpaka-related news, I'm already thinking of my next purchase even though my Zip Card Pouch hasn't even arrived yet, which is probably a little silly of me. I've generally been thinking of how to better organize myself during travel and Alpaka seems to have a wide range of options that fit different use cases. Currently, I end up shuffling things between my carry-on bag and my pants pockets, resulting in a lot of tricky instances where I may potentially lose things if I'm not careful. Case in point, I received an RFID passport pouch as a gift some time back, but I end up leaving in my bag when actually going through check-in and Immigration just for the sake of convenience. Thus instead, I have my passport in the same pocket as my phone as I go from queue to queue.
At first, I thought that the Zip Travel Wallet had a lot of potential, but I think the better use case for this is when you may be handling multiple passports (like for your whole family), which is rarely my situation. There's a pre-order going on for a 1L version of their Flight Sling, which seems to be just the right size for the things I most typically need while at the airport, but now I'm getting a little greedy by thinking that I should probably go for the 2L version just so that it can comfortably fit my Kindle Oasis (when it arrives!) Plus the bigger sling comes in more colors, which is cooler. I couldn't be funny and get the blue that matches the color fo my wallet, but realistically I think I may end up with the gray one just because that one has the fluorescent orange interior lining, which I think will do a great job of making the contents of the sling a lot more visible or at least easier to sort through. In theory.
For now, I keep telling myself that I should wait for the wallet to arrive first so I can experience one of their products for real before committing to more. And given my concerns about which Flight Sling might be best, I also hope to visit one of their partner retailers in Manila to see if they carry the items so I can actually test things out before I make a direct order on the website (because reward points!)
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