It wasn’t that kind of a vacation at all.

If you read my blog regularly, you’d know that I had vowed never to go on vacation again till the children turned into respectable sleep-and-potty trained citizens of the world. Remember my Hellish Holiday at Bali, aka the baby moon?

So anyway, here I am now lounging on a couch in our cosy lil hotel at Manila totally breaking that promise to myself.

‘A‘ had a business trip at Manila. Something do with projects and IT and other such assorted interesting stuff. I’ll spare you the gory details. So Manila = free hotel room, cheap food, possible shopping? and no dishes to do.

I said yes even before he asked.

Except this vacation is slightly different…

We left the DSLR Camera back home. Do we really wanna lug that and the stroller and assorted kid-gadgets around? No we don’t. Facebook, you won’t be getting any new albums this time round.

I packed light. That’s right. One pair of shoes. 2 pairs of clothes. No makeup (ok maybe a little makeup).

We didn’t make a beeline for those utterly useful (useless) maps of the city they have on display at every airport. Neither did we enquire at the hotel lobby at possible good tourist spots. I have been having a perfectly wonderful time, warming a special spot on the couch in our room. I also have carved a nice me-shaped depression in our hotel bed. Suits me fine!

I haven’t sworn to eat the Buffet Breakfast just because we’re at a hotel. Because that would mean waking the kids up early and making a beeline for the breakfast bar for a breakfast I will never even properly get to eat. Sure, I had to settle for in-room dining, and the choices were limited. But it doesn’t beat the feeling of getting up without an alarm clock and knowing your body is thanking you for that sleep.

I haven’t gone all paranoid about the hotel towels and wiping the children’s hands each time they touch something. I have let them be. Stevie has practically palm-swept the entire carpeted floor. And all of Ryan’s toys are on the floor 24×7. Sometimes under the bed, where I am sure they never vacuum. Ok I’ll stop here. Deep breath. They vacuum there once a week, right? RIGHT???

I am done for now. My advice, try vacationing (or stay-cationing) like this once if you haven’t already. It’s kinda cool.

Now if you’ll excuse me, let me crawl back into my me-shaped depression on the bed.