The day finally came when we had to handle the most stressful part of our big trip—actually paying for the tickets! We’re planning a trip to Norway, and let me tell you, booking for a family isn't cheap. We were looking at about 180,000 Pesos.
The morning started with our little man helping Jessa count out the money. It’s always funny seeing him interact with "Mama’s money." We tried to explain that this was for the "Norway ticket," even if he really wanted some of it to go toward new toys.
Then came the real challenge: Philippine banking. If you’ve lived here, you know that making large online payments can be a total nightmare. We’ve tried everything—Land Bank, BDO, BPI—and there’s almost always some kind of technical hitch when the amount is this big. We headed out to Santander first, hoping to deposit the cash into Jessa’s account and pay from there.
Of course, it’s never that simple. We ran into a classic hurdle where the bank branch was a "Network Bank" rather than a "UniBank," even though they’re under the same BDO umbrella. It’s those little details that can derail your whole afternoon! At one point, I was honestly ready to drive all the way to the airport in Mactan just to pay at an airline desk in person.
Luckily, we have some great friends. One of them was able to transfer the funds to us digitally so we could finally hit that "pay" button on the card. Once the transaction actually cleared, the relief was massive. Tickets are booked! My mom is going to be so happy to see us, though, as I joked in the video, she’ll probably be just as happy when we leave after weeks of chaos!
With the tickets secured, we spent the rest of the day heading toward the city. I was also testing out my new DJI Action 5 Pro camera—still getting the hang of the settings, so I hope everyone bears with me as I dial in the quality. It was a long day of driving and "banking adventures," but knowing we’re officially heading home for the holidays makes every bit of the stress worth it. Stay tuned for the next video to see what we got up to in the city!
