19th Travel Expo 2012

Last year I meant to visit the Travel Expo in SMX. I never got to for some reason.

This year, I won a ticket to the expo from a Facebook promo held by travel agency Rajah Travel Corporation. I was to go on Friday but had to prepare for an event on Saturday. (That, and I couldn't leave my baby.) I was prepared to miss it again this year, until my sister mentioned it on Sunday, so we drove down to MoA at the last minute to check it out.

It was pretty packed. Almost all the travel agencies that offered international travel packages were swamped with people, and there were lines for the booths of local airlines PAL and Cebu Pacific. (Considering we got there at around 5pm and the expo was supposedly closing at 7pm, the population still milling about was impressive.) My sister and I threaded our way through all the booths and perused the prices on the trips. Needless to say, we went home with a ton of flyers AND catalogs by the popular tour companies Insight, Trafalgar, Contiki and Cosmos.

Honestly, though, with my baby just under a year old, my husband and I probably won't be doing much traveling anytime soon. As much as we'd love to bring him, it's hard traveling with an infant, especially on a plane where he might end up crying and disturbing fellow passengers, like those who hate kids and won't be able to help mumbling about "inconsiderate parents who should never have brought their children to a flight." Yep, I've heard those stories.

Still, like I told my sister when I saw our little collection of brochures and pamphlets: "Jho, ang sarap mangarap, noh?" Because, really, there's no harm in dreaming. LOL.

The booth of Rajah Travel Corporation. They "distribute" the Insight and Contiki tours locally.

Cathay Pacific's booth.

Booth of Singapore Airlines.

It's more fun in the Philippines. Ironically, the masses that day were in the international section.