April
After that tour, April was chill on the activity side, but I was itching to finally settle what I would do by June. I narrowed down my options to either Europe, Istanbul-Dubai, Australia, and Tokyo. Any of them were viable for me.
So I started research for weeks on this month. My aim was by May 1, I should have my finalized destination. I still have to file my vacation leaves in advance at work, and I need the dates. But as a preemptive strike, I asked my workplace for the standard “employment certificate” (my native passport isn’t as robust as most first-world countries) and pre-set the dates from June 20 to June 30. Should be safe with that.
First off, a potential European jaunt. A solo “grand tour”, if you will. I still have a budget in mind, so I couldn’t go too crazy with aiming for all the major EU countries in one go. I narrowed it down to just Greece and Italy, with a third leg in Istanbul. However, the Schengen visa was a bad stickler for me. I couldn’t evenly split Greece and Italy – I had to stay one day longer in the country where I applied for the visa. So if I applied with the Greek consulate for the visa, I have to do 4 days there and Italy just 3. Vice versa doesn’t work for me as well. Also, Greece and Italy has statistically “wary” visa rejection rates.
Another stickler for the Schengen visa was the flight reservation thing. Unlike the ones I had in Japan and South Korea, where I just noted the likeliest planes I would be in and detailed their flight codes (funny thing – those ended up exactly the planes I booked online), these would not fly in a Schengen visa’s “confirmed flight reservations”. Basically I had to book the flights BEFORE I even truly apply for the visa. That one became the cross-off for me. The signed bank statements were asspains but I could deal with those. The tightrope fear of booking SGD1200+ tickets with a non-negligible rejection risk wasn’t worth the potential enjoyment yet for me. So by middle April I crossed EU off my list. Maybe in the future, then.
Then I focused on the “technically I stepped foot in the European continent“ option – Türkiye. I had to bundle in an extra country to make the long trip worthwhile, so I pegged in UAE – it’s the main layover in that route, so might as well make it a stop. Türkiye’s visa requirements seemed straightforward enough, albeit I had to go to their embassy as part of the submission process. UAE’s on the other hand needed a “sponsor” – be it through their flagship carrier, travel agencies or authorized entities. Not to mention, I had to apply for TWO visas. I checked accomodations and Klook/Trip tours in both countries, and man, it’s expensive AF. So I had to also bail after I ran it in comparison to my other options.
Third option was Australia. Basically checks off the “I finally got out of Asia” in my yearly bucket list. Visa requirements were straightforward as well, and it came with the über-attractive means of applying for it online. Thanks, mate. I signed up for an Australian government Immi account and filled up the questionnaire in a week. I attached the documents requested and provided the relevant information. Nice and easy once you have most of the information ready. Most of it, I’ve had before as questions/requirements in my Japan/South Korea visa applications, so I had it easier this time. I also had my old passport – last December, I made it a point to get it from the files my mom filed away in a cabinet, as it could greatly bolster any of my future visa applications. Scanned and attached it as well.
For the plane and accomodation parts – essentially parts of the “travel itinerary” requirement – I noted which planes are good based on a thorough Trip app check, and used their flight numbers. I booked some tentative delayed-payment accomodations in Agoda – one in Bondi, one in Melbourne. Yep, I split it. I planned for Sydney and Melbourne to make my Australian vacation a bit more diverse.
Before I submitted it in full, I filed for the request at work for my June 20-30 vacation leaves. I’m sure I have everything for this visa already, except for 100% on the vacation leaves. I just waited for that for a bit to be cleared with my supervisors and heads. I didn’t want to finalize stuff yet.
On the work side, I finally got the Sitecore XM Cloud developer certification exam submitted. Thankfully there was a “promo code” that got us a cheaper deal for the exam fee. I filed it for a Friday afternoon and I got the main meeting room to myself. So now, I did my part in studying for the exam. I got the video recordings of the certification seminar, and watched it repeatedly from beginning to end. I also perused websites that touted practice questions and actual questions people have seen as used in the certification exam for XM Cloud developers.
I soon realized I was heading for a trainwreck if I don’t use my brain. The questions people have seen ranged from API-level technical to downright practical situations. I can do the rote ones but those hard questions… so I just dug deep down and relied on what I call “context clue” question-and-answer set, because fortunately for me, the questions were either multiple-choice (4 choices, one answer) or check-all-correct (4 choices, select the correct ones in any order). There’s a correct answer present, I just have to connect the dots based on the question wording, whatever retained memory I have of Sitecore basic concepts, and general CMS behavior.
I took the exam around the third week, and I failed – 80% was passing, and I got 72%. So I fucked that one. But 72% was good enough given that I have near-zero Sitecore experience. Boss man wanted me to retake, so I did. I scheduled it for May, around second week. I didn’t want any long breaks lest I forget what I learned again.
I wish I had a Sitecore application to play around with to learn more, but I had to make do with book learning. Hopefully we get a client someday that looks at Sitecore and goes “mmmm”, but so far we stick to hope.
On other news, a friend of mine told me that they (him and his family) have booked themselves for a Singapore weeklong holiday by around August-September. They were looking for accomodation that was at most SGD100 a day per room. I told them to get themselves new Agoda or Trip accounts and take advantage of the newbie coupons. Those are great ways to punch above the budget and get better rooms. I remember my first trip to Singapore in 2017, I was so pressed for budget that I had booked myself into a hostel near Lavender MRT for a couple of days for cheap. Just a bed and locker, that’s it. I wish I could’ve recommended COO Hostel (the one I stayed in for three months in 2018), but sadly that one closed during the pandemic. Best hostel hands-down for me. Cheap, but the beds felt heavenly soft and smelled of flowers every couple of days when they changed the sheets. Breakfast spread at 7am there were godsends for people like me. Unlimited milk, croissants and tuna sandwiches.
Told them that they have two general options – they could book family rooms in budget hotels (targeting rooms with beds for 2 with one child) or they could book entire hostel rooms with multiple beds. Depending on their budget as well. Their choice anyway. But I also asked – why one week? That’s a bit long. Two days crossed off for arrival and departure each. Then five days, likely one day for Marina Bay and Gardens by the Bay, one day for Singapore Zoo and/or Botanic Gardens, one day for Sentosa. They could graze from one hawker centre to another and spend a day for souvenir shopping but at most that’s it. Four days of good stuff. One extra day for heavens knows what. Well, was a bit early. I did advise them to buy the plane tickets already. Earlier the better.
Briathrail // Albert 2MNG 
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