In 2012 Kach Medina Umandap was once sitting in an place of job in Kuwait doing high quality assurance forms, counting the months on a freelance, doing the mathematics each OFW is aware of through middle. Ship cash house. Renew. Repeat.
On Thursday evening she walks onto the Major Degree at SMX Conference Heart Manila to release a e-book with Penguin Random Space SEA.
That hole, between the table in Kuwait and the degree in Pasay, is the entire level of the e-book.
Kach Medina Umandap based Two Monkeys Trip Workforce, the web site you might be studying at the moment. On 10 September 2026 she launches her first historically printed e-book, Profession or Trip, Why No longer Each?, on the Manila World Guide Truthful. This put up covers who she in fact is, what took her from an OFW contract to all 195 UN member states on a Philippine passport, what the e-book argues, and the sensible phase: methods to get into MIBF 2026, what it prices, how to achieve SMX from any place within the nation, and the place to sleep if you’re flying in from the province.
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Kach Medina Umandap: the fast model
The info, in a single position.
| Who | Kach Medina Umandap, founding father of Two Monkeys Trip Workforce |
| From | Laguna, Philippines. Born 1988. UP Los Banos alumna |
| Ahead of commute | OFW in Kuwait and in Kurdistan, Iraq, in administrative and high quality assurance roles |
| The file | All 195 UN member states and observer states, finished January 2025, on a Philippine passport |
| The e-book | Profession or Trip, Why No longer Each?, Penguin Random Space SEA, ISBN 9789815351903 |
| Release | Thursday 10 September 2026, 6:30 to eight:00 PM, Major Degree, SMX Conference Heart Manila |
| The truthful | Manila World Guide Truthful 2026, 9 to 13 September, 10:00 AM to eight:00 PM day-to-day |
| Access | PHP 50 basic, PHP 35 for college kids, seniors and PWD with legitimate ID, loose for lecturers with faculty ID |
Pre-order for a signed reproduction is indexed at PHP 1,027 at the release subject matter, and seat reservations are loose thru her web site at travelwithkach.com/book-launch. Costs and seat availability are hers to modify, so deal with the ones two figures as proper on the time of writing somewhat than everlasting.
From a Kuwait place of job to a one-way price ticket
The a part of her tale folks skip is that she did the practical factor first.
She took the OFW course. Kuwait, then Kurdistan in northern Iraq, running admin and QA. It’s the trail a large number of Filipino households deal with because the accountable choice, and for just right explanation why: it will pay, and it will pay reliably. No person in Laguna was once nervous about her.
Then in 2013 she hand over and went backpacking thru Asia as an alternative. She has written her personal account of why she hand over her activity to commute, and it’s price studying in her phrases, for the reason that model instructed in information options has a tendency to compress the concern out of it.
What she did subsequent issues greater than the quitting, and that is the phase aspiring nomads in most cases get flawed. She didn’t reside off financial savings and hope. She taught English in Vietnam, at more or less USD 17 to twenty-five an hour, which in 2013 Vietnam was once a really relaxed dwelling. She educated in Tantra Yoga and Ayurveda therapeutic massage in India. She constructed source of revenue first, then constructed the liberty on most sensible of it.
The weblog began as an concept in Would possibly 2014 and went reside that October. It changed into the trade.
What “Profession or Trip, Why No longer Each?” in fact argues
The name is an immediate shot at a query Filipinos get requested continuously, in most cases through kinfolk at a celebration. Profession or commute. Select one. Be sensible.
The e-book’s solution is a framework she calls the Without boundaries Ladder, 4 rungs: Earn. Personal Your Paintings. Personal Your Title. Personal The Device. The collection is the argument. You don’t get started through proudly owning the gadget. You get started through incomes, in some way that isn’t tied to a chair in a particular construction, and also you climb.
She describes it because the e-book she needed she had at 20, running in Kuwait and dreaming of extra. That framing tells you the meant reader, and it’s not a Western backpacker with an opening yr. This can be a Filipino with a role, a circle of relatives anticipating a remittance, and a passport that makes part the sector forms.
That is her first e-book with a significant writer. She self-published The A-Z on Easy methods to Turn out to be a Virtual Nomad years previous in the course of the Two Monkeys retailer, so this can be a step up in distribution somewhat than a debut in matter. If you need the loose place to begin as an alternative, our step-by-step information to turning into a Filipino virtual nomad covers the primary rung.
The release may be no longer the top of it. She has introduced #Mission1642, a excursion of 112 state college campuses operating from November 2026 thru November 2027, beginning at UP Los Banos, her personal alma mater. That tells you who the e-book is geared toward. No longer the Makati expat crowd. State college scholars within the provinces, who’re precisely the folks in all probability to learn that occupation and commute are a binary selection, and in all probability to be passed an in a foreign country contract as the one course out.
The 195 international locations, and why the passport phase is the tale
In January 2025 she landed at Mactan-Cebu World Airport having visited all 195 UN member and observer states. She did it on a Philippine passport.
That closing sentence is doing a huge quantity of labor, and maximum protection races previous it.
A Philippine passport isn’t a German one. Dozens of the international locations on that record required an embassy appointment, a financial institution commentary, a go back price ticket, evidence of lodging, an interview, and a wait. Some required it all two times after a primary refusal. Doing 195 international locations on a powerful passport is a logistics and cash difficulty. Doing it on a Philippine passport is a forms warfare of attrition that takes years longer, and that’s exactly why it had no longer been accomplished this manner sooner than.
Reporting at the file varies in how it’s phrased, with some shops describing her because the youngest Filipina to finish the set and others as the primary to do it only on a Philippine passport. We now have no longer observed a unmarried authoritative registry that settles the precise wording, so we’re describing the fulfillment somewhat than score it.
If the sensible aspect of that’s what pursuits you, get started with the record itself. Our information to Philippine passport renewal for OFWs and virtual nomads is the unglamorous first step, and it’s the one folks dispose of.
Easy methods to catch the release at MIBF 2026
Her slot is Thursday 10 September, 6:30 to eight:00 PM, at the Major Degree. Communicate, Q&A, e-book signing, meet and greet.
Two issues to grasp sooner than you propose round that.
You wish to have an even price ticket to be within the construction. The release seat reservation and MIBF access are separate. Access is PHP 50 basic, or PHP 35 for college kids, senior voters and PWD with a legitimate ID, to be had thru SM Tickets on-line or on the door. Academics with a college ID get in loose. Nationwide Guide Retailer has additionally been circulating loose access passes within the run-up, so it’s price checking sooner than you pay.
6:30 PM on a Thursday is the worst imaginable arrival time. The truthful runs 10:00 AM to eight:00 PM. When you display up at 6:15 PM you’ll be combating rush hour on EDSA and the tail of the after-work crowd arriving on the identical time. Get there mid-afternoon, do your e-book buying groceries when the aisles are survivable, consume, then sit close to the Major Degree neatly sooner than 6:30.
Carry money. Maximum MIBF exhibitors settle for it, card and e-wallet acceptance varies stall through stall, and the ATM queues inside of a tradition heart throughout a e-book truthful are precisely what you could be expecting. Foods and drinks don’t seem to be allowed throughout the showcase halls, even though there are concessionaires in there.
Carry a bag with an actual strap. Everybody underestimates this and everybody regrets it round 4:00 PM.
Attending to SMX Conference Heart from any place within the nation
SMX Conference Heart Manila sits throughout the SM Mall of Asia advanced in Pasay, proper at the bay.
From Metro Manila. The closest rail is LRT-1 EDSA station, then a jeep or a brief Seize journey into the MOA advanced. There also are MOA-bound buses alongside EDSA. Funds PHP 50 to 150 overall through public delivery from lots of the metro, as opposed to PHP 250 to 600 for a Seize relying at the hour and the surge. On a Thursday night, rail plus a brief hop beats a automotive in the course of the Roxas Street manner nearly each time.
From the provinces. That is the phase Manila-based guides by no means duvet. Cebu, Davao, Iloilo, Bacolod and Cagayan de Oro all have more than one day-to-day flights into NAIA, and the truthful falls out of doors each the April to Would possibly summer time top and the Christmas rush, which is the most affordable window of the yr to fly regionally. Reserving 3 days out isn’t the inexpensive window, however a Tuesday or Wednesday flight in with a Sunday go back nonetheless prices some distance not up to the similar commute in December.
Test present home fares into Manila on Go back and forth.com
From NAIA. That is the straightforward phase, and it’s the unmarried easiest factor about this venue. All 4 NAIA terminals are more or less 15 to twenty-five mins from the MOA advanced out of doors rush hour, which makes SMX some of the few primary Manila venues you’ll realistically achieve instantly off a flight. In case you are touchdown at the tenth and going at once to the release, a pre-booked airport switch with a set charge thru Kiwitaxi eliminates the only variable you can’t regulate, which is what the taxi queue seems like while you stroll out. Seize works high-quality too, it simply costs through the temper of the street.
The place to stick close to SMX
The MOA advanced is really walkable to the venue, which is ordinary for Manila and value paying a little bit additional for. In case you are coming in from the province for the truthful, staying throughout the advanced method you’ll drop your e-book haul on the lodge at 5:00 PM and stroll again for the 6:30 release.
3 spaces, so as of ways shut they’re:
- Within the MOA advanced. Lodges right here put you inside a 5 to fifteen minute stroll of SMX. The most costly of the 3, and the one one the place you skip delivery solely. Evaluate rooms throughout the Mall of Asia advanced if strolling distance is the concern.
- Roxas Street and the bay strip. A brief journey out, noticeably inexpensive, and nearer to NAIA. Excellent if you’re flying in overdue. See what’s to be had alongside Roxas Street.
- Wider Pasay and the NAIA fringe. The finances finish. You industry a fifteen to 30 minute journey for the bottom charges within the space.
If you need the airport-adjacent choice particularly, we now have reviewed Accommodations International Bayshore as a layover keep close to NAIA, which is in the similar hall. For the really tight finances, our roundup of the most efficient hostels in Metro Manila nonetheless has usable choices, even though test present charges since that record has some age on it.
The map under displays reside costs for puts across the venue, so you’ll see the walk-versus-price industry for your self.
Truthful week fills the close by lodges, so the nearer choices move first and the associated fee hole between “throughout the advanced” and “20 mins out” widens because the week is going on.
FAQ
Do I want a separate price ticket for the e-book release?
You wish to have MIBF access, PHP 50 basic or PHP 35 discounted, to be within the construction. The release seat reservation on her web site is loose and separate. Booking a seat does no longer get you in the course of the door.
What time must I arrive on 10 September?
Mid-afternoon. The debate begins at 6:30 PM, however arriving at 6:15 places you in EDSA rush hour and the day’s largest crowd immediately.
How a lot is the e-book?
The signed pre-order is indexed at PHP 1,027 at the release subject matter. Retail pricing after release is about through Penguin Random Space SEA and its Philippine outlets, so be expecting it to vary.
Can I am getting in loose?
Academics with a legitimate faculty ID input loose. Nationwide Guide Retailer has been gifting away access passes forward of the truthful. Everybody else will pay PHP 50 or PHP 35.
Is SMX some distance from the airport?
No, and that is ordinary for a Manila venue. Kind of 15 to twenty-five mins from the NAIA terminals out of doors top hours.
The place can I purchase the e-book if I can’t make it to Manila?
This can be a Penguin Random Space SEA name with regional distribution, and pre-orders were operating thru Totally Booked and Amazon. Native availability after release depends upon the store.
In case you are already in Metro Manila, this can be a PHP 50 access price and a teach journey to look at a kababayan who was once doing QA forms in Kuwait release a e-book with Penguin. That is a simple sure.
In case you are flying in from Cebu or Davao, be truthful that you’re purchasing a Manila weekend, no longer only a 90 minute communicate, and value it that means. The truthful runs 5 days, the venue is 20 mins from the airport, and September is the most affordable month of the yr to fly regionally. It stacks up higher than maximum causes folks fly to Manila.
Both means, get there sooner than 6:30 PM on Thursday. The seat is loose. The chair depend isn’t.
Concerning the Writer
Bianca Rei is a Filipino traveler, entrepreneur, and problem-solver who has referred to as Serbia house for a few years. She has been following Two Monkeys Trip Workforce since 2014, again when she was once merely a reader dreaming, touring, and gathering tales of her personal, so having the ability to give a contribution to the weblog now feels a little bit like coming complete circle.
Bianca runs Rodi Answers, the place she is helping folks and companies navigate existence and trade in Serbia, along web page design, construction, and control. When she isn’t running, she is in most cases touring, boxing, chasing any other journey, or spending time along with her circle of relatives.
To find her paintings at rodi.consulting, or get to grasp her past paintings at biancarei.internet.
