In 2012 Kach Medina Umandap was sitting in an workplace in Kuwait doing high quality assurance paperwork, counting the months on a contract, doing the arithmetic each OFW is aware of by coronary heart. Ship cash dwelling. Renew. Repeat.
On Thursday evening she walks onto the Predominant Stage at SMX Conference Middle Manila to launch a guide with Penguin Random Home SEA.
That hole, between the desk in Kuwait and the stage in Pasay, is the entire level of the guide.
Kach Medina Umandap based Two Monkeys Journey Group, the positioning you’re studying proper now. On 10 September 2026 she launches her first historically revealed guide, Profession or Journey, Why Not Each?, on the Manila Worldwide E book Truthful. This put up covers who she truly is, what took her from an OFW contract to all 195 UN member states on a Philippine passport, what the guide argues, and the sensible half: how one can get into MIBF 2026, what it prices, how one can attain SMX from anyplace within the nation, and the place to sleep if you’re flying in from the province.
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Kach Medina Umandap: the quick model
The details, in a single place.
| Who | Kach Medina Umandap, founding father of Two Monkeys Journey Group |
| From | Laguna, Philippines. Born 1988. UP Los Banos alumna |
| Earlier than journey | OFW in Kuwait and in Kurdistan, Iraq, in administrative and high quality assurance roles |
| The document | All 195 UN member states and observer states, accomplished January 2025, on a Philippine passport |
| The guide | Profession or Journey, Why Not Each?, Penguin Random Home SEA, ISBN 9789815351903 |
| Launch | Thursday 10 September 2026, 6:30 to eight:00 PM, Predominant Stage, SMX Conference Middle Manila |
| The truthful | Manila Worldwide E book Truthful 2026, 9 to 13 September, 10:00 AM to eight:00 PM each day |
| Entry | PHP 50 common, PHP 35 for college students, seniors and PWD with legitimate ID, free for academics with faculty ID |
Pre-order for a signed copy is listed at PHP 1,027 on the launch materials, and seat reservations are free by her website at travelwithkach.com/book-launch. Costs and seat availability are hers to vary, so deal with these two figures as appropriate on the time of writing somewhat than everlasting.
From a Kuwait workplace to a one-way ticket
The a part of her story folks skip is that she did the wise factor first.
She took the OFW route. Kuwait, then Kurdistan in northern Iraq, working admin and QA. It’s the path quite a lot of Filipino households deal with because the accountable possibility, and for good motive: it pays, and it pays reliably. No person in Laguna was apprehensive about her.
Then in 2013 she stop and went backpacking by Asia as a substitute. She has written her personal account of why she stop her job to journey, and it’s value studying in her phrases, as a result of the model instructed in information options tends to compress the concern out of it.
What she did subsequent issues greater than the quitting, and that is the half aspiring nomads often get flawed. She didn’t stay off financial savings and hope. She taught English in Vietnam, at roughly USD 17 to 25 an hour, which in 2013 Vietnam was a genuinely comfy residing. She skilled in Tantra Yoga and Ayurveda therapeutic massage in India. She constructed earnings first, then constructed the liberty on high of it.
The weblog began as an concept in Could 2014 and went stay that October. It turned the enterprise.
What “Profession or Journey, Why Not Each?” truly argues
The title is a direct shot at a query Filipinos get requested continuously, often by family at a party. Profession or journey. Decide one. Be sensible.
The guide’s reply is a framework she calls the Borderless Ladder, 4 rungs: Earn. Personal Your Work. Personal Your Title. Personal The System. The sequence is the argument. You don’t begin by proudly owning the system. You begin by incomes, in a method that isn’t tied to a chair in a particular constructing, and also you climb.
She describes it because the guide she wished she had at 20, working in Kuwait and dreaming of extra. That framing tells you the meant reader, and it’s not a Western backpacker with a spot yr. It’s a Filipino with a job, a household anticipating a remittance, and a passport that makes half the world paperwork.
That is her first guide with a serious writer. She self-published The A-Z on Find out how to Grow to be a Digital Nomad years earlier by the Two Monkeys retailer, so this can be a step up in distribution somewhat than a debut in topic. In order for you the free place to begin as a substitute, our step-by-step information to turning into a Filipino digital nomad covers the primary rung.
The launch can also be not the top of it. She has introduced #Mission1642, a tour of 112 state college campuses operating from November 2026 by November 2027, beginning at UP Los Banos, her personal alma mater. That tells you who the guide is geared toward. Not the Makati expat crowd. State college college students within the provinces, who’re precisely the folks almost certainly to be instructed that profession and journey are a binary selection, and almost certainly to be handed an abroad contract as the one route out.
The 195 international locations, and why the passport half is the story
In January 2025 she landed at Mactan-Cebu Worldwide Airport having visited all 195 UN member and observer states. She did it on a Philippine passport.
That final sentence is doing an infinite quantity of labor, and most protection races previous it.
A Philippine passport will not be a German one. Dozens of the international locations on that checklist required an embassy appointment, a financial institution assertion, a return ticket, proof of lodging, an interview, and a wait. Some required all of it twice after a primary refusal. Doing 195 international locations on a powerful passport is a logistics and cash drawback. Doing it on a Philippine passport is a paperwork conflict of attrition that takes years longer, and that’s exactly why it had not been executed this fashion earlier than.
Reporting on the document varies in how it’s phrased, with some retailers describing her because the youngest Filipina to finish the set and others as the primary to do it solely on a Philippine passport. We’ve got not seen a single authoritative registry that settles the precise wording, so we’re describing the achievement somewhat than rating it.
If the sensible aspect of that’s what pursuits you, begin with the doc itself. Our information to Philippine passport renewal for OFWs and digital nomads is the unglamorous first step, and it’s the one folks postpone.
Find out how to catch the launch at MIBF 2026
Her slot is Thursday 10 September, 6:30 to eight:00 PM, on the Predominant Stage. Discuss, Q&A, guide signing, meet and greet.
Two issues to know earlier than you intend round that.
You want a good ticket to be within the constructing. The launch seat reservation and MIBF entry are separate. Entry is PHP 50 common, or PHP 35 for college students, senior residents and PWD with a legitimate ID, out there by SM Tickets on-line or on the door. Academics with a faculty ID get in free. Nationwide E book Retailer has additionally been circulating free entry passes within the run-up, so it’s value checking earlier than you pay.
6:30 PM on a Thursday is the worst attainable arrival time. The truthful runs 10:00 AM to eight:00 PM. For those who present up at 6:15 PM you can 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 guide purchasing when the aisles are survivable, eat, then sit close to the Predominant Stage effectively earlier than 6:30.
Carry money. Most MIBF exhibitors settle for it, card and e-wallet acceptance varies stall by stall, and the ATM queues inside a conference middle throughout a guide truthful are precisely what you’ll anticipate. Meals and drinks usually are not allowed contained in the exhibit halls, although 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 Middle from anyplace within the nation
SMX Conference Middle Manila sits contained in the SM Mall of Asia advanced in Pasay, proper on the bay.
From Metro Manila. The closest rail is LRT-1 EDSA station, then a jeep or a brief Seize trip into the MOA advanced. There are additionally MOA-bound buses alongside EDSA. Funds PHP 50 to 150 complete by public transport from many of the metro, versus PHP 250 to 600 for a Seize relying on the hour and the surge. On a Thursday night, rail plus a brief hop beats a automotive by the Roxas Boulevard strategy virtually each time.
From the provinces. That is the half Manila-based guides by no means cowl. Cebu, Davao, Iloilo, Bacolod and Cagayan de Oro all have a number of each day flights into NAIA, and the truthful falls exterior each the April to Could summer time peak and the Christmas rush, which is the most cost effective window of the yr to fly domestically. Reserving three days out will not be a budget window, however a Tuesday or Wednesday flight in with a Sunday return nonetheless prices far lower than the identical journey in December.
Test present home fares into Manila on Journey.com
From NAIA. That is the straightforward half, and it’s the single smartest thing about this venue. All 4 NAIA terminals are roughly 15 to 25 minutes from the MOA advanced exterior rush hour, which makes SMX one of many few main Manila venues you’ll be able to realistically attain straight off a flight. In case you are touchdown on the tenth and going on to the launch, a pre-booked airport switch with a hard and fast value by Kiwitaxi removes the one variable you can’t management, which is what the taxi queue appears like once you stroll out. Seize works positive too, it simply costs by the temper of the highway.
The place to remain close to SMX
The MOA advanced is genuinely walkable to the venue, which is uncommon for Manila and price paying a bit further for. In case you are coming in from the province for the truthful, staying contained in the advanced means you’ll be able to drop your guide haul on the resort at 5:00 PM and stroll again for the 6:30 launch.
Three areas, so as of how shut they’re:
- Contained in the MOA advanced. Motels right here put you inside a 5 to fifteen minute stroll of SMX. The most costly of the three, and the one one the place you skip transport solely. Examine rooms contained in the Mall of Asia advanced if strolling distance is the precedence.
- Roxas Boulevard and the bay strip. A brief trip out, noticeably cheaper, and nearer to NAIA. Good if you’re flying in late. See what is offered alongside Roxas Boulevard.
- Wider Pasay and the NAIA fringe. The finances finish. You commerce a 15 to 30 minute trip for the bottom charges within the space.
In order for you the airport-adjacent possibility particularly, we’ve reviewed Resorts World Bayshore as a layover keep close to NAIA, which is in the identical hall. For the genuinely tight finances, our roundup of the most effective hostels in Metro Manila nonetheless has usable choices, although test present charges since that checklist has some age on it.
The map under reveals stay costs for locations across the venue, so you’ll be able to see the walk-versus-price commerce for your self.
Truthful week fills the close by accommodations, so the nearer choices go first and the value hole between “contained in the advanced” and “20 minutes out” widens because the week goes on.
FAQ
Do I want a separate ticket for the guide launch?
You want MIBF entry, PHP 50 common or PHP 35 discounted, to be within the constructing. The launch seat reservation on her website is free and separate. Reserving a seat doesn’t get you thru the door.
What time ought to I arrive on 10 September?
Mid-afternoon. The discuss begins at 6:30 PM, however arriving at 6:15 places you in EDSA rush hour and the day’s greatest crowd without delay.
How a lot is the guide?
The signed pre-order is listed at PHP 1,027 on the launch materials. Retail pricing after launch is about by Penguin Random Home SEA and its Philippine retailers, so anticipate it to vary.
Can I get in free?
Academics with a legitimate faculty ID enter free. Nationwide E book Retailer has been making a gift of entry passes forward of the truthful. Everybody else pays PHP 50 or PHP 35.
Is SMX removed from the airport?
No, and that is uncommon for a Manila venue. Roughly 15 to 25 minutes from the NAIA terminals exterior peak hours.
The place can I purchase the guide if I can’t make it to Manila?
It’s a Penguin Random Home SEA title with regional distribution, and pre-orders have been operating by Absolutely Booked and Amazon. Native availability after launch will depend upon the retailer.
In case you are already in Metro Manila, this can be a PHP 50 entry charge and a practice trip to observe a kababayan who was doing QA paperwork in Kuwait launch a guide with Penguin. That’s a straightforward sure.
In case you are flying in from Cebu or Davao, be trustworthy that you’re shopping for a Manila weekend, not only a 90 minute discuss, and value it that method. The truthful runs 5 days, the venue is 20 minutes from the airport, and September is the most cost effective month of the yr to fly domestically. It stacks up higher than most causes folks fly to Manila.
Both method, get there earlier than 6:30 PM on Thursday. The seat is free. The chair depend will not be.
Concerning the Writer
Bianca Rei is a Filipino traveler, entrepreneur, and problem-solver who has known as Serbia dwelling for a few years. She has been following Two Monkeys Journey Group since 2014, again when she was merely a reader dreaming, touring, and amassing tales of her personal, so with the ability to contribute to the weblog now feels a bit like coming full circle.
Bianca runs Rodi Options, the place she helps folks and companies navigate life and enterprise in Serbia, alongside web site design, improvement, and administration. When she will not be working, she is often touring, boxing, chasing one other journey, or spending time together with her household.
Discover her work at rodi.consulting, or get to know her past work at biancarei.web.
