From Kuwait OFW to Penguin Author: Kach Medina Umandap

In 2012 Kach Medina Umandap was sitting in an office in Kuwait doing quality assurance paperwork, counting the months on a contract, doing the arithmetic every OFW knows by heart. Send money home. Renew. Repeat.

On Thursday night she walks onto the Main Stage at SMX Convention Center Manila to launch a book with Penguin Random House SEA.

That gap, between the desk in Kuwait and the stage in Pasay, is the whole point of the book.

Kach Medina Umandap founded Two Monkeys Travel Group, the site you are reading right now. On 10 September 2026 she launches her first traditionally published book, Career or Travel, Why Not Both?, at the Manila International Book Fair. This post covers who she actually is, what took her from an OFW contract to all 195 UN member states on a Philippine passport, what the book argues, and the practical part: how to get into MIBF 2026, what it costs, how to reach SMX from anywhere in the country, and where to sleep if you are flying in from the province.

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Kach Medina Umandap: the short version

The facts, in one place.

Pre-order for a signed copy is listed at PHP 1,027 on the launch material, and seat reservations are free through her site at travelwithkach.com/book-launch. Prices and seat availability are hers to change, so treat those two figures as correct at the time of writing rather than permanent.

From a Kuwait office to a one-way ticket

The part of her story people skip is that she did the sensible thing first.

She took the OFW route. Kuwait, then Kurdistan in northern Iraq, working admin and QA. It is the path a lot of Filipino families treat as the responsible option, and for good reason: it pays, and it pays reliably. Nobody in Laguna was worried about her.

Then in 2013 she quit and went backpacking through Asia instead. She has written her own account of why she quit her job to travel, and it is worth reading in her words, because the version told in news features tends to compress the fear out of it.

What she did next matters more than the quitting, and this is the part aspiring nomads usually get wrong. She did not live off savings and hope. She taught English in Vietnam, at roughly USD 17 to 25 an hour, which in 2013 Vietnam was a genuinely comfortable living. She trained in Tantra Yoga and Ayurveda massage in India. She built income first, then built the freedom on top of it.

The blog started as an idea in May 2014 and went live that October. It became the business.

What “Career or Travel, Why Not Both?” actually argues

The title is a direct shot at a question Filipinos get asked constantly, usually by relatives at a birthday party. Career or travel. Pick one. Be practical.

The book’s answer is a framework she calls the Borderless Ladder, four rungs: Earn. Own Your Work. Own Your Name. Own The System. The sequence is the argument. You do not start by owning the system. You start by earning, in a way that is not tied to a chair in a specific building, and you climb.

She describes it as the book she wished she had at 20, working in Kuwait and dreaming of more. That framing tells you the intended reader, and it is not a Western backpacker with a gap year. It is a Filipino with a job, a family expecting a remittance, and a passport that makes half the world paperwork.

This is her first book with a major publisher. She self-published The A-Z on How to Become a Digital Nomad years earlier through the Two Monkeys store, so this is a step up in distribution rather than a debut in subject. If you want the free starting point instead, our step by step guide to becoming a Filipino digital nomad covers the first rung.

The launch is also not the end of it. She has announced #Mission1642, a tour of 112 state university campuses running from November 2026 through November 2027, starting at UP Los Banos, her own alma mater. That tells you who the book is aimed at. Not the Makati expat crowd. State university students in the provinces, who are exactly the people most likely to be told that career and travel are a binary choice, and most likely to be handed an overseas contract as the only route out.

The 195 countries, and why the passport part is the story

In January 2025 she landed at Mactan-Cebu International Airport having visited all 195 UN member and observer states. She did it on a Philippine passport.

That last sentence is doing an enormous amount of work, and most coverage races past it.

A Philippine passport is not a German one. Dozens of the countries on that list required an embassy appointment, a bank statement, a return ticket, proof of accommodation, an interview, and a wait. Some required all of it twice after a first refusal. Doing 195 countries on a strong passport is a logistics and money problem. Doing it on a Philippine passport is a paperwork war of attrition that takes years longer, and that is precisely why it had not been done this way before.

Reporting on the record varies in how it is phrased, with some outlets describing her as the youngest Filipina to complete the set and others as the first to do it solely on a Philippine passport. We have not seen a single authoritative registry that settles the exact wording, so we are describing the achievement rather than ranking it.

If the practical side of that is what interests you, start with the document itself. Our guide to Philippine passport renewal for OFWs and digital nomads is the unglamorous first step, and it is the one people put off.

How to catch the launch at MIBF 2026

Her slot is Thursday 10 September, 6:30 to 8:00 PM, on the Main Stage. Talk, Q&A, book signing, meet and greet.

Two things to know before you plan around that.

You need a fair ticket to be in the building. The launch seat reservation and MIBF entry are separate. Entry is PHP 50 general, or PHP 35 for students, senior citizens and PWD with a valid ID, available through SM Tickets online or at the door. Teachers with a school ID get in free. National Book Store has also been circulating free entry passes in the run-up, so it is worth checking before you pay.

6:30 PM on a Thursday is the worst possible arrival time. The fair runs 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM. If you show up at 6:15 PM you will be fighting rush hour on EDSA and the tail of the after-work crowd arriving at the same time. Get there mid-afternoon, do your book shopping when the aisles are survivable, eat, then take a seat near the Main Stage well before 6:30.

Bring cash. Most MIBF exhibitors accept it, card and e-wallet acceptance varies stall by stall, and the ATM queues inside a convention center during a book fair are exactly what you would expect. Food and drinks are not allowed inside the exhibit halls, though there are concessionaires in there.

Bring a bag with a real strap. Everyone underestimates this and everyone regrets it around 4:00 PM.

Getting to SMX Convention Center from anywhere in the country

SMX Convention Center Manila sits inside the SM Mall of Asia complex in Pasay, right on the bay.

From Metro Manila. The nearest rail is LRT-1 EDSA station, then a jeep or a short Grab ride into the MOA complex. There are also MOA-bound buses along EDSA. Budget PHP 50 to 150 total by public transport from most of the metro, versus PHP 250 to 600 for a Grab depending on the hour and the surge. On a Thursday evening, rail plus a short hop beats a car through the Roxas Boulevard approach almost every time.

From the provinces. This is the part Manila-based guides never cover. Cebu, Davao, Iloilo, Bacolod and Cagayan de Oro all have multiple daily flights into NAIA, and the fair falls outside both the April to May summer peak and the Christmas rush, which is the cheapest window of the year to fly domestically. Booking three days out is not the cheap window, but a Tuesday or Wednesday flight in with a Sunday return still costs far less than the same trip in December.

Check current domestic fares into Manila on Trip.com

From NAIA. This is the easy part, and it is the single best thing about this venue. All four NAIA terminals are roughly 15 to 25 minutes from the MOA complex outside rush hour, which makes SMX one of the few major Manila venues you can realistically reach straight off a flight. If you are landing on the 10th and going directly to the launch, a pre-booked airport transfer with a fixed price through Kiwitaxi removes the one variable you cannot control, which is what the taxi queue looks like when you walk out. Grab works fine too, it just prices by the mood of the road.

Where to stay near SMX

The MOA complex is genuinely walkable to the venue, which is unusual for Manila and worth paying a little extra for. If you are coming in from the province for the fair, staying inside the complex means you can drop your book haul at the hotel at 5:00 PM and walk back for the 6:30 launch.

Three areas, in order of how close they are:

• Inside the MOA complex. Hotels here put you within a 5 to 15 minute walk of SMX. The most expensive of the three, and the only one where you skip transport entirely. Compare rooms inside the Mall of Asia complex if walking distance is the priority.
• Roxas Boulevard and the bay strip. A short ride out, noticeably cheaper, and closer to NAIA. Good if you are flying in late. See what is available along Roxas Boulevard.
• Wider Pasay and the NAIA fringe. The budget end. You trade a 15 to 30 minute ride for the lowest rates in the area.

If you want the airport-adjacent option specifically, we have reviewed Resorts World Bayshore as a layover stay near NAIA, which is in the same corridor. For the genuinely tight budget, our roundup of the best hostels in Metro Manila still has usable options, though check current rates since that list has some age on it.

The map below shows live prices for places around the venue, so you can see the walk-versus-price trade for yourself.

Fair week fills the nearby hotels, so the closer options go first and the price gap between “inside the complex” and “20 minutes out” widens as the week goes on.

FAQ

Do I need a separate ticket for the book launch?
You need MIBF entry, PHP 50 general or PHP 35 discounted, to be in the building. The launch seat reservation on her site is free and separate. Reserving a seat does not get you through the door.

What time should I arrive on 10 September?
Mid-afternoon. The talk starts at 6:30 PM, but arriving at 6:15 puts you in EDSA rush hour and the day’s biggest crowd at once.

How much is the book?
The signed pre-order is listed at PHP 1,027 on the launch material. Retail pricing after launch is set by Penguin Random House SEA and its Philippine retailers, so expect it to differ.

Can I get in free?
Teachers with a valid school ID enter free. National Book Store has been giving away entry passes ahead of the fair. Everyone else pays PHP 50 or PHP 35.

Is SMX far from the airport?
No, and this is unusual for a Manila venue. Roughly 15 to 25 minutes from the NAIA terminals outside peak hours.

Where can I buy the book if I cannot make it to Manila?
It is a Penguin Random House SEA title with regional distribution, and pre-orders have been running through Fully Booked and Amazon. Local availability after launch will depend on the retailer.

If you are already in Metro Manila, this is a PHP 50 entry fee and a train ride to watch a kababayan who was doing QA paperwork in Kuwait launch a book with Penguin. That is an easy yes.

If you are flying in from Cebu or Davao, be honest that you are buying a Manila weekend, not just a 90 minute talk, and price it that way. The fair runs five days, the venue is 20 minutes from the airport, and September is the cheapest month of the year to fly domestically. It stacks up better than most reasons people fly to Manila.

Either way, get there before 6:30 PM on Thursday. The seat is free. The chair count is not.

About the Author

Bianca Rei is a Filipino traveler, entrepreneur, and problem-solver who has called Serbia home for many years. She has been following Two Monkeys Travel Group since 2014, back when she was simply a reader dreaming, traveling, and collecting stories of her own, so being able to contribute to the blog now feels a little like coming full circle.

Bianca runs Rodi Solutions, where she helps people and businesses navigate life and business in Serbia, alongside website design, development, and management. When she is not working, she is usually traveling, boxing, chasing another adventure, or spending time with her family.

Find her work at rodi.consulting, or get to know her beyond work at biancarei.net.