Boracaytion

 

Never been this excited for an awesome trip like this, though I always emphasize my excitement for my every trip but hello! This is Boracay, baby!! Adrenalines are rushing since July, yes July! Okay, I will pretend that I am calm and you'll pretend that you believe in my pretensions. Lol. Month of July when me and my friend, out-of-nowhere booked in AirAsia for a trip from Manila to Kalibo for just Php980/way scheduled on September 22-24. We paid via 711 Connect, received an email with itinerary and other details about our flight. Time goes by easily..in a blink of an eye, it's already September. 

ON OUR WAY TO KALIBO

Our scheduled flight is 8pm, we have been told by few friends about some details which I also confirmed by looking at the AirAsia website that we must be at the airport 3hours before our flight. Because it's our first time (Yey! Another first time) we didn't find any reason not to follow what we were warned about. We left Sta. Maria at 2pm through a bus heading to Quezon City for Php35 and reached the North Avenue Station at almost 4pm. Imagine 2hours of travel, traffic in Bocaue is like forever. Ugh! Anyway, we paid Php28 for the ticket from the first statiown to the last. It's been years when I last experienced a train and a bit clueless about its changes. As we dropped off in  MRT Taft station, my ever supportive boyfriend contacted the GrabTaxi to easily and safely book us a cab nearby and in a minute before we could buy ourselves food, here's the taxi coming so rapidly which is quite annoying because we're damn craving for a Mcdo fries that very moment. (When you wish you could turn back time 🤔😞) 

airport selfie

It's almost 5pm when we reached Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3. We paid a hundred pesos, fifty each, I've been very good in mathematics these days huh! Esp. in dividing numbers by two! Haha. 😅 The three-hours-before-flight goal came true, as planned. Lol. We swiftly entered the terminal straight to the boarding gate's waiting area. No need to interrogate each other, we just ordered our choice of foods spontaneously and had a very satisfying early dinner of a beef steak rice meal. We still have two and a half hour  and to keep ourselves distracted from the long waiting time, we had another set of meal, Noemi bought a bread while I had a cup noodles partnered with monde mamon. Yumm! 😋 Good thing NAIA maintained its speedy free wifi which is a very good excuse to stay inside. Suddenly the announcer declared a possible delay in AirAsia flight z10 (which is our flight). She said scheduled flight will be moved at 10PM. Please don't feel sorry for us but admittedly it's a little stressing! 😓 Jeez, another 2hours! We went outside to smell  fresh air and tried to relax ourselves and keep our mind on a positive side. We didn't noticed the time running, it's quarter to ten when they announced the flight z10 to be attentive this time. At exactly ten when we passed the boarding gate. Clambered quickly in the plane. 10:30PM when we had a rough takeoff. Flied with excitement..and with fear. Like what I've said, it's another first time in my list. Risen above the horizon. Higher than any places that ladder, elevator, wheel and feet could possibly reach. We didn't get the chance to see the view but the overlooking sight of city lights is stunningly beautiful like sparkling Christmas lights all around the busy space. In just a couple of minutes I felt like one of the Goddesses who's from above monitoring the very active life of earthlings in a secretive way. 😌 

 

The bright lights of a big city slowly getting far from my vision which means we're passing an island to another island. 😬 After one and a half hour when the plane made a smooth landing but I had a hard time enduring the pain in my ears which I repeatedly experiencing whenever I feel the pressure of going from a high to a lower place, like going down the mountains. 😩

ON OUR WAY TO CATICLAN, BORACAY

The Kalibo Airport is entirely restful before I forgot it's already 12 midnight. There are lots of van for hire waiting outside. We paid Php200 each for the Caticlan trip. Exhausted and tired. 

Got the chance to sleep amidst bumpy hours of travel. We woke up by noise of our seat mates who's preparing for the drop off and from that moment we knew that we're already in Caticlan. Caticlan anyway, for your information, has an airlines as well and is more convenient because it is closer to Boracay than Kalibo but I heard that flight promo in Caticlan is very rare since it only fly twice daily. 

We immediately paid the terminal and environmental fee which costs Php170 in total each person and as we came aboard, a boatman asked for another Php100 for the boat fee. All we thought that the boat fee is already included in the terminal fee and so on. It is just very annoying and as a Filipino I felt shame because of this kind of trade. Could they just include all of the compulsory fees in one payment. Aside from causing so much delays, people especially foreigners in the boat are complaining about the invalid charges which caused another delay. It's midnight and everyone is in a bad mood. Speaking of foreigners, we noticed that majority of the boat riders are Koreans. No, not just majority, all of them actually! We are the only local in the boat aside from the boatmen. We started to freak out with the thinking of "Are we in the movie Train to Busan" and started shouting "Oppa" for fun! Lol. The boat ride took about 20minutes. When we reached the Boracay Island a woman approached us in the terminal and offered a cheap room to stay for a night in the island. Since it's raining and we are more than tired, we grabbed the offer and rode in a tricycle for Php100/ride, fifty each. After 10minutes we alighted in the main area and went straight to the inn. It costs Php500/night each pax. We paid for a total of Php2,00 for two nights stay. We looked for a midnight snack and found a hot arroz caldo in the neighbor for Php30 per cup. We ate our arroz caldo inside the room and had a good rest because tomorrow will be a busy day for us. 

BORA FEELS

 

Finally a "Good morning, Boracay!" is real! Woke up with a glimpse of smile as we caught the forenoon sunrise. We quickly, very quickly, head to a cheap eatery nearby and had a fresh fried GG for breakfast which costs only P45 with rice. As we walked toward shore, I was head over heels fell in love with the most astonishing view I've ever seen. It was a wide field of a powder-like sands before you can reach the crystal water. Can't hide my admiration as I turn my head left and right, every corner of this island is worth falling for. Who would have thought that this kind of paradise do exists and only exists in our country. Proud and loud that we have Boracay. We were approached by an old man for an island hopping trip for Php600/head and we don't have any reason not to try. 9AM when we join the group tour. The boat consists 30 passengers, and as expected, 20% local and 80% tourists, mostly Koreans. Oppa! And the island hopping begun! 

TO PUKA BEACH! 

Sailing along the coast has been one of my favorite adventure. After 30 minutes we stopped in the middle of the sea for some snorkeling activity which I never used to have fun of doing. We jumped into the water with our rental snorkeling gear that costs Php20. The snorkeling area don't have that much fishes and corals. My so far extreme encounter with the fishes using snorkel is when in Camayan Beach Subic which is way better than in Boracay. Nevertheless, I stayed in no more than 10 minutes because I always find snorkeling a stressful activity. When I clambered back to the boat, I left Noemi with the Koreans in the water enjoying her snorkeling job. The boatman then called all of his passengers so that we can proceed to the next destination. 

 

In a moment, we touched down to one peaceful island, the Puka beach. Another stunning beach. Water is literally turquoise. I have seen my friends on facebook posting the popular wood letters of Puka so I didn't missed the chance to have my own photo there. We stayed in the beach for just 30 minutes. It's almost afternoon just in time for the next island where we gonna eat our lunch. Buffet lunch is already included in the package. They served us Chicken and pork barbecues, chopseuy, crablets, fish fillets and my new favorite fried carrot fish plus a bottle of soda. We devour with bare hands. Foods might not deadly delicious but those are good especially the carrot fish which is, if I'm not mistaken, I had 4 sets of it. Freshness at its best! After a round of a good lunch, we walked toward local kids of the island. They caught lots of starfishes and trading it for a picture. Foreigners are having fun doing selfies with the starfish. Some korean gave away ice creams for the children while the others are throwing coins into the water as what we've seen in the movie "Muro Ami" where kids will dive to get the coins. We headed back to the boat for our next adventure. 

CRYSTAL COVE

This cove is just 5minutes away from the island where we had our meal. Because we're running out of time, we have to make a choice if we're gonna drop off in crystal cove or in the cliff diving island and we chose crystal cove. Half of the passengers were alighted in the crystal cove while the other half chose cliff diving. Boatmen said they will fetch us after one hour. The entrance fee for this island is included in the package as well. It has a jungle type restaurant inside. A beautiful rock cottages and a view deck where we can see the view of the island. We swam in cold cave water. Aside from that, there's nothing special in this cove. We decided to rest our feet in the benches in front of the beach and have a small talk. Hour passed, here comes our boat and we traveled back to the main island. 

As we get back, we've been thinking about trying para sailing but because it's too pricey in Php1000 per head for just 15 minutes, we refused. It's 3PM and we're so damn tired so we stepped toward our inn for refreshment. We took a comforting hot shower and surrendered our body over the fluffy bed. Relaxed for a moment after the adventure.

NIGHT LIFE IN BORACAY

 

 It's 5PM when we get up. We wandered the busy shoreline of Boracay. It has many stores selling souvenirs, massive restaurants, tattoo and hair braid shops, prestige hotels and so on. Bought our loved ones souvenirs. We walked along the station 2 to station 1 afterward and while wandering, a semi-formal man offered us free dinner in Astoria Hotel for its soft opening. This so-called hotel is owned by Boy Abunda according to this man. We take the chance and had our buffet dinner in Astoria Hotel. As expected, there's something else about the complimentary meal. They discussed us a brief description of this hotel and offered a membership registration. After the discussions, they gave us a voucher/certificate that both of us are entitle for a free accommodation in any of their branch like Bohol and Palawan. We finished the conversation by confirming that we're not gonna fill out a membership form and walking away with the voucher in our hands. Lol.

The Astoria Hotel

 We're so bloated and decided to have a walk. To experience a night in Boracay is a dream came true. It transformed from a serene morning into a sparkling loud and very entertaining place that is perfect for pub crawling and every party-peoples like me are looking for! 💃🏻 Each restaurants had their dinner-by-the-bay in different competitive styles, fire dancing everywhere, loud and attracting musics (some are acoustic love songs but mostly party songs). Night is still young and so we decided to have a sip of coffee first. We entered the Starbucks located at Station 1. I ordered Dark Mocha frappe to surely keep me awake during our night life here. We stayed at the roof of SB building to see the view of Boracay at night for almost 2hours.

 It's already 10PM when we left SB building and headed back to where we really belong, the Station 2. The first station have the most of popular and premium hotels like La Carmela and Crown Regency as well as the expensive restaurants. While the station 2 is very accurate for the most common people. It also has pricey hotels and restaurants but half of it have reasonable price. This is the most crowded part of the island because people choose to stay here than station 3 which is dull and boring as hell. When we reached station 2 we had a tattoo for Php100, I chose the dream catcher and Noemi chose flower with forever written below, forever is real!

 We felt panicked in picking a bar to enter. We choose a noisy one, the Summer Place disco bar and paid Php300 each for entrance fee. Run with excitement directly at the bar and ask a glass of tequila sunrise ( my favorite second to mojito) while Noemi had a bottle of red horse. Everyone is dancing in the tune of DJ's choice of good music. Koreans are intensely cute with their signature kpop outfits while pretty Americans are so damn hot without an effort! 😍 

 

My body starting to move with the rhythm and style of music voluntarily. Lol. I left Noemi at the bar and placed myself in the center of the dance floor. "Friday night I've wasted!" Feels. Dancing all time like we are high on drugs lol. Meeting new friends and being part of a newly discovered dance group in a night. Time and time passed, it's already 3AM and so we got out of the bar to quickly get back in our room and sleep because tomorrow is another day. 

DAY 2 IN PARADISE 

It's a gloomy morning when we wake up. We had our breakfast in the same eatery and I had a waterfall hair braid costs Php100. I bought a water proof bag for Php250 and since Noemi has a hangover and still sleepy she walked back to the room. I wanted to walk along the Station 1 again but it's too far so I decided to have a morning swim instead. I put my phone in the water proof bag so I can assure their safety. This is what I enjoyed the most, "me time" moment. 

As I dip into the water, I felt the smoothness of powder sands in my feet. It's literally like I'm stepping in a flour. *sigh. I can compare this to a pool that has a white tiles on the floor. It's really clear that I couldn't imagine it to be. I'm like a child who's electrified by this waters. I didn't mind the heat of the sun. I don't want to think about leaving this place because I'm surely gonna miss this place. Why on earth Boracay has to be so far to Bulacan? A paradise like no other. I opened my bag to check and I was shocked when I saw my phones are moist and wet. Sh*t! I walked at a brisk pace into the shore. Immediately dry them using towel and tried to open the power. Damn! They're not turning on! Heart beats faster and faster while praying. I quickly ask locals where can I find a phone repair shop. It's almost a 10minutes away from the beach. The only repair shop in Boracay. I gave my phone to kuya and do the immediate blow drying. He asked for a thousand peso for service charge. He saved my iphone but not the LCD so I have to buy a new LCD when I get back to Manila. 

ON OUR WAY HOME 

 

I returned to the room with a bad mood. Noemi is prepping for our departure. We've been told that we must leave Boracay 2hours before our flight and so we left at 10am since our flight is 12:35nn. 10minutes tricycle ride to Terminal. Paid a total of Php300 each for Terminal fee, boat fee and a van transfer from terminal to Airport. 11AM when we arrived in Caticlan. The van driver warned us that it's impossible to catch our flight because the travel time might take 1 and a half hour. We were so nervous that time. We kept on praying and praying. It's 12:45nn when we arrived in Kalibo Airport. We've run speedily to the boarding gate until the woman approached us that our flight departed on time and so we opted to have our flight rebooked. The next flight schedule is at 2:00pm but only 1 seats left. We had no choice but to pick the 5:00pm flight. We rode in a tricycle going to the plaza to claim the money my mom remitted for my rebooking fee in Palawan Express and to reward ourselves after the stressful incident we had our lunch in Jollibee, I ordered a chicken palabok meal with macaroni soup and Noemi had chicken spaghetti, happy kids indeed! 

3pm when we left Jollibee and got back to Airport at 3:30pm. Our takeoff was at exactly 5pm. It's already dark. We landed safely in Manila after an hour. Good thing there's a GrabTaxi booth at the exit of NAIA Terminal 3 and so we booked a car going to MRT Taft for Php100. Another Php28 for the train ticket. 9pm when we reached North Avenue Station and quickly grabbed our dinner at KFC inside TriNoMa. Afterwards, we took bus traveling to Bulacan and alighted in Bocaue and from there we rode in a jeepney going to Sampol. I alighted in front of our clinic and went home through a tricycle ride. 

It was a long, tiring day but hell of a fun, adventure and lesson. We get the chance to ride in almost all kinds of transportations: Bus, train, plane, boat, jeepney and tricycle! So cool, right!? 😎 

Boracay is the most beautiful place I've ever seen by far. It's effortlessly admirable. Just a nature. Regardless of how currently crowded it was, the beauty of nature never fades. Ever since I was a little dreamer, I used to hear this place as mentioned by elderlies around me. Heard it is one of a kind, tourist's favorite spot to visit and a beach of fantasy. Now that I'm all grown up and I had the chance to visit it at the age of twenty three, so pleased and glad to have finally see you in person. A "vacation grande" is how I described our short but memorable stay here. All of beautiful pleasures in life rolled in one scenic place. There's malls, superb restaurants, luxurious hotel, bars, cute little stores in front of a charming beach. What more you could ever asked for? I could still remember how I ecstatically swim on its water; I could still feel its whitest sands and could still recall the ambiance of this tropical island. It is indeed still summer somewhere!!! ☀️Thank you, Lord, for the gift of nature you gave to our country.  It sprinkled Philippines with lots of opportunity like the good tourism it provides which became a good source of living to the most of Visayans.Yes, we have Manny Pacquiao, Lea Salonga and Charice Pempengco but hey, we must remember that there is a BORACAY first. The most prime location of our country that we couldn't deny foreigners falling in love over and over again. If only every Filipinos can afford to visit this place, they will know what our country has that they would never see in other country. It's just one of thousands gratifying places here that we must pay to visit and I can't wait to see the rest of it. Once again, thank you Boracay, rest assured I'll be seeing you so soon! 💕 

How far journeying Rochel can go? Let's find out!