2024 Boracay Island

This is my vacation trip to boracay for the 4th time. This is a visit after the covid pandemic where things are already under normalcy. To make this trip memorable,  I intentionally book a flight during Laboracay (May 1) celebration to experience parties and fun at the island.

May is a busy month and Boracay is flooded with tourists as expected. For my previous trips, my arrival port is Kalibo hub since the planes are big and it is an international airport. For this trip, the port/hub I chosen is Caticlan to save time in land travel via van.

                   

I recommended Southwest travel and tours for the Caticlan Boracay transfers due to convenience. You can easily book even once you arrive at Caticlan. For Hennan hotels (where we stay), they also have affordable Boracay Caticlan transfers which we tried for our return trip in Manila.

Mactan, Cebu

 Cebu is special to my heart because of my colorful experience in this place:

• My vivid childhood memory of  a happy sea travel was with Princess of the Orient (before it sank in 1998). I enjoy sea travel, lounging inside the ship with play stations, view deck and double deck beds.You can bring large luggages without kilo limits as long as you can carry it.  Airplane fare are too costly those days. Now, everyone are on short haul flights.
• My previous work as junior researcher requires me to travel in Cebu and stay there alone like for 1-2 weeks (i became independent as young adult at age 22). I visited more than 30 corporate offices/businesses due to work, wheew
• My econgirls barkada escapade are beach getaways. Bantayan and Cebu are good memories to keep (see my previous write ups)
• We have relatives in Cebu☺️ my advantage is that i can understand bisaya.

My friend wants to go to Cebu this 2024  and considering that I had been travelling there for x times already and done in visiting Lapu Lapu City and Cebu City's tourist attractions I have to plan well the itinerary so I can still enjoy Cebu and its beautiful undiscovered sceneries

We tried Shangrila Mactan for an experience and we are delighted with the 5 star service. The beachwater is clear and you can play around with the fishes  by feeding them. When you swim at the pool, you will be provided with cold face towels to refresh. I love the breakfast buffet and their mango giveaway as way of welcoming their guests.

It was eventful on our Day 1 because it was the Battle of Mactan day. The president is also in Cebu for courtesy visit. Thus, we experience heavy traffic like 1 hr waiting in taxi just to go to Mactan newtown for the mercato.

Because of the local holiday,  we experience that the lechons in restaurants are sold out😂. Like we were only able to eat lechon at zubuchon which also has a branch in Manila.The next day,we tried the local lechon known in the Mactan area.

                                         

For this 2024 trip, we visited also Leah's temple, the Sirao garden, the Mactan Newtown Mercato, the hilltop and went to Magellans cross to have a picture souvenir as a couple. We also bought sto ninos  and leachon as pasalubong. 

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Viansa Sonoma

The first time I went to Napa Valley in 2021 was at the height of covid pandemic. Stores are mostly closed and the wine tasting packages or gatherings are  limited. I promised to myself to visit again the wineries in the area of Napa and Sonoma valley to enjoy what is it like when things go back to normal. A day tour in this region is a must when you visit California.

Viansa Sonoma is just an hour drive from California. When you are in their vineyard, you will feel relax and peaceful, much more if there are varieties of wine to taste test. I love rose, sangria and red wine.  They have the best wine tasting menus and fine delicacies.

Texas Cowboys

I was fortunate to be able to plan well my vacation in the US and visit my cousin living in Dallas, Texas. It's surreal to be able to fly with Southwest Airlines from Oakland to Dallas. Some memories of my college life were the business cases of no frills, cheap flight, and peanut snacks of Southwest. During my flight, peanuts were no longer served but i really enjoyed the simplicity of boarding and seat anywhere (like in boarding a bus).

Dallas is a beautiful clean city with a different vibe compared to California. The highways are wide and when you go farther to Grand Prairie, the wide landscape will welcome you. The weather in Dallas was hot that time, I felt i was in Philippines. The weather in Texas as what my cousin told me is either extreme hot or extreme cold. 

What i love the most during my sightseeing are the beautiful big houses "mansions" in Texas that i only see in movies/netflix. Most houses do not have gates and are open.

El Zamba Villas, Liw-liwa Zambales

My sex and the city girlfriends (referring to my college close friends) are my constant companions whenever I wander. It became our pact  after graduation to travel yearly, have a get together frequent with annual summer getaway, and be more carefree and full of life in our 20s and 30s.

New travel experiences, i enjoyed  this more often with Katie and Rona. Flights, land and sea travel, i have vivid memories of how I enjoyed my youth with these pretty ladies. I became  more adventurous and risk taker but cautious as well in my travels also. Some of my best travel memories and  even nerve wracking memories, I experienced it with them, wheew.

• Bantayan, Cebu - we braved the storm literally; weather turned bad and our ferry was dancing crazy on the big waves. The ferry passengers aside from us were so frighten because the 1 hr sea travel almost took more than 2 hrs, with the captain being cautious to maneuver the ferry well (major tsunami news just happened in the philippines at that time but we still pushed with our flight to cebu thinking that weather will turn better.)
• Experiencing the best and hidden beaches of Calaguas and Coron, Palawan. During that time, it was not yet publicized in social media.
• My very first trip abroad, in Kota Kinabalu Malaysia. Who would have thought that Malaysia will be my 1st country to visit and where on earth is Kota Kinabalu. Air asia is promoting this island with super low fares that time.  I even thought my passport even got lost in Clark, looking for  it for 15 minutes with the airport personnel/maintenance team because my travel friend unintentionally placed it in her bag thinking that it was her passport. Lol, very sweaty experience imagining myself that i did not make it my supposed to be 1st trip abroad....
• Riding a small boat without lifevest because there were no available lifevest as the island is not well known to the tourists that time (remote so to speak). To get into the island and we have to transfer from a big boat to small boat as the big one could not dock in the shore. Im a beach girl but I don't know how to swim in deep open water. Like it's a nerve wracking experience since the boat is super small, we were only 6 in that boat and it almost overturned, my vivid memory is that the boatman balanced the boat with his feet. I think, i will never be that risk taker again....

This year, since my 2 girlfriends are already married, with one having a 4 yr old kid, our travels now are more cautious and we prefer to do land travels since we can come back to Manila easily. Now, we are plus 1 with a kid, another new experience for me as i get to bond with Maia (Rona's little one) being her adult tita haha! Again our trip to Zambales is memorable given that we were stopped by a traffic officer, we, somehow violated the intersection rule in Subic (which we are not at all aware off, kindly google search this intersection rule). Fortunately, we were able to explain our side and sincerely apologize that we do not know the traffic rules in Subic; the officer then politely let us go.... 

When we arrived at El Zamba Villas, it kind of reminds me of the Anawangin Cove because of the several Agoho trees without the need of riding a boat. It's a relaxing place and our AirBnB stay is unique since you can view the forest in your window.Roaming around the area, you will be enticed to have a remote work set up there since the rental places and AirBnBs have WIFIs. Its a developing area where you can also have opportunity to have a restau business also since Liw Liwa is being visited by surfers and beach lovers.

Sharing some nice photos from this trip. We mentioned to ourselves, we will continue to travel till we get old. XO XO. mai