For my 25th bday (yak tanda na), I decided to go on a trip with my family. It was the first time I’m bringing all of them out of town. So thanks to the 50% off promo of Cebupac, I was able to book a flight to Bohol for the whole family on my birthday weekend. Weee!
The trip was booked 4 months ago, but we didn’t have a concrete plan until the last week. So our budget-tight plan was as simple as this:
Flight departure: 08:25 am
ETA @ Bohol: 10:30am
Check-in @ Citadel Alona in Panglao
Hire a van from Bohol Rain Tours
Day 1 - Panglao Tour ~ 6 hours
Day 2 - Country side tour (Blood compact, Tarsier, Chocolate hills) ~ 8 hours
Day 3 – Beach bumming
Flight back to MNL: 01:55pm
ETA @ MNL: 3:30pm
So ayan. At the last minute, we decided to bring the van to the airport and just park and fly (kasi mahal magtaxi hehe!). Maricris, my sister, and Rein were to pick us up at home so we could all go together.
06:00 am - We left and home and drove to the airport. We underestimated the traffic, and it was just soooo bad
Hala. 07:00 na, zapote pa lang! We finally reached park and fly at around 7:20 and reached Terminal 3 at 7:40 (on my watch). We checked in at the counter, pero naglast call na daw sila ng 7:40, at 7:53 na daw, HUWAAAAT?! 7:45 pa lang kaya sa relo ko! Lo and behold, ayaw na talaga kami papasukin. Kesyo napirmahan at nasubmit na daw ang manifesto (whatever that is) to the departments and we just have to rebook. ASAR. So fine rebook then. But whoa, for P7K per person??? Haller! P7K x 10 pax = P70K. no way. The next flight won’t even be until tomorrow. So there’s no sense wasting that much.
So now what? I didn’t really want to forego the money already spent on the fare, but more importantly I didn’t want to ruin my birthday. Our only affordable option was to ride a Superferry to Cebu and then ride another boat to Bohol. But that would take us a day. ONE WHOLE DAY. Pro okk lang J I really wanted to try riding the superferry anyway, now was my chance! So after getting the consensus of the family (my tatay didn’t want to come anymore, may bagyo daw..????!), and making calls to make arrangements (Thanks Joyie!), off we went to the Pier in Manila.
1-DAY Cruise
I really had fun riding the ferry. There were probably a thousand passengers aboard, the boat was headed to Cebu, Surigao and Nasipit. There were only 3 floors (I think) with lots of room. It was good that we were able to grab an empty cabin (with no additional charge!), else we’d have slept in different rooms with strangers K There was a small canteen area, where everyone ate. And since our tickets included meals, we had to line up (a boat-long line) just to get our ration of food. Parang preso lang.
There wasn’t really much to do in the ferry, but the thing I enjoyed most was going to the deck.. We spent hours watching the sea, waiting for dolphins (meron!), running around, breathing sea air. It was relaxing, though there wasn’t really much to see, it kind of felt like a cruise. And for the 1st time in looong while, I got to sleep for 8 hours that night J
After 22 hours at sea, we finally made it to the shores of Cebu J it was already 10am at that time, and we the next boat was at 10:30. So there wasn’t really time to go around. We just saw SM Cebu when we transferred piers, and that was it. Unfortunately, the boat ride to Bohol was 2 hours, we thought it was only an hour-ride. That would shorten our tour time in Bohol.
The Supercat ride was baaaad. It rained hard, and since the seats we got were non-aircon, we were soaking and puking wet. I kept praying to God to give us clear skies. It was the birthday gift I asked. Though I initially had bigger things in mind (i.e lovelife and money hehe!), this trip had already caused us so much, and the last thing I needed was for the rain to ruin it. Thank God, He kept His promise. Though there were drizzles, it was only so we could see a rainbow. The weather was really nice J the clouds (stratocumulus!) were really picture perfect.
A trip cut short
Our supposedly 8-hour tour was compressed to 3 hours since we arrived so late. But in fairness, we able to see all the tourist spots in Bohol – Blood Compact, Baclayon, Tarsier, Chocolate Hills, Loboc, Hanging Bridge.
We had a good dinner at some resort, and we went to sleep.
The next day – we hadn’t really planned on anything but going bumming around Alona beach. But since the beach wasn’t so pretty at that time, we decided at the last minute to go island-hopping – a 2-hour trip. We needed to be back in time to catch our flight at 2pm, and we couldn’t afford to miss our plane again. We went to 2 islands and enjoyed the long shallow beach of Virgin Island. It was really nice just walking on the beach, too bad we had little time. Maybe next time J
FIRSTS:
his trip, I had fun doing these things for the first time
· 1st major out-of-town trip of the family
· 1st time in Bohol!
· I rode the superferry J
· Shouted “hi” and waved to a manong bangkero while on the boat
· Ate scallops (I forgot though how it tastes hehe)
It surely wasn’t perfect, but it was an experience to remember. ‘Til our next trip! J
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