Boracay 2017 || Seeing its beauty || A siblings' trip

During my one-month vacation in Philippines, my sister and I pre-planned a family trip. Unfortunately, as most plans goes, it becomes a cliche that it remain as only a plan. Unexpected things happened and while it is a good time for our family to go out-of-town, it becomes inconvenient due to some circumstances. That's what happens if there are members of family who are very young and very old. It was an overdue plan and instead of putting it off, we still decided to go, but what could've been a family trip, becomes a siblings trip, me, my brother and sister, just the three of us. And the destination we chose, the Boracay island. 

GETTING THERE

Our flight to Boracay was scheduled the next day after the night I arrived at Manila from my Singapore trip. My sister arranged all of our transpo and hotel booking in one of the travel agencies so everything was set for us. With only a few hours of sleep and still tired from my previous trip, I was forced to wake up and get prepared. The three of us said our goodbye to our parents and members of the family, whom i haven't got a chance to see a lot yet, and went to Domestic airport. Rode the plane to Kalibu domestic airport, endured the 2-hour bus ride to Aklan, and rode a wooden passenger boat to the island and lastly, a ride in a shuttle to our respective accomodation. 

We didnt expect that it would take us that long to get there. From Manila, it took us almost 8 hours and it was an equivalent time going to our hometown in Quezon in Polillo Island. As what my sister commented, Philippines is Philippines. For those who have got a chance to live in another country, one would feel very different upon experiencing how to travel in Philippines. Our country is beautiful, yet most destinations are so hard to reach. A combination of a plane, land and sea transportations are a major drawback and long hours of travel wastes up almost a day. At last, we reached the island and got to check in the hotel we're staying in for 3 days and 2 nights.

THE ISLAND OF BORACAY

Boracay Island Philippines, as most of us are aware of and what it is known for, is a top tourist destination in the country. Locales and international tourists come to Boracay all-year round to see its beauty and experience the activities it can offer. It is a hub not only for beach-lovers, but also to party-goers who wants  an exquisite night life its clubs and restobars can offer along its shore establishments. A beach paradise during the day, and an entertainment haven at night. But for us, who are just curious to see it, it didn't impress us that much. Maybe its due to the fact that we are also from an Island whose beauty can be compared to that of Boracay, or maybe we expected too much that when we experienced the travel and saw the island, we got a bit disappointed. 

We settled ourselves in our room, it has two beds and spacious enough for the three of us. One thing we were thankful that we went to see it that time, it is not yet peak-season. Summer was just starting and the place is still not swarmed with a lot of tourists. Establishments were not fully-packed and we were able to roam and explore around easily not bumping shoulder to shoulder with tourists who could've been there if it were during those times. One thing though, the beach wasn't at its most beautiful condition. A lot of green algae are scattered along its shore giving a not so pleasant sight of the seawater. Instead of being torquise to blue, its color was changed to a dark green hue, which makes swimming not appealing. The beach resort we were staying is situated at station 1, where most of the algae are found and as usual, made us not so enthusiastic about the place. 

Day 1

Our first day was already consumed with the travel time, so instead of heading to the beach after our late lunch, we opted to stay indoor and refreshed ourselves. We were all tired especially me who obviously lack a lot of sleep. It was before sunset when we finally decided to come out. Went to the beach, stroll for a while and had some sightseeing.

The shore lines up a lot of establishments which makes the street lights up during the night, especially restaurants who offer different cuisine but mostly Filipino dishes. Major fast food chains are also scattered throughout the whole island, there's a lot of choices which makes foodtrip and hunting easy and exciting. As for us, we went to one of the dinner buffet in one of the restaurant and had our fill of scrumptious food being served. 

The food was nice and we were able to enjoy the company, siblings eating out and trying out food with a lot of laughters and conversations, a memory we got to make. We stroll for a while after dinner and saw the different attractions at night that usually lines up the shore parts. A fire show, live bands, dance performers and different stores with colorful lights. The night was so alive but at around 9:30, we decided to go back to our room and called it a night. 

Day 2

We woke up a little early today. My sister wants to see the sunrise so we went to the beach first before eating breakfast. The beach was still peaceful during that time, with only few people around so we were able to enjoy serenity and silence for a while. We sat at the beachsand and observed people as they go about their day. Some children starting to make sand castles, vendors offering tours and packages, some crews cleaning their place, and some tourists whose same as us enjoying the morning. We took some pictures taking advantage of having a big portion of the beach only to ourselves. We had our late breakfast then went back to our room. 

We went out again at lunch time and occupied the relining chairs provided at the beach. We got to enjoy the relaxing ambience of the sea and the sunny weather, making the most of our island vacation. We planned to do some activities for today, island hopping or some water sports, but my sister started not feeling well. Maybe due to lack of proper sleep and change of timezone, I myself has the same feeling but my sister's condition got worse when her stomach started to feel upset. It could have been a good day for island hopping or paragliding which Ive been wanting to try but my siblings wasn't in the best mood for any of that. So in the end, we just stayed close and just did some beach bumming, me and my sister had our hairs braided, then later me and my brother went food tripping. 

When the sun set, we had our dinner at one of the restaurant buffet offering native dishes, then explored the other part of the island which we haven't reached yet. Come night time and the streets really come alive in Boracay. We saw extravagant shows and other attractions worth seeing for. There are dancing chefs, circus fire performers and a lot more. We went back to our room and rested for a while. It was our last night in the island and I couldn't miss not having the experience of nightlife in Boracay, so before midnight, while my sister chose to stay, me and my brother went out for some chilling time. 

We ended up in a cozy bar in the beach not far from the hotel resort we were staying. There's a live band performance and we got to enjoy the jam session. It really felt good to be back in homeland and enjoyed listening to some opm songs being played by the band. The band's vocalist is also a "komikero", a cool dude with a lot of hilarious tricks and jokes so we really had a good laugh and a great time, also got to meet some folks from the same province we came from. At around 2am, the band wrapped up their performance and called it a night while we stayed for a while and just enjoyed a cozy night. It was one of those moments I got to hang out with brother again after a long time, and I really had a great time.

Day 3

We woke up late today and hurried as we realized the morning buffet inclusive of our room stay will soon be finished. It was a good morning, sunny weather perfect for the beach and also our last day. We ate breakfast and went to our room, since its our last day, we decided we would have fun as much as we can. My sister was still not feeling well but improved a little after a whole night rest. The three of us changed to our beach outfits then went out ready for the day. We went to the other part of the island where there's a clear water, not having a lot of green moss and dipped ourselves in, experienced how it feels to swim in Boracay. Lots of tourists are in the beach, bumming, sunbathing, picture taking, some are also in the water swimming, kayaking and paddleboarding. 

We went back to our place after some time and I took some pictures of boracay, capturing its beauty for last one time. I also got to take shots of vendors and street stalls which were scattered along the shore. At around noon, we packed up our belongings, refreshed ourselves, checked out and waited for the shuttle to take us to the pier. We rode the wodden passenger boat again, then the bus and plane going back to Manila 

Overall, our 3days/2nights trip was tiring but awesome. We got to see Boracay, a top destination in the country, had our deal of unmet expectations but was able to make wonderful memories. It was also great experience traveling with my siblings.  As they always say, it's not about place that makes a trip memorable, but those people you got to make the trip with. Hopefully, we can do it again next year for our reunion including the whole family so it would be more fun. For those who want to see Boracay, I will still encourage you to go, you won't know unless you would go and experiences differ with anyone, so you might enjoy it more than we did. And so again, happy traveling. Till my next blog!

Summary of Activities 

Itinerary for 3days/2nights

Day 1: Travel to Boracay, Sightseeing

Day 2: Beach Bumming, Night life

Day 3: Swimming, Back to Manila