Adventure Accounting

After a butt-numbing one-hour ride in a motorcycle from Alcantara , I arrived in Odiongan port just before sundown. There are passenger jeepneys from Alcantara to Odiongan but the last trip was at 2 or 3pm. I wanted to kill my time in the wonderful Aglicay Beach Resort so I got a habal-habal reide instead (Php 300). It was still early when I arrived at the port at 6pm, the boat is set to depart at midnight. I asked another habal-habal to bring me to Star Palace for Php 20. This is the recommended place that I found online. I had a hearty dinner which I ate over the span of 3 hours. A really good oven pizza. Half order. And some fries. Hey, I had time to kill! Don't judge me. :P My whole appetite costs Php 350 for the milk tea, pizza and fries. The pizza was really good. Reminds me a lot of Picobello in Davao. PIzza crust was really good! And the price is reasonable too! I asked the same habal-habal driver to drive me back to the port at 9:30 pm (because ...

The boat from Carabao Island/Hambil arrived in Sta. Fe port of Tablas island shortly past 7:00am. Tip: apply sunblock before you ride the boat . A row of motorcycles at the port await for possible passengers. I chose a relatively bigger motorcycle (I think it was bigger) and negotiated the fare going to Aglicay Beach Resort. We settled at Php 200. I’m not sure how much is the “standard local price” because Aglicay Beach Resort is not a standard drop-off point. I am not good in haggling anyway .  Sta. Fe port It was a smooth ride going to the resort. I knew that it was quite far but I didn’t think it would take us around 40 minutes. I was already feeling the numbness in my butt and my shoulders were aching from my backpack. I also packed my laptop in my handy shoulder bag so that contributed to the pain. Boooo. The Resort Manager, Kristine, was all smiles as she greeted me. I chose a beachfront room which costs Php 900/night. She offered the room first, so I can...

I live in Quezon City so an early morning flight means leaving at an ungodly time of 3:00-ish am for a 5:30am flight. The torture for the love of travel. The flight was on time, and we arrived in the new Boracay Airport around 6:30am.   The new Boracay airport! Look at the tropically-designed bathroom.   Pebble stones for some tropical island effect   The marshals are directing all the passengers to fill-up some visitor-information-sheets as a standard procedure. Well, that’s not applicable to me, I told them. I’m not going to Boracay. I’m going to Romblon. The tricycle station is right in front of the airport’s exit. However, there was already a line to buy the tickets going to Boracay (you have to pay the fee before riding the tricycle). A manong befriended me and asked me where I was going (I guess I looked lost). I told him I was going to Tabon Baybay, I wanted to batch a boat going to Hambil. Hambil is the local term for Carabao Island...

Romblon is an unpopular, ignored and even neglected travel destination. It is not a traveler’s first choice, nor is it a second choice. The province is not as popular like the other developed provinces. It is quite inaccessible; Tugdan Airport is currently not operating. Romblon is my 41 st Philippine province.   My family and a bunch of my cousins had their own Boracay-Romblon adventure way back in 2003. I was taking up summer classes. I took summer classes every year in college so that I would have a sideline (translation: so that I’d have allowance during summer). They took a boat (I think it was Negros Navigation back then) from Batangas, then proceeded to Aglicay Beach Resort in Alcantara, Romblon and then proceeded to Boracay. That was one long trip. So after 11 years, it is my turn for my own Romblon adventure.  This is the breathtaking view of Aglicay Beach Resort I booked my Manila to Caticlan flight last December 31, 2013. What’s there ...