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 ...

I post a photo.  I change my profile picture.  I change my cover photo. I upload an album.  I get 3 million likes over 3 days.  Everybody comments: “Lucky you!”, “Ikaw na ang mayaman!”, or “Amazing photo”.   The photo captures a single moment. There are other not-so-happy moments around that shot. These are the ones that do not get posted in my timeline. Trip Planning & Preparation Budget & Research Every trip begins with an excel file. For the past 5 years, I committed 30% of my net income to my travel fund. In some months, I allot even 40% of my net income. Bonus? I dump 80% of that to my travel fund. It takes months of continuous saving before I get somewhere and take a photo that you can all like. Not glamorous at all. Packing. There's this popular travel-expert advice: "When preparing to travel, lay out all your clothes and all your money . Then take half the clothes and twice the mon...

It was a very early morning flight going to Batanes. I've read that rides can get bumpy. Fortunately, my flight to Batanes was pretty smooth, minimal bumps. The place was bigger that I expected.  Stone-building airport. Cool. Accommodations: I stayed Palangud House, which is also managed Ate Fe of the famous Marfel’s Lodge. Palangud House was cheaper at Php 350/night for a single-bed room, common bathroom. It has its own honesty shop, where you can buy food (instant noodles, coffee, junk food). Prices of this in-house honesty shop is actually quite reasonable. Humble rooms Pretty basic type of accommodation. Ate Fe charges minimal fee if you cook something complicated like rice or viand. Since I just heated water and fried eggs, she didn’t charge me at all. Water is available during certain hours of the day so there are drums of water for storage.  I also left most of my stuff when I spent a night in Sabtang island. I...

Or Vuhus Island. Whichever. I learned about Vuhus Island from a forum. I decided to check it out instead of pushing a day in Itbayat. And because I am a solo traveller, I had to fork money to get in that side of Batanes. I’ll go back to Batanes someday.   After lunch and resting in Morong Beach, Kuya Michael brought me to Nakanmuan Village, the jumpoff point for Vuhus Island. Had to pay an additional Php 500 from Morong beach to Nakanmuan, then take me back to the Tourism Office. He said he had his contact here. Better contact him for boat rates Michael Hornedo – 09184370551.   Took a break going to Nakanmuan to take a photo of the view     No signal in Nakanmuan village Took us around 15-20 minutes via a slow motorized boat. Low tide during the afternoon, so we had to walk.     Vuhus Island is one of the uninhabited islands of Batanes. Uninhabited by humans, inhabited by cows. According to Kuya Michael, ther...