Dear Steemit family, I'm sorry I have been SO tremendously absent over the last few weeks. Work got crazy, personal life got crazy, and every weekend I've been out adventuring to the point I have not had time to devot to the detailed and helpful posts I like to write for you. but NOW I hope to get you updated and so let's start with my latest BIG adventure to the ..... Philippines!
View of Manila from our hotel roof top
Same view the next morning before heading to the airport
So the Philippines... a place most people asked me why I wanted to go there?
Well uh let's see: stunning beaches, warm water, incredible landscapes, whale sharks, caves, and SO cheap. So with that... let's go over why YOU SHOULD be planning a trip to the Philippines.
The only negative: having to fly 26 hours each way (but hey it's the same for really anywhere in South East Asia... so don't let this scare you off!) We had about 2 hour lay overs in San Fran and in Tokyo before landing in Manila at 9:30 PM. Our only plan was to GO TO BED, and our hotel was only a mere 4.5 km or 15 minutes away. Outside the terminal they have a queue of taxis with the posted prices to make it easy for you. We hopped in a yellow metered cab and he took us right to our hotel for 140 pesos.... or $2.70.
Next morning was up and back to the airport, only this time to the Domestic terminal (which isn't attached to the others) and was only 2 km/ 8 minutes so half the cost of previous night at 80 pesos.
The airport is SMALL and it's important to know you need some sort of voucher, or SOMETHING that shows your flight itinerary (depending on the airline) to even get INTO the airport as they have a STAGE 1 security to get in to the airline check in desks. I'd also recommend saving them to your phone or printing them out since wifi and service is not the most reliable over there.
The views flying over all the small little islands were amazing!
one of my favorites!
The view of the big island Busuanga (where Coron town proper is)
Coming down into the mountains was also really cool. The only tropical island I'd ever flown into was Hawaii and I don't think we had nearly as amazing of views! (maybe it was night time?!) Either way this flight into Busuanga blew my mind!
And the tiny airport about blew the rest of my mind away! It was maybe the smallest airport I've ever seen and had a pretty safari-esque vibe to it that I loved! Immediately getting off the plane it was much hotter than Manila. As you leave the departure gate you feel like a celebrity as people hand you discount tour pamphlets and all the different shuttle drivers ask you where you are going. There's no taxis, and from what I saw, few to none anything else, so a shuttle is the only way you will get from Coron airport to Coron town proper. It was a beautiful 30 minute drive and the air conditioned shuttle cost 150 pesos pp.
We got to our hotel right around noon, too early to check in so we dropped our bags, traded my socks for sandals, and headed out to explore. We had expected to take it somewhat easy on our first day but we had energy, and with a lack of beaches close to the town, we settled for our more demanding bucket list item.
Costs night 1, day 1 to this point:
Food on the plane and access to a lounge for additional snacks in Tokyo- free
Taxi from airport to hotel: $1.35 pp
Taxi back to airport in the morning: $0.75 pp
Seattle's Best coffee and muffin breakfast: $3.50
Flight from Manila to Busuanga airport (Coron): $85 pp
Shuttle from Busuanga airport to Coron town proper (hotel): $2.89 pp
Lodging night 1:
Nichols Airport Hotel $23 pp. Plain jane but they gave us a water bottle, had a nice view from a rooftop bar, and very conveniently located. AC and clean were the name of the game here.