May: Boracay

(Planning a Vacation? Come to the Philippines! Feel free to get in touch if you need help planning your trip!!)

Do you ever get the feeling that you need to rush when you’re on vacation? As if time away is never enough (well, it almost always isn’t), and there’s just too much you want to do? I get that feeling often, and sometimes realize too late that I’ve rushed my vacation away. 

Boracay is, in my limited experience, a good way around that tendency. 

Hard as it may be to believe, it was only my second time to go to Boracay a couple of weeks ago. Although our hotel (Crown Regency Convention, via P10,000 groupon per person including 4d/3n stay and plane fare to and from Kalibo) was some way from the beach, my friends and I were able to quickly wiggle into an excellent routine for our 4 day stay. 

After breakfast at the hotel, we would make our way to the Station 1 area and stay at a cabana at the Pearl of the Pacific. For a reasonable consumable amount of P1,200, walk-in patrons are allowed to use the cabana for 6 hours, including tables, chairs, and sun-bathing beds. There were ten of us, so that divided into an easy P120 per person. 

The convenience of having a home-base on the beach couldn’t be over-stated, in my opinion. We were able to bring the things we wanted to without worrying about their safety or storage. We could rest in the shade when we needed a break from the sun. There was an outdoor shower to rinse with after dips in the ocean, and a clean restroom for our use. We could easily order food when we got hungry, and house water was unlimited. And, quite importantly, we had an address to give Jonah’s Shakes delivery! 

So by the time we got to the beach at around noon, we were free to enjoy the way we wanted to until early evening. Some of us lounged under the sun, or enjoyed the sea breeze during a relaxing siesta. The ocean was a 15 second walk, so we had frequent, if short, dips in the water. The table was even big enough for several games of Agricola! It was crucial that we were able to pack everything we needed for the rest of the day. So we didn’t need to return to the room before our evening shower, in preparation for dinner and night-time activities. 

Though we thoroughly enjoyed the company of our friends, it was also great that Karen and I were able to go off on our own a couple of times for some alone time. We had a great dinner at Indigo, in Discovery Shores on our second night. The Foie Gras with pear was just as good as we remembered it from 4 years ago, and the serving size of the steak was huge! Good thing we shared a single order! We also ordered their lobster bisque, harvest greens with walnuts and goat cheese, and baked oysters with onions and foie gras. 

Coincidentally, a family was celebrating their grandfather’s birthday, so we were treated to the best view of a fireworks show while we waited for our food. No particular dessert appealed to us from the restaurant’s menu, so we decided to go to a 24-hour grocery instead, bought a pint of Haagen Dazs strawberry ice cream, and went back to our hotel room to eat while watching TV. 

Of course, we also spent good time on other nights strolling idly on the beach. We had a very filling dinner at Gustav’s near D’Mall in station 2 on the third night, walked all the way to station 1 to buy shakes at Johan’s, then walked back again to meet up with our friends—taking a compulsory stop at a Merly’s chori-burger stand for some munchies. We also made sure to stop at some of the more popular eating places sometime during the trip, like the Moroccan restaurant Kasbah for dinner, and breakfast at Real Coffee.

This trip was good because I felt like I accomplished so much without really trying. I was able to do exactly what I wanted to without stressing out, and enjoyed the company of good friends while we were at it! And even Cebu Pacific’s stupid overbooking policy can’t take away that relaxation!

(Though—as I’m sure you’ve anticipated if you know me—I still need to talk at length about the Cebu Pacific overbooking issue now. In a separate post though, so I don’t contaminate this happy post!)