Tag: Travel

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[APRIL 2022] 8 Days: El Nido, Palawan

TRAVEL PERIOD: April 9, 2022 – April 16, 2022

First time to travel solo in the Philippines and I could not have chosen a better destination! This trip is so sudden – booked my ticket on a Thursday night for a Saturday morning flight, booked my accommodation the night before my flight – because I got tired of waiting for my friend’s schedule to align with mine. It has been 6 months since my last beach trip so I was really itching to see the sea again. My original destination was Cebu but my only friend there said she’ll be in El Nido on the days that I’ll be in Cebu, so I decided to go to El Nido instead and meet her there when we’re both available. I also haven’t been to El Nido and planned to go there soon as well, so it made changing plans easier.

THE RESEARCH

Minimal research. Since I already paid A LOT for my flight, I know I have to save money somewhere aka accommodations. A friend suggested Frendz hostel, apparently a famous hostel for backpackers, and they were responsive enough that I reserved the bed at once. I actually forgot that there might still be restrictions and requirements for tourists so I scrambled to look for information. The booking employee from Frendz told me that I still need a Travel Pass-through Permit (TPP) through the  S-PaSS to be allowed in El Nido. I received this information the night before my morning flight and I was worried that an actual person from the local government of El Nido would still need to approve my TPP application. After filling out the details, I received my TPP approval and QR code immediately. I guess it’s automated now.

THE ITINERARY

After a day of preparation, here’s what my itinerary looked like:

THE MONEY

Since I’m spending for me alone, I’m not as tight with my budget on this trip. I also know that El Nido has a fair share of foreign tourists so I’m not expecting local prices as well. My rough estimate is that I spent around PHP30,000.00 for this trip.

THE JOURNEY

I will update once I complete my per day posts.

ACCOMMODATION REVIEW

I will update once I post my review. I will also share other accommodations that I looked at.

TOUR REVIEW

I will update once I post my review.

THE DISCLAIMER

Again, I am not an expert in DIY travel. Just want to share my experience and remind myself of the trips I had.

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Day 1, Bangkok

THE DATE: January 28, 2018

THE TRIP 

08:17          Our Fam arrived at Suvarnabhumi airport. After immigration and baggage collection, we went to the DTAC counter near Gate 7 to collect 2 sim cards we bought from Klook. Our Klook DTAC Sim Card (available in Standard, Micro or Nano size) has an unlimited data for 8 days with 100 THB call credits (equivalent to approximately 30 minutes of talk time). The unlidata has a maximum speed of up to 2.5 GB which drops to 384 kbps after using up 2.5 GB. Also, 4G/3G speeds will depend on the coverage area. We handed our printed vouchers, phones, and passports to the staff in the DTAC booth. After a few minutes, she gave us our configured phones with activated Thai sim cards and our passport. Now, we can use uber to find our ride to our rented Airbnb unit in Bangna. Miscellaneous: 383 PHP per sim card (76.6 PHP per day)

Image courtesy of Klook

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5 Days: Bangkok-Phetchaburi, Thailand

Yes, I went back to Thailand. I chanced upon promo fares on Cebu Pacific last July 2017 for Bangkok in January 2018 and I immediately asked my sister if she wanted to go on this trip. After finalizing the dates, she booked our round trip tickets for January 28 to February 1, 2018. Our group consisted of me, Divimom, Divibaby, my sister Bella, her husband Paul, and my 13-year old nephew Ton. Airfare per person was 4,691.04 PHP and 15 kg. check-in luggage was 690.00 PHP per way.

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