Philipps for New Years

With over 7,000 islands, gorgeous infinite sea, the thinnest and whitest of all sands, endless rice fields, multiple hills in all shades of green, and welcoming people, the Philippines is paradise on earth. It is paradise on earth and we were lucky enough to start 2017 there.

On December 29th, Gorda and I left Lisbon together. Most of our INSEAD friends were already in Bohol, Philippines, waiting for us. It took as one day and a half, three flights and a ferry to meet them on December 31st, but it was worth every second.

Although we were together, the trip could have been more pleasant. All our flights got delayed. Lisbon-Istanbul left over one hour late due to bad weather in Istanbul, and Istanbul-Singapore had a two-hour delay. Thankfully, Singapore-Cebu left late too, and we managed to take all the flights. My chair in the Istanbul-Singapore 11-hour flight did not incline, and Turkish Airlines forgot that I had ordered a special meal. I had no option but to write a complaint. Guess what? Someone is receiving money back or plenty of Star Alliance miles soon...!!! We arrived in Cebu after 1 am on the 31^st, waited in the border control for 40 minutes, and headed to Radison Blu for 4 hours of sleep. We were aiming at getting the 9:20 ferry to Bohol, however tickets were sold out. We only managed to travel at 10:40 but, in return, had a fancy schmancy hotel breakfast to kick-off our vacations right.

Around lunchtime, we were in our hotel by the sea, and a few minutes later, having a seafood lunch at the beach with a few friends. That afternoon, the last of the year, we just chilled at the beach, took a nap in the sun, played some beach soccer, and enjoyed the last sunset of 2016. The NYE celebrations took place in a nice resort at the beach, first at a buffet dinner with 30 other INSEADers, and then in a party at the beach, literally dancing in the sand, on the water, with a glass on our hands. What a memorable night!

The first day of the year was one to forget. We woke up early, took a taxi to the port, a ferry to Cebu, a flight to Puerto Princesa, and a 5-hour van to El Nido. We arrived in the evening, to find out that we were staying in a really bad hostel. Not everything was bad though. Although the hostel facilities were awful, its location was pretty nice – literally at the beach, surrounded by a few beach restaurants and caffes. Before going to bed and to avoid admitting that our first day of the year was so bad, we went to a beach restaurant for a quick drink.

The following days in El Nido were an absolute blast. It included daily enormous breakfasts at the beach; a two-day boat tour with out 23 people group, including a one-day camping at the beach; a beach party dancing around a bonfire; lots of swimming, snorkeling, and some walking; beautiful beaches; and more. The group was pretty cool and Gorda could hardly be more integrated. It's quite impressive how popular he is anywhere he goes... 

The two-day boat trip was pretty cool, apart from the storm we had to go through while camping at the beach... I barely slept that night. Our tent got totally wet inside and out and the wind was way too noisy for me to sleep. On a positive note, I got to see the sunrise and have one more story to tell here in my blog.

Back to El Nido, we did a motorbike trip through the hills and rice fields till Nacpan – one of the nicest beaches we’ve been to –, where we spent the day. We had drinks in Las Cabanas Beach during sunset, and enjoyed it so much that a small group of us went there for a full day, while others left to Coron. Overall, we relaxed a lot, had very decent (and cheap) meals, and had fun exploring the waterfront bars. Other than the awful hostel we were staying in, El Nido was great to us…

At some point, the majority of the group moved to Coron, which required them to wake up at 5 am, take a 3-hour ferry in wild water, and then a plane to Manila before flying back to Cebu. To avoid such hassle, a few of us stayed longer in El Nido and then moved to Puerto Princesa. We stayed in a much better hotel, and did nothing but chill by the pool, sleep, read, and enjoy the spa life. One day before our flight back home, we moved to Cebu, where we enjoyed a good last fancier but cheap meal at Maya Mexican Restaurant, and the treats of Radison Blu (for free). Gotta love consulting hotel points!

Gorda had an obstacle in his last day, which ended up being a reward to me. His flight to Istanbul got cancelled due to a snow storm, and he had to delay his return home by one day. Yay! Actually, it was all a bit more stressful than this. For 12 hours, stuck at Radison Blu Cebu, we could not contact Turkish Airlines. When the phone started ringing, and after 1 hour in the line, we were told that all that the call center could do was changing his reservation for the same flight in the following day, with no guarantee that it would not be cancelled. We then decided to wait to arrive at Changi Airport in Singapore to change his reservation. However, there were so many people complaining that, after 3h30 waiting, we were sent home and told to return in the following day by 5 pm. We shouted that Gorda is a doctor and had to have visibility on which day he would arrive home in order to manage his patients’ reservations. Because of that, he was allowed to go to the airport earlier than the opening hours, and managed to fly still on Monday through Emirates.

These days with gorda were absolutely awesome. Our group of friends could have hardly been better, the trip was beautiful, we managed to rest, to have fun, and to get a taste of the local people, for a very reasonable amount of money. We were happy in the Philippines, as I am sure that we will be throughout our lives. It's easy to be happy with Gorda. I feel very lucky to have him in my life… Forever!