Making It Count.

Breakfast: ham, egg & salad sandwich

Lunch: beef, rice & noodles

Dinner: rice, Mongolian beef & sautéed veg

We woke up at 6am after another night of heavy storms, which was actually a delight to fall asleep to. Kim and I lamented that it had been our best sleep of the trip, and it was the one where we had to wake up early.

Our airport transport picked us up at 6:30am and it was a deluxe van with the comfiest car seats I have ever sat in. The hotel staff had made us Brekky sandwiches as we weren’t going to be able to have our included breakfast. Cuties!

We arrived at El Nido airport just before 7am as Kim and Tiff weren’t able to check-in online and we weren’t sure what the hurdles were going to be. The airport was tiny and was more like a train station than a terminal with one side for arrivals and the other for departures. Check in was super easy, so we just had extra time to sit on plastic chairs and wait to see if our flight was still running. Flights around ours had been cancelled, but ours was magically still scheduled to depart. I ordered Kim and I an iced coffee and we ate our sandwiches while the girl’s researched accomodation for Manila.

We boarded on time and the flight was 90 minutes. It was a bit turbulent through the clouds, but otherwise uneventful. Tiff is a very nervous flyer, but she did well and didn’t even cry!

I said goodbye to the girls at the domestic terminal after we’d collected our luggage. I needed to get a shuttle bus to terminal 1 and the girls for a cab to their overnight accom.. at the Shangri-La it you don’t mind. I arrived at international departures at 11:45am and was told I couldn’t check my bags until 4pm. Four hours sitting at the entrance to the airport with nothing to do. Ugh! I bought some iced tea and Pringles.

I sat in a plastic chair, next to a German man and Filipino family until 2:15pm until my flight appeared on the big screen with the check in desk numbers. Finally! I rushed over to the desk and cruised through pretty quickly despite then opening everyone’s checked luggage for a pat down before checking them. Thank goodness for packing cubes!

I had to scull my water at security and started feeling a bit queasy. I had booked a lounge pass and made my way over there with low expectations. Morgan and I had used a lounge pass in Manila, during transit to Japan, and it was awful. This one however, was beautiful! Clean, charging points, great food and no children. I had a beer with some rice, noodles & beef and watched Netflix on my phone. I had a 3-hour pass, but then found out my flight had been delayed from 6:40pm to 9:15pm, so I paid an extra $50 to stay in the quiet lounge with free food, drinks, wifi and aircon. So worth it! There was a lovely man who kept topping up my wine and over 5 hours, I was able to have 3 little meals. I left at 8:20pm to find my gate and get ready to board.

Breakfast: poached eggs & bacon

Lunch: chicken Caesar salad

Dinner: schnitzel with fries & salad

We woke up early after a night full of heavy rain and thunder. We had breakfast at the restaurant and decided to explore the town.

We decided to walk instead of getting a tuktuk so we could stop if we found anything interesting. It had been cool at breakfast, so I’d worn wide pants and I instantly regretted it - the sun had come out and I was melting! Kim and I stopped at a souvenir shop and bought matching hand fans. I felt like a middle aged lady at church, but at least it was helping.

We walked into the tourist part of town and were overwhelmed by shops selling the same five souvenirs - t-shirts, magnets, wooden carvings & shell decorations. Kim bought some bracelets for her girlfriends and we stopped for a coffee, but mostly the opportunity to get out of the sun. We looked around more shops then stopped for a cocktail and fries when it hit 12:30pm. The sun was getting intense, so we started walking back towards the hotel with the intention of buying matching tshirts (adorable!) As that happened, the heavens opened and we were bombarded by a torrential downpour. We stood undercover to see if it would pass, but it only got heavier. A tuktuk pulled over and the three of us managed to fit inside. He dropped us at a shop where we bought tshirts and then walked the short distance home.

Back at the hotel, we had 10 minutes before the restaurant closed, so we towelled off and had our traditional chicken Caesar salad lunch. Delicious as always. Afterwards, we went to the front desk and Kim and I booked in-room massages. So luxurious.

While we were waiting for the massage therapists, Tiff received a message saying that their flight to Cebu had been cancelled due to another typhoon warning. From here, the evening really went downhill. It was my last night of the trip, but we were all stressed. The massage therapists rocked up suddenly, so Tiff went to her room and Kim and I tried to relax. My woman didn’t press nearly hard enough, but it was nice all the same. I’d booked 30 mins but Kim had booked an hour, so I snuck over to Tiff’s room when I was done. Tiff was in the shower, so I just sat on the verandah and finished my book.

After Kim had finished up, we went down to the restaurant for dinner. We all ordered matching schnitzels, fries & salad. The schnitty was delicious and tender with a buttery crumb. We spent most of the meal poured over our phones trying to proactively solve any problems that the typhoon might cause, but we couldn’t. We had rescheduled our flights from El Nido to Manila, but that was all we could do. I hadn’t yet heard if my flight from Manila to Melbourne had been cancelled and the girls were troubleshooting missing one of the legs of their trip. The internet was rubbish, the rain was strong and we decided to just head back to our rooms and pack. Going to El Nido airport in the morning seemed like the best place to be to figure out if flights needed to be changed.

Breakfast: poached eggs with bacon

Lunch: rice, glass noodles, pork & beans

Dinner: pesto spaghetti

We were worried that our island hopping tour was going to be cancelled due to the weather caused by the super typhoon, but Tiff received a message saying that we were on! We enjoyed our all inclusive breakfast and then met our tour guide at 9am. We thought a “hotel pick up” was going to be in a minivan of sorts, but it was a tinny motorbike with a tray sidecar. All 3 of us were immediately hesitant to jump on, but our guide Noy said it was “just a few minutes”. Tiff and I got into the sidecar and Kim jumped behind Noy for a 4-min drive down the road - we could have walked along the beach instead! We walked down to the dock, but our boat was about 200m out and we had to kayak out in two groups, with our stuff in wet bags. As soon as we sat in the kayak, we got soaked and then got wet again as we climbed onto the boat - so wet so soon!

We donned life jackets, extra sunscreen and started off to the first island with our crew of four, tiny Filipino men. The waves were choppy and we got SO GODAMN WET! We got absolutely slaughtered by water and the crew were giggling at us. We moved further up the boat, away from the helm so we could avoid splash back, but it really didn’t help. Our towels were wet, our clothes were wet and we had saltwater in our eyes. What a way to start the day!

We rode past Helicopter Island because it was too choppy to dock and stopped at the entrance to a lagoon. The waves were still massive and I didn’t feel comfortable kayaking, so I stayed on the boat while Kim & Tiff paddled out with the guide. They were gone for about half an hour before returning.

Next, we visited Serenity Beach. It was beautiful and we had the whole place to ourselves until another private tour arrived. Our guide carried two eskies and a table through the surf to set up lunch for us where we had mango juice, fresh fruit, rice, glass noodles, pork and beans, salad & chilli fish (not for me). We feasted for about 20 minutes before our guide did a quick photoshoot and we got back on board to travel to our next stop.

Stop 3 was Bukal Beach. It had a cliff side resort and a beach bar. We spent 35 minutes relaxing in a cabana and enjoying a Coke Zero while our guide made us take advantage of all the photo opportunities. We then jumped back on the boat and headed to an island so small that we sat on a wall for 15 minutes before saying “what’s next?”. Don’t even remember the name of this island. Do not recommend. The waves were still full on and it was becoming a running joke how often we were being slapped by the waves and how wet our towels were.

Our final stop was Pasandingan Beach. Absolutely smothered in tourists and large tour groups. We jumped out, headed for the beach bar and got some fresh coconuts. We sat in the sun watching dumb tourists from other countries try to swim in the surf before starting to feel burnt and heading back towards land. The final leg was only 10 minutes and I was grateful to not be violently splashed by water and for the short trip as I was desperate for the loo.

We rushed back along the beach towards our resort as I ran straight for the poolside loo. Afterwards we spent an hour in the pool enjoying the feeling of not being covered in salt, sunscreen and grime. We then retired to our rooms to shower and spend some downtime before dinner. We called Caity to hear about a job interview she’d had and told her how much we’d missed her.

We spent an hour at the restaurant for dinner having great chats about 5-year plans. Tiff and I had pesto pasta & Kim had a schnitzel. We’d had enough of rice. We went back to our rooms at 8:30pm, spent some time scrolling on our phones and then hit the hay.

Breakfast: granola, yoghurt & fruit

Lunch: chicken caesar salad

Dinner: beef togalog with greens & garlic rice

Steps: didn’t even wear my watch today.

We awoke this morning to the news of the Super Typhoon threatening the Philippines and were shocked - the biggest storm on earth so far this year! We’d heard rain in the early morning, but no warnings had been issued in our area. I checked the map and the warning was on the island to the over to the north, away from us.

We were excited about our inclusive breakfast and headed down to eat at 8:30am. I had muesli and yoghurt with an iced latte and watermelon juice. All delish!

We then changed into bathers and spent the morning by the pool. I read my book, covered in sunscreen and under an umbrella while the girls tanned in direct sunlight - something I am way too white to do. When it became overcast and windy, we moved into the restaurant for lunch. We’d enjoyed the Caesar salad so much the day before, we ordered it again! It was just as nice as the first time.

After lunch, Tiff and I had a nap while Kim did some work. My nap was glorious under the aircon. I woke up, had a shower and read my book while Tiff and Kim did a workout. I was glad to be in the coop after my shower and not immediately be sweaty.

At 4:30pm, we went for a walk along the beach. We were hoping to find a different bar to have a sunset cocktail, but a lot were empty and we weren’t sure if they were “guests only” or open to visitors. We returned back to our resort as rain rolled in and ordered cocktails as there was nothing else to do. When 6pm hit, we ordered some snacks and Tiff and Kim looked at unofficial “bridesmaids” dresses online.

For dinner, I ordered Beef Togalog with garlic rice and we got another side of greens to share. The beef was delicious but the serve was too large to finish. The girls had gotten hideously sunburnt during the day, so we’re feeling fatigued, so we went back to our rooms at 8pm where I read until I fell asleep.

Breakfast: latte with a ham & cheese omelette

Lunch: chicken caesar salad

Dinner: sizzling chicken with rice & greens

Steps: 3, 058

I booked a 10am transfer to El Nido but after waking up at 6:40am to the girls getting ready to do a workout, I had a message saying we needed to be ready at 8am. I sent back a furious message saying that wasn’t the time we booked, but that was the time we were given. This instantly changed the mood of our morning. Tiff & Kim were angry that they didn’t get to workout and we were suddenly rushing to the restaurant for breakfast, hoping that island time wouldn’t work against us. Breakfast came out in good time and we all had coffee and an omelette. I had time to run to the convenience store for snacks while Tiff and Kim checked out. We

Our minivan arrived 10 minutes late and was already half full. We sat in the front row, where there were four seats and prayed no other pick ups were coming.

They were. We were packed in like sardines and it felt like it was going to be a very long five hours. The guy next to Tiff smelt like BO and tobacco and the driver had a playlist full of reggae covers of pop songs, which became repetitive. We all popped our headphones in and zoned out. The guy next to Tiff was the first to exit, about two hours in, which was a blessing in disguise. We then had a spare seat between us, so we could spread out.

We stopped at a pit stop at 11am and had half an hour to stretch, eat and use the bathroom. We didn’t really feel like the bay Marie (spelling?) food, so we just had a soft drink and some Pringles. It started raining and Kim was sad that the blue skies she’s seen all over Instagram weren’t blessing our trip.

Back on the road, I was able to read on my Kindle and loved looking at the jungle mountains surrounding us. We arrived in El Nido just after 1:30pm and our driver expertly navigated narrow roads to drop us right at our hotel door.

Our second accomodation was called The Final Frontier - Adults Only. The staff were lovely and welcomed us with a warm drink & cool towel. We had two huts booked between the three of us, so Kim and I shared while Tiff had a private suite. The rooms were adorable with towel swans, ‘WELCOME’ written in leaves and a mosquito net. The bathroom housed a giant shower and more bench space than my bathroom at home. Deluxe!

We unpacked and walked down to the beachfront pool and restaurant - holy shit! The view of the beach surrounded by islands and a beautiful limestone cliff was breathtaking. We were welcomed by Kay, Joy & Diana - the beautiful hotel staff - who took care of us as we ordered a late lunch. We had fries and chicken Caesar salads that were delicious. We then went for a walk along the beach and met a gorgeous dog and her tiny puppy. We took more photos of the views and then returned to the hotel for happy hour where we enjoyed mango and watermelon daiquiris before dinner.

Dinner started at 6pm, so we ordered as the wind started to pick up. I had the most delicious ‘sizzling chicken’ with rice and we ordered garlic greens to share. The wind started was strong, but it wasn’t raining. The staff pulled down the plastic barriers so that the lights would stop swinging.

Breakfast: nothing - whoops!

Lunch: Filipino buffet lunch

Dinner: cheese platter & pizza

Steps: 10, 060

We were up and at’em at 6:15am to get ready for our tour pick up. Tiff and Kim were in activewear, but I hadn’t brought any shorts with me, so I borrowed a pair from Kim.

Our ride arrived promptly at 6:40am. We needed to pay up front for tourist tax and land tax for the national park and then we were off. Our guides were named Weng & RV. We were in a group of 11 with a family from Japan, a woman from the Philippines and a couple from Guatemala. The ride to the edge of the island was just over 90 minutes. Kim had booked us a tour for just the underground river, but the company cheekily put us with groups who had paid to do all 3 package activities, so we were invited to pay to join or “just wait”. Forced participation! It was only $7-$10 AUD per activity though, so we joined in.

Our first activity was the Mangrove Tour - we were on a small Balangay (Filipino boat) but us Westerners were a bit heavier than tiny Filipinos, so it took a group of them to push us off the shore. So embarrassing. Once we were free from the sand, we paddled about a kilometre with our guides Tina & Robert. They told us the difference between the different Mangrove trees and pointed out the pythons, much to Kim’s dismay. They ended the tour by singing us a song, which was adorable.

Next we got a larger balangay out to an island for zip-lining. The cable was approx 1km long and took 2 minutes to get to the other end. I hadn’t been ziplining since I’d been to NZ with Tommy is 2015, so I was a bit nervous about the height, but it was totally fine! Tiff made up a song called “everyone looks hot in a harness” while we sweated it out in helmets, harnesses and thongs. I’d brought my phone lanyard, so I was able to securely film my whole descent! The guides took a daggy photo at the end, which I bought for $2.60 AUD, much better than the $35 tourist photos in Melbourne.

After zip lining, RV drove us out to what we’d actually paid to do - the underwater river tour. The marina was buzzing with tourists and almost as many vendors trying to sell rain jackets, waterproof phone cases and pearl-based souvenirs. We bought rain jackets as Weng had told us that the caves had lots of drips that were either “holy water or holy shit” as the cave was home to thousands of bats. Tiff and I went into teacher mode trying to coordinate our tour group onto two boats as people kept wandering off and our guide was getting frustrated. It didn’t help that we all spoke different languages.

We finally boarded boat 39 and had life jackets with our boat number on them to help us find the same boat for the trip back to mainland. The whole process was a well oiled machine. The boat trip was about 20 minutes and the tinny engine was so loud that we had to put earplugs in. The breeze was welcome though.

The underground river tour went for 40 minutes and was awe-inspiring. We were given audio devices to listen to an audio guide as we paddled through as we weren’t allowed to make noise inside in case it threw off the bat’s echo location. Our boat guide expertly guided us through the stalactites and stalagmites and used the torch on his helmet to point out different formations that looked like holy depictions, fruit and one that looked like a sultry woman. The audio guide has hilarious underscoring at times, such as the Batman theme when we went through the bat’s main chamber.. which smelt terrible.

As we came out of the caves, our guide and all the vendors were taking souvenir photos of us, but we really weren’t keen on remembering how we looked in rain jackets, life jackets, helmets and bat piss.

We had another loud trip back to the mainland before our buffet lunch. As we hadn’t had any breakfast, we were starving and keen to eat. I was hesitant about the quality of the buffet, but it was delicious! I had chop suey, rice, glass noodles & spring rolls. There were some tasty looking meat options, but they all had bones in them so I stayed away.

Fatigue hit after we finished lunch, so the three of us went outside to move a bit and the rest of our tour group followed us, so we got to leave a bit earlier than intended - whoops! We were all grateful though. The 90 min bus trip felt long and we were all squished into the seats, but tried to snooze. We were the second last group to be dropped off and decided to spend the afternoon by the pool as we were so tired.

We ordered some cocktails and shared photos from the day. We also chatted to a couple from Echuca who were staying at the resort and shared recommendations. The woman said there was a cute deli across the road that did takeaway cheese platters, which really sparked joy for Tiff, so she went across the road and ordered us one. It was lovely! Cheese, crackers, salami, chocolate almonds and pretzels.

After dining out on cheese, we went to the restaurant and shared a pizza to make sure we’d had enough to eat. The Echuca couple were at the next table and filled us in on the table of fifteen 12 year olds who were at a long table, for a birthday party, with no adults present. They were a case study in teenage behaviour - we couldn’t stop watching them. They were all dressed up to the 9’s, couldn’t stop taking selfies and were exclusively sitting next to each other but on their phones. One girl couldn’t stop taking selfies with her iPad, but every pose and facial expression was the same. Hilarious.

Breakfast: iced coffee & egg sandwich

Lunch: pork ribs with rice

Dinner: cheeseburger & fries

Steps: 2, 185

Kim and I woke up at 8:30am and got ready to explore near our accom. As soon as we stepped outside we were getting beeped at, asking if we wanted a ride in a Tuk Tuk, but we wanted to walk and get a lay of the land. We walked 300m before stopping for a coffee at a trendy looking tiny cafe. There was one staff member working and it took him 15 minutes to make two iced coffees and two egg sandwiches. Island time! The cost combined was $7 AUD so it didn’t really matter how long it took.

In the taxi the night before, our driver had said that Rizal Ave was the “main strip” so we planned to walk up there. It was muggy as hell, we were being tooted every couple of minutes for a taxi and seemed to be the only white people in the area. We finally relented and got in a TukTuk, that we hardly fit in, and rode for 5 mins up to the main strip. It cost us 50c! There wasn’t much to look at and shops appeared to open later than in Aus. It didn’t feel worth being out and about, so we got another TukTuk back to the resort.

I spent the afternoon by the pool reading with Kim doing some work. We had lunch in the resort restaurant again and then took some beers back to the poolside to wait for Tiff to arrive. We tried the resort’s homemade pineapple run, for $2 a glass, and settled in as the weather became overcast and a bit cooler.

Tiff arrived at 7pm and our trio was complete! We ordered mango margaritas for her arrival and heard all about her Tiwi trip! We went to the restaurant for dinner where we had matching burgers and cocktails. During dinner, Kim booked us in to a small tour group to see the UNESCO listed underground river which was on our to do list.

Breakfast: coffee & pastry at the airport

Lunch: beef noodles with egg & greens

Dinner: cocktails, fries & crispy pork belly with rice

Steps: 4, 707

After 5 years of failed plans, the girls and I finally planned an overseas trip together (minus Caity… but 3/4 isn’t bad)! But in classic us form, our original plans had to change slightly as Tiff was invited to spend a week in the Tiwi Islands for work, which was an amazing opportunity for her. Instead, Kim and I left together with Tiff joining us 24 hours later.

I had been granted one day of long service leave so that we could leave on the last day of term and it felt amazing to have an extra day of holidays even after a shorter, 9 week term.

I had been so caught up with work and wedding planning that I hadn’t been as proactive with planning and organisation as I usually am with overseas trips. We had done some group planning, but I’d left my own research until the last minute. I packed my bags in a rush on Thursday night and fell into bed at 11:30pm with my alarm set for 4am for an 8am flight (ugh!)

My medication alarm went off at 4:30am… 15 minutes before my Uber was scheduled to arrive. I’d slept in! I had a 30 second shower, threw some last minute things in my carry on bag, kissed Morgan goodbye and flew down the stairs.

I made it to the airport in good time and the queue to check luggage was huge. Kim arrived about 30 mins after me, but jumped the queue and stood with me. So cheeky! We sailed through security and customs and went to Brunetti’s for a coffee & pastry. At 7:30am we lined up to board and then proceeded to sit on the tarmac for an extra hour before take off.

The flight was delightfully uneventful, with only a wee bit of turbulence. I tried to sleep for as long as I could, but kept getting woken up by a kid opposite me opening the blind or by nodding off and jolting myself awake. I watched some shows on my phone and the Barbie movie on the seat screen before we touched down in Manila.

We were meant to have 3 hours in Manila before our next flight to Puerto Princesa, but after the delay and it taking 45 minutes for our bags to arrive on the carousel, we had 55 minutes and started to freak out that we were going to miss our flight. After repeating ourselves to 3 separate staff at the airline desk, we finally checked our luggage, got a 5 min bus to terminal 2 and sailed onto our second flight in record time. We even had time to purchase some Pringles!

The flight to Puerto Princesa was just over an hour. We landed earlier than anticipated and Tiff had organised us an airport pickup via her online booking with the hotel. Our taxi driver was lovely and the entire indoor roof of his car was covered of photos with his passengers! He gave us his business card and said he could pick us up if we were keen to do any tours.