Trails 2 Travel

Ah Manila... the city (in the Philippines) that never sleeps, has terrible traffic, and an odd assortment of things to do. We wanted to have a full day (just in case) back in Manila before our flight home and as I didn't have anything terribly specific in mind, we let Tippe's local friend plan our day. 

Philippines Day 7: Return to Manila First off, sorry this post is insanely late... It's been a busy summer that will maybe get blog posts one day... one day. Anyways so Day 7, sleep schedule remained royally cursed so I was up before dawn and back out in a rocking chair crossing my fingers for another crazy sun rise. And while it wasn't as mind blowing as the previous day, the calm water, canoes, and clouds just on the horizon were the peace this crazy day needed to start out with.

Philippines Day 6: Swimming with Whale Sharks Whale Sharks- Did you need another reason to visit the Philippines?  While there are numerous boating spots around the islands to spot or possibly swim with whale sharks, the most accessible and reliable is definitely Oslob on the island of Cebu. Here the whale shark tours operate 363 days of the year, are incredibly affordable, and you can "count" on seeing them. The reason why? Unlike other whale shark sighting spots, the tours in Oslob feed the whale sharks.

Philippines Day 5: Kawasan Falls Tour Day 5, another Island, another Epic Day. This was the only day tour we pre-booked before our trip: Canyoneering Kawasan Falls and hiking Osmena Peak. There was a fair amount of mis communication leading up to it as far as pick up time since initially they had said pick up at 6:30 but then the night before when I e-mailed to confirm, they said 8-8:30... well ok so the next morning around 8 we started watching for the van and it got there just before 8:30 but I noticed later he tried to change it back to 6:30... oops we were already passed out though. So 8:30 it was. We had a comfortable private van for the almost 90 minute journey to the Canyoneering outfitter. There we finished paying for our tour, selected our lunch options, and were fitted for helmets, life jackets, and water shoes (if you wanted... I just used mine that I know I like) 

Philippines Day 4: Exploring Cebu OK so day 4. Our flight was scheduled to depart at 7:30 so the shuttle picked us up at 5:30 from our hotel for the 30 minute ride back to the airport. Cost was the same at 150 pisos pp and we got there right after 6 after picking up a few other people on the way. The line was pretty long to get in (the airport was still opening and we had to go through FIRST security) Again we had to show proof that we already had tickets to get through this security point. Once in, we went to one of the 3 booths, they weigh your carry on (and this time we could only have 1!!) and then you go through 2nd security… which ironic enough there was a guard sitting there telling you the machine was broken and to just go on through haha but he was checking our boarding passes at least. Then once again like an hour before our flight they started boarding and we were off a few minutes early.

Philippines Day 2: The Ultimate Coron Tour Waiting for the sun to come up so we could escape our room  This day was definitely EPIC but it was off to a slow start... Since we fell asleep so early we were wide awake around 1:30 AM with nothing to do until 8ish when the tour company would come get us. We killed time reading and chilling in our room until 6 when the sun started coming up so we threw on a cover ups and ran outside to greet the morning sun on the water. By 7, coffee shops and restaurants started opening for breakfast so we walked into town to grab some waffles! Then back for a bit more waiting for our tour.

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.