Broke Traveler: travel

Welcome to paradise! The instant I set foot here, I knew I was in love. The place is incredibly beautiful and laid-back. Without a doubt, Boracay is one of the top beach destinations in the world.

Situated in the heart of the Philippines, Boracay is a tiny island in the Visayas Region of the Philippines. As the most popular travel destination, its far from undiscovered-- the island absolutely teems with tourists, especially Filipinos, Koreans, and Chinese.

Since its located in the Philippines, prepare for weather that can either be scorching hot or drench you of rainwater. There is no in-between. The ideal months to visit Boracay is during summer season from February to May. But since it is peak season, expect the prices of flights and hotel skyrocketed. And there are lots of tourists during summer season. But for us, we got PISO FARE and visited Boracay on July. It is still sunny with mild rain in early morning.

Currency: Philippine Peso.

Language: Aklanon is their native language. But most people can fluently speak Tagalog and English.

Modes of Payment: Cash and cards. But most smaller stores accept only cash or Gcash.

From MANILA, you can choose to travel to Boracay, either Kalibo Airport or Caticlan Airport. The most convenient is via Caticlan Airport which is 30 minutes from Boracay. Flights to Kalibo are usually cheaper, but it would take 2 hours from Kalibo to Boracay.

FROM CATICLAN AIRPORT

There are tricycles outside Caticlan Airport. It is just 10 minute ride to Caticlan Jetty Port.

Once you arrived at Caticlan Jetty Port, go inside and pay necessary fees (boat fee, environmental fee, terminal fee). Proceed to passenger waiting area and wait for your boarding. The travel time is only 10-15 minutes. Upon arrival to Boracay Jetty port, ride a tricycle to your hotel.

It was our first time in this island. It is also our first time to travel as family outside Luzon. Also, it is my son's first airplane ride. There is so many firsts on this trip. That's why this trip is extra special for me.

We arrived at our hotel pretty late because our flight is afternoon. I booked our hotel through AGODA and I got it on promo. Aqua Boracay is quite an expensive hotel but its worth every penny. Amenities and architectures are astounding it exceeds my expectations.

Hitting the Beach.

Our day starts early because we were so excited to see what Boracay can offer to us as first time visitors. And woah! The stories about its whitesand beach is not a joke. It is really really white and fine sand. My son gets very excited when he firsts dip in the water. I could not explain my happiness seeing my child enjoying this trip.

White Beach is the main hub of the island, stretching along the west coast, and its often cited as one of the world's best beaches!

The thing about Boracay is that the beach here is so great. The sand so white & fine, the beach front so long, the landscape so beautiful, the water so warm and turquoise- that you can do nothing else and still feel entirely accomplished.

Delicious food.

We tried some recommended food and drinks. We also tried recommended restaurants but we did not limit ourself to just that. My personal fave is Jonah's fruit shakes! Must try!

The whole place had a really peaceful vibe which made it really easy to relax and unwind.

We were not able to go for some water adventures because we were traveling on a budget and we wanted this trip to be just chill, no pressure.

I really hope our trip inspires you to put Boracay on your travel bucket list. We had the most wonderful time here!

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I’ve been manifesting this trip for quite some time and the only thing that held me back was to book the ticket to this dreamy Indonesian island. I originally wanted to do this trip solo but decided it was best to travel with a friend and experience adventure without being completely lost navigating through the jungle across the world from home.

Going to Bali feels like going on a never-ending adventure! Certain areas of Bali have been influenced by tourism, with hubs of cute cafes, hip bars, and vegan restaurants. Other areas are still quite remote, maintaining their uniquely Balinese beauty and charm.

BEST TIME TO VISIT BALI

The best time to visit Bali is during the island’s dry season. From May to October. The only downside is that its the most popular time to go. Flights are more expensive during this period.

If you don’t mind the short rainstorms, visit Bali between November and April. There’s still plenty of things to do, and its the cheapest time to go. My friend and I booked our flight January to February. There’s some rains but Mr. Sun is still present on the time of our tour, how lucky!

WHAT TO EXPECT

LANGUAGE. The main language spoken in Bali are Indonesian, Balinese and English.
CURRENCY. The currency of Bali is the Indonesian Rupiah. 1 PHP is equivalent to 294 IDR.
CREDIT CARDS & ATMs. There are plenty of ATMs in Bali’s main cities like Ubud and Canggu.
PLUGS. The plugs in Bali are type C and F. Standard voltage is 230V and standard frequency is 50Hz. We bought our plugs on a store near our hotel.

It was raining when we arrived at the airport, we’re a bit anxious because it may ruin our first day. But as we travel from airport to our hotel in Ubud, the rain stopped. We see a bit of sunshine. It took us 2 hours to arrived at our first hotel.

On our first day, we just decided to rest and spend the rest of the day at our hotel in Ubud. It was a sustainable, Eco-luxury resort. Describing this hotel as amazing is an understatement. It is located at a quiet area surrounded by rice fields with beautiful interiors and exteriors.

We were welcomed with drinks and a tour of the resort ending in our own villa. The experience exceeded my expectations. It started raining again in the afternoon but we thought that we didn’t want to our whole first day staying only at our hotel. So, we both agreed to go out and explore the ubud market. We borrowed umbrellas at the hotel and started walking, we were slightly soaked in wet but we’re still cheerful and enjoying our afternoon at the market.

You can find beautiful silk scarves, handmade woven bags, baskets or hats, and many other hand-crafted goods.

The items on sale are very unique because they are typically Balinese, and some are unavailable somewhere. I think, my friend Therese bought two bags from there.

Our first dinner at Bali. We ordered the famous Nasi Goreng. Bali food really is delicious!

DAY 2

Handara Gate

We have an early call time because the duration of travel in each location is two hours. Our first stop was the Handara Gate. The early wake up call was worth it because there’s no other tourist at Handara Gate when we arrived. We took our time to have some pictures.

Next stop is Wanagiri Hidden Hills, it is known as the Selfie Peak Region and a very popular spot among instagrammers. You can find bamboo features such as the Bali Swing, human-sized Birds Nest, Wooden Teacups, Lookout Towers, the bow of the boat, and Treehouses.

It was quite early so we decided to push through on our next destination which is Pura Ulun Danu Bratan in Ubud. The main reason for the temple’s popularity is that it floats on the lake. We spent just over an hour and we took our time walking around the grounds, and took some photos and enjoy a couple of peaceful areas we found.

The next destination is where our friendship tested haha! I never thought that NungNung Waterfall is 300 steps down. It was very exhausting and I almost want to backed out. The pathway is made up of concrete stairs and 20 minute trek down. They are worth the work though, to be rewarded by freshen Bali water pools at the base of NungNung Waterfall.

Because of trek at the waterfall, I wanted to end our day already. For me its a wrapped. But to Therese, its not yet! She still have all the energy. That’s when we started arguing haha! We still have one more destination and I was really hungry because it was already 2 in the afternoon. She told me we will have our lunch after the last destination, so I agreed. We went to the last tour of the day, Tegallalang Rice Terraces.

You’ll see them everywhere as you motorbike or drive around, but if you want to visit the big kahuna of rice fields, this is the famous terraces in Ubud.

We had our lunch at a restaurant with a view of terraces.

After being full after our sumptous lunch, I gained energy to explore one more destination. We went at the famous Monkey Forest where you can have a selfie with monkeys.

Day 3

The next morning, we headed to Lempuyang Temple. It took us 3 hours to travel there, so I had a good sleep at the car and when not asleep, me and my friend were singing out loud to beat our boredom at the long travel.

There are long qeue when we arrived at the temple, we waited for an hour before it was our turn to take a photo at the famous temple. Lempuyang Temple has become internet legend, thanks to everyone’s favorite app- instagram. So you can expect it to be crowded nowadays.

Lempuyang Temple is not something you see everyday, especially due to its unique location sitting right in front of Bali’s highest peak- Mount Agung!

It’s almost lunch time when we arrived on our 2nd destination, Tirta Gangga. When we arrived on a clear blue afternoon, the place was already a bit crowded. Although the road trip to Tirta Gangga was a bit long, we both agreed how impressive it is!

We obviously can’t get anough of Bali’s beautiful water palaces. After strolling at Tirta Gangga, our driver brought us at Ujung Water Palace. Two water palaces at one day seems monotonous but because both places were spectacular, we didn’t mind at all.

We ended our tour with a waterfalls. Kanto Lampo is one of the easiest waterfalls in Bali to get to. Unlike our first waterfalls, it doesn’t includes trekking and dangerous obstacles. Our experience at Kanto Lampo was around 3pm and it was so pretty busy. The waterfall itself is a peaceful escape into the Bali jungle and great way to relax after a long tour. Below are some photos of my friend at the waterfalls, I choose not to have one because I am that afraid and for me, I already have too many photos for the day. And God, the water is so cold I dont want to ruin my moment with the water haha!

Day 4

This day was my favorite part of our Bali tour for it includes a beach!

We catch the ferry as early as 8am from Sanur Harbor to Nusa Penida. After a 35-minute boat ride, we jumped to the car to explore the East of Nusa Penida. There are 2 parts of Nusa Penida to explore, East and the West part, you can opt to do both but you have to do it on 2 or 3 days. But in our situation, we only have one day so we choose the East Nusa Penida because its the place where there are no lots of tourists. Most tourists chooses West.

Atuh Beach is a white sand beach that great for a swim. On top of the cliff is the view of probably the most beautiful beach in whole Bali- Diamond Beach!

This is one of the beaches you will only see on postcards. Here we stay a bit longer. I was in complete awe at the sheer raw beauty that the Diamond Beach has to offer and have the entire beach to ourselves took the experience at the next level!

After having our lunch, we headed to the Ruma Pohon Treehouse and Thousand Islands Viewpoint. The hike down the ridge takes 10 minutes to the first viewpoint that overlooks the bat known as Thousand Islands Viewpoint. We continue the adventure further down the ridge until we saw the Ruma Pohon Treehouse.

We spent the rest of our day at Seminyak Beach. Exhausted from the trip, we dressed up and had our drinks with live music right beneath the sunset til the starry sky in front of the beautiful ocean. We enjoyed the breathtaking sunset at Seminyak. That’s my last night at Bali, I really didn’t want to leave this beautiful island. We really enjoyed both a tasty meal and a lovely evening after a great day. With our tummies full of food, we strolled down the street and did a little shopping. Staying so close to the heart of Seminyak we were theilled to explore the little tight streets filled with local shops.

On my short trip, I tried to see and discover as much as possible but still have the feeling that I have seen barely anything because there is still many more things to experience. There were so many other places to see but so little time, but so thankful for the overall experience of being in BALI. The solo flight to/from Manila to Denpasar was an adventure in itself already and checking off this trip to Bali from ny bucketlist is amazing! This trip is the catalyst to the summer of travel that must be documented.

Love,

Eya

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EST 2016