I'm Off to Bohol & Cebu... I'll be Back in a Jiffy!!!

from my January 2008 visit

As evident in my previous posts if you follow this blog that I love FREE/subsidized travels (particularly free tickets). This time it is not due to the generosity of Cebu Pacific Air and I already used up my Mabuhay Miles from Philippine Airlines to upgrade my roundtrip Iloilo ticket to business class several months ago.

My very good friend Sukhbir, a Philippine-born Indian who is now a resident of Canada but works in the U.S., generously offered me to accompany him because he wants to go to a beach. It is too good to resist as he will be paying a big chunk for this beach trip. I would probably not go if I will pay for my expenses as I have many FREE trips to come in the coming weeks courtesy of Cebu Pacific. This is his first time to visit the Philippines in 6 years so he wants to explore the islands as he only been around just in Luzon during our high-school days.

He set a generous budget for both of us and I managed to get good deals from Triple-A category resorts in Panglao (Bohol) and in Mactan Island (Cebu) with few thousands of pesos more to spare. I could have even booked us business class tickets but we rather spend the extra budget in hotel food and maybe a massage by the beach. He is not interested to do a country tour of both provinces rather he just like to get a sunburn as when he goes back to Canada next month it would be the start of winter. I hope the weather would cooperate so he could defeat the purpose of visiting the Philippines. As for me I don't mind it as the saying goes"beggars can't be choosers" and I've been to those provinces 2x already.

I'm so happy that I chanced upon Ms. Lilette Gacera who operates Angelbert Tourists Transport Services. She seemed to be very accommodating and she answered all my queries regarding the tour I specifically want. She gave me a very good deal for the wholeday tour for Bohol. I highly suggest everyone to contact her mobile at (917) 304-2385 or email lpgacera@yahoo.com if you need transportation or even a good resort/hotel anywhere in Bohol. Of the countless transport & tour operators who were receommended by many travel sites, I know I made the right choice.

I like Panglao more than Boracay as it has a charm of being like Boracay in terms of physical beauty but with less crowd and less commercial activities. Panglao and Boracay are the same in many ways as sometimes my photographs of Panglao are being mistakenly identified by my Boracay-lover friends as Boracay. I don't know if its a good or bad sign that you can't find fastfood chains Andok's, Mang Inasal and Yellow Cab in Panglao. Panglao is definitely much expensive than Boracay in terms of accommodation, restaurants and even transportation as there are more demand than supply of everything there.

I am not a stranger to Cebu but I have no idea what the beaches in Mactan Island looks like as I've only seen them from afar during takeoff & landings at Mactan International Airport. I've only been to the beaches of Bantayan Island in Northern Cebu but not Mactan. It's good to know that we got a resort with a private secluded beach so there will be no jostling of a good spot with other vacationers.

I have a problem though... I will be attending a cousin's wedding and family reunion on Oct. 25 in Iloilo City so I can't bask in the sun very long as I want my best face forward during the two important events, not a sunburned peeling face ;)