Happy New Year!

As most know I headed out to the Philippines for my winter vacation; specifically to the island Boracay. I took off after work on the evening of the 30th. I flew from Busan to Manila and from here I had to wait around till my flight to Caticlan left the next morning at 5:30am. I arrived safely into Manila after being suffocated by two huge Korean men and stinky feet then I jumped on a shuttle bus to one of the domestic terminals. It was around 1am by the time I got there. I was advised that the terminal didn’t open till 3am so I had 2 hrs to kill in the outdoor waiting area - SWEET. I grabbed a row of totally uncomfortable seats and tried to get some sleep. I woke up off and on and realized I was being eaten alive by mosquitoes and it was super humid. I got over it and slept some more. At 5:30am I took off to Caticlan where I was supposed to be picked up by a dude from the hotel but just my luck no one was there! This was ok cause the people in the Philippines are super friendly and a kind little lady brought me in a trike to the boat launch and she called my hotel for me. All was settled and I was on the boat to Boracay (the final destination). We got off the boat and onto another trike for about 10 minutes then we walked for what seemed like forever to the hotel. It was also raining which was kind of a bummer cause it was New Years Eve.

I got to the hotel and joined up with Stephanie and Monica (my roomies for the trip). About 12 hours of traveling to get there but totally worth it! I got some sleep then headed out to the beach and wandered around. The girls came out a little later and we enjoyed a REAL breakfast at a little restaurant that we hung out at a lot. Having a REAL breakfast was amazing! Korea doesn’t have bacon, eggs, pancakes, sausages, etc…So this was a huge treat! Needless to say we had REAL breakfast a lot for the week at we were in Boracay.

There were quite a few people from Korea in Boracay. In our group had eight and we all met up for New Years. A ton of people got some flu bug and stomach problems but I managed to stay clear of the travelers bum! Monica, Steph, me, and a couple from Korea hit up happy hour for 35 peso drinks then had some Thai food for dinner then we made our way down the beach to different parties/bars set up for New Years. It was a super good time even though it was raining off and on. At midnight we had a fireworks show, which seemed to be coming from all angles of the ocean/beach. Impressive. Monica and I made our trek back to the hotel around 3am and at that time the walked seemed to go on forever. I swear we were walking for hours! In the morning we were awoken by a little knock on our door…It was only 10 :30am! Someone had to head out to Grandma’s house for some banana spring rolls or something. Haha! So we decided to hit the beach and not move too much so we could recover. I got a $7 massage on the beach from a massage lady. Honestly, she’s one strong old woman! It was an amazing and relaxing hour fo sho!

Boracay is an island of a stretch of white sand beaches and is a touristy spot for tons. It was high season when we were there so there were lots of people. This was great for the little shops and vendors who try to sell pearls, sunglasses, tour trips, etc. Everything was super cheap and you can get pretty good at bargaining for your purchases. Some of the girls went a little crazy when it came to the pearls. I picked up a long strand and studs of black pearls for about $6. OH and also women are greeted as “Mom”. I joked around the whole time saying, “I’m not your MOM!” (Not directly to the vendors, of course).

On January 2nd six of us ventured out on a trike to Pucca Beach. We got all six of us on that trike and trust me that trike was hurting by the en d of the trip! We played around in the ocean and got annihilated by the waves. Steph and I decided to walk part of the way back to see some of the countryside Boracay had besides the beach. We made some friends with some kids on the way. We walked for about 2 hours then hailed a trike back to our beach. It was most of the girls last night so we had some happy hour drinks and some dinner. Things got a little out of hand at one place but its hilarious to think back to it now.

Most of the time at Boracay we hit the beach, walked around, swam, read, and indulged in food that we couldn’t get in Korea. On the January fourth all the girls were gone and I moved to a hostel down the beach for my last 3 days. It was a cute little place and they gave me a free upgrade to a private 2-story hut with a TV! It was awesome. When the girls left the weather turned out amazing! HAHA! There was sun for my last three days so I soaked it up as much as I could. It was really relaxing and twas paradise fo sho.

My travels back to Korea were super long. I left Boracay at 1pm on January 6th, took a trike to the boat where some dude jumped in and took my bag and ran off! DUDE! I was kind of freaking out but it turned out he was helping but of course that help wasn’t free…"TIP MOM, TIP!” I got on the boat to Caticlan and took a trike to the airport. On my flight from Caticlan to Manila I was sitting beside a dude who had never flown in his life. It was pretty cute because he really had no idea had to unclip the seat belt, got scared in the turbulence, and didn’t know where to get his bags when he got off the plane! From this terminal I had to go to the international one. I was hoping I could get on an earlier flight but no dice! The airline I booked with didn’t open up till 10pm and it was only 4pm! Plus that airline didn’t have any more flights to Busan other than the time I was booked for at 3am. GAWD! I had a million hours to kill and no more pesos left so I spent the entire time in that lame-ass, cold, nothing to do terminal. I couldn’t even go through security till 1:30am! I did a lot of sitting, trying to sleep sitting up, reading, trying to get warm (I have no idea why they had the A/C cranked so high!), and pacing back and forth with my bags. This was not a high light of my trip at all. Finally I got on my flight at 3am and slept as much as I could because I had to work at 10am that morning. I got home at 8am with some time to shower and get some muchly-needed coffee in my system.

However, I have a killer tan and had a great time in Boracay. It was really nice to get away from Korea and clear the mind from work. Next on the traveling agenda is Beijing for Lunar New Years (January 24-27). Pretty stoked for this trip and the blog will definitely be updated from then!

Keep it real! xoxo