Even I can't believe it. I didn't even have plans of joining my friends but I ended up staying there for almost forever. I was dragged by a friend straight from a Saturday night party to the airport to catch the earliest flight to Cebu. Since the first flight was fully booked, we had to take the next one. We bought our plane ticket there and we didn't even get a ticket back home.
Instead of posting a lot of photos here, I just made a video of the trip. Feel free to comment below if you have any inquiries.
#CebuHits from Roycie S. on Vimeo.
Here's a rundown of all our activities in that 5-day trip:
Day 1
We left first thing on a Sunday morning, went straight to our friend's hotel, the Big Hotel to check-in and take a nap. Then we had breakfast at the hotel resto. Right after breakfast, we were informed that our JCI friends from JCI Mandaue have prepared a boat party so we joined them. We went on a food trip and we had crazy drinking games while on board.
Instead of posting a lot of photos here, I just made a video of the trip. Feel free to comment below if you have any inquiries.
#CebuHits from Roycie S. on Vimeo.
Here's a rundown of all our activities in that 5-day trip:
Day 1
We left first thing on a Sunday morning, went straight to our friend's hotel, the Big Hotel to check-in and take a nap. Then we had breakfast at the hotel resto. Right after breakfast, we were informed that our JCI friends from JCI Mandaue have prepared a boat party so we joined them. We went on a food trip and we had crazy drinking games while on board.
We rushed back to the hotel to prepare for JCI Womandaue's induction and turnover ceremonies. After the event, we had drinks at the hotel bar. Then some of our JCI Cebu Inc. brothers invited us for a karaoke party at the KTV located next to the hotel. It was at around 1am when we moved to our friend's acoustic bar/KTV lounge, Open Mic, where we continued our craziness until 3am! That was a really crazy night.
Day 2
We all had lunch at a restaurant in SM Cebu. Then we chilled at Ibiza Beach Club at Movenpick Hotel and Resort in Mactan 'til after sunset. For dinner, we headed to a restaurant owned by our friend, Ampersand, wherein we had the best steak in Cebu, and all other sumptuous dishes and drinks.
Day 3
We had our lechon fix at Rico's during lunch then we visited a new acquaintance's auto shop, Euro Technik for coffee. It was a lazy afternoon so while some of our friends headed to the airport to go back home, me and some of our Cebu-based friends indulged on a 1.5-hr foot and back massage at the Park Mall. It's my first time to try a massage conducted by blind people, and it felt so good. For dinner, we've gone to a local restaurant (like a big carinderia -- which I forgot the name of) that's known for their native chicken. After dinner, we had tea and dessert at Tinder Box. But just when we thought our night was over, we craved for wine and cheese so we headed to La Vie en Parisienne to satisfy our cravings.
Day 4
And out of our spontaneity, at 3am, after our wine sesh, we headed to the port to catch the first barge to Bantayan Island. That was a 2.5-hr drive, which can usually take 4-5 hours during the day. Anyway, we we're only able to catch the 2nd barge at 6:30am and it took us an hour and 15 mins to cross the water to Bantayan Island. In Bantayan, we had breakfast by the market, then we shopped for really cheap seafood. How cheap? Like Php 20/kilo of scallops. OMG! We headed to SantaFe Beach Club, where we checked in. We had the seafood we bought at the market cooked in the hotel and that's what we had for lunch. We were extremely full that we fell asleep after. We failed to wake up in time for our trip to the cove so we just headed out for dinner at Chef Panyang's. The food there were really cheap and yummy. If I come back to Bantayan, it would probably because of two things: the beach and the food. We got free dessert c/o the restaurant's manager. We were also able to have a JW Gold Label we just bought from a store nearby. We continued our drinking sesh at our hotel by the beach front while watching a movie on laptop.
Day 5
The next day, we woke up late again. We felt guilty for having the boatmen wait for 1.5 hrs for our island hopping. Our first stop was at Hilantagaan Island where we bought fish, rock lobsters, and crabs for our lunch. Next stop was at Virgin Island and I super loved it there. It's a lot better than Boracay. While we did some snorkelling, our boatman prepared our lunch. After lunch, we just rested for a bit and headed back to our hotel in Bantayan to catch the soonest flight we can get back to Manila as we still have a formal event to attend to in Taguig. At the airport, we bought our plane ticket and while waiting for boarding, we had our last dinner together.
That Cebu trip was probably the best and most spontaneous trip I've ever done! It's so exciting to not have exact plans, not even a return flight because it gives you a lot of freedom. Just remember to overpack (while packing light -- to avoid paying for extra baggage) a bit. Be sure that you have extra clothes for any activity -- casual (shorts, tank tops, shirts, skirts), beachwear (maxi dress, short summer dress, cover up, swimsuit), smart casual (polo and pants), footwear (flats/sneakers, flipflops) -- so you won't have a problem.
Day 3
We had our lechon fix at Rico's during lunch then we visited a new acquaintance's auto shop, Euro Technik for coffee. It was a lazy afternoon so while some of our friends headed to the airport to go back home, me and some of our Cebu-based friends indulged on a 1.5-hr foot and back massage at the Park Mall. It's my first time to try a massage conducted by blind people, and it felt so good. For dinner, we've gone to a local restaurant (like a big carinderia -- which I forgot the name of) that's known for their native chicken. After dinner, we had tea and dessert at Tinder Box. But just when we thought our night was over, we craved for wine and cheese so we headed to La Vie en Parisienne to satisfy our cravings.
Day 4
And out of our spontaneity, at 3am, after our wine sesh, we headed to the port to catch the first barge to Bantayan Island. That was a 2.5-hr drive, which can usually take 4-5 hours during the day. Anyway, we we're only able to catch the 2nd barge at 6:30am and it took us an hour and 15 mins to cross the water to Bantayan Island. In Bantayan, we had breakfast by the market, then we shopped for really cheap seafood. How cheap? Like Php 20/kilo of scallops. OMG! We headed to SantaFe Beach Club, where we checked in. We had the seafood we bought at the market cooked in the hotel and that's what we had for lunch. We were extremely full that we fell asleep after. We failed to wake up in time for our trip to the cove so we just headed out for dinner at Chef Panyang's. The food there were really cheap and yummy. If I come back to Bantayan, it would probably because of two things: the beach and the food. We got free dessert c/o the restaurant's manager. We were also able to have a JW Gold Label we just bought from a store nearby. We continued our drinking sesh at our hotel by the beach front while watching a movie on laptop.
Day 5
The next day, we woke up late again. We felt guilty for having the boatmen wait for 1.5 hrs for our island hopping. Our first stop was at Hilantagaan Island where we bought fish, rock lobsters, and crabs for our lunch. Next stop was at Virgin Island and I super loved it there. It's a lot better than Boracay. While we did some snorkelling, our boatman prepared our lunch. After lunch, we just rested for a bit and headed back to our hotel in Bantayan to catch the soonest flight we can get back to Manila as we still have a formal event to attend to in Taguig. At the airport, we bought our plane ticket and while waiting for boarding, we had our last dinner together.
That Cebu trip was probably the best and most spontaneous trip I've ever done! It's so exciting to not have exact plans, not even a return flight because it gives you a lot of freedom. Just remember to overpack (while packing light -- to avoid paying for extra baggage) a bit. Be sure that you have extra clothes for any activity -- casual (shorts, tank tops, shirts, skirts), beachwear (maxi dress, short summer dress, cover up, swimsuit), smart casual (polo and pants), footwear (flats/sneakers, flipflops) -- so you won't have a problem.
