Summer in Borcay
Yes! Summer is here! Can you feel the heat? Hahaha. Have you planned your trip already? If not here are some tips I would like to share which I myself personally do.
Anyways, I know a lot of Filipinos are afraid to travel. Here are several reasons I could site:
- It’s expensive
- It’s not safe
- It’s hard
A lot of these are born through misconceptions and through bad experience in domestic travel. But with the right knowledge and logistics traveling can be a rewarding experience. Well here goes:
1. Pick a destination. As always, begin with the end in mind. So if you dream of strolling into that white sand beach, journeying into that old heritage ruin or climbing that mountain, it’s always best knowing where you wanna go and for sure you’ll never be lost.
2. Know more about your destination. Research is very important. You have to know a lot about the destination to avoid being cheated by greedy locals, being spoiled by a bad weather or ending up in a wrong place at the wrong time. Here are details you should look for:
- Climate and weather: Know the best time to go there. You wouldn’t want to be in a seashore in the middle of a typhoon.
- Customs and traditions: This is very important. Each place have different beliefs and customs and make sure you observe them. Some place like in Batanes, all establishments are closed and there’s minimal transportation during the Holy Week. So unless you don’t want to end up starving or stranded in a destination know their customs and traditions.
- Safety: Are there insurgencies in the area? What is the state of the local government? You wouldn’t want to be in the middle of a Tribal war in Sagada.
3. Know how to get there. Learn about the ways to get to your destination via Land, Sea and Air, their schedules, how long will the trip take and their cost.
4. Know where to stay. Search for accommodations from the high-end to budget class. Jot their numbers and try to call them up.
5. Know the places where you can eat or buy food. Now this is very essential, try to figure out whether you need bring your own food on a certain destination and how much is the average cost of food per meal if there’s food available.
6. Draft an IT (Itinerary). Now this is the crucial part of planning. It is where you’ll put all the information together. In drafting IT, decide first how long you’ll be spending time on your destination, this way you’ll figure out when is the best time to leave and when you should be at back home. A usual IT starts on your ETD (Estimated time of departure). If you have done your research well, you’ll be able to have a working estimate of travel time from one stop over to another, places and locations.
7. Know your Budget. When you have a working itinerary, you’ll be able to come up with an estimate budget for your trip. Here’s an example of how I do it:
Food: Php50/ meal
3 meals a day = Php 150
3 days = Php 450Accommodation: Php 150/ night 1BR
3 days = Php 450Transportation:
Manila – Baguio: Php 930 (Round trip)
Transport allowance per day = Php 50 (x3 days = Php150) Whole Transpo cost: Php 1080Souveniers/Misc: Php 500
TOTAL COST: Php 2480.00
And always try to bring extra money for contingency which depends on your location.
8. Book in advance. It is always smart to book in advance especially in peak seasons. This assures you of hassle free travel and makes you more focused on enjoying the place.
9. Know your resources. Now you know what information you need, now where do you get your information? Thank god for the Internet it’s now easier to look for information on specific destinations. Here are my usual resources:
- Google. You could find any information here, just be more specific.
- Blogs. There are lots of travel blogs out there and a lot of these bloggers are friendly and happy to lend some information. You could do a blog search via Technorati or Google Blogsearch
- Groups: Egroups are very helpful as well, just ask a question and most are willing to give information. Try Explore Philippines, MMS (Metropolitan Mountaineering Society)
- Department of Tourism. Call them up, regional DOT offices can send you helpful information.
- Books. If you could afford, try buying guides like Lonely Planet, Rough Guides, Fodors, etc,
- Magazines. There’s a growing titles of travel magazines out there. Try browsing through them and if you like the place and guide reference, buy them.
- For weather there’s Travel2000.ph, Accuweather, Weather.com, CNN Weather and Weather Underground.
10. Start your adventure. Now that everything is laid out, it’s time to start your adventure. Remember that the IT is only your guide and you can be as flexible as you can be.
Ferdz Decena is an award-winning travel photographer, writer and blogger. His works has found print in publications such as Singapore Airlines’s Silver Kris, Philippine Airlines’ Mabuhay, Cebu Pacific’s Smile and Seair InFlight. He has also lent his expertise to various organizations like the Oceana Philippines, Lopez Group Foundation, Save the Children and World Vision, contributing quality images for their marketing materials.
