WordPress recently notified me that my 3GB media library is almost full. As I am only using a basic account, I would need to upgrade to a premium account and pay more than AED200+/year to avail of a much higher memory space. I thought it was quite steep so I tried to find a workaround for this problem.

In my quest to find a cost convenient solution, I came across Flickr.com (late bloomer I know!). I heard of it before but never felt the need to use it. Sorry to sound so ignorant but as a newbie, I’m only starting to discover how easy and useful Flickr is specially for blogging. I only have to upload the photos, save them in an album and presto, I can instantly embed them in any of my posts! The editing feature (Aviary) is also heaven sent! Just take a look at the photos on this post. Lahat yan inedit ko thru Aviary. 🙂

So anyway, since I don’t have plans of upgrading my account yet, I decided to look into my old posts and see if I can transfer some of the photos to Flickr. Then I came across an entry about our Boracay trip in March 2013. Tagal na pala!

Here’s what I originally wrote…

“Finally! Here are snaps from our awesome Boracay getaway! It took me two months to organise and polish all the photos as I still can’t get over those three short but amazing days when we allowed ourselves to just forget about work, stress, and budget! hehe..

We spent our mini vacation walking from station to station without minding the scorching heat of the sun! Funny coz’ we totally forgot about applying sunblock from day 1! naalala lang namin on our 3rd day! hahaha too late na!

I hope these pictures will inspire you to visit Boracay as it truly is a paradise! Filipinos should be proud as we are home to one of the most beautiful islands in the world. Though it’s now commercialized and a bit over populated, Boracay is still undeniably beautiful! The flock of foreign and local visitors who were obviously having the time of their lives in every corner and street, specially the beaches of the island can attest to that!

Our stress-free itinerary wouldn’t be possible without the help of Travelonline.ph. Everything from our plane tickets to hotel to food, drinks, and massage vouchers were all taken cared of! It was very convenient as we didn’t have to organise anything, we just needed to show up! I highly recommend TravelOnline as they are very accommodating, honest, and efficient! We also saved a lot of money as the vouchers they gave us were really useful.” -end 

I didn’t write a detailed post about our trip that time. I just dumped all the photos then published the whole thing. Parang online album lang.

However, since I’m missing the island a lot, let me revive the blog and reminisce the blissful 4 days we spent in Boracay. As we go on with the pictures, I will try to provide some bits and pieces of information and kwento 😉

We booked our trip thru TravelOnline.ph. If I’m not mistaken, we spent around PHP8,500-9K per pax including flight tickets, hotel, food and massage vouchers, etc. Sulit talaga sya considering we stayed there for 4 days and 3 nights on a peak season.

Naalala ko, delayed yung flight namin that time pero deadma lang kami. We were too giddy to mind a few hours of waiting. Sa kakaantay namin, muntik ko na tuloy maubos yung isang box na ensaymada! hahaha

Then when it was finally time to board, we hastily grabbed our belongings and almost ran to the waiting plane. Bakit ba, excited kami eh! hahaha

Look kung gaano kaganda yung view namin from above. It’s more fun in the Philippines talaga!//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

The 45 minute flight was quite nice. Ang bilis! Hindi ko pa nga nauubos yung cup noodles na binili ko tapos narinig ko na agad yung pilot announcing that we were about to land sa Kalibo airport. lol!

Kidding aside, I was thankful that we reached our destination safe & sound.

I was kinda worried at first because I knew we had to travel two more hours by bus to reach Caticlan. What if no one collects us from the airport? What if palpak yung hotel namin?

Good thing our travel agent was kind enough to assure me that we will be taken cared of the whole time. And she was right. We didn’t encounter any hassle even when we were claiming the vouchers given to us.

The bus ride to Caticlan Jetty port was around 2 hours long. My travel buddy fell asleep while I snapped photos of the seaside. The view across my window was making me more and more excited because all I could see was different hues of blue and green!

Caticlan Jetty Port was busy when we arrived. There were throngs of locals and tourists waiting for their turn to be transferred. Upon collecting our luggages, we were asked to proceed to the registration counters to pay for terminal and environmental fee.

After some time, we were ushered towards the docked boats.

Woohoo, we were only one boat ride away! The excitement to finally see Boracay was tripled this time. Despite the long and tiring trip from Tarlac – Manila – Kalibo – Caticlan, I was still all smiles and giddy!

When we got out of the port, I was dumbfounded when this breath taking scene greeted us…

Next up! How we spent our first night in Boracay and Day 2 activities!

Snaps From Paradise – Boracay, Philippines (Part 2)