When my niece Girlie called and confirmed she's coming home for a short vacation after 5 years of living in New Zealand, I was practically giddy, I missed my ex- roommate and childhood nemesis ( I remember her always messing around with my stuff when she was really young, and I being the 10 year-old auntie that I was, would scream bloody murder and would often ask God why he was punishing me with such a nasty little brat ;)
The memory of those difficult days faded away somewhat when she asked me to accompany her to Boracay. My heart did a somersault several times over when she told me she'll pay for the whole thing too. I knew my decision not to strangle her when she was young would pay off eventually, muahahaha!
Anyway, she was coming over with her little sister Alyssa and her other sister, Swiss-based Hazel (aka Chigo) would also fly in ahead of us with her mom Ella, cousin Dit, and friends Michael and Marsel to make things even more fun. I was tasked with booking our trip and since it was short notice, I decided to ask my friend Joy (who has a cousin that owns a travel agency for help) and they gave us a reasonable price for our group of four.
We were originally planning on having just 3 in our package but we were convinced to add one more person because the additional price is just 2000 pesos and we thought our cousin Rhea (my other ex-roommate) would love to join us, so our travel was set.
This trip was arranged within a week of departure and there were no available seats on the flights to Caticlan so we had to fly via Kalibo International Airport in Kalibo, Aklan. This airport was not as big as I expected and there weren't enough seats to accommodate all the tourists flying in and out of Boracay so be ready to stand in a corner or sit on the floor especially if your flight is delayed.
I don't recommend flying in via Kalibo because you'll have to ride a van or bus for another 2 hours to get to Caticlan. I'm not for long bus rides at all, I get bored so easily and I get dizzy trying to type a blog post on my iPod or iPhone anyway.
Our flight was mercifully on time and there was someone from our hotel, La Carmela de Boracay, waiting there for us and he herded us to the bus and after 2 hours, we arrived in Caticlan and quickly boarded an outrigger boat to take us to Boracay island itself.
After alighting at the Cagban jetty port, we were picked up by the van from La Carmela and took us straight to White Beach Station 2 where the world's best beach with the finest and softest sand awaits. Boracay, It's wonderful to see you again!
