Monday ala Cie LJ

I’ve forecasted this long weekend to be busy, and sure enough it was. 

Monday was the most productive, with endless walking, some impromptu stops and a bit of shopping. 

By the end of the day, our feet were killing us, and our leg muscles were just so hard and sore from all the walking. 

We were not complaining though, despite the full schedule, we’ve filled it with endless laughter and just made sure we channel our chillax personas when the going gets tough. “,) 

3pm Hotel Viewing

took a tryc from the condo to Crossing, then alay-lakad galore along Shaw, sabay buwis buhay tawid =)

Lancaster Hotel along Shaw

we were on a budget so ekis muna taxi, took the Pasig bound jeep to get to Astoria. Syempre lumampas kami =) 

Hotel Quest

LJ and I planned to be out the door early morning to start the search for the hotel that we can use for our wedding preparation. Well, it rained cats and dogs Monday morning, and that allowed me to sleep in, yey! We finally got our butts out the door by 3pm (so much for trying to be early birds, haha!)   

I’ve done some research the night before and narrowed down our options to 4, so here they are… 

Lancaster Hotel Manila 

622 Shaw Blvd corner Samat St, Mandaluyong City, MM

Into the Blue

My officemates spent our Saturday afternoon at Blue Water Day Spa – Ortigas (Greenhills). It was hours spent on relaxation and was just perfect. 

As soon as we came in, they offered us some cold drinks. 

Sari, their Spa Manager, entertained us right away and we were each asked about our preferred treatment. What type of massage we want and how much pressure we fancy. 

All of us went for the Absolute Relaxation Package, which came with an Athlete’s Massage and Foot Reflexology.  I opted to trade the Combo Herbal Massage instead of the AM. You can do this, but the price will still be the same.

Komixathon 2012

Last weekend, LJ and his good friend Ryan joined Flipreads/Komikon 24-Hour Komixathon, simple lang naman requirement, tapusin ang komiks within one day -- starting from Saturday 12noon, ay hala!. We basically spent our last morning in Boracay with LJ glued to his laptop lettering for their entry. Being the supportive fiancee' that I am, you can hear me adding more pressure with my,umm, very helpful countdown... 

"2 hours to go... 1 hour to gooo... 15minutes to go... last 4 minutes, save! save! save!!!" 

my cheerleading efforts

After much stress, they were able to complete and submit it just in time, hooray! 

To be able to see and read their entry click here 

(it's  a really cool read, and I'm saying that though I'm not even into comics)  

ah-1, ah-2, a Station 3

We finally arrived in Cagban, hailed a tryc to take us to our hotel and agreed to the 100peso fare. With only a week of preparation we booked our hotel based on availability as most of the popular mid-priced hotels are already full. The reviews in Trip advisor aren’t the best, but we decided we’ll take a chance. Nevermind the bad reviews, it met our top three requirements for this trip, 1.beachfront,  2.aircon, 3.with wi-fi so we should be good. If all else fails, we’ll be out enjoying the sun and sand most of the time anyways. 

The tryc dropped us off at the end of the alley to Station 3, he gave us some instructions – “kaliwa ka dyan sa beach.” My mistake for assuming that the hotel will already be there when I “turn” left. Well it wasn’t, not yet. So we walked, and trekked. We’ve been to station 3 before and I don’t remember the resorts that we are passing, so I called Reception and told them we might be lost, described the resort in front of me and she assured me that we just need to go straight. Two resorts later, there it was – Arwana Hotel and Restaurant, yey! 

photo from MyBoracayGuide

So far, so good. The hotel matches the on-line photos, the restaurant looks promising. They served us welcome drinks and escorted us to our room. Hmm.. they said the hotel was just a couple of years old. Parang hindi. It does have potential, from outside it looks like a modern boutique hotel.  They just need to invest more on maintenance. 

Day 4: Home Bound

All good things must come to an end, and it’s time go home. If you’ve travelled via 2go going to Boracay, then you can consider yourself a pro now. *clap* *clap.* The home bound route is basically the Caticlan and Boracay bound posts in reverse.

Prepare the same things you’ve organized when you were Caticlan bound. 

click here if it’s you’re still a first timer to know what you need to have, and 

click here so that you can see my reminders

Since the departure time was still at 7pm, we requested for a late check out. They allowed us to stay up to 2pm. We had lunch and rented a tryc to get to the Cagban port around 3pm and paid 100pesos. 

When we got to the Cagban port the terminal was under construction, and they had make-shift counters on the right side if you are facing the building. Pay 25pesos for the pump boat and 100pesos for the terminal fee. Just behind you there’s a queue with a guy collecting the terminal fee stub. Walk straight and there will be someone directing you to the available boat and they will collect your boat stub. When you are walking into the boat, take a seat on the benches to your right to get the most shade from the sun (this is the left side once the boat moves to Caticlan).

Day 2: Boracay Bound

You are finally in Caticlan, yey for you! Now you just need to get to the front of the Caticlan's Jetty Port

• If you are coming from Caticlan Airport,
• you can ride a tryc, as soon as you step out of the airport doors follow the road to your right, just a short walk and you will see the tryc terminal. It’s 50pesos per trip if you rent out the tryc good for 3 people.
• In one of our previous trips, we still had the energy, so we just decided to walk and made an event out of it. If you do decide that you want to skip the tryc like we did, as soon as you get out of the airport walk to your right, then turn left at the corner. Just keep walking straight. Ask for directions if you feel you are getting lost, but usually there will be some tourists walking with you as well. It’s a good 15 minutes of walking.

• If you just got off the 2go vessel like us, then just follow the crowd until you get to the front of the building. 

The next steps are actually very easy, depending on the time of year. We’ve tried it before during the off-peak season and there’s absolutely no line. Last weekend was still considered a peak season, and it was just waaaaaay too crowded and humid. This is the part where the tag team helped. 

Day 1: Caticlan Bound

So are you really gonna do this? Just make sure you’ve read my reminders, if you haven’t yet you can click here, and if you agree to comply with them then read on! 

The Preparation: 

Voyage Schedule: 8pm, we booked our tickets on-line via www.2gotravel.com.ph and paid via credit card.

Our accommodation of choice: Tourist Class.  

photo from 2go Travel

What you need to do on the day of the voyage: 

Boracay 'Cruise'

Just came back from our "budget trip" from Boracay. I'm calling it budget because of the low transportation cost considering that we decided to take the vacation with only 1 week of lead time plus it's the peak season so all the fares are sky high (10,000 pesos for a Caticlan plane ticket?? no way!). 

overnight voyage from Batangas to Caticlan

We skipped the plane, and decided to take the long route -- by sea! It does have its pros and cons just like traveling by air, so just to make sure you really want to do this. Here are a few reminders before I post about the "How To's" 

Getting back on track (I hope!)

I think the last supplier we booked was our HMUA which we closed January, and then we decided that since we've booked the major partners we can just relax. So there we were, on a wedding planning hiatus for a good 3 months. And now that it's just 7 months to go we are on a bit of a panic streak again. We don't have any rings, no arrangements for music or invites, heck! we don't even have a theme or have our wedding colors planned out yet. 


So last Saturday, we decided to go on a little field trip to visit our church and reception venue. Just to make sure they are still there, and our AE's still know us. 

Verandah photo from Oasis Manila

Project Photo from Oasis Manila

CieLJ Tradition: MYOH 2012

Dropping by the MYOH Event in Rockwell became an annual tradition since the two of us got together. I used to not like Havaianas, and prefer the Dupe' because of the softness of the latter, and of course, in addition to it being just half the price. 


My first Havaianas pair was from MYOH 2009. I was with my friends and they were all going and I felt that I had to go too so I went in line with them. I got a basic grey with metallic silver straps -- such a boring combo I know, but at the time, all I was thinking was it's expensive, therefore I need to make sure I get a color that I can actually use as often as I can. And I did, and still am. It's such a durable and comfortable pair, I never looked back.


So for 2010 I invited LJ to brave the long lines of another MYOH. He was also not a fan of expensive flip-flops when we started dating, but has converted since I gifted him a pair. Those rubber slippers has been with him for 3 years now and it seems it can still stand 3 more (with the way he's using them, believe me that's a milestone!). We had fun in the MYOH 2010 getting matching pairs and got the letter pins to spell out our name on the straps.