Long journey to Boracay

So that’s what it took us to get to Boracay

We love to be spontaneous! It’s the first time we had to buy flight tickets for the same day as we fly. :)Our next destination- famous Boracay island. We are not going there alone, but with Lithuanians Martyna, Robertas and Ernestas, who we met in El Nido. Turned out, that we stayed at the same guesthouse and became friends and since then we spend some time together. After saying goodbye to” Clouie Inn” owners, we took a walk to El Nido bus station.

The ride with a public bus to Puerto Princesa was supposed to be about 5 hours, but in the middle of the way, the bus engine started overheating, and, while they were waiting for it to cool down, the battery died. Finally, everything fixed and our trip continues.
The view through the window…

We reached Puerto Princesa before sunset. Bus station was full of tricycles, jeepneys and locals with huge bundles.

By the time we found a hotel to stay, we had to rush to the restaurant ” KALUI”. Some french cafe owner in El Nido recommended it to us. Just a fact that you need to make a reservation a day before, made us curious, why this restaurant is so special. And really, we were not disappointed: service was great, seafood dishes amazing and the atmosphere- felt like we are in some art gallery.

Next morning Dovydas went to the seaport to buy ferry tickets. But came back empty-handed. Turns out, online information is not updated and the ferry, connecting Palawan island with Panay Visayas, goes only on Mondays( today is Wednesday). And the upcoming Monday tickets are already sold out. Ok. Lets go to plan B- flight. Nothing to wait, the price is reasonable( $160 for 2 adults 1 infant + baggage for 55 min flight to Iloilo). Ferry ticket would have been only ~ $50, but it would take almost 24 hours with a stop on a halfway island.

5 hours left till the flight. While chatting with the friends and drinking coffee, we were packing our backpacks(so simple once you don’t have too much stuff. :)) And on the way to the airport we had some food at the Vietnamese restaurant.

15 minutes by foot, and we are at the airport, waiting for our flight PUERTO PRINCESA- ILOILO.

Once arrived, we had to take a bus ILOILO- CATICLAN ( 6 hour trip. Ticket price 350 php about $7 per person).

But we arrived to the station too late and turned out that there were no more busses going that direction. Oh well. We had to find a hotel close by for a night. And the rest of the evening we spent at the local mall and grocery store, because we had to buy some snacks for tomorrow’s trip.

We had some rest and next morning continued our trip.
6 hours flew so fast in a confortable bus with a/c and driver’s pretty good choice of movies ” Jurastic Park”, ” Mission Impossible 4″ and ” Avengers”. 🙂
And the bus stopped right at the jetty in Caticlan. So nice! So we just need to buy tickets and jump into a small boat heading to the island. These boats operate 24/7 – a little more expensive at night.