We did get on that last flight from Hong Kong to Manila last Friday. We didn’t have a minute to spare, but we made it. This episode turned out to be the start of a weekend where everything that could go wrong actually did go wrong..
Starting with the taxi driver in Manila who had no idea whatsoever where our apartment was and in after half an hour of aimlessly driving around suggested we’d take another taxi. We got home around 1 am, where I unpacked the suitcase I’d packed for Hong Kong and packed it again to go to the beach in Cebu. At 7 am we left again for the airport, travelling with only hand luggage. I’ve travelled happily all over the world with this suitcase as my handluggage, but Cebu Pacific made me check it in, because it was too big. In Cebu we took a taxi to the port of Hagnaya, where we’d take the ferry to Santa Fe, Bantayan Island. Arriving an hour before the ferry was scheduled, we were told it was actually cancelled. The next and last ferry would leave in 3 hours. We called the hotel where we’d reserved rooms to tell them we’d arrive a bit later than planned, only to be told that they’d given our rooms away. They’d try to get us rooms at other resorts. When we finally did arrive, the rooms they’d booked for us turned out to be more than double the price than the rooms we’d originally booked. Staying calm and with a big fake smile on my face (by that time I’d be on the road for more than 30 hours already, sleeping just 4 hours) I managed to secure 2 rooms in the resort next door for the same price. All we wanted was some food and a bed!
Waking up the next day revealed the beauty of Bantayan Island. Wow, it really was like a postcard! Sipping fresh coconut water on the beach, swimming in the coral blue sea, looking for shells on the beach, the cool breeze in the evening, the bright starlit sky, it was amazing. Even the fact that I was red all over within no time and looked really goofy with my straw hat couldn’t spoil the joy I felt. We had a lovely day full of relaxing.
We left a bit earlier than planned the next morning, in case another ferry was cancelled. We’d arranged for the same taxi driver to pick us up in Hagnaya and drive us back to the airport. We had a few hours to spare in the afternoon and decided to go shopping. The driver dropped us at a mall and agreed to be back 1,5 hours later. As soon as he drove away, my travel companions realised they’d left their bag on the back seat. In it were their passports, their credit card, their mobile phone and their brandnew digital camera. Very close to panicking, we tried to ban all worst case scenarious from our minds and stay positive, the taxi driver had seemed like a kind, reliable man. Unfortunately the card with his mobile number on it was also in the bag, so we couldn’t call him. We tried calling my friend’s mobile phone in the hope the driver would pick it up. After countless times he did. He promised to head straight back to the mall to deliver the bag. A very long 15 minutes later, the crisis had passed.
At the airport we didn’t have to check in our handluggage this time, although when boarding the plane, my friend wasn’t allowed to bring his suitcase into the cabin, it had to be checked in again. At least this time he didn’t have to pay for it. Ah yes, and the plane was delayed, so we didn’t arrive back in Manila until after midnight. But we made it. And it was an adventure. I loved it.
Yes, a lot of things did go wrong, but so what? In the end we had a great trip. Would we have done it if we’d have known beforehand it would take us a day to get to our destination and a day to get back to spend just 1 day at the beach? Probably not, I suppose we’d have looked for something a bit nearer. Travelling in Asia often means expecting the unexpected and journeys almost always take longer than you think. Travelling isn’t just about the destination, the journey to get there can be just as interesting. Although I have to say in this case, the destination was simply stunning.




