Weekly #1
Hi everyone! This is our first weekly update and we will be doing these every week from now on. You can keep track of where we are and what we have been up to. And of course, you get to read about our highlights and screw-ups that we encounter during our weeks!
Almost one month in the Philippines (already?!)
We have been in the Philippines for about three weeks now. We started our trip in Coron and after that, we took a boat to El Nido. From there we continued to Bohol via Cebu and then on to Siquijor Island. Currently, we are in Moalboal, close to Cebu.
What we think about this country! It is AMAZING. The Philippines is one of the most beautiful countries we have ever been to. Limestone cliffs and crystal clear water combined with lush greens that hide gorgeous waterfalls. What else can you wish for! We also managed to see the best reefs that we have seen so far. Hopefully the reef here will stay healthy and beautiful! We wrote a post about reef-safe sunscreen, go check it out.
VIEW POST: Why To Use Reef-Safe Sunscreen
We have loved all the places we have been to. Especially we enjoyed Coron and El Nido. We did boat trips in both of them to do some island hopping and rented a scooter to explore the islands. One day we also rented a kayak in El Nido and got to enjoy a bit more the crystal clear waters El Nido has to offer. On our way back we had a horrendous wind against us (at least it really felt like it). It took two and a half hours to get back to El Nido town! Sometimes it felt like we were paddling like crazy but still standing still. Still it worth the effort as we got to enjoy a deserted beach for a while. (Paula actually got a sunstroke after that trip, a lot of suffering included on that day trip.)
Bohol was also lovely, though it was the most touristy of these three places. We did also rent a scooter there and went to explore what the island has to for besides beaches. There are some beautiful waterfalls in Bohol, which we love as waterfall hunting is one of our favorite hobbies! We will be writing more about all these places soon in our blog.
Shit happens
It hasn’t only been days in paradise for us here though. We both got sick straight after we got here. We ended up doing few island hopping tours on half power, though they were still amazing experiences. And like we said, Paula also managed to get herself a sunstroke after a day of kayaking. She had a tough of traveling the next day when we were going from El Nido to Cebu. But all that is luckily behind us now.
We also got a bit surprised by how time-consuming moving from a place to another here can be. As we try to avoid flying whenever possible, it has been hours of sitting in buses and ferries for us. But the travel days have definitely been worth the time. All the islands we have been to so far have been absolutely gorgeous.
We might end up going over our budget a bit, but only slightly. Since we have been doing some tours, including a whale shark tour, obviously our costs went up quickly. Later on we will be writing about the ethical way to swim with whale sharks soon, so keep your eyes open! We also got screwed over once with our ferry tickets, which we totally overpaid. That was just super stupid and a lesson learned for us. But otherwise, Philippinos have been very friendly and helpful and there hasn’t been too much hassle about prices. We will be writing about budget traveling in the Philippines soon and we will tell you all about the costs of traveling here.
We recently discovered eating in the little eateries where locals eat and that put our food cost down basically to half. Eating vegan or vegetarian is not too easy but manageable. We will be writing about this subject too more a bit later.
We have been pleased to see that many hostels we have stayed have had a water refill station. That is awesome cause it helps us all to reduce useless plastic. We have written a guide about packing sustainably, so go and have a look!
VIEW POST: How To Pack A Sustainable Travel Kit
It has been quite busy days for us. We have been doing something every day and during the time we have been at hostels, we have tried to fix our blog and photos. Wifi has not been great here, but at least we have had one. When we first got here we also took a SIM card and that has made life easier for us. We think it is good to have one, as then we can easily check out bus and ferry timetables anywhere we are. We will be writing more about tips about traveling in the Philippines later on.
How has it been traveling as a girl couple? As we already wrote in our Instagram a few days ago, we have had a good experience here. We have felt completely safe and have not had any issues being LGBT+ person here. We have also seen other LGBT+ travelers here. Most of the time we do keep quite discreet though, but if someone has asked us if we are a couple or friends, we have always said a couple. We will be writing more about this subject later on. Meanwhile, if you are, or know someone who is an LGBT+ person living in the Philippines, we would love to connect! Please send us a message through Instagram or Contact Us section.
That was a quick recap to our last weeks, we will keep these updates coming weekly so make sure to come and check them out! Meanwhile, go and check out our already published posts! Don’t be shy about sending us a message on Contact us page or through Instagram, as we are always keen to hear what you would like to see us write about. Or if you have any ideas or collaboration suggestions, shoot us a message!
We just left Siquijor today and arrived in Moalboal. We loved Siquijor! It was a very relaxed time for us, some beaches and waterfalls. Tomorrow we will start exploring Moalboal, you can see more from our IG stories.
We finally got our blog out which is awesome, we will be posting nearly every day from now on. Oh, and we are also working on making our first YouTube video, we hope to get it out soon! We actually had quite much filmed in Bohol, but yesterday we realized that our microphone was not attached properly. That means that basically most of the material is not useable. Typical us have to say. But we do have some nice clips from Siquijor which we hope to pull together to a video soon! Meanwhile, go and hit a subscribe to our YouTube channel!
Have a lovely Friday!
xx Paula & Elin
