Me at Suvarnabhumi Airport

True to my promise, I did not use Cebu Pacific when I went to Bangkok for a client meeting and took Philippine Airlines.  The flight went well anyway, although I was pretty curious about the new airport, I decided to take the more reliable airline- Philippine Airlines.

The bought the ticket online a month early so I got a better deal.  The price difference with Cebu Pacific– the airline that suck, was only P900.  Since this is a client paid trip, my itinerary was short and this was also my first trip without any of my children.  It was pretty weird waiting in the departure lounge alone.    It sucked and I resisted calling my kids since I know this transition is necessary for all of us.

So how did my trip go?  It was good.

This was my first trip after 2 years.  My first trip out to anywhere without my children.  With quick planning and ardent budgeting, I made it to Bangkok with hefty shopping money and in one piece.

I booked myself at a small family run hotel, Bangkok Loft Inn.  The location of the hotel was great and convenient as it was on the Thaksin Ave, and close to the Bangkok Skytrain.  To check out how I found the Bangkok Loft Inn, click here. I used my internet savviness to find a budget hotel.  What made Bangkok Loft Inn ideal is its size.  Their Superior Room is ideal for a lone traveler, as well as a couple.  The bedding is great and true to their ad, the room boasted with a Samsung Flat Screen Television, free and robust wifi connection and good bathroom features. Its not crowded, and the location great.  The Inn was only a Skytrain ride away from Siam! Fantastic!

Anyway, on the way back to CDO from Boracay, our flight from Kalibo to Cebu was delayed for over 2 hours. Because it was delayed, we totally missed our connecting flight from Cebu to Cagayan de Oro. The weather was bad apparently in Cagayan de Oro, and after a long wait in Kalibo, we finally left for Cebu only to find out that since our travel tickets were a promotional one, I needed to buy our tickets to CDO since we missed our flight earlier. I argued that we missed our flight because Cebu Pacific‘s flight was late. Was it our fault that the weather went bad to worse?

To cut the chase, the damn Cebu Pacific personnel, informed me that our flight to CDO was not the actual connecting flight to CDO. Wahaaat??? I almost scalped him… Then he explained that if we had purchased the connecting flight Cebu to Cagayan de Oro, we would have been scheduled to leave Cebu later in the afternoon and not aboard the earlier flight which we missed. Anyway, to make it even worse, Cebu Pacific insisted that I cannot rebook our tickets because rebooking is only allowed a day before the day of flight. He showed me the terms and conditions on our tickets, and I quietly asked after a long sigh…”Ok, how much?” He rattled and punched in several numbers on his calculator and after 15 seconds, he gave me the figure, “P14,090., Maám…”

One of the places we liked while in Boracay was the Yellow Cab Pizza place at Station 2, Station 3.  The children simply had a blast sitting there and watching people walk by.  The Yellow Cab Pizza Branch in Boracay only has a few tables, and the place was a little cramp, but hey, the food just like any Yellow Cab was fab.

We had our all time favorite Hawaiian Pizza, Hot Wings and my favorite mouthwatering, Twice Baked Potato Halves.  For dessert, the kids had 1/2 pint of vanilla icecream each!  It was a well spent lunch, what else could I ask more, the kids as always loved it.

My family and I love to travel.  When I was still together with my husband, we used to go around during weekends and when there are longer breaks, we used to go to Cebu, Palawan and other nearby resorts with the kids.  Although money has not been an issue before, we always skip going to Boracay.  Our reason then was its too touristy and crowded.  Who would want to hang around in a place crawling with people???

Anyway, my sister, along with her husband and family decided to come to Boracay for a week.  Since I could not afford to shell out thousands for the airfare and accommodation, she offered to pay our way.  So, who cares about the crowd?  Its a free trip and I have not seen my sister for over 2  years, what the heck…

When my sister told me she is taking us all to Boracay, I was hesitant mainly because I will be traveling with 4 children.  Just imagine me in the airport lagging along small children plus a luggage.  Number 2, although I will be traveling with my father, he is ancient and has a hearing problem, so I actually consider myself traveling with 5 children.  Whew…

Anyway, since my lovely and generous sister paid for our lodging and airfare, I really have nothing much to complain about– so I decided to brave the crowd.

My children and I love Starbucks.  Despite the cost of coffee and dessert, we love to frequent Starbucks in Manila.  So after moving in Northern Mindanao, we have been missing our night prowls to Starbucks.

I found Starbucks accidentally in Boracay.  My children and I were having lunch at the Yellow Cab and waiting for my sister and her family to pick us up for island hopping when this young man approached the security guard of the place for something.

The security guard obviously had a hard time understanding the guy so he beckoned to me, and the young handsome fella approached me and asked, “Do you know where Starbucks is?”  To which I responded, “I have no idea, we just got here… you sure there’s a Starbucks here?” “Yea, saw a girl drinking her coffee earlier…”  So anyway to make it short, I asked the security guard and the security guard pointed to the left and the guy and I looked and found the oh so familiar green logo further down the street.

Aha, so there is a Starbucks in Boracay… much to the excitement of my children.  The girls made me promise to take them over to Starbucks after dinner…