'Twas fun, Palawan

El Nido, Palawan

I went 5th wheeling at Palawan last May 15th to 19th.
It was a vacation I needed, away from all the stress I had for the past couple weeks.
Imagine the stress of needing to move out from your current apartment and finding a new apartment before 14th then having an early morning flight by the 15th. Thank God that I was able to pull it all off.

Traveling with family was fun. It was Erin's first time flying lol
Stressful sometimes cause the thing with my mom.. she's very organized and somewhat OC. She nags A LOT. But, hey, that what made my mom MY mom. lol

Erin "the first time flyer" and I on the plane.

Our flight from Manila to Puerto Princesa was 9 in the morning, May 15th.
Since I’m already in Manila, I just met them at the airport.
Props to AirAsia because our flights From and To Manila weren't delayed. Our flight back to Manila was even 30 minutes early. Can't believe that was possible. Haha
We were there so early. Check-in counters open 2 hours before the boarding time, we checked in a small baggage cause I had 20kg check-in baggage allowance. The bag was only 8kg lol
Flight from Manila to Puerto Princesa took about an hour.

Our itinerary was to go to El Nido for the first two days then go back to Puerto Princesa for the remaining days.
My mom already arranged our transportation and accommodation at El Nido. Yup, that's my mom. Haha.
Traveling from Puerto Princesa Aiport to El Nido took 5 freaking hours. It was so tiring af. We didn't really have anything planned that day but travel cause we already expected that it's gonna be that long but hell.
We stayed at RicGem, they have a family room that consists of 1 double bed, 1 queen bed, and 1 bunk bed. Room was spacious and clean. When we arrived there, it was already around 5 in the afternoon, so, we just rested for a bit then went out for dinner, walked around as well. People were very accommodating and nice there.

Waiting for our ride.. aka our boat lol

[From L to R] Mom, Angelo (Mom's boyfriend), Ricky (Erin's boyfriend), Erin, Me.

Second day in El Nido was island hopping day. We picked Tour C that consisted of Hidden Beach, Secret Beach, Snorkeling and Helicopter Island. I don't usually snorkel cause I'm afraid of stepping on sea urchins or corals. I gave it a try there and I actually enjoyed snorkeling there, just cause the boatmen were very careful and they ensured us that it was safe.
We ate lunch on the boat too! The food was so delicious, the mussels were so big. I swear I ate a lot of mussels on this trip. The whole island hopping wasn't tiring at all. It was all fun. The water was so clear, the sun was just perfect even though it rained for a bit when we were at the secret beach.

What a view

On the way to the Secret Beach

After we left the Secret Beach and after the rain

Helicopter Island

PHP 50 worth of fresh coconut juice at Helicopter Island

After that, it was our last night at El Nido and we were going back to Puerto Princesa in the morning so we just had a dinner by the beach. Seafood all the way! And for dessert, we had gelato. They have this "Gusto" gelato all over El Nido. It was so good.. even if I only had Mint Chocolate lol

Aftermath lol that sunburn doesn't really hurt at all

After breakfast, we began our journey back to Puerto Princesa. 5 butt numbing hours drive back to Puerto Princesa &, as usual, we didn’t go anywhere but the hotel cause we were tired.. and I swear, I love hotels. Hotels make me so sleepy. I love room service. I love everything about hotels. It's just so cozy.

Next day, they didn't want to go to Honda Bay or the Underground River so we just went to Bakershill Park. We had my birthday lunch there. Walked around the park then we went to the bakery to wait for the Ube Hopia.

Birthday Lunch at Bakershill

After that, we just went back to the hotel. Erin, Ricky and I took a dip at the pool around night time.
We have an early flight back to Manila and my mom is so OC with time so we slept around 11pm and woke up around 4am.

Our hotel was like 10 minutes away from the New Puerto Princesa Airport, we checked in and waited for boarding time. Our plane actually left 30 minutes early so that was great.

Our Palawan trip was fun. El Nido was beautiful. They asked me if I prefer Phuket or El Nido? I prefer El Nido. Not cause I'm from the Philippines, but because it was just so nice there. It was organized. It was clean. It wasn't anyway stressful. People were so friendly and accommodating.
It was also nice to celebrate my birthday with family. Ugh I’m old.

El Nido sunset