A quick guide on planning a trip

Summer in Boracay

Summer in Borcay

Yes! Summer is here! Can you feel the heat? Hahaha. Have you planned your trip already? If not here are some tips I would like to share which I myself personally do.

Anyways, I know a lot of Filipinos are afraid to travel. Here are several reasons I could site:

It’s expensive
It’s not safe
It’s hard

A lot of these are born through misconceptions and through bad experience in domestic travel. But with the right knowledge and logistics traveling can be a rewarding experience. Well here goes:

1. Pick a destination. As always, begin with the end in mind. So if you dream of strolling into that white sand beach, journeying into that old heritage ruin or climbing that mountain, it’s always best knowing where you wanna go and for sure you’ll never be lost.

2. Know more about your destination. Research is very important. You have to know a lot about the destination to avoid being cheated by greedy locals, being spoiled by a bad weather or ending up in a wrong place at the wrong time. Here are details you should look for:

Climate and weather: Know the best time to go there. You wouldn’t want to be in a seashore in the middle of a typhoon.
Customs and traditions: This is very important. Each place have different beliefs and customs and make sure you observe them. Some place like in Batanes, all establishments are closed and there’s minimal transportation during the Holy Week. So unless you don’t want to end up starving or stranded in a destination know their customs and traditions.
Safety: Are there insurgencies in the area? What is the state of the local government? You wouldn’t want to be in the middle of a Tribal war in Sagada.

3. Know how to get there. Learn about the ways to get to your destination via Land, Sea and Air, their schedules, how long will the trip take and their cost.

4. Know where to stay. Search for accommodations from the high-end to budget class. Jot their numbers and try to call them up.

5. Know the places where you can eat or buy food. Now this is very essential, try to figure out whether you need bring your own food on a certain destination and how much is the average cost of food per meal if there’s food available.

6. Draft an IT (Itinerary). Now this is the crucial part of planning. It is where you’ll put all the information together. In drafting IT, decide first how long you’ll be spending time on your destination, this way you’ll figure out when is the best time to leave and when you should be at back home. A usual IT starts on your ETD (Estimated time of departure). If you have done your research well, you’ll be able to have a working estimate of travel time from one stop over to another, places and locations.

7. Know your Budget. When you have a working itinerary, you’ll be able to come up with an estimate budget for your trip. Here’s an example of how I do it:

Food: Php50/ meal
3 meals a day = Php 150
3 days = Php 450

Accommodation: Php 150/ night 1BR
3 days = Php 450

Transportation:
Manila - Baguio: Php 930 (Round trip)
Transport allowance per day = Php 50 (x3 days = Php150) Whole Transpo cost: Php 1080

Souveniers/Misc: Php 500

TOTAL COST: Php 2480.00

And always try to bring extra money for contingency which depends on your location.

8. Book in advance. It is always smart to book in advance especially in peak seasons. This assures you of hassle free travel and makes you more focused on enjoying the place.

9. Know your resources. Now you know what information you need, now where do you get your information? Thank god for the Internet it’s now easier to look for information on specific destinations. Here are my usual resources:

Google. You could find any information here, just be more specific.
Blogs. There are lots of travel blogs out there and a lot of these bloggers are friendly and happy to lend some information. You could do a blog search via Technorati or Google Blogsearch
Groups: Egroups are very helpful as well, just ask a question and most are willing to give information. Try Explore Philippines, MMS (Metropolitan Mountaineering Society)
Department of Tourism. Call them up, regional DOT offices can send you helpful information.
Books. If you could afford, try buying guides like Lonely Planet, Rough Guides, Fodors, etc,
Magazines. There’s a growing titles of travel magazines out there. Try browsing through them and if you like the place and guide reference, buy them.
For weather there’s Travel2000.ph, Accuweather, Weather.com, CNN Weather and Weather Underground.

10. Start your adventure. Now that everything is laid out, it’s time to start your adventure. Remember that the IT is only your guide and you can be as flexible as you can be.

Tags: Travel Tips

Kyameel Says:
March 20th, 2006 at 8:59 am

oooh! This is very helpful! Thanks!

outdoorexposure Says:
March 20th, 2006 at 10:26 am

awesome advise….i will trip it for my next vocation trip:-) btw nice summer photo here…can’t wait to go to beach:-) thanks for yr great ifo:-)

Ralph Says:
March 20th, 2006 at 10:45 am

This is really good advice. Good thing I read it, otherwise i’d be lost this summer.
Amazing photos by the way.

den Says:
March 20th, 2006 at 12:03 pm

tamang-tama ang post na to, daming pweding puntahan ngayong summer. travel tayo sa samar, sama ka?

jepaperts Says:
March 20th, 2006 at 12:56 pm

well explained tip! when our tropa usually plan for outing, we planned it well… kaya lang nde minsan nasusunod. hehehe.

sometimes, an unplanned trip are the most exciting.

lagal[og] Says:
March 20th, 2006 at 1:08 pm

ei ferdz! you hit it right on the head. i do quite a lot of lonely planet-style trips and the sad thing i note is that most pinoys are so afraid of traveling out of their comfort zones. yung mga foreigners pa ang nakaka-appreciate ng ganda ng pilipinas kasi they’re more daring. here’s my two cents worth when it comes to traveling around the philippines: - do your research, with the internet, you can prepare beforehand, or maybe ask around; - ask questions (most folks out there are ready to help if you ask them nicely); - be ready to wonder & wander (no two trips are alike, and one has to be prepared to get lost every now and then, just be armed with common sense and a passion for adventure and you’ll do ok)

Sidney Says:
March 20th, 2006 at 3:26 pm

Very good advice!
Alas gathering the information you need is not always easy (if you go out of the beaten track). I am becoming a festival freak and to get correct information on lesser know events is almost impossible. (When, what time exactly, which barangay, transport, etc.) Locals may know but that is all.
Anyway, the Philippines is such a beautiful country that it is well worth the effort. I just go and hope for the best. It is not always what I expect but always worth the travel

By the way, beautiful picture! A lot of bautiful things to look at

lino Says:
March 20th, 2006 at 4:57 pm

galeng! na cover mo yata lahat… i will keep these in mind…

ten Says:
March 20th, 2006 at 5:49 pm

alright! very helpful, thanks ferdz. i got so many places in mind i want to go to this summer, dami lang din kasi things to accomplish.

DanieL Says:
March 20th, 2006 at 6:59 pm

i like this guide. thanks for the info, it’s very informative. what will make it better is if you can draft an example destination that you’ve actually been to.

ellen Says:
March 20th, 2006 at 8:48 pm

Wow. Masubukan nga. Mas gusto ko magtravel na hindi trabaho-related.

eye Says:
March 21st, 2006 at 9:06 am

true, maraming pinoy ang nadadala sa paggala dahil sa mga hindi magagandang previous experiences nila with some locals. but if you’re prepared, nothing can go wrong. and yes, google is always my best friend

before the holy week, aakyat kami ng mt. ugo, yung invitational climb (nationwide). baka gusto mong i-try

ymir Says:
March 21st, 2006 at 2:07 pm

bloghop from lino’s site. ang ganda ng layuot ng blog mo and also the content. two thumbs up..

zielle Says:
March 21st, 2006 at 3:58 pm

kewl ferdz! tamang-tama ung post mo.. just got back from baguio…alone! hehe…di natuloy ung sa cielito lindo eh..got cold-feet during the last minute..

nwei, tnx for that helpful post.. especially that i’ll be going to sagada this april.. i’ll keep those pointers in mind.

ciao!

cruise Says:
March 22nd, 2006 at 8:11 am

hindi na ako matatakot pumunta ng boracay!

risk07 Says:
March 22nd, 2006 at 11:51 am

ang galing ng list mo. im sure maraming matututo sa mga itinuro mo so, san mo ba next i=aaply ‘tong list mo? hehehehe hintayin na lang uli namin ang malulupet na pictures…

S. Crypt Says:
March 25th, 2006 at 11:16 pm

hey ferdz! they say boracay has got a lot of green algea these days(because of the pollution), is it true? Its no longer the “crystal clear” water as before. Or is it really just seasonal?

samantha Says:
March 26th, 2006 at 3:09 am

And some things not to forget:

1. Sunblock, lots of it.
2. Emergency medications
3. Camera (be careful with ur lens cap. they don’t sell lens caps in boracay, btw )
4. Charger for your cellphone. They’re expensive to buy there.
5. Personal hygiene items (shampoo, soap, toothpaste)

Ferdz Says:
March 26th, 2006 at 8:39 am

@S. Crypt: The Algae from Bora is seasonal and it’s not caused by the pollution but a Natural occurence during February to April. Unbeknownst to most people there are little worm-like critters under the sand that’s barely visible to the eye. I noticed this around November when there where numerous chicken feet marks across the sea shore, when you step on those marks and release it immidiately you would see it swirming fast. They are not harmful I suppose but I was freaked out at first. It was probably one reason the Boracay Sands keeps its cool even under the heat of the sun. It’s my theory, and anyone may correct me on this, that these little critters may also be the source of that algae as food or waste.

@Samantha: Thanks, I plan on tackling that topic next!