travelling about

http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/Asia/Philippines/Province_of_Bohol/Panglao_Island-1387326/TravelGuide-Panglao_Island.html

There are three major regions of the Philippines: Luzon, the largest island, the one that Manila, Subic Bay, Quezan City and I call home.  Then there is this vast area called the Vasayas.  The Vasayas are made up of hundreds and hundreds of littler islands.. some very small, some larger.  At the bottom, you have Mindanao.  Mindanao is off limits to PC for travel due to the presence of ISIS forces.  This week I travel to the Vasayas!

So, of course my attention has shifted to planning for my upcoming trip.  As you can guess from the link Ive attached, On Thursday, I will be traveling to the island of Panglao, which is actually considered part of the island of Bohol.  Bohol itself is a rather large island in the Vasayas and it was severely impacted by an earthquake last October, 2013.   The magnitude of that earthquake was 7.2.  222 people died, 976 were injured, 73000 structures were damaged and 14500 were destroyed (source: Wikopedia).   Then in November of last year, Bohol was hit by Typhoon Yolanda, the largest typhoon in history.  Almost unimaginable destruction!  I am quite interested to see how the island is recovering from these events, but in truth, my main interest in  going there is for vacation time.   As you can see from the link, Panglao is known to be arguably one of the most beautiful spots in the Philippines (along with Palawan, where I'll be headed in December!)

Carlos, my counterpart left for Bohol today.  We are leaving at different times because by the time he went to purchase his airplane ticket, the price had escalated beyond his reach.  He was forced to take a cheaper route, venturing first by bus to a port around 4 hours away, then by taking a series of ferries that will hop-scotch through the Vasayas until he reaches Cebu (the second largest city in the Philippines).

My itinerary has me bussing to Naga, then bussing to Legazpi City (excited to see the smoking volcano there that is ready to erupt at any minute!) where I will then jump on a plane for Cebu. Carlos and I  will hook up there at some port where to jump on a ferry to Bohol!  Could it get more complicated???!  Honestly...  Good thing I have some experience with traveling!

There is a local airline here that runs the cheapest flights throughout the region but their fee's are misleading!  For this trip, they advertised a fee in the paper:  'LEGAZPI CITY to CEBU:  $600 peso's!  Return trip:  1 peso!'.  Great... then I went online to book the ticket, and lo and behold, they load a ton of added charges... there is a booking fee, there is a 'seat fee', there is an internet fee, there is a fuel fee, there is airport fee, there is government tax fee, luggage fee, the list goes on and on.  In the end, I got this ticket, round trip for around $8000 pesos which is less than $200.  Cheap, but still a far cry from 601ps!    Suffice to say, I did not pay for the 'luggage fee' which means I will be packing extremely lite.. a small school backpack!  Maybe I'll be able to find someone to laundry once I get there!  I hope so or else I will not be very pleasant to be around!!

We hope find a decent but cheap place on the beach to crash - looking for a place around $10/night each should not be too difficult.  Few days there, and then ferry ride back to Cebu (the big city) where I will spend two days before reversing my journey back to Lagonoy.... My plans have me back here a week from today (with few more stories to tell, I hope). All aboard!!!