Planning for a holiday can be stressful. You invest so
much money into the flights etc, and hope that nothing goes wrong in the days
leading up to your travels. There were three things that added to my stress
levels: firstly, Qatar was giving us a run around with regards to our 23-hour
long layover in Dohar. We were told that because we had chosen the cheap tickets,
we had to pay 75 dollars per person for a hotel. If you are an economy seat
passenger you are not informed which hotel you will be assigned to. We were
lucky in that we were allocated an expensive airport hotel in Dohar, but
finding the transfer desk proved to be quite a mission. Secondly, Philippines
is located in the Pacific Ring of Fire, where most of the world's earthquakes
and volcanic eruptions occur. Lastly, I was a member of the Travel to the Philippines Facebook group and they advised me that I should have spent an
extra night in Cebu City on the day of my departure, as I was taking a ferry
across from Panglao and a taxi to the airport. I was warned that things do not go
according to plan in the Philippines. I tried to change the hotel bookings on the booking.com
website but could not do so. The original plan was to spend 3 nights in Cebu
City and 4 nights in Panglao, Bohol. But
things did go according to plan, as we left Panglao Island at around 7.30am. We
bought the 9.30 ferry tickets, when the ferry arrived hubby intercepted a taxi
driver who drove us to the airport at maximum speed. We arrived well before our
7.25pm departure time.
The flights were R17 950 per person. With Qatar there are different classes of tickets. The class of the ticket determines whether you get a free paid transit accommodation and whether you can book your seats well in advance. We bought the tickets from One Stop Travel & Tours. Because we did an electronic transfer for the flights, it took a day or two to reflect in their accounts. Flight prices are valid for the day only, and this caused my stress levels to rise a bit. I think in future I would rather pay by credit card. The ferry tickets were 800 pesos per person. We paid 25 pesos for the terminal fee in Cebu City. From Tagbilaran we had to pay an extra 150 pesos for the baggage as we had 1 piece of main luggage and 1 carry on, and 30 pesos for the terminal fee.
Do not forget 72 hours before you enter the Philippines you have to do your etravel application. Thank you to the Travel to the Philippines Facebook group for this.
I booked the transfer from the airport to the hotel
with HRI Tours. We arrived to a rainy Cebu City. We stayed at the Hop Inn, a
very basic and clean hotel. Hop Inn was R2 057 for 3 nights. The rooms did not have a kettle or fridge, but
water dispensaries were found on every floor. The hotel was real value for money
and was in a perfect location. We spent a day at the Ayala Mall, which is literally
a maze, and is very difficult to navigate through, as it had many entrances and
the shops were not well marked. We were grateful that there was a mall close by
where we could do our shopping. I loved Metro supermarket, the DIY shop, the
Daiso and No Brand store. We felt safe walking from the mall to our hotel at
around 8pm.
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| Hop Inn |
We visited Tops as it was one of the recommended
things to do in Cebu City. We took a taxi to IT Park, that cost 150 pesos and
explored the surroundings, thereafter waited for the bus to take us up to Tops
which cost 200 pesos for the round trip and which also included the entrance
fee to Tops. Apart from the view from the top, there was nothing much to do
here. In hindsight the drive up there was the best part of the trip.
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| Bus to Tops |
In less
than an hour we took the bus back to IT Park, and thereafter took the local bus
to Ayala Mall.
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| Ayala Terraces |
Soon it was time to pack and head off to Panglao. We
took the ferry to Tagbilaran, then a taxi to Hotel Renate where we were to
spend 4 nights. Hotel Renate was R3 228 for 4 nights.
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| Taking the ferry from Cebu City to Tagbilaran |
The initial taxi fare was 800 pesos, we brought it down to 700
pesos. The drive to the hotel took 45 minutes. The driver told us he will drop
us off on the highway, much to our surprise, but he later explained that the
hotel was only 2 seconds away from the highway. The highway is not what one
conjures it up to be. The hotel was close to Alona Beach, and the walk to the
beach especially at night proved to be quite hectic. This stretch of road is
extremely busy, as it is part of the highway. Walking down this path proved to
be very tricky as the pavements were either not smooth, or there was a complete
lack of paving.We took the joiner tour to the countryside, which
included the Chocolate Hills, a visit to the Tarsier Sanctuary and the Loboc
River cruise, which included a scrumptious lunch. We found this travel agent UGO Travel Services Office by chance and they were very efficient, as they helped us with the countryside tour and the transfer to the port, furthermore they were very reasonable.
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| Chocolate Hills, Tarsiers and the Loboc river cruise |
The following day we visited
the South Farm, where we had a delicious lunch. we took a tuk-tuk there and we
told the tuk-tuk driver to fetch us back at 2pm and he did.
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| South Farm |
The only problem in
Panglao were the money-changers who refused to change an even slightly defaced
dollar. As a result, we could not exchange 60 dollars. I was told I could do
this at the bank. When I entered the bank, I was asked to produce an ID and
passport, luckily, I carried my driver’s license. But then I was told that SA
was grey listed.
For our long layover in Dohar, we were lucky to be
assigned the Oryx Airport Hotel, which was close to our boarding gate. We paid 75 dollars each for the paid transit accommodation in Dohar.
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| Oryx Airport Hotel |
We spent 5 days of the 11 days travelling to and from
our destination, and with the time difference, and the cold planes, this took a
toll on me. I developed a cold in the Philippines. When I arrived back home it
took me a week to recover. In addition, I developed a terrible back ache. I
suppose this comes with age. Also, on the flight to Cebu and on the flight back
to Durban there were these annoying children who never stopped crying.
But it was a wonderful experience. Next time I will
choose a destination closer to home.
