One Valenzuela bound to Palawan: Preparation for the Travel

After One Valenzuela's three day sojourn to Palawan, she has vowed to write about it as soon as she lays her hands on a computer. One Valenzuela will try to somehow recreate through writing the things she did for the preparation and as well as the execution of the travel. She divided it into four entries (Preparation for the Palawan travel; Day 1; Day 2; Day 3).

Preparation for the Palawan Travel

One Valenzuela believes in angels. Yeah, and they can be in any form- a family member or relative, a friend, or even a pet. In her case, this travel came unexpectedly and was made possible by her dear aunt, Tita Neneng. After coming home from Japan, Tita Neneng went to One Valenzuela's office (surprise, surprise!) with One Valenzuela's cousins, aunt, and uncle. And there One Valenzuela has learned that Tita Neneng and her daughter wanted to travel and asked if she can come with them. One Valenzuela cannot immediately say “yes” since she has to ask her co-employees about it because they are in the middle of the semester. After much consulting, One Valenzuela got the “go signal” from them (thank you, thank you!).

At first, One Valenzuela’s sister was in charge of fixing the travel. After a laborious search via Internet and asking agencies, uber sister passed the torch to One Valenzuela. One Valenzuela has not been on even one single travel outside Luzon except from Boracay wherein in her Nanay was in charge way back her college days. With time passing by quickly, this is what One Valenzuela did:

• Called and inquired for the tour packages offered by an airline company which her sister saw on the Internet. One Valenzuela asked them to give her a quotation for a 3days/2nights accommodation, Underground River Tour, Honda Bay Tour, and City Tour. This should be good for 7 adults and 1 child (Tita Neneng, Aya, Tita Merdel, Tito Nonoth, Feb, my sister, One Valenzuela, and Little One Valenzuela).
•  Called an airline company to know more about their flight schedule (round trip Manila -Palawan), all in payment, check-in time, hand carry and check in baggage weight allowance. Take note to newbies like One Valenzuela: airfare rates change often. She resorted to getting the airplane tickets at the regular rate since there is no check in baggage allowance for the promo rates. The latter is also nonrefundable and non-reroutable.
•  Called two Palawan based hotels and asked for a quotation for a 3days/2nights accommodation and their inclusions. In their case,  asked for three rooms. One Valenzuela compared the prices and checked the reviews and photos at Trip Advisor. After that she made a table to easily evaluate their differences.

Planning for a trip is quite tedious since you want it to be hassle free. Although it is quite cheaper to make a DIY trip, One Valenzuela realized that it is better if they get the arranged tours since they have Balikbayans with them. One Valenzuela eventually showed her aunt that the price between the tour package from the airline company is almost just the same as separating the airplane ticket and accommodation arrangements. One Valenzuela also explained that the tour package should be paid in full before the scheduled trip. The other option is buying their own tickets and initially paying just half of the accommodation payment.

Used Boarding Passes:
Memories of a not so long ago plane ride

One Valenzuela’s aunt chose the latter since it is quite flexible than the tour package offered by the airplane company. Their flight to Puerto Princesa, Palawan is 6:30am on a Monday (Feb. 4, 2013) and will be back to Manila on a Wednesday (Feb. 6, 2013) via Airphil Express. They stayed at Balay Inato and the basic itinerary is as follows:

Day 1: Underground River tour (Buffet lunch at Taraw Restaurant)

Day 2: Honda Bay tour (Picnic lunch at Pandan Island)

Day 3: City tour (Half Day)

(Check out Day 1-Airplane Travel and the Underground River)

For the details of this trip (tips, contact numbers,etc.) and One Valenzuela's appreciation box, go to Day 3.