emjodonnell-blog

[emjodonnell-blog]

Travel Filipino Style 2018

Ok so here is my attempt at creating my first blog that I accidently deleted in the process of editing. Lets see if I can remember the details and bullet points from the memories I wrote in reflection while suffering tremendously from jet let. Where to begin? Well lets start back in 2014 to the beautiful country directly to the south of us. That's right, MEXICO. Rocky Point, Mexico. A few of us just didn’t quite make it over to the Philippines. It was so sad to not make it on that trip which made the family vacation to the Philippines 2018 that much more exciting! 

May 12 

PHX to SAN FRANCISCO to HONG KONG to Cebu. Twenty two beautiful hours of travel. Shawn and I met my dad, Ed, Gina and my brother Patrick in San Francisco. We flew Cathay Pacific Airline economy. I downloaded movies, had music, noise cancelling headphones and books to read. I didn’t use most of what I brought. Dinner and wine on the plane followed by a few Dramamine had me sleeping semi-comfortably for quite a few hours. By the time we hit Hong Kong we were feeling a bit off and that next 3 hour stretch to Cebu was a little tough. I think we were all anticipating what was to come. We lost a day in travel and arrived on May 14th. When we got to Cebu we were met outside the airport where Jinky and Tiffany had arranged for us 2 vans air conditioned for our travel to the first resort. It was HOT AND SWEATY. Very similar to a summer day in Omaha but with the intensity of the sun as strong as any summer day in Phoenix. THANK GOD FOR Air Con! Quick stop at the ATM for some pesos then on to our first spot:

The El Salvador Beach Resort in Denao City:

We may have been a bit jet lagged but after a nice shower and a few drinks at the hotel restaurant the rest of our travel crew showed up. First @orcatrip, Mark and Ashley arrived. Followed by the fantastic Filipino’s who hosted a lovely travel experience for us outsiders. They stepped in with a bang! Cameras out and ready with countless selfies that became a theme of our trip. I’m sure several unfollowed me due to the picture overload, but I don’t care!

May 15-17

We grabbed our bags, loaded up the vans and headed to a ferry that took us to Malapascua Island. A group photo on the loading dock was taken by Jo. We stood there with our luggage looking at a ferry with bamboo strapped to the sides for floatation. We each grabbed our bags and walked the plank careful not to miss a step and fall into the water. Once we were all loaded on the boat the captain lights up a cigarette while pouring gasoline into the tank and fires up the engine. A small boy not more than a hundred pounds uses a large piece of bamboo to push us out to sea. Then the music started up and it was just a dance party all the way to Malapascua Island. When we arrived there was no place to dock on shore. No worries! We took off our sandals, grabbed our bags and walked through the water to et to shore.

Lets just say Malapascua is Paradise on Earth!  Honestly, what more could you ask for? We stayed at The Blue Corals. The views were magnificent and the hospitality was out of this world. We spent our nights drinking on the beach, eating barbecue, singing and dancing. The days were spent swimming and snorkeling off the most beautiful beaches I’ve ever seen. The water was crystal clear. We even had a night out to the market where we took part in videoke. 

May 17

Dad’s Filipino 60th birthday 

We left Malapascua Island and headed back to the main island. We stayed at the Marick Beach Resort in Carmen, Cebu, Philipines. We spent our day swimming and going down the waterslides with the kids. Of course we found a craft brewery across the street and were dying for some tasty craft beers. We had to stop over a few times during our stay. We tried all kinds of new foods some of which were a little too intimidating for me. (maybe one day balut, maybe one day). We were introduced to RED HORSE and life will never be the same. 

Preparations were underway for a big birthday party for my dad and Jinky so they devised a plan to get some of us out of the resoron an excursion. We will call it “Lets see if the white girl can climb a tree to pick the mangos”

We took a tricycle. For those who don't know, a tricycle is a motorcycle with a side car. It can fit 10 passengers max. My goodness, what a ride! 

We arrived at our destination. I saw the mango tress and I was mislead to believe these were going to be small, very manageable trees. I was lied to! I failed miserably but VG was there to show us how it’s done. We filled bags of green mangos then headed to a family plantation near by where we chatted and drank coffee and they even chopped us down fresh coconuts. 

The next day we had a party of epic proportion. I’ve never experienced anything like it. There was a DJ. Master of Ceremonies Niel. Wild, crazy, silly games with prize money. Oh and lets talk about the food. We had Lechon (a whole roasted pig), numerous delicious sides and home-made mango ice cream. Oh and we finished off 13 cases of beer by 3 pm... a lot of people come to parties in the Philippines I swear. 

Now I can’t remember the exact dates after but I know we left and loaded up the vans to head to Oslob. 

We had a bit too much fun the day prior and lets just say our Air Con was not on par. That or our internal body temperatures were desperately trying to rid our bodies of the poison. Either way it was a hot, sweaty 8 hour drive to Oslob. Thank the Lord for Dramamine, a life saver for myself and fellow travel companions whose stomachs were a bit on the queasy side. 

We stopped at the birth place of Catholicism a beautiful shrine celebrated by the Filipino people. Several lit candles, offered prayers and sacrifices. I was told this was a place people come to be healed. We walked through the stations of the cross and headed on to Oslob. 

In Oslob we found Big J’s restaurant that was a bit pricy but the foreigners loved it so much we had to stop by a second time during our 2 day stay. We woke up early at 5 am and went to swim with whale sharks then headed to Aguinid Falls. This was the highlight for me. We made it to level 4 of 6. I will always remember the excitement and joy as we all laughed and took pictures under the waterfall after scaling the side of it with nothing more than a rope. 

Mark had suggested that day that our travel day to follow should start earlier in the morning as to avoid the heat. Little did we know that our “fantastic Filipino” hosts would wake up at 3 am to all be showered and ready to go so that we wouldn’t have to wait. We woke up around 6. They packed up our things for us and even gave us the van with better air conditioning. I have never met more hospitable people in my life. There generosity and kindness were unlike anything I’ve ever seen. I was humbled by their kindness. 

We spent another day traveling. Shawn, Patrick and I were on our last day of travel. We ended up in Mactan at 3 different hotels. We spent the afternoon relaxing then met the group at the mall for dinner. After Shawn and I took a cab to the hotel Mark, Ashley, Rosemary and Jo were staying at. It was so beautiful. We hung out in the Air Con, cracked open a few beers and reflected on a beautiful travel experience together. Here are just a few things I took away from this trip.

 This wasn’t a vacation. It was an adventure! I wouldn’t have it any other way. 

1.Perspective is everything

2. I learned that life is an adventure. Its not about what you have but who you share it with. 

3. Have gratitude. It is the little things in life that matter. Never take for granted Air Con, Flushing toilets, good water pressure, and that fancy cup of coffee in the morning. 

4. Have an open mind, try new things and don’t be afraid of the unknown

[emjodonnell-blog]

Celebrating 1 Year of Marital Bliss

Recently my husband Shawn and I celebrated our one year anniversary. Those who know us are well aware that we don't really like to stay in one spot. This can be problematic as we have 4, MAY I REPEAT, 4 dogs at home. Luckily, we have some amazing family who watch our dogs when we travel. 

Shawn and I were discussing plans for our one year anniversary. He got excited telling me “I already have a plan for what we will do for our anniversary.” Me, being the excitable person I am decided as I always do to guess what that plan might be:

“Oh my goodness! Are you taking me to Flagstaff for the day? Will we relive our first road trip? Go to the same fancy restaurant we ate at and finish off the date by walking around, looking at the stars?!!!”

Shawn: “Wow, you are a lot better at these kind of things.”

Well, I will never know what Shawn’s original plan was but I did enjoy our time in flagstaff day drinking @motherroadbrewing and of course @darkskybrewing! They are just a couple great places to check out on a quick trip to Flagstaff. Be careful if you plan on going to mother road on a Monday. They are closed for canning day! We had tried going several times prior because our days off are generally on Monday and had never been able to. I scored a discounted $10 t-shirt while at Mother Road, had a flight of beer with my husband and got talked in to a sandwich delivery service who brought us our delicious sandwiches right to the bar. 

After a delicious start to our anniversary day we walked over to the Drury Inn and booked a room for the night. It didn’t have the charm of the old “L motel.” At $45 bucks a night you can get a room with such charm, a street view and the chance you might sink into the hole in the floor, so nicely covered with carpet, in direct line to the bathroom. The Drury Inn, did however, have its percs: It was walking distance to everything, they had free dinner, 3 complimentary drinks per person for happy hour and a complimentary breakfast bar as well! So of course we stopped by for happy hour before heading to the Tinder box kitchen for dinner. 

Shawn was not feeling the best but I was ready to #RAGE, so of course we went to an old hotel downtown that serves up some wonderful cocktails. It was called Hotel Monte Vista and they were having drink specials. I read that this was the first speak easy in Flagstaff. We followed our night cap with a walk in the rain. Oh how I miss the rain! 

The next day we woke up got our cup of joe and made the spontaneous plan to drive to Antelope Canyon. It is a place I have read about and seen pictures but have never been to. Why not cross something off the bucket list? So, we got in the car and traveled about 3 hours to Page, Arizona. It is in beautiful Navajo country and is a huge tourist attraction! Who knew? Here are a few things to know before your travel:

1. If you want to do the upper canyon, bring CASH! and lots of it! They are charging $60 a head for adults. 

2. If you do the lower canyon, which we did, there are a few different tours you can do and they cost about $45 a person. They also take card, which is nice. We went with Dixie Ellis’ Lower Antelope Canyon Tours.

3. You must go with a guide. This isn’t a roam around and explore on your own kinda thing. We got Summer, and she was awesome!

4. There are lots and lots of people there at the same time as you, but, it is worth it and the guides are very informative, friendly and even skilled photographers. Everyone got awesome pics thanks to them! 

5. You are going to be hungry after, Big Johns BBQ isn’t a bad place to stop by on your way out of town. 

Overall, it was a great experience and I’m glad we did it. The guides did say its better to go in the winter when there are less tourists. We will probably go back to see it again, but who knows there are so many places to see in Arizona that are some beautiful. Maybe next will be Havasupai.