Lovelier the Second Time Around

All Entries Taken from my Travel Notebook

The Premise

Practically everyone knows why I want to go back to Sagada:

a. It's hard not to fall in love with the place and the people
b. It's adventure enough to initiate my newly-graduate sister
c. I need someplace quiet to gather my wits about me.

The Preparations:

We packed:
1. Semi-warm clothes good for 4 days
2. Slippers and rubber shoes for hiking
3. Toiletries and Medicines
4. A borrowed digicam
5. Money (due to absence of banks in Sagada)

The Puttering About:

You could tell Ella and Ryan were excited the way they kept packing and repacking their bags. Ella's OC vibe is kicking in and she wants everything to b perfect inside her backpack. Tsk, tsk. If she only knew how her neat little world will be turned upside down by the next 4 days. She will know dirt, dust and discomfort as her traveling companions, haha! Ryan keeps on asking me if he should bring more clothes. I told him we weren't going to a fashion show so he better pack just the essentials. Truth be told, they make me nervous and I'm not sure if they'll survive our trip at all.














Getting There

Since this was a budget trip, we took a bus (Victory Liner) to Baguio. I decided not to shock Ella and Ryan with a straight Baguio-Sagada trip. We left Manila around 5 am so that we could spend the night in the City of Pines.

Manila to Baguio tickets costs Php 380 each and Victory Liner is pretty reliable when it comes to punctuality. When we got to Baguio, we immediately reserved our tickets back to Manila. In the end, it proved to be good thinking because of the Sunday rush we met going back.


Staying in the Summer Capital

I wanted to stay in Hotel Veniz -- that upscale place in the heart of Baguio City. But -- it costs 3,000 for three pax. So I ended up booking us in Hotel Supreme which costs half of that. I was too late in booking the budget place in Beredo's and I didn't want to stay in transient houses. We made do with the old building that Supreme was. And to tell you the truth, it wasn't that supreme at all. Both Ella and Ryan were looking for airconditioning and I had to explain that most hotels in here do not need aircon. Buti na lang, they saw the cabled teevee and that sent them to their happy places alright. ;p

Day One has officially started!