Beach Trip during a Pandemic?

Hello everyone!

We're on the last few days of October and we're still where we were last March! Eeeeep, pandemic!

For my birthday this year, I only asked for one thing: a beach trip with friends.

Birthday wish fulfilled! Yaaay!

I think most of us have been wanting to go out for a while now. And understandably so! Have you guys seen that meme of that travel aficionado who used his treadmill to mimic that of the airport conveyor belt? That was about as far as we can live vicariously at this point, so a little breather outside MM really does our souls good.

Now that the government has eased its restrictions, we now have a leeway to book that trip but of course, we should still be vigilant of ours and others' health.

So here are quick checks that you need to do before booking a trip outside the Metro.

Health-check

Do a self-check if you have symptoms like fever, cough, and colds. If you have any of those symptoms, just book the trip some other time because you don't want to risk exposing your friends and whoever you will be in contact with during your trip.

Travel-Pass check

Some areas require this like Subic. I think the North is stricter with these than those parts of the South. Better to have this ready either way just in case they suddenly mount checkpoints en route to your destination. So where do you get your travel pass? The barangay will be the one to release it to you, some docs that they require are:

- Swab or Rapid Test (if your employer conducts regular swab tests for you, then that should suffice)
- Health certificate (you should be able to get this at your local health center or your local city hall)
- Barangay CTC (or cedula)
- Valid ID (TIN, SSS, Passport)

Resort check

You also have to make sure that the resort or hotel you are staying at has a DTI certificate allowing them to operate. They usually post this on their website or their FB pages to show everyone that they are OK-ed to open to the public. If it's not, better ask them or have them send you a copy of that certificate.

We tried booking at Agoda and Booking.com, unfortunately, the "available" hotels or resorts that come up on their sites are not updated. They would say that they're open but when we call them, they are not yet operational. So better to just call the resort directly instead of booking at these sites, at least for now.

Check, check, check!

Great! Now for the fun part...

Playa Montaña Resort

We decided to go to Batangas for our beach trip. Hooray! Batangas has many resorts to choose from, but we went here because we saw that the place has an infinity pool and the place looks nice just by looking at the photos.

We left Manila at 10AM, had a quick lunch at Jollibee SLEX then arrived at the resort around 3PM. Surprisingly, it was already pretty traffic so it's always better to leave earlier.

So we checked in a little past 3PM and we swam straight away to make the most out of our trip. Sulitin natin!

We appreciate a place that has a beach and a pool so we alternated swimming in both. It was a little bit cloudy at that time so our skins are grateful for it (may sunburn lang ako nang very very light :P) and it was even drizzling during nighttime so we were able to swim under the rain! Ang saya magswimming pag umuulan diba!

Pwede din magdive! Odiba! Nice form, Lyle! (kala mo swimming coach ako eh! haha!)

It was such a relaxing time with friends--just to be in a place to see people's smiles (without masks and shields) and faces is already a refreshing sight. I love that there was no itinerary and we were just really out there to spend time at the beach and catch up.

Here, we were trying to make a game out of skipping stones. Pero syempre kulelat ako! Waley tlga! Dennis has been teaching me even before but I couldn't make a stone skip even just one time. Bakiiiiittttt... The MVPs are Mike, Lyle, Tomas, and Dennis. We challenged the singles that whoever makes the most number of skips will get married next... guess who won? lol! (Itago natin sa initials na CJT)

Pwede din magphotoshoot! Haha!

Papahuli ba kami? haha! I am not sure who is saving who in this picture lol!

This place is like a buffet, that you will be able to see the beach, the mountains, and rocks in one look. Busog and mga mata namin! Kulang nalang sunset!

Odiba! Pati yung puno walang kawala! haha!

Thanks Mico for the gorgeous photos!

These beautiful shells are going home to Casa Apalisok!

We had dinner at the resort's restaurant which has a great view! The gang surprised me with a birthday song (c/o the staff) and a birthday cake! Yaaaay! I got to blow my birthday cake!

That night, we also had an honoring session and they gave me encouraging words and prayed for me. Eto yung namiss ko sa church community. Huhuhu! After being cooped up for months, I know that there are also a lot of things that you miss especially for relational people like me! Nothing beats seeing your friends face to face and just basking in God's amazing creation so thanks so much guys for making this day special!