Unexpected travels + rushing to Noche Buena

I may have mentioned before that I was going on a trip with my best friend and her boyfriend’s family. She informed me on the 19th? 20th? Then without much mental preparation, she told me that we’d be driving to the destination on the 23rd. I spent a lot of time bugging my mom about the stuff to bring on swimming trips because I was told that it was gonna be a swimming trip but boy was I wrong XD turns out, it was also a hiking trip and I was not ready to hike, nor did I have any experience on actual mountain climbing, but I’ll go about the trip per stop. 

On the 23rd, I left the house at 8 pm because we agreed to meet up at their house at 9 pm. I actually got there early and I was dragged along to their last-minute food shopping. It wasn’t so bad because I got to visit an old mall I haven’t seen in a while. 

By 11 pm, we began our drive to Dingalan, Aurora. That was a 4-hour drive (much faster cuz we left at night) The boyfriend was driving for the entire trip there and we felt bad for him so we just stayed up with him to keep him company and to talk his ear off because I have no idea what he finds amusing with me and my best friend’s conversations but it amuses him too much. 

At 3 am, we got to our sleeping cottage his family rented. At 5:30 am, the tour guide they hired came into the cabin and woke us all up. It was pretty much a headache when you barely got any sleep but the good food at the cafeteria made up for it UwU

They had these amazing lucban sausages and they were so good!!!!! 

By 6 am, we drove off to the feeder’s port where a boat was waiting for us. Of course, we had about… 20 minutes to look around and enjoy the views. I think Albert (the boyfriend) Made good use of his camera since he is a photographer. I’ve yet to see our photos though. He said he was gonna edit stuff first.

So we traveled to Dingalan Island for 30 minutes and I really enjoyed the views there. So much, sea, sun, and wind! The most outside exposure I got since the pandemic started and it was nice. 

The first destination was supposed to be this cave of wonders but I think the entrance wasn’t big enough so we ended up going to the rock formations instead and we had a mini rock climbing practice there because we seriously had to climb the jagged rocks to get up to the first lighthouse. As to why we couldn’t take the trails, I have no idea XD 

(I was still climbing when they were taking pictures XD I'm a slow climber, yes)

The next destination was a 30-minute hike up a mountain. It was mostly for sightseeing and I was on a 50-50 in deciding whether the hike was worth it or not. I mean, the view was great but the 30-minute hike made me feel like giving up halfway through. I guess this is what they call the mountain climber’s satisfaction when we reach the peak?

Anyways, when we climbed back down, we were greeted with food!!!!!! It was my first time to experience a boodle fight despite being a native to the country. 

After the small feast, we were given an hour and a half to swim in the beach. It was a beautiful beach with white sand and really clear water ;;w;; The water wasn’t too salty too compared to most beaches I’ve been to so it was a really enjoyable swim for me. At that point, I stopped keeping track of time and we just followed the tour guide XD

 The last destination was actually this waterfall called tanawan falls. It was a 40 minute hike uphill and at the summit, you get greeted with this amazing waterfall. We were actually dared to do cliff diving and being me who likes dares, I jumped 3 times XD 

That was basically everything we did for the whole day but it was all laughs and bullying each other. I’m pretty surprised I can get along with strangers now because I used to struggle with that. 

We left the falls at around 5 pm because everyone still had christmas eve/Noche Buena plans and that included me XD 

We drove so fast yet we still got back to our city at 11 pm, almost midnight. 

I was pretty amused that I came home to tipsy sisters and cousins and very needy dogs.