7 Tips For Subic & Boracay

Disclaimer: I wasn't exactly vacationing at both places, but, these tips would be good for first timers visiting the country anyway I suppose.

1. If you are a person who cannot live without data connectivity, you can opt to get a Globe sim card (one of their local telcos). Don't forget to get yourself a top up card too, you'll need it. Once you've activated your sim (instructions are pretty straightforward), top up your credit, you can then type SUPERSURF200 and send to 8888. That would costs you 200 pesos and you can enjoy unlimited data connectivity for 5 days!

2. Ringgit Malaysia isn't hot in the Philippines, particularly in Boracay, so if you don't want to carry too much pesos, what you should do is exchange Ringgit to USD and then, you can exchange your USD while you are there.

3. Most hotels (I presume) in Boracay would not be anything fancy unless you're paying a bomb because the whole point of being there is to not stay in your hotel room. So don't have too high expectation about your room, but embrace nature while you're there. You'll be impressed.

4. Though the weather is more cooling there than back home, the sun is equally bad, if not worse. So don't forget sunscreen if you plan to hang out under the sun. And it can get pretty chilly at night too.

5. Taxi's in Subic are the norm to get around, and they don't have fixed charges, ie, they don't go by meter. So your best bet would be to ask your hotel reception what is the relative fee for traveling from destination A to Destination B and just pay your cab driver accordingly.

6. *Non halal: Porky is easily available there. And so yums!

7. There's a airport exit fee for each departure, and I can't remember how much it was for Boracay and how much it was for Manila, but I remember it isn't cheap. So it would be wise to keep some pesos with you until you're on your plane ready to leave the country. And you should probably check out how much it actually is.

Hahaha! I wish I could think of 3 more tips so that I don't end this post with an odd and weird number but for the life of me, I really can't remember anything else..

So there you have it! xx