Since our last blog, we’ve moved on to our fourth country of the trip. We had a few days in Singapore, and are now in the Philippines. As the country is made up of over 7,000 islands, we plan to hop between and visit a few of them. The entry requirements into the Philippines have been the strictest so far, but more on that later.
To get into Singapore, we had to fill out an online arrival card before going through customs. We had done this in advance (as advised) and the card is connected to the passport number so we didn’t need to show it to the customs officer.
We were asked to show our certificates of covid vaccinations when we checked into the flight, but were not asked for this at customs in Singapore. So like Malaysia, it was quite straightforward once we were in front of the officer.
On our first night, we met up with an old family friend of mine that we met during our summers in Italy. Leng moved to Singapore in 2013 and so it was great to see her again. She had provided us with instructions on where to meet her, and how we would be able to get there. We took the bus, and went to a place called Boat Quay – a busy promenade along the river in the finance district.
We had a really lovely evening, and Leng picked out the food we could try. See the picture below for what we ate!
Singapore is unlike many places we’ve been to before. Everything is high-tech, modern, and extravagant. However, the people are friendly and it doesn’t feel too overcrowded. We’ve been able to experience some great things so here are some pictures that sum it up:
We mainly walked and used the metro to travel around Singapore. It’s really clean and is in English, making it easy to navigate. There are even markers on the floor so that people can get off the trains without being trampled by those pushing to get on.
đź“Ť Philippines 🇵đź‡
As mentioned earlier, the Philippines is the strictest country so far with regards to covid. To enter, you have to complete a “One Health Pass” within 72 hours of your flight, which is checked before boarding and has a QR code that is scanned before you go through immigration. This pass asks extensive questions, including all covid vaccine dates and countries you’ve been in the last 30 days. The interior of the plane was sprayed with a disinfectant before landing, and we had to show certificates of our vaccines at check in/proof of a ticket out of the Philippines. Masks are required everywhere, including outside spaces and walking down the street. We have seen people being fined for not wearing a mask when walking about.
đź“Ť Boracay, Philippines 🇵đź‡
The day after we landed in Manila, we travelled to the island of Boracay.
To get to Boracay, you take a flight from Manila to Caticlan (the domestic flight terminal was incredibly hectic at Manila, but luckily we had arrived 2 hours early). The flight was less than an hour, and arrivals at Caticlan airport is basically one warehouse you walk to directly off the plane. At the airport there are stands offering transport to the island. For 1,000 pesos (roughly ÂŁ15) we had a van take us to the jetty, boat transfer, and then another van that took us straight to our hotel. There are extra fees applied by the ferry port, but our original payment covered these.
Where we are staying is a 20 minute drive away from the centre of Boracay, however the hotel provides a free shuttle service three times a day for guests. We also received massages included in the price of the room. Trust me when I say that after 2 months of lugging a 12kg rucksack around, those massages were heaven!
White Beach on Boracay is absolutely stunning, and the sea is probably the nicest I’ve ever swum in. Crystal clear, calm and warm; it was perfect. We had our first proper beach day on White Beach, and despite a brief spell of rain, we really enjoyed ourselves. We also explored the centre of the island as we had 7 hours before the shuttle would pick us up.
The following day we decided to stay closer to the hotel and then head back to the centre of the island on the 5pm shuttle. There was a private beach next to the hotel which we had to ourselves, before watching sunset on White Beach. We enjoyed dinner and a stroll along the sea front, before getting the 10pm shuttle back to the hotel.
To leave Boracay Island was just a reverse of the arrival trip but we ended up taking 6 different modes of transport. We took a jeep (hotel shuttle) down to the boat jetty and then a boat over to the island where Caticlan airport is (at the jetty we paid for a ticket for the boat transfer and then on to the airport from there). The boat itself is about 10 minutes, and then we had a tricycle take us to the airport. We then obviously took a plane to Cebu, and a taxi onto our hotel after. As Caticlan airport is so small, we had to also take a coach from the boarding gate to the plane.
Instagram vs Reality
We are now on Cebu for a few days before we’ll move on to another island – we think it will be Palawan.
We hope you are enjoying our blog so far, and if you have any questions about our trip or the countries, we’d love to answer them. Drop them into the comments and we’ll answer what you want to know! Lots of love,
Caitlin and Luke
Caitlin and Luke's Travel Diary 