For many, the greatest summer vacations are spent on a known resort- five star hotels, bars, restaurants and the likes.

Well, it may be nice to experience the luxury for a while but isn’t it just the same thing as living in the city? Having food served, sleeping on a nice bed and spending tons of cash…pretty? I thought so until John M told me that I should go out and see the sardine run. 

As a kid, I was always under the wings of my parents- I cannot go out much unless I fight for it. Now, at the age of 25, I still was kind of under their wings. I don’t blame them at all- I was sickly so they were just worried but it wasn’t nice on my part and I felt left out- I think this is the reason why I still feel like I cannot make it on my own but one day, I stood up against their will- I scheduled a trip to the north.

I was lucky I had an experienced friend who organized the trip for me and I learned a lot: from bargaining and avoiding frauds. We had also had others with us- a Chinese man who can’t speak English; a broken-hearted Japanese friend; a lover; and my good friend.

When we arrived, I felt uneasy. Yes, I have been to other places but we were in a car and I was with my family. We were so obvious that we weren’t one of the locals but when we started to speak, we kind of felt confident that no one can trick us. Well, one tried by increasing the rate of the tricycle but my friend saved us from that- he “bargained” the middle man and not for long, we already had a ride to the spot.

The motorcycle ride took us about 15 minutes and we still had to walk to the place where we can eat. It was 8:12 am and the sea was amazing. It was calm and clear… so clear that you could see the small fishes swimming.

Our schedule was to dive at 9 AM and watch the turtles and of course, the sardine run. We also had a place to stay which was only a hundred pesos a night. How much did I spend all in all? P1500 for an overnight adventure... With that amount, I was able to do a lot of things- snorkel; witness the sardine run, go to Pescador Island; eat good food and had genuine fun.

Travelling and experiencing new things does not have to be expensive.

GO FOR IT.

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