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One thing that Filipinos like doing is traveling.
Over the past five years, budget fares have become so commonplace and hotel rates so low, traveling out of the country became so affordable and easy. Not so with this pandemic. Even if you manage to fly out of Manila, you run the risk of being stranded in another country if the airports or borders were suddenly closed.
To escape the hustle and bustle of Manila, my entire family would traditionally go out of town the day after Christmas. It was mid-November when we started the process of looking for a place to stay.
Since my wife is from Baguio, that was the first thing that came to mind. Lo and behold, we were told that to enter the city, we had to get a swab test for everyone. That means 10 people at 3K per head or a total of 30K. That’s a big ouch so we tried looking for another place in Bataan, Zambales, Vigan, all with the same results. The only place we could possibly go to was Bulacan or Pampanga.
It was convenient that AAP Lakbay, the travel arm of the Association, had a caravan organized for the second week of December. We decided to just go with this caravan instead of making arrangements ourselves.
The highlight of our trip was meeting up with Mryna Bituin
of Betis Crafts. She hosted a lunch for us and showed us her showroom filled with beautiful wood furniture, made by the expert wood carvers of the town. It was a fun-filled adventure going to a place so close to Manila, to discover interesting spots, great food and the warm welcome of the locals.
The caravan organizers made sure we followed health protocols. What was interesting was traveling in a bubble. One would typically socialize with the other participants of the tour group, but not this time. We brought our own vehicles so we stayed only with family members. Even during meal time, social distancing was imposed for our safety.
My children did a bit more investigating in the internet and they found family-ready farms which you can rent as a group for a weekend. Down south in Calatagan Batangas, there are beautiful farms built for tourists who want privacy and safety.
This is the new normal! More travel by land rather than by air or sea. I dare say that this will be the new mold of family vacations. As we travel in a bubble, we will discover ourselves and the members of our family. We will all draw closer to one another and ironically, we have the pandemic to thank for that.