1. South East Asian Airlines (SEAIR) and Microtel Inns & Suites will be choosing eight lucky bloggers to join an all-expense paid bloggers’ tour of Boracay from September 10 to 12, 2010. This includes round-trip tickets from Manila to Caticlan and accommodation at Microtel Boracay.

2. To be selected, you will have to write a blog entry telling us why you should be chosen to join the tour. Each blog entry must have a link to the SEAIR website, the SEAIR Facebook Fan Page, and the Microtel Philippines wesbite.

3. You can publish your entry from 12:00 a.m. of July 26, 2010 to 11:59 p.m. of August 20, 2010. Only one entry per blog will count.

4. To let us know about your blog entry, post it as a link in the SEAIR Facebook Fan Page. It has to be posted from 12:00 a.m. of July 26, 2010 to 11:59 p.m. of August 20, 2010. Once it is acknowledged by our administrator, your entry is counted.

5. Three winners will be selected by a panel of judges based on which is the most compelling. The top three entries with the highest scores from the judges will be invited to the tour.

6. Three winners will be selected by fans based on the number of “likes” to the link. The three entries with the most number of “likes” by 11:59 p.m. of August 25, 2010 will be invited to the tour.

7. One winner will the selected by the SEAIR Adventure Club. The entry with the most number of votes from our resident travel bloggers will be invited to the tour.

8. One winner will be selected at random in a manner to be determined by the organizers.

9. We will notify the eight (8) winners on August 27, 2010. In case any of the winners cannot make it, we will invite the one next in line.

10. The decision of the organizers in final. Good luck to everyone!

SEAIR will be offering a special promo only available online in celebration of Mother’s Day on May 9, 2010.

Ticket purchases on May 9 – 15, 2010 for travel from June 16 to October 15, 2010 can get a P1430 discount per roundtrip in any route, by just typing “seairmothersday2010” in the promo code field when booking online at www.FlySeair.com. The promo is valid for limited seats.

SEAIR would like to wish all mothers a very happy mother’s day.

To avail of the promo book online at www.FlySeair.com

February 24. It was a bright sunny day. After about an hour and a half, we have finally landed at the El Nido Lio Airport. My wife and I along with some travel blogger buddies have been waiting for this much needed weekend getaway to El Nido, located at the northwestern tip of Palawan.

We flew via Seair’s LET 410 which was suited for short-ranged travels and unpaved airstrips. This was my second or third time to fly in this plane. The El Nido airport runway was literally a strip of (dusty) land and could only accommodate small planes.

Since Seair flights to El Nido happen only twice a week, our group stayed in El Nido from Wednesday to Sunday. That’s 5 days and 4 nights of relaxation and strenuous but fun-filled island hopping activities. We stayed at the Marina Garden Beach Resort. There were three of us who shared a single air-conditioned room with 2 beds (and an extra mattress upon request). Although there were a few other cheaper alternative resorts, Marina was reasonably priced and the place is okay.

We spent P3,500 per head for 4 nights inclusive of breakfasts. There’s free WiFi at Marina too but in this part of Palawan, electricity is only available from 2pm – 6am so you’ll be forced to go out and explore. I did bring a laptop to answer any emergency work-related emails.

Marina Garden Beach Resort: For inquiries, please send us an email at marinagarden.elnido@gmail.com or call our front desk at +63-917-624-7722 or +63-908-884-3711.

El Nido is famous for its pristine beaches and majestic islands where people can go island hopping. All the trips and tours are already “packaged” so to speak (Tour A, Tour B, Tour C, or combination) and the locals are very friendly and hospitable. You just hire a boat that comes with 2 boatmen who’ll take care of cooking lunch for the group as well.

All throughout our stay, we tied our Tour A and Tour C. So that’s 2 days of snorkeling and island hopping. Some of the paces we got to experience were: Small Lagoon, Big Lagoon, Secret Beach, etc. There were a whole lot of other places and things to do in El Nido.

SEAIR resumes direct flights to El Nido

SEAIR resumes direct flights from Manila to scenic El Nido, Palawan on November 18, 2009. SEAIR flies Manila-El Nido-Manila every Wednesday and Sunday.

El Nido is located in the northernmost tip of Palawan and is part of the El Nido-Taytay Managed Resource Protected Area, the largest marine sanctuary in the entire Philippines. This group of islands is a perfect destination for divers and snorkelers as well as beach and island-hoppers with over 30 dive sites and more than 50 beaches and hidden lagoons. Aside from its diverse fauna, El Nido also showcases a striking geological wonder: limestone cliffs that were carved extensively from thick layers of coralline deposits

SEAIR Announces Special Anniversary Promos

Southeast Asian Airlines (SEAIR), the Philippines’ premiere leisure airline, offers special anniversary promos in celebration of its 15th anniversary on March 25, 2010.

Travelers can avail of the special morning rates of as low as PhP 1,999.20 per way all-in when they book as early as February for travel from March 2010 onwards. The special rates are available for limited seats for all flights to and from Boracay before 7 a.m.

SEAIR is also offering exclusive discounts for online bookings. Vacationers can get PhP 1,500.00 discount per way for all seats, flights and routes when they book via www.FlySeair.com. To avail of the promo, online users can type iloveseair15 in the promo code field when booking on Jan. 11-18 for travel on Feb. 19-March 26, as well as when booking on March 14-25 for travel on June 15-Oct. 15.

This is SEAIR’s way of thanking travelers for their continued support. The airline has been serving key tourist destinations since 1995, most notably Boracay, and has the longest history of uninterrupted service to Boracay direct via Caticlan.

SEAIR now offers up to 27 flights per day to Boracay (Caticlan) and is now flying daily to the island paradise of Batanes. It also flies to El Nido, Palawan every Wednesday and Sunday, as well as Marinduque every Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday.

SEAIR is the nation’s second-oldest airline and has flown almost 3 million passengers to local destinations including Tablas (Romblon), Cebu, Clark, Zamboanga, Jolo, and Tawi-tawi. SEAIR also offers the most routes from Caticlan with flights from Caticlan to Manila v.v., Caticlan to Clark v.v and Caticlan to Cebu v.v.

To avail of the SEAIR 15th anniversary promos call SEAIR Reservations at (632)8490100 or book online at www.FlySeair.com. Join SEAIR Facebook Fan Page for updates on promos.

So what’s so special in Kota Kinabalu? Think white sandy beaches, white-water rafting and sea walking, first class diving sites, rain forest trekking on the green Gaya Island, and climbing the highest peak in Southeast Asia – Mount Kinabalu. There’s also the famous Kinabalu Park. Kota Kinabalu is located at the tropical island of Borneo and is the capital of Sabah state in Malaysia.

So how much will it cost to visit this paradise? According to the banner ad that you would see in the flyseair.com website, it’s going to be Php2,212 from Boracay to Palawan and then Php1,975 from Palawan to Kota Kinabalu (one-way, all-in rate). So that’s Php4,187 total.

Boracay Sunset (Photo by Gail dela Cruz-Villanueva)

Then last December, we ended up spending a weekend in Boracay once more during the long Christmas vacation together with some friends courtesy of South East Asian Airlines (SEAIR). They still use the “Fastest flights to Boracay (and most flights to Palawan and more)” tagline and true enough, we landed in Caticlan airport in just about 35 minutes.

A few weeks before the trip, the original plan was to visit the beautiful beaches in Tablas, Romblom – one of the many regular destinations of SEAIR. It’s a place I have never been to. But something happened at the last minute so it had to be canceled. All our stuff and gear were already packed and ready to go. After the SEAIR folks broke to us the bad news, they asked ‘Wanna go to Boracay instead?’ We all said yes!

White Beach, Boracay Beach (Photo by Gail dela Cruz-Villanueva)

So off we go to White Beach, Boracay (December 19-21). Surprisingly, there were not too many people at that time of the month. It wasn’t too sunny and hot as I hope it would be. So what did we do there? Lemme see… since most of our companions are aspiring food bloggers too, we did a lot of eating here and there.

We visited and dined at places like Bulabog beach where people do kite surfing, Gasthof – Boracay’s famous babyback ribs, Bugs Grill where we had lunch buffet for only P200, and the one-of-a-kind Kasbah Moroccan Restaurant located in Station 1 to name a few. We stayed at the lovely and very affordable Taj Guesthouse located along Station 2 just a few meters away from D’Mall. (Will provide more details about these places we visited in another blog post soon).

SEAIR flies regularly to Boracay via Caticlan. For reservations, you can get your tickets through the SEAIR call center +632 849.0100 or log on to the SEAIR website to reserve online.

Batanes is located at the northernmost of the Philippine archipelago. It’s a province by the way. When you watch the weather portion in the news, that’s usually where the reporter points to where typhoons and storms are headed going out of the country. They say it’s very rough there. On the other hand, Batanes is also one of the unexploited and unspoiled places in the Philippines. For sure, a lot of exciting things await me and my friends. I heard that the Ivatans (Batanes folks) are very interesting people, so I’m eager to get to know them.

So why the hell do I want to go to Batanes? It’s simple. I want to go to Batanes because I’ve never been there. I want to see places that are not the usual spots in the Philippines. And Batanes is something to look forward to.

Scenic Batanes photo proudly stolen from Melo Villareal

Wanna go visit Batanes? Book now at www.flyseair.com website. The SEAIR folks have recently increased their flights going to Batanes.

Flying to Busuanga Island Coron, Palawan

Do you ever get tired of the usual summer getaways like Boracay and Puerto Galera? If you’re after the party and beach babes, then go there. But if you want to experience a not too populated and commercialized vacation place, then you should try exploring the unblemished island of Busuanga in Coron, Palawan. Last week, my wife and I together with some travel blogger friends (Nina, Eric, Ferdz), went on an adventure trip to Busuanga Palawan.

Travel time from Manila to Palawan usually takes 1 hour and 20 minutes as you see them advertised in the websites. But thanks to SEAIR, we arrived at our destination in just 35 minutes! Aside from making the most out of the abs of celebrity endorser Marc Nelson, SEAIR is also known to have the fastest flights to its select destinations like Palawan. The sooner you get there simply means more fun and adventure time for you and your friends. Agree? You can also take the much cheaper but agonizing 24-hour Superferry boat route if maximizing your travel schedule is not too important.

After the pleasant half-hour trip via SEAIR’s 32-seater Dornier 328 Aircraft, we touched down at the Francisco Reyes Airport in Coron, Palawan. There was a lot of construction and expansion work being done at the airport. So this means that Palawan is being developed to be a prime tourist spot in the country. I just hope our government will not be too aggressive on this so as not to make Palawan too commercialized.

Photo by Gail dela Cruz-Villanueva

From the airport, we went on a 45-minute jeepney ride going to the town proper for Php150. The jeep will drop you off at the lodge or resort you’re staying or somewhere near. Just make sure you tell the jeepney driver ahead of time. Although it was a very bumpy and dusty ride because there were no concrete roads yet, the scenery was breath-taking. The air was really fresh. We passed by the Yula King cattle ranch. I didn’t see too many cattle but I do remember seeing horses doing what stray dogs usually do here in the streets of Manila. It was a bright sunny day too. Our timing was perfect.

Staying over at Crystal Lodge

It was Ferdz who took care of our reservations a week before the trip. We initially planned on booking at Sea Dive Resort, a popular place to stay because they have air-conditioning. But we ended up staying at Crystal Lodge.

Photo by Gail dela Cruz-Villanueva

Photo by Gail dela Cruz-Villanueva

The nipa-hut style cottages are nicely situated along the seashore on stilts. So you have a nice view of the sea and the islands across. Very beautiful. There are mangroves as you walk along the narrow passage made of old, cranky wooden planks. One wrong step and you can find yourself swimming with the little fishes underneath. The whole place is somewhat primitive and that what makes it so beautiful. It was as if we were living in a fishing community together with the Coronians (better known as the local people of Coron, Palawan). Crystal Lodge does not have air-conditioning but the rooms and hang-out areas are very cool and breezy all the time. It was so peaceful and relaxing over at Crystal Lodge. At times, we would just sit around a bamboo bench and wonder how we could stop time so we can stay longer in this island paradise.

I noticed more foreigners (usually the backpacker tourist type) prefer staying at Crystal Lodge because it’s the place closest to Mother Nature so to speak. And they’re cheaper than the other hotels too. Gail and I rented our cottage for Php1,200 for 2 nights. You can check out their website over here. On the other hand, if you prefer a more convenient place with modern facilities like most Pinoys on vacation coming from Manila prefer, then you’ll probably sleep more comfortably over at Sea Dive Resort. You can see their website over here.

Crystal Lodge and Sea Dive Resort are both located inside the Coron town proper. So the wet and dry market, carenderias, scuba diving centers and shops, airline offices, bars, restaurants, and other establishments are just a walk away. Or maybe just take a tricycle for Php8 per person going to nearby places within the town proper.

We came to learn that Crystal Lodge was being leased and managed before by some foreign businessman who also operated Dive Calamianes, a popular scuba diving center in Coron. I guess the lease contract already expired this year so Crystal Lodge (as of June 2008) is now being managed by its Filipino owners.

On our second night, we kinda experienced the “nightlife” in Coron. What happened was, the electricity went out which lasted the entire night. It would have been pitch black if it weren’t for the brightly lit moon and stars that night. The place we stayed did not have a generator for back-up power. So it was quite an experience for the five of us, all in a single file, finding our way cautiously through the wooden planks back to our cottages with only one flashlight.

Photo by Gail dela Cruz-Villanueva

Photo by Gail dela Cruz-Villanueva

Photo by Gail dela Cruz-Villanueva