I’ve been very busy the past month…going out to the beach every weekend! 🙂
The first one was to enjoy a summer outing with my wife’s high school friends. The second, to attend a beach wedding of one our office mates. The last, to celebrate my sister’s graduation with an overnight stay at a white-sand beach paradise in the north of the Philippines — Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte.
What can I say? It’s summer time in the Philippines!
The Philippines, with its 7,107 islands boasts of very beautiful coastlines and mesmerizing beaches. Enjoying a weekend at the beach, however, need not be expensive. Here are some saving tips I learned while enjoying my summer vacation.
1) Share a ride
Share a ride together with friends to save on gas and/or travel expenses. Do a carpool.
The first time I shared a ride, I was the one driving. Me, my wife and her friends went out on a summer outing to La Luz Batangas, a 3-hour drive south of Manila. Two of our friends rode with us on that beautiful Sunday morning. My wife enjoyed the trip because she was able to catch up and share stories with her friends while I busy myself driving us to our destination.
The second time I shared a ride, my wife and I attended a beach wedding. One of our friends was gracious enough to offer us a ride going to the venue which was (surprise! surprise!) the same beach we went to the previous week for our summer outing. Even though it was the same beach, we were still thrilled because it was our first time to attend a beach wedding.
One thing I noticed while driving in the Philippines is that majority of Filipinos drive a van or something large to fit the whole family. This is nice because you can save on gas if the whole family is riding with you. But if you’re the only one in the car, you’re actually losing money because you consume more gas than if you were only driving a small car. Just a little something to keep in mind when deciding to buy a car. 🙂
2) Share a room
Share a room with your friends. You not only save on accommodation, you even get to spend more time with your friends. The great thing about going to the beach with friends is that you get to share stories with them. Sometimes, you even remember “old” funny moments together and laugh your hearts out reminiscing those days.
Besides, if everyone is having so much fun, finding the time to sleep is the farthest thing on everyone’s mind. 🙂
In both the summer outing and the beach wedding, we were able to share a room together with friends. Our expense is about PhP 500 each per night. That’s 10 of us. So the room is actually around PhP 5,000 (US 100) for a one night stay. Not too pricey. But it’s a big savings for us considering that if my wife and I got a room for ourselves only, we would have spent around PhP 3,000.
Of course, if you’re on a honeymoon, that’s a different story. You obviously cannot share a room with your friends. 🙂
3) Cook your own food
If your resort allows it, it’s cheaper to prepare and cook your own meals. We were able to take advantage of this while celebrating my sister’s graduation since the resort we got was actually owned by one of my mother’s distant relative.
My aunt and mom prepared the meals together and I helped out grill the pork and fish. Unfortunately, the weather was not helping out that time since it was raining hard while I was busy grilling. One thing I learned — It’s hard to grill fish against a windy rain! 🙂
The morning after, the weather was better. We were able to enjoy and swim on the beach and take a few pictures just like this one.
Hope the above tips help you save money on your next vacation! Cheers!