Beach Bum: San Juan, Batangas

Our first family outing of the year! To kick summer off, our family decided to take a 3-day beach trip to San Juan, Batangas. We went from April 9 to 11; a three day, 2 nights trip. The soul purpose of the trip was actually to celebrate my dad's birthday and my parents' wedding anniversary. The week before, we (and by we, I mean me) were stressed out of our minds trying to book a resort, but obviously, at this time of year, pretty much every resort would be booked. You'd think we'd know that, but good planning isn't really a trait that runs in the family. 

The day before our trip, we weren't even entirely sure if there was going to be a trip. But, fortunately, my mother was able to find a decent enough place for us to stay at. 

The ride to Batangas - Face Swapping with my sister lol

 The ride going there was pretty long, but nothing unbearable. Yet again, the curse of bad planning came upon us, for we left the house at 11 am, with our check-in at the resort being at 2 pm. (This time, I actually blame my mom, soz mom) 

To make things worse, we had to stop by Shakeys and grab two boxes of pizzas for our lunch. Needless to say, we arrived at the resort late. Like, ridiculously late. 

Our balcony view

 We ended up staying at Residencia Laiya. The place wasn't exactly a resort; it was kind of like a big house where you can rent a bunch of rooms. We only rented one room for us all because a. We'd only be in the rooms in the morning and at night, and b. the price for one night was pretty absurd (especially for a not very big of a room). We were kind of doubtful in the beginning, but we got used to it quickly. 

First thing we did when we got there was check out the beach, and, well... want to know something I hate that hits deep into my soul? Large crowds. Many many people. Basically, there were a lot of people at the beach. Yup. You can pretty much imagine my face when I caught a glimpse of the place. We ended up going back at the house and hung out there for the rest of the afternoon. 

My siblings and I, including our mom got henna tattoos!

That evening we went out for dinner at a pretty late hour, actually. Since we were at a province, finding some of the simplest things, like restaurants was very difficult to do. We ended up driving about 14 km from our house, and still ended up with nothing. Another fun fact about me, being away from a 'safe zone' gives me crazy anxiety. It was pitch black outside and we were one of the only cars on the road. I had a minor anxiety attack in the car (whew). We turned back eventually, after nagging my father to since we drove off about a mile away from the house. We ate at Andok's, which sold chicken and the likes. Buuut, since I am a vegetarian, my dad and I ordered me some pancit across the street (thank jesus they were open). The night ended, and we were all tired, but we ended up sleeping very late (another bad planning move since we had to wake up at 6 the following day huhu).

The next day, our plan was to go island hopping then go to Laiya Adventure Park. That was the original plan til we all got tired from island hopping, so we ended up just pushing the adventure park to the next day. 

I don't have much pictures from the island hopping since I obviously didn't want to risk the life and well being of my phone, but it was a lot of fun, especially when we got to snorkel in the middle of the ocean. I was so mesmerized by the beauty of the sea, and by all the creatures in it. It made me happy to see the beauty of our earth. 

When we got back to our island, we ate lunch, and we ate some halo-halo, which I am obsessed with. 

When we got back to our room, basically, everyone went to sleep, except for my father who went ahead and watched Manny Paquiao's fight. 

When we all woke up, our parents decided to try jet skiing, to which me and my sister tagged along to. And as for our brothers, they just ended up sleeping some more. 

It was horrifyingly fun haha

The sun went down, and we once again went out for dinner, but this time we finally got to eat at an actual restaurant. A thing I noticed when it comes to food here in the province: serving the food takes absolute eternity, but that's because the food is truly being cooked from scratch. You know, home cooking. But despite the slow service, we got to eat, which was enough for us.

The next and final day, we all fortunately woke up at 6, and we were getting ready for our Adventure Park adventures. We took a (private) jeep to the resort, and it was surprisingly very fun!

Say hello to my brother and sister

When we got there, the place was huge and beautiful. 

 My siblings and I all went zip lining which is always fun, and my mom went rock climbing. The two youngest siblings also tried the giant swing, which, by the looks of it, is pretty mortifying.

We were all successful at it, and since we were getting hot n sweaty, we went straight to the pool.

 The pool area was absolutely lovely, perfect for beating the summer heat! 

We stayed there all morning, and ate lunch there too. We didn't want to accept the fact, but our trip was sadly coming to an end. We got back to our house and started packing up. The rest of the trip home was pretty boring. I slept for the first half of the trip, and ended up writing on my journal for the rest, because of 2 story ideas that just hit me. When we got back to Manila, my dad said, 

"Back to reality".

Overall, the trip was absolutely fun. Family bonding makes me genuinely happy. One of the few things that make me. I can't wait for future outings and family trips.

xoxo Sophia