The Not-So-Amazing Race
Where to begin. Oy.
I’ll start with this — I thought about two hours into this travel day that we had lost this leg of The Amazing Race and were headed home from the competition. But… well… wait for it.
We were aiming to catch a 9:20am ferry from Tagbilaran port to Cebu. We had a flight out of Cebu to Puerto Princessa at 2pm — the ONLY flight that day. The ferry ride is two hours. We had been told it could take as long as an hour from Cebu port to the Cebu airport. David, our host, did say that there was another ferry at 10:20am if we missed it, so we should be fine on that one. We agreed to leave at 8:45am. Great. Oh — and after we got to Puerto Princess, we had to take a FIVE HOUR van ride to El Nido (more on that later as well!).
Well, this being our first time packing up our backpacks after unpacking them (again, more on our travel gear later on), we took a bit longer than anticipated. And let’s be honest, I was a bit lax that morning. Ah well.
So, we left the house at 9am and missed the 9:20am ferry. We arrived at 9:15am, and I still think we could have gotten on it if we found the right person, but it didn’t happen. And we weren’t stressed as there was a 10:20am, right? WRONG. No 10:20am ferry. These schedules change all the time and we should have checked ourselves. So, we had no choice but to take the 11:15am ferry that gets us in at 1:15.pm. For a 2pm flight that could be as long as an hour away from the port.
Again I say… OY.
So, I’m not in the greatest place. Freaking out a bit. Disappointed in myself. And thinking how on earth are we going to get to El Nido if this doesn’t happen.
The ONLY direct flights to El Nido are from Manila (a flight from Cebu) and they are twenty passenger prop planes for people going to exclusive resorts. But if they have space, they’ll sell you a ticket last minute. So, I guess if we miss the flight, which seems very likely, we can get a flight to Manila and try to get on one of those. Or we can try and find a connecting flight from Cebu to Manila, to Puerto Princesa where we then have the van ride ahead. Which would probably have to happen tomorrow as it was getting later in the day. Our ONLY GOAL was to be in El Nido by 5pm Thursday (it’s Wednesday now) for orientation, before the five day sailing expedition we would be taking the morning of the Friday. No pressure, right?
So, we wait patiently for the 11:15am ferry. Leaves five minutes late but seems okay. I’ve spoken with the crew and they assured we’d be the first two off the ferry. Which we were… at 1:25pm.
Backpacks in tow, we RAN to find the taxi stand. We get one right way — yes! I say, we are insanely late for a flight, can you get us to the airport FAST? He says get in.
When I tell you I have probably never been in a more insane taxi ride in my life, I am not kidding. Not in NYC. Not anywhere. The traffic and way people drive in the Philippines is already completely insane (as our host in Bohol described it, it’s like sperm, you just go, merge and move along), but this guy took it to a new level. We had to close our eyes through much of it just to let it go and hope for the best.
We are going to call our taxi driver Angel. He was our Angel this hot sweaty Wednesday in Cebu. He got us to the airport in 23 minutes. We saw online that our flight was delayed 12 minutes. We ran like we had never run before through the Cebu airport. We boarded our flight to Puerto Princesa and the doors closed and it pulled away. If we were three minutes later, we would have been f**ked.
So we weren’t eliminated in the end. Thank GOD.
We then got our van where we were piled in like sardines with eight other travelers and headed on our five our ride to El Nido. Turns out our driver said it took seven hours. SEVEN HOURS. We made it in six. Met a lovely girl named Sasha from The Netherlands who had ben travelling for 2.5 months already. We swapped stories and slept on one another at one point. No choice but to.
Then we arrived, at 10:15pm at night into El Nido. Then a jeepney to a 10 minute hike to our place and THEN we ascended 100 stairs to our villa. No clue where we are at this point, but we knew it was time for bed.
WHEW. We actually did it. Lesson learned — don’t cut travel time short if we have somewhere we HAVE to be. But, it all worked out in the end.
Oh — and Tim woke up with a sore throat (our hosts in Bohol were sick) and it got progressively worse the whole day. He was a true trooper through it all. It’s moved from throat to chest quickly, so let’s hope it leaves his body as quickly.
For now, we sleep. In El Nido. And let’s see where we are actually are when the sun rises!
