On the road to El Nido

My partner came to the Philippines for the first time in December of 2017. At that time, we were just over a year in our relationship. At that moment, there was still much to discover about him, about ourselves, and about our lives together.

A little later after that first trip, I wrote how I met up with him in Bangkok, how his overall stay was in Manila, and our quick stop at Clark. This video shows some clips from our first stop in the Philippines: a visit at one of the most idyllic islands in the country, El Nido, Palawan.

Prior to his arrival, I was stressing over where to take him, what to do and show him. After this four-day trip, I realized he only ever needs a quiet time by the beach and he’ll have a full experience he enjoys.

We flew to El Nido via AirSwift from Clark. The return ticket costs only 5,000 Php as opposed to 10,000 Php from Manila. I don’t know why this is. In hindsight, staying over at a fancy hotel at Clark in addition to the plane ticket cost us pretty much the same amount.

We had two full days of island hopping, also enjoyed the tranquil view of the beach front from the hotel. I also made Benoit try home massage. He enjoyed it more than the Thai massage from Bangkok.

We flew back to Manila instead of Clark, though. On our way back, a storm was menacing the main island of Luzon. Our flight was rebooked and rerouted. No harm done. It gave us more quiet time before finally showing Benoit the chaos of the capital city. By then, he was well-rested and adjusted.