Family Vacation Plans
Like what i've mentioned before, I seem to be spending more time planning a family vacation for December instead of my son's first birthday in October. I can't help it, we just really had a great time in Baguio last May. Travelling may be expensive (or require some cost) but it just really has a special way of really making a family more of one.

We have three choices really. To revisit a place we've been to already in the country. To go someplace new in the country. Or to go abroad, to another Asian country.

Of course, we'd be limited by a budget and intend to travel with discounted rates offered by Philippine Airlines or Cebu Pacific. But we also wanted to take advantage of the fact that Yakee can still ride planes relatively free (till he turns two, for most airlines).

Revisiting a place we've been to already (by 'we' meaning Jojo and I together) meant revisiting Boracay, Palawan or Davao.

Going someplace new, however, meant that we could travel North (Laoag for Vigan or Batanes even) or as South as we want (Zamboanga!). We considered Bohol as well because of all its old Churches.

And travelling to another Asian country meant we could go to Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia (hotelscombined.com lists 32 accommodation options, and we could actually choose to be un-fussy about it and stay at Borneo Global Backpackers Hotel Kota Kinabalu), or going to see the Olympic structures built in Beijing (albeit two to three months after the Games), or going to either Singapore or HongKong.

I told hubs i'd rather go to HongKong than Singapore because it's a cheaper place in terms of everything, and we'd get more out of our money by going someplace cheap. But our son is still too young to appreciate Disneyland anyway (plus, they're building a bigger one over in China). And we aren't really sure what to do in Kota. So we decided that we'd stick to the Philippines for the meantime.

Hubs didn't want us revisiting the places we've been to already this soon, especially when you consider the fact that Yakee will still be too young to really enjoy feeding the fish or go banana boating or appreciate who Pag-Asa is.

So okay, new place to see this time. Going to Batanes in December doesn't seem like a good idea since it's always turbulent there at best. Plus, Seair flights aren't really cheap, something we've discovered when we flew to El Nido before. We'd really love to go to Vigan but I didn't like the fact that we'd need to do some land trip too from Laoag. I know, we're after the least hassle possible. So we've decided we're going to Dipolog instead. Dipolog is several minutes away from Dapitan, and therefore, Dakak. We could literally relax and enjoy nature and seafood at good prices.

Thanks to Living Asia channel for featuring Dipolog. I really actually love that channel, the features are usually narrated in a boring sort of way (as if they want you to fall asleep) but it's cool to really 'see' the place, its sights and offerings, how to get there and which to check out, etc. Of course, if the channel can come up with programs as well-written and dynamic as those in Discovery Travel and Living, maybe there'd be more tourists in this part of the world. But I digress.

So Dipolog it is. I'm thinking we can stay in one of the many inns at the City as we toured the city sights for a while and then cap our vacation off by staying in one of the hotels by the beach. I have to check out their island hopping rates still though.

And yes, I know, I should plan my son's birthday party first.