ILOILO - ISLA DE GIGANTES - BORACAY TRIP | Tips On How To Make It Possible With Your Barkada

We just came back from our 6 days trip! travelling from Iloilo to Isla De Gigantes (Carles) to our end point, Boracay. It was truly worth it but before this trip happened we had a bit of a hard time researching on references from others who did the same trip like ours crossing the northern half of Panay. Most people, base on the articles or feedback from the internet, usually travel Iloilo  - Isla De Gigantes - South Iloilo OR Iloilo - Guimaras - Isla De Gigantes. 

But we were able to make it a success in a big group and had a lot of fun!

One of our coordinated group photos in Puka Beach, Boracay. A+ for Effort!

I'll be writing down below all the tips from our DIY journey and to encourage everyone that this is really workable especially in a comfortable travel set-up.

1. BOOKING THE TICKET

One of the trickiest part always is how to coordinate in booking a ticket. It was mid-2018, when we decided that we wanted to take a vacation together wherever it is. The best strategy we did are the following:

1st: Compile everyone's details. Complete name, age and birth date. 

2nd: Look in advance for all the possible dates (i.e. Long weekends, holidays, Mandatory leaves, etc.) wherein you can book the dates.

3rd: One person to check the airline seat sales and book everyone's tickets and pay it for the meantime.

We were able to book for all 10 of us *thumbs up*.

2. PAYING EVERYTHING IN INCREMENTS

From booking tickets to other reservations we have made before the trip, we decided that we'll pay everything in increments. For example, one person bought the tickets and we have 1 month to pay him/her the full amount which equals to 2 pay days wherein we can pay half and half.

This also worked for the rest of our reservations like accommodations, Isla De Gigantes Tour, Van Rental, etc. If the total amount is too big to make in one payment, we divided it in increments considering the pay days for the incoming months (5 months prior the trip). We do our cash transfers every 15th and 30th of the month via GCash and bank transfers.

The advantage with doing this is it's not heavy in spending. Just make sure someone is dedicated to collect the money every deadline.

Example of our payment tracker

3. RELIABLE TRANSPORTATION

One of the things we prioritized was how will we travel from Iloilo city to Carles City (Isla De Gigantes jump off) to Caticlan (Boracay). We took note that all of us are carrying at least one luggage trolley and a hand carry bag. 

If we ended up commuting via Ceres Bus, we will have to ride a bus until Bancal Town and ride a tricycle to our accommodation near Bancal Port in Carles. Moving from Carles to Boracay, there is a van going to Roxas and from Roxas we'll ride another Van to Kalibo or if fortunate, straight to Caticlan and ride another tricycle going to Tabon Port (Ferry to Boracay). 

All of that sounds really exhausting just to imagine along with our baggages! So it was a good decision to look for a reliable private van transport. Thankfully, Abakar Transport by Sir Alvin Poquita was recommended by a good coordinator friend (whom I met in my Pinatubo adventure before).

Now our trip became easy, from Iloilo Airport we were fetched by Kuya Judy (Sir Alvin's driver) and brought to Ted's Old Timer La Paz Batchoy and Margec's Cream Horn Deli house for a quick city tour and to our hotel to spend the night. At 3:45am the next day, Kuya Rommel (Sir Alvin's other driver; who'll drive us up to our end point, Caticlan) fetched us in our hotel and drove for 2 hours to our accommodation in Carles. Ate breakfast and drove us again to the port for our Isla De Gigantes Tour then after the tour he fetched us back to our accom. The next day at 8:30am, we started our 4 and 1/2 hours trip to Tabon Port, Caticlan. 

It was way more comfortable and easier! Total wallet damage: Php 9,100 for 7 pax (Other 3 friends went straight to Bora 2 days after) or Php 1,300/person for the whole land travel fare from Iloilo Airport to Iloilo City Tour to our Iloilo Hotel to Carles Accommodation to Bancal Port to Taban Port in Caticlan. It will really save you a lot of time as well.

4. PRIORITIZING RESERVATIONS

After doing a good deal of research for the itinerary, start listing down what can you book through advance reservation via online booking or down payment remittance. 

You can see below all the advance booking we were able to book so we can pay in advance and assure that the trip will go smoothly given that the service providers are trustworthy based on reviews. 

The more parts of the trip you can book in advance:
1.) the less you'll shell out money on the day itself
2.) the more you can save money before prices go up
3.) Spares you the energy and hassle to find these bookings on the day itself

Everything we booked in advance for the trip

5. ORGANIZED EXCEL FILE

Create a consolidated file for everyone containing all the needed information and share it via email or google drive. This is extremely helpful when you're a lot in your group, like us who are composed of 10 people. Everyone had their part in taking time creating per sheet and one person who will consolidate everything.

As an example, we included the following in the file:

1. Itinerary
2. Expense Details per person (Total Expenses vs. On the day expenses)
3. Pre-planned menus (To stick to your budget and less time checking the menu)
4. Payment Tracker
5. Bag Plan (to refrain from forgetting anything!)
6. Flight Trackers (includ. info about flight name, who has check in baggage, etc.)

Okay we seem a tad bit over the top in preparing haha!

See highlighted sheet tabs above of all information for our travel