THE PHILIPPINES ARE PHAT!
*****This post is dedicated to Jacob, who was taken from the world too soon on 08/20/2020.*****
R.I.P. Jacob Gulane
****This post was written over the last 2 years and I, regretfully, never got around to editing and posting it…. which now seems trivial in the scheme of things. In the Philippines, once you meet, you become immediate family. And part of that family was taken from us recently….. Redison/Gulane family- words cannot express how much I love you and how sorry I am for the loss of Jacob. He was such a bright star in the midst of the most amazing family that stole my heart from the second I stepped through the door. You’re our angel now and always.
The rest of this post is the original… I hope you enjoy and can take something away from it. Thank you for reading
The Philippines are made up of 7,000 different islands, each fun and unique in its own way. 7,000 ISLANDS PEOPLE!
The best part of my experience in the Philippines is that I got to spend my time there with someone very special to me. I met Heather when I was in 6th grade, and we have been close friends since the day we met. She had recently set off with a friend to travel in Asia, and ended up loving it so much she decided to make her move more permanent and teach English in Vietnam. Knowing this, of course we made plans to meet up while I was on the same continent.
I had every intention on meeting Heather and her friend Bronteé in Vietnam. Things changed last minute when Heather told me her neighbor back home was from the Philippines and had family living just outside Manila in Aklan. We quickly started making arrangements to meet there instead..which ended up being the BEST decision despite some minor setbacks (which comes with the territory when traveling)…
Upon my arrival in Manila, I was pretty exhausted from sitting in an extremely small Thai airport for hours on end. I booked a hostel half asleep and hopped on the back of a motorbike taxi (I did this to save money and avoid having to pay full price for an airport taxi – I probably could’ve chosen a safer route but I was running low on money and decided to trust my intuition). About an hours worth of wrong turns later, we arrived at what looked like an abandoned building… I was super sketched out and as I watched my ride drive away, I could almost cry as I searched for my phone to look for plan B.
Hesitantly, I got onto the sketchy elevator that I was sure was taking me up to some deadbeat hostel with rats running around and a serial killer waiting for me. I could not have been more wrong. You would not have thought it was the same building from the way it looked once I got inside. The rooftop pool and hot tub, 50 cent ice cold beers, AMAZING company, and well kept dorms did not disappoint… (don’t judge a book by it’s cover, amiright?). Suddenly I had a second wind and was ready for a night out with some fellow travelers. Here are a few pictures of the hostel from the Hostelworld website. I did not take these personally but they are very accurate representations of what I experienced.
Pool/jacuzzi 
Lobby/Wifi lounge 
Dorm
After exploring what Manila had to offer, I made my way out into the city to find Heather and Brontee.
Before long, I was united with the girls and we were on our way to this amazing family’s home. I have never experienced such warm and inviting people in my entire life. Especially coming from America, where people think you’re a lunatic if you let strangers into your home. Meanwhile, I’m sitting in a “strangers” home but had never felt more like family. Surrounded by laughter, all the food you could ever want, and amazing scenery. It was surreal.
We shortly learned the filipino lingo for “brother” (Kuya) and “sister” (Ate). These words are used to refer to an older male/female relative or close friend. The Redison family took such good care of us. Starting with taking me to the hospital to get some infected wounds cleaned and bandaged. ANDDDDDDDD THEN spoiling the crap out of me on my birthday. They are literally the best. THANK YOU ATES AND KUYAS….WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH.
Continue on to the next page to see some pics from our Boracay adventures 🙂