A travel & adventure blog by Kara Santos
Antipolo has its fair share of restaurants and cafes that offer stunning views overlooking the city. Kaulayaw Café is one of the newest dining destinations along the Antipolo ridge, specializing in locally sourced coffee. Because of the ongoing pandemic, open-air dining destinations with nature views are much more preferable for dining out rather than enclosed indoor restaurants in malls.
Batala Bar in Intramuros recently reopened! Right before the lockdown restrictions in March 2020, I met up with good friend Mica of Senyorita for a “business meeting” in the area and we spent a chill afternoon with mugs of local craft beer here. It’s been a while since I’ve enjoyed random meet-ups with friends over drinks and it’s nice to know that more establishments are finding ways to reopen with the proper health and safety measures, like contact tracing and health declaration forms in place.
I’m always on the lookout for unique places to eat for road trips. These days, with the restrictions because of the pandemic, we’ve been dining mostly at home, or in accessible spots where we can enjoy fresh air and nature views not far from the city. To kick off the new year, we checked out a new place in Antipolo that’s been getting some buzz online for its rustic and romantic look.
It’s a really challenging time for travelers. With the COVID-19 pandemic, there’s been a lot of medical jargon being thrown around, unknown acronyms, long list of requirements that vary per destination, expensive tests, and the very real risk of getting sick or stuck in a quarantine facility. Most people have chosen to avoid traveling altogether unless it’s really essential, and I can’t blame them.
I recently had to go through the tedious process for a work trip to Bohol that involved air travel. And while I enjoyed the destination very much once I got there, what went on behind the scenes before and after made me reassess if it’s really worth traveling for leisure at this time.
Continue reading “A Guide to COVID-related Travel Requirements in the Philippines”After months of living under the longest lockdown in the world, many people who live in Metro Manila are eager to travel once again. Different destinations are slowly opening their doors to domestic tourists for “non-essential” leisure travel. The cautious reopening is part of government efforts to kick-start the tourism economy that has suffered from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic since March 2020.
Bike tourism has really boomed in the Philippines during the pandemic. While most of us living in cities have had to content ourselves with urban rides the past few months, there are loads of beautiful places in the Philippines perfect for biking. The thought of being able to bike through coastal and mountain roads in island provinces is something I’m looking forward to doing once we can all travel freely again. The sad lack of green spaces to bike around Metro Manila got me reminiscing about some of the most amazing destinations in the country that I’ve had the chance to explore by bike, particularly Batanes.
The Philippines has a very rich pasalubong culture. The term literally translates to “something for when you welcome me” and shows the giving spirit of Filipinos when it comes to bringing something from their destination for friends and family back home. Whenever I travel, I try not to skip the usual t-shirts and magnets, but look for something unique to the place. It could be anything from processed food, a local delicacy you can only find in that place, arts and crafts or home decor.
Despite being a highly urbanized city, Marikina still manages to retain a sense of history, nature, and culture. The “Shoe Capital of the Philippines” is a bike-friendly city that possesses a quiet, small-town charm. Heritage buildings are preserved, the streets are clean and well-maintained, there are actual designated bike lanes, a number of public recreational spots, and green spaces, and lots of charming homegrown garden restaurants, unique shops, and hidden gems here.
Whenever I bike around Marikina, I feel like I’m biking around a small town in the province. While the rest of Metro Manila feels grimy, congested, and overly developed, you still get the feel of the simple provincial life in some spots here. Marikina feels like a modern-day pueblo where family-run businesses are still the norm and cultural heritage is still present. Here’s a look at some of the fun and unique things you can do in Marikina.
Continue reading “10 Fun & Unique Things to do in Marikina”Craft beer is one of the few things that has kept me sane during this pandemic. While my friends have been filling their homes with indoor plants and collecting every possible BTS merchandise out there, I’ve been quietly drinking beer at home. Dining out and social drinking has not been allowed in the Philippines the months following the lockdown, but thankfully many local brewers have been able to adapt and started offering their beers for home delivery.
We were initially planning to go on the North Loop last March, traversing the provinces of the Northern Luzon by motorcycle. Of course, COVID happened, so that trip didn’t push through and we’ve been living under the lockdown the past few months.
One of the things I look forward to the most during long road trips is the unique food offerings every destination has to offer. But while we can’t go on long road trips right now, thankfully, we can still get a taste of the regions through food. For many of us, ordering food has become the new travel in this age of the pandemic. We try to make our weekend meals more special and try something different to have something new to look forward to.
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