Land tripping

Friday morning I woke up feeling adventurous, and by that I mean, I felt that I could tackle my anxiety. So Jordan and I got on a taxi and headed for the bus terminal at 6 a.m. to cross to another island called Negros Occidental, from there we would cross again to Ilo-ilo.

At the bus terminal we decided to take the minivan, they call it V-hire --meaning a passenger van. There were 17 of us packed like sardines, I could hardly wiggle my legs. The fare was 100 pesos each, (2 USD) compared to the bus which costs about half. The advantage of taking this minivan is that it gets to your destination at least 40 minutes faster than the big buses. Duration of the trip: 1.45 hours.

In spite of my mounting anxiety, I kept pushing myself because I wanted to conquer my anxiety attacks (and not the other way around) plus, Jordan was so excited to do this trip, because this boy hasn't been on a boat or a trip this long. The last boat ride deposited us on the dock in Ilo-ilo at 4pm., so it was practically an all day travel.

To those of you planning a land trip to Ilo-ilo from Cebu, here's the route:
1. Bus or minivan to Toledo City pier terminal --costs P100 -duration of travel 1.45 hours
2. From there you take the boat and cross to San Carlos city in Negros Occidental --costs P170 per person. duration of travel: 1.45 hours
3. There's a RO/RO ship that you can take if you have a vehicle with you... Ro/Ro means roll on/roll off. The first trip leaves at 7:30 in the morning and I think 3 more after that. The fare for the vehicle is quiet costly, around P1200 including the terminal fee.
4. From the San Carlos pier, take a tricycle to the bus terminal and get on a Ceres bus to take you to Bacolod. Make sure you take the bus that goes via the Don Salvador mountain, it's a 2.5 hour ride. If you take the Escalanted route it would be at least 4 hours. The Don Salvador mountain vista is breathtaking, but the winding road up and down the mountains where the tires of the bus are practically on the edge of the cliff was all I could take. Cost: p135.00 per person
5. From the bus terminal take a tricycle or taxi to the boat terminal. There's a boat that leaves every hour to cross to Ilo-ilo. I had a promo fare of p225.00 per person if you buy a roundtrip ticket, otherwise it costs p370.00 one way. Duration of travel: 1 hour on a fast craft

I talk about the breathtaking view of Don Salvador, but I have no pictures of it because I was barely alive trying to manage my anxiety and the fear of the deep plunge---this is why on the way back to Cebu I took the bus with wings. The plane went up and down just like that...in 40 minutes flat I was back in the island of Cebu. By the way, Jordan didn't have any ID with him so he was not allowed to fly, so I put him on the overnite boat, a 12 hour ride and costs p650 at the boat terminal or p700 through a travel agent.