Weekend Getaway!

I thought I would not be able to travel or ride a plane for the next 6 months at least.I am just a month old in my current company and not yet entitled to leaves. But no! I was able to transcend that.

Included in his list of 30 gifts is an overnight stay in the most beautiful resort in Mactan, Shangri-La's Mactan Island Resort in Cebu. That was my weekend getaway last June 4 to 5. We celebrated my birthday and our 4th year anniversary.

I took the earliest flight out of Manila at 5AM via Philippine Airlines alone since Dom was already there since Wednesday for a business trip. I was lucky to have gotten a discounted fare of P4,700+. I arrived Mactan International Airport at 6:30AM filled with excitement and a big smile on my face. I was exploring the resort and hotel by 7AM. Of course, I stayed by the beach and even dozed off in one of the beach benches. It was such a relaxing experience.

Enjoying the early morning beach.

I freshened up in one of the posh restrooms in time for the first schedule of the shuttle to Cebu City. I went down SM and took a cab to Magellan's Cross. My visit to Cebu wouldn't be complete without buying shell/capiz accessories from the vendors there.

I was frustrated at first, not finding anything that catched my fancy. I wanted to buy from every vendor, like last year and I stayed there for 2 hours, bearing the heat. In the end I was able to buy a hand full for a cost of one necklace in Manila. I even talked to one of the vendors to make her a possible supplier should I push through in making this a business.

As agreed, I was back in SM by 12 noon to meet with Dom and Kristine, his FA in Cebu. We ate at Sunburst for I wanted a place native to Cebu alone. Sunburst is Cebu's Jollibee and is well known for the fried chicken. Yummy! We went straight to Mariot for Dom to pack his things and then travelled to Shangri-La. We were welcomed by Dom's friend, Mike (the Resort's Sales Director), treated us watermelon shakes and even escorted us to our room. The room had a beach motif with starfish carvings and cabinet handles. Well, come to think of it so was the whole resort. Our room had a veranda with a view too.

We spent the rest of the day in the beach until it got dark. Too bad the sun did not set on that part of the island or did I just miss it? We enjoyed the pool until we our hands felt like prunes.

As recommended by Melon, my friend who always stays in Shangri-La everytime she is in Cebu, we had dinner in Cowrie Cove, a restaurant and bar situated by the beach. It was a romantic, candlelit place ideal for dates. We tried the Shrimp Sinigang and the Vietnamese vegatable soup. It was extraordinarily delicious. We ended our dinner with the bestseller dessert, Cowrie Sago (could not remember the exact name). Honestly, I wondered why. It was not that great at all. It just tasted like chocolate shake with sago. (I probably expected more.) We decided to call it a night by 11. I was really finding it hard to stop my yawns, having barely slept last Friday.

We were up by 8AM and got ready for the day ahead. I wanted to sunbathe for an hour while Dom wanted to workout in the gym. I experienced the good life again, sleeping by the beach under the heat of the sun before swimming. The weather was fine that day, sunny yet windy. I needed to have a tan before summer was finally over. At least in Visayas, it was still summer. I hit the outdoor shower to rinse the salt by 9:50 AM. Dom and I agreed to meet at Tides for the buffet breakfast by 10AM. Since the buffet was only up to 10:30, we wasted no time in eating and gathering all the yummy food being served. By 11, I had a bulging tummy and hoped that the peppermint tea would flatten it a bit. Thinking that our late checkout time was 1PM, we headed straight to the infinity pool and a quick dip and picture taking in the beach. We were almost ready to leave when Dom received a call from Mike that he moved our checkout time to 4PM. Why didn't he tell us earlier? We just decided to rest and regain our needed rest since it rained anyway.

Before our checkout, Dom wearing his new shorts from Novecento (my surprise gift for him)

Upon checkout, Dom had a short meeting with his officemate in the lobby then we hopped in the shuttle for a quick shopping in SM. For our dinner, we tried the famous CNT Lechon in Cebu. I enjoyed every bit of it even though we just ate in a takeout counter by the supermarket. Our stay in SM was a breeze because we needed to ride the last shuttle back to the resort and be in the airport by 7:45. We ssaid goodbye to our memories in Cebu at 8:40 and PAL was unbelievably on time.

Well, that was it, my memorable, money's worth weekend getaway courtesy of my honey.