For the August's long weekend (August 23-26, 2024), our family went to the Philippine's summer capital: Baguio City.
It's the first time our nieces and nephews to go up to Baguio.
It's the first time of my parents to go back after three decades!
So you can just imagine how wide ranging our age and interests are. It was crucial that we pace our itinerary such that both the kiddos and the granny's are enjoying.
We were in Baguio for three days and two nights. Here's our itinerary went:
Day 1 - August 23, Friday
11 AM - Kennon Road, Lion's Head
1 PM - Transient house near Baguio Cathedral, freshen up, rest
4 PM - go to SM Baguio to buy groceries for the house, and had super early dinner
7 PM - brought the toddler (with the aunt) and the grannies back to the house with our hired van
At this time, the kids and the adults with extra energy toured around:
SM Baguio
Session Road
Night Market at Harrison Road and Igorot Garden
Day 2 - August 24, Saturday
Full day!
9 AM - Mirador Hill
11 AM - Lunch at home (this is a sad part because we are a big party and it was nearing lunch hour, we didn't get to go to Good Taste and Cafe by the Ruins. We just bought a lot of food from Baliwag, and feasted on various roasted food)
3 PM - Igorot Stone Kingdom
4 PM - Mines View Park
6 PM - Home to freshen up
7 PM - Dinner at Jungle Sam
9 PM - Back to the house
Day 3 - August 25, Sunday
9 AM - checked out of the transient house
9:30 AM - Baguio Cathedral
Session Road to buy trinkets and pasalubong
Victoria Bakery for their delicious cream puffs
11 AM - Burnham Park
11:30 AM - Ate at Solibao Restaurant
1 PM - Burnham Park again while the oldies were napping in the van at the nearby Igorot Garden parking slot
3 PM - the rain poured hard and we ran to the van, thankfully the kids were fully decked out in their rain outfits and umbrellas
This is a pretty lax itinerary. With almost half of the time spent at the transient home. Here are the things we could've done differently to make it more enjoyable:
- Wake up earlier on Day 1 - We were supposed to be up by 4 AM and out of the door by 5 AM. As it turned out, we peeled ourselves off our beds at 5 AM. My nieces came in late the previous night (August 22, Thursday) and we were still in high spirits up until 12-1 AM. As a result, we hardly got any rest time. We found it hard to wake up. And we were the Stop Number 1. Our vehicle is to pick up my sister and other niece on Stop Number 2. As a domino effect, we were late. We left Taytay, Rizal at around 6:30 AM. Got to Baguio at around lunch time, and missed out on some more Baguio exploration time.
- Take a taxi ride to reserve the restaurants we want to get into - Cafe by the Ruins, Good Taste, are just some of the restaurants we would have wanted our family to try--together! They don't take reservation. You have to walk in to their restaurants to get a table. And when you plan to do so, ensure you're there probably at 10 AM to reserve a good table, and eat at a decent hour. We were in one van and what we could've done was for one of us to break away from the group, take a cab, and reserve a good table at this restaurants.
- Explore more gastronomic wonders, even just in Session Road - We should've motivated the kids to move more quickly and rest less often so we could've gone to Vizco's, Oh My Gulay, visit different small stores, and just explore more. Oh well, things to aspire for in our next trip. There was also scattered rain showers during our stay so we don't want to get sick, or worse, slip on the pavements, which some of my nieces are prone to. Also missed out on some good bars and good beers.
- Extend our transient home til 3 PM - As you can see from the itinerary above, we left the house at 9 AM to catch a morning mass, and marched on until the afternoon. What we could've done is go to the mass, get take out or delivery from Good Taste Restaurant, feast at home, and let our elders rest a bit before we leave for Manila. The extension is only Php 100 each hour anyway. Instead they crammed themselves in the van to take a nap. Tsk. Wrong move. We thought of sticking together in our last day because we thought vehicular traffic will be awful because of the closure of Session Road, as is the wont there. But it turns out, one, it was not that bad, and two, our driver is skillful and familiar with Baguio road that we need not to worry about getting stuck in traffic.
But overall, this trip has been an exhilarating one for us. We've been planning to go to Baguio in late July 2024, before the school starts. But thanks to Super Typhoon Carina, we were unable to leave as it was devastating Baguio during our planned weekend getaway. Good thing our van service and transient home were gracious enough to allow us to re-schedule the family trip. Our trip missed out on a lot of Baguio goodies, but it is still one for the books.
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