My First Solo Trip: Leyte and Samar Islands (With Itinerary)

Last March of 2012, I was able to avail again another promo from the budget airline Cebu Pacific. I had no specific destination in mind as I checked on their website whether there were nice destinations on promotion during some Philippine long weekend holidays. With luck, I found a two-way promo fare for Tacloban City, Leyte on the dates August 26-28. August 27 is a holiday (National Heroes Day), and the flight on August 28 would be early in the morning which would allow me to still come to the office for work and not be absent. So then I grabbed it!

Came August 2012, I started planning for my trip. Since I would be alone, with nobody to share the expenses on hotel, fare, etc., the trip would be in backpacker style: walking, commuting, cheaper pension houses or hostels, among others. So, off I went researching for Leyte and Samar travel tips on the internet. I also printed a map of Tacloban City and other important sites of Leyte and Samar which I grabbed from Google Map. Since August was not a peak tourist season, I didn’t bother reserving a room because some of them would ask for reservation fees, and I hadn't decided yet on what pension house to choose. Instead I listed all of the possible pension houses with their phone numbers, ranked them and planned on calling them when I would arrive Tacloban. This also saved me some money on long-distance calls.

As I arrived in Daniel Z. Romualdez Airport in Tacloban City, I directly went outside the gates of the airport to catch the first jeepney going to the new bus terminal. It helped a lot that I didn’t have any check-in baggage with me. Most of the jeepneys were just plying until Tacloban downtown (minimum fare of 20php), however, the new bus terminal is located outside downtown. Good thing, there was this one jeepney willing to go to the new bus terminal with an asking price of 50php per passenger. I didn’t mind the higher price since I don’t want to get lost in the downtown area looking for another way to the bus terminal.

From the airport, the new bus terminal is around 8-10 kilometers away, I think, and it took us around 30 minutes to get there. But first, the jeepney dropped off some passengers in the downtown area, especially in VanVan terminal and Grand Tours terminal. These are the terminals of vans going to towns/cities outside Tacloban like Ormoc City, Catbalogan City, among others.

For the specific details about my travel to each point of interest, please click the following:

DAY 1 

A Visit to the Philippines' Tallest Bridge: Agas-Agas Bridge

The Town of Palo

The Boy Scout Monument and McArthur Landing Memorial

GV Hotel and other Tacloban Pension Houses and Hotels

My Tacloban City Tour on Day 1 

Leyte-Samar Food Trip: Calle Z

DAY 2 

The town of Balangiga and the Balangiga Encounter 

Marabut Extreme Adventure 

Caluwayan Palm Island Resort 

San Juanico Bridge 

My Tacloban City Tour on Day 2 

Leyte Food Trip: Calle Z

Others 

Leyte-Samar Pasalubong and Delicacies 

Daniel Z. Romualdez Airport (Tacloban Airport)

Below is the itinerary of my Leyte-Samar trip. Everything went well according to plan, even the time of each travel from one point to the other. There were a few changes on the budget, but it was okay since it was charged to experience.

DAY 1 - Aug. 26 Sunday	Departure	Arrival		Major Expenses & Fare
Manila to Tacloban (NAIA 3)	4:20AM	5:35AM	Taxi	200
			Terminal Fee	200
Tacloban Airport to New Tacloban Bus Terminal	5:55AM	6:25AM	Jeepney Fare	50
Bus Terminal to Agas-Agas Bridge	7:00AM	9:00AM	Van Fare	150
Entrance to Agas-Agas View				5
Cable Car Ride				200
Rest Room Fee				3
Agas-Agas to Palo town	10:30AM	12:00NN	Van Fare	130
Palo to Campetic Crossing	12:30PM	12:40PM	Jeepney Fare	8
McArthur Landing Site to Campetic Crossing	Traysikad Fare			10
Campetic Crossing to Robinsons Mall	Jeepney Fare			8
Robinsons to Tacloban downtown (Juan Luna St.)	Jeepney Fare			8
Check-in at GC Hotel (4:00PM)	2 days Accomodation (450php per night)			900
Deposit for the key (refundable)				200
Capitol to Calle Z	Tricycle Fare			14
Dinner at Calle Z	6:30PM	7:30PM	Food

 

DAY 2 - Aug. 27 Monday	Departure	Arrival		Major Expenses & Fare (in pesos)
Tacloban to Balangiga town	5:30PM	7:10AM	Van Fare	150
Balangiga to Marabut Extreme	8:50AM	9:45AM	Van Fare	100
Highway to Marabut Extreme Adventure	walk for 15 minutes
	Entrance to Marabut Extreme			25
Marabut Extreme to Caluwayan Palm Island Beach Resort	Traysikad Fare			15
Entrance to Caluwayan				20
Lunch				195
Caluwayan to San Juanico Bridge endpoint in Samar	1:00PM	1:30PM	Van Fare	50
One end of San Juanico to another end (Samar to Leyte)	Habal-Habal Fare (20pesos was the asking price, but I gave 50 since the driver was very helpful and accommodating)			50
San Juanico (Leyte) to Tacloban downtown				13
Tricycle to GV Hotel				7
Romualdez Museum to Price Mansion	Jeepney Fare			8
Dinner at	Food			90

 

DAY 2 - Aug. 28 Tuesday	Departure	Arrival		Major Expenses & Fare (in pesos)
GV Hotel to Tacloban Airport	4:30AM	5:00AM	Jeepney Fare	20
Airport Terminal Fee				30
Tacloban to Manila	6:05AM	7:15AM
Airport Bus to MRT Taft Station				20
MRT Taft to Shaw Station				12