Awesome Tour Package to Pangasinan via Byaheng Victory

 By Cheryl Golangco on April 6, 2013

When In Manila and you’re ready for an adventure, hurry and visit TravelFactor.org and check out their awesome getaways planned.

Everyone loves travelling, and each has his own reason why. Some enjoy it because of the adventure, some for the food, some for the sights, and still others to simply relax. Regardless of the reason, people enjoy the luxury of it. Thing is, not many people enjoy planning it.

Doesn’t this picture just make you want to get up and travel else where?

Planning takes a lot of effort, especially if you’re going to a place you’ve never been to before. You have to do some research, ask around, etc. to make sure you find all the “hidden treasures”. The best thing about Travel Factor is that they can do all that for you! All you need to do is pick a date, a place and deposit your payment! Moreover, you get to meet new people! Travelling just got even easier with Travel Factor’s new partnership with Victory Liners in a joint project called Byaheng Victory!

Personalized bag tag and souvenir item!

Byaheng Victory booked for Pangasinan

Our trip to Pangasinan was booked as early as February. I was extremely excited! Booking is really easy, all you need to do is visit their site, pick which adventure you want and click BOOK NOW. You can pay online via PayPal, bank deposit via BPI (Peso) and Metrobank (USD) or cash/check at the Travel Factor Headquarters. You will be sent a welcome email to confirm once they’ve received your payment.

A week before your adventure, you will be sent a primer. Everything you need to know about your trip is there. Date, time, things to bring, etc. There’s really nothing much you need to worry about!

Meet Up at Victory Liner, Cubao

We all met up at Victory Liner in Cubao. That’s where we met our guide Ma-ann Rabino. Ma-ann was very welcoming! She had this big smile on her face the moment she saw us and immediately gave us our cool personalized bag tags (photo on page 1) and asked us to sign a waiver. We were then led to our bus and off we were on our 5 hour ride to Alaminos.

Breakfast and Hundred Island Tour

As soon as we “landed”, we had a hefty breakfast at a nearby restaurant and immediately headed off for our Hundred Island Tour. Again, everything was already pre-arranged. We just needed to follow Ma-ann to wherever it was we were going.

Breakfast is inclusive (depends on the package)

We rode our boat and sailed around a few islands. We stopped and swam on 3 or 4. Our two friend, Elijah and James even decided to go snorkeling and had the chance to see the magnificent giant clams!

 Swimming at one of the hundred islands

One island had this cave which was connected to the ocean. You’d have to climb up and dive in!

We had the chance to climb more hills and mountains on the different islands, but my favorite would have to be Governor’s Island. Here, you get to climb to the peak where you will be able to view all 100+ islands! (There are more than just a hundred islands now) The islands were just BEAUTIFUL! The wind blowing in my hair, clear blue sky above and crystal water down below with green islands popping out every few meters. It is definitely a work of art and one you should see at least once in this lifetime!

 Hundred Islands in the background. Astonishing ain’t it?

It was soon getting late and time to head back. The weather started to turn and it started drizzling too. Everyone was happy for the rains as it cooled us all off, but then it just got scary! While in the boat on the way back to the main island, the rain started pouring really hard! We could even see long bolts of lighting from afar. For some reason, I didn’t feel scared as I felt how confident the boatman was. Ma-ann also made sure everyone was okay and even asked us all to wear our life jackets just to be sure. I could sense she was scared but she tried her best to hide it. I loved how our entire group kept laughing the entire way back despite the fear of our boat actually sinking from the strong rains! I would say this turned out to be the highlight of the trip! Kudos to our guide Ma-ann and the boatman for being leaders during this event.

Eli’s hair-raising reaction when the rain suddenly poured. The rain felt like hundreds of needs being thrown at us for some reason!

Check in at Villa Soledad Beach Resort

Finally settled down, had a change of clothes and rode the private van to the resort. I honestly expected a crappy resort in which we would just stay to sleep. Most people, especially travellers usually don’t mind where they stay as long as the adventure is worth it. I however can be very picky. I want my room to be just as nice as my adventure ahead, and I was thrilled to see Travel Factor took care of that as well. Our rooms were big and clean. The beds were also very comfortable with blankets I absolutely loved! The resort even had its own basketball court and 2 huge swimming pools! Absolutely divine!

Rooms/Houses at Villa Soledad Beach Resort

Some rooms had 3 beds, others just 1. Ours had 2 as we were splitting the room with our friend Eli too.

Before ending the night, our tour group drank a couple of shots and bonded with a few bottles of beer and a bottle of Jack Daniel’s. It was a fun fun adventure with wonderful people!

Wake Up and Go! Bolinao tour!

Ma-Ann woke us up around 7am the following day to have breakfast and off we were to Bolinao. We were supposed to visit the waterfalls but because of yesterday’s downpour, it had to be cancelled. It was sad but of course, we all understood. Safety always comes first. We visited a nearby beach instead and a quick stroll to the light house.

Cool lighthouse!

We then headed off to the ENCHANTED CAVES. Just the name itself already got everyone excited and cracking corny jokes. (hehe) We climbed a few steps up and then went slowly down to what seemed like a very small opening. Underneath however was a beautiful stream with clear blue water. Left me in awe. Just WOOOOWWWW….

Going under to the Enchanted Caves

Swimming in the clear blue waters

The guys swam for a while and we headed to lunch and a quick tour at the Marine Life Conservatory. There wasn’t much to see but we did see a giant clam! Soon, it was time to head home and board the Victory Liner bus back to Manila.

Did I mention their buses have Wi-Fi and are high end? Aircons, TV, lamp and all!

Byaheng Victory = Success

The trip was wonderful. It was relaxing, exciting and allowed me to appreciate the Philippines even more. Seeing the hundred islands is just breath taking. Had I seen this when I was learning my history back then, I might have listened to my teacher more. Absolutely fascinating!

Group photo! (L-R) Joseph, Ize, Ize’s mom, Ma-Ann, Adrian, James, Say, Philippe, Elijah, Me

“We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us.  When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.“ ~Aldo Leopold (1887-1948)

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