Travel: Trip to Subic (Day 1)

June 08, 2012

Our summer vacation came a little late this year but as they say, "better late than never".  The kids, Patrick and I went to Subic for 3 days and 2 nights and we were lucky enough to be test driving the 2012 Subaru Impreza WRX STI for Top Gear Philippines in the same trip.

Our first stop on our trip was the Teriyaki Boy Restaurant in the Petron compound along the North Luzon Expressway.  We all love Japanese food and Dylan especially loves California Maki as you can see from this picture.

The rest of us had Katsudon,gyoza and the rest of the Maki.

It's just great that my kids really love trying out new food for themselves. :)

After having that hefty lunch, we all trooped back to the Subaru STI we named "Ghost" in honor of John Snow's direwolf in Game of Thrones.  Why Ghost?  Well, he's silver (close to white) but he's so ferocious on the road.  He can reach up to 200 kilometers per hour and there's not even a hint of hardship on the engine.  He's as cool as they come.  I didn't even know we were running at that speed!  But sshhh! I don't think that's allowed :D  I did have a problem with it being too sporty as I felt it was a bumpy ride.  I ended up getting a headache upon arriving in Subic.  This car is an animal on the road!!





We arrived in Subic in record time. We checked in at the Bayfront Hotel which was were we usually stay when in Subic.  We were surprised to see a new hotel in front of Bayfront.  It was still under construction when we last came to Subic.    Now it was called the Terrace Hotel and it looked interesting from my vantage point.  At first we had a problem with checking in because the room that they assigned was not the one that I requested when I made the booking.  Then they couldn't accommodate the request because they were fully booked.  Good for them so I settled with a different room.  This one had twin beds which still wasn't what I asked for and not what I paid for.  Eventually, they got it right.  It was a good thing I was still in a good mood or else ...  With this setback, I was considering trying out the Terrace Hotel on the other side the next time we came to Subic.


So we just rested for a while with the kids just watching TV.  In the end, we opted to go to Royal Subic to buy our snacks for the beach trip tomorrow and to see if there was anything worth buying :)


Right after buying what we needed to buy, it really didn't take us long, we went to Meat Plus Cafe for dinner.  It was a good thing we didn't take too long at the Duty Free because when we reached Meat Plus, there wasn't that many people lined up and we were able to get a very cozy table.  Right after we ordered, the people started coming in...

Here are pics of us waiting for our orders at Meat Plus Cafe.

And here are our orders:

Tenderloin Meal

Meat Plus Burger Meal

Hamburger Steak Meal

After a satisfying meal, we all went back to the hotel to rest.  I also had to pack our stuff for our trip to the beach the next day.

Holy Week Vacation

March 30 - April 01

The busy and hectic lives of people have certainly changed the way the Holy Week is commemorated.  Take our family for instance, we hardly have any days for vacation because of Patrick's schedule which often includes weekends especially during the summer when there are a lot of car-related activities going on.  The Holy Week is the only holiday time when you can take longer with your vacation instead of just the usual weekend.  Of course, you have to file your leave applications beforehand and at the earliest possible time.

Anyway, Patrick and I have decided we're going to go to Subic during the Holy Week and spend 3D/2Ns there in celebration of the kids' birthdays and Dana's excellent performance in school.  Unfortunately, we left it too late for scheduling and we ended up reserving for Holy Tuesday up to Holy Thursday.  It was still fine and it was actually better because Subic wasn't going to be so cluttered with people and by the time that we're going home, that was the time when people will be arriving so we'll be against the traffic.

Our first stop during the trip was having brunch at Delifrance along the North Luzon Expressway.  We haven't really tried any of their dishes but we're a fan of their baked products.  The store was airy and cozy and the food was great!

It was smooth sailing going to Subic via the fast and smooth Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX).  We made it in such a short time.  You can however observe that there were many people heading to Subic because of the number of vehicles that were traveling at the same speed as us hahhaha After checking in at our favorite Subic Bayfront Hotel, we all changed into our swim attire and headed for the pool.  In our excitement, we forgot the cameras so we don't have any pictures hahahaha

We timed it well though because we finished swimming with just enough time to spare to head to Meat Plus Cafe so that Den will have a chance to try their great steaks (it's Den's first time to be with us in Subic).  We were all famished and ended up eating so fast we didn't have time to take pictures (gluttons!) hahahaha

With a huge dinner in our stomachs, we needed to walk all of it off so we headed to the beach.  The kids were running around and building sandcastles even though they can't make the sand stick LOL

 The next morning after our buffet breakfast at the hotel's Japanese/Korean Restaurant, we climbed into Stanley in search of a beach to swim in.  We kinda new where to go because we've already scouted some of them in our previous trips.

We didn't go to Camayan because we knew they're fully booked so naturally there'd be a lot of people on the beach.  We headed to All Hands and true enough the beach was packed.  Dungaree beach was relatively peaceful so that's where we stayed.  The beach was clean, the huts were comfortable.

We had lunch there and we all had a blast.  The water was warm, the beach wasn't rocky.  With the kids' floaties, they were able to swim freely  which they loved.  The sand got too hot though and Dylan got a little scared when we tried walking across it the first time to get to the beach from our hut.  We had to run and when our feet touched the water he was all smiles again! :P

We spent the whole afternoon there and we had so much fun.  We're going back for sure!

 We came back dinner time and we had hotpot at the hotel's restaurant.  We just love eating there hahaha We just spent the rest of the night in our room watching cable TV hahaha (a luxury we can't afford!)

The next day, going home, we stopped at the duty free shops where I was able to buy 2 pairs of Land's End jeans that fit me so well and they were so cheap - only P250 each!! Den was able to buy for herself a pair of jeans too :)

It was a great and relaxing vacation :)

Family Bonding in Subic Bay

February 12-14, 2010

We scheduled our first out of town trip to coincide with Patrick's birthday and Valentine's Day.  It also happened to be our 15th year and 3rd month anniversary but who's counting (really?!) hahaha  It also was kind of a treat for Dana as well because her grades went up this quarter :)  This time we really planned on staying 3 days and 2 nights because the trip was long and we wanted to savor the experience and we had a lot of planned activities too :)  We left Ate Mel and Ate Den at home because Ate Den had classes and can't afford to miss them, even though she wanted to come.  Ate Mel was her chaperone at home hehehe

Here we are having lunch at Kenny Roger's Roasters along the North Luzon Expressway.  After a dip in the pool, here are my babies resting in our room.  Actually, that's one of the perks of the Bayfront Subic Hotel.  Aside from the very affordable and large rooms that they have, they also have a very good Japanese-Korean restaurant and a pool.  When we looked around Subic for accommodations, other hotels didn't have the advantage of having a pool.  When you're with kids you need a pool to keep them occupied even if you have cable TV in your room.  :)

What's more these rooms are huge! You even have a veranda, although the beach is blocked by a building being constructed, but still you feel the breeze of the ocean.  That couch can be for an extra person, you know :) The room is cold enough anyway :)

For dinner, Patrick recommended eating the Meat Plus Cafe, a very popular Subic hangout for people who love fat, juicy steaks.  Although, a word of warning they can be quite costly at around P250 a pop :)  Patrick couldn't stop raving about his food but unfortunately for me, I didn't like what was served.  Though the service crew were helpful, especially since we arrived during peak hours, my steak was so bloody I'd have turned into a vampire just by eating it.  I had no choice since I've already sliced it and I was just so hungry by that time that I just let it go.  In all fairness, they were fat steaks but the veggies could've been tastier with more butter :D I love butter! :D  I don't want to risk another tasting so I doubt if I'll return there. After dinner, we took a walk on the beach.  Dylan hated the feel of the sand on his feet hahahaha

The next day, we scheduled a trip to Ocean Adventure.  Ticket prices were P500 per adult and P420 for kids under 12.  I knew that we would be spending much when we got there but we did spend around 3 hours in the Park because of all the different attractions that were scheduled so it was just worth it.  While waiting for our first sked, we spent time at the Aquarium.

It would have been less hectic if we had the place to ourselves but that's wishful thinking.  There were kids on their educational field trip when we got there.  It was a good thing that thanks to the advice of the people in Bayfront we came early.  The dolphin pens were great to look at because you can see the dolphins up close, just look at the pictures that Patrick took.  

The first stop on our itinerary was the Dolphin show at the Seaside Stadium which lasted around 30 minutes.  Unfortunately, the camera ran out of battery even though we charged it so we weren't able to take pictures of the dolphins while the show was on-going.

These were taken while we were running around the place.  We ended up near the Eco-Theater and the Adventure Beach.  All the other people were in their respective shows so there was no one about.

Here's a picture of Brandy, the Sea Lion.  He had a lot of tricks and part of the show involved volunteers from the audience.  He knows how to play dead, roll around on the floor, smile and talk, salute and march - all through positive reinforcement.  There were more attractions like the Walk on the Wild Side which was a showcase of snakes, bats, dogs, cats and birds.  The last show was called "Rap, Jump and Roll" which was a variety show featuring mascots, dancing, rapping and a trampoline-acrobatic performance.



After the hot day at the Ocean Adventure, we headed back to the hotel and changed to our swimsuits for a dip in the cool waters of the pool.  Oh, we had burgers at Wimpy's for lunch, I almost forgot! LOL


For dinner, we ate at the hotel restaurant and we had shabu-shabu!! There was also an ongoing valentine's dinner outside the hotel complete with a band and a buffet set up.  We preferred to be indoors where there's aircon hehehe but look at that scrumptious food!

The next morning after our buffet breakfast, we headed to the beach to walk off all that food! :D  The sun wasn't so hot, the water was calm and the kids enjoyed walking on the water :)  Here are a couple of videos :

Dana frolicking on the beach
Dylan's version of running on water

After getting wet, we went back to the hotel were we prepared for going home.  We had such a good time, such a relaxing time that we didn't want to go back to the hectic and crazy life of the city :)