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May 15, 2015

Western Visayas Road Trip (#wvtrip) Day 1: kid-proofed trip

(May 14, 2015)
Mark had been talking about taking a road trip from Cebu to Boracay, which means from Cebu cross to Negros then cross to Panay, for some time. I was really thinking that 70% that it would not happen because for one, i did not get why Boracay?!? Then second is that Road trip with 3 kids of different attitudes for 10 days, i dunno if we can survive that. Then 3rd, ever since that I got into running, riding in a car for "joy rides" seemed to have less appeal to me. 

But then Thursday morning, we're in an empty McDonald's in Toledo waiting for the boarding time of Lite shipping to San Carlos, Negros Oriental.

Based on the few short trips that we had previously with kids and day 1 of #wvtrip, here's how we kid-proofed trips.

1. Breakfast at some fastfood. I'm not advocating junkfood. But it's probably a way to start a long trip on a common ground for everyone.

2. Tablets, the necessary evil.
It was fun to see how each generation occupied their selves during the boat ride to Negros: newspaper to tabs.
(Aboard on Lite Shipping to San Carlos, Negros Occidental from Bacolod)

3. In between, stopovers - a mini-trip within a long trip.

(The San Carlos part of going up the mountain highway looked so dry and bald. But it got greener further.)
4. When you run out of entertainment, hope from the highest heavens that they will doze off on their own.
5. GPS maps may also be source of adventure when it would lead you to almost non-existent road.

 6. Book a "disneyland" resort to SOLVE the main concern: adhd / short attention span disorder.
But wait? This is also a Bible-stories themed resort.
As much as possible, we go for accommodation with pool. The easiest way to entertain the kids is to throw them into a poolz So we thought Campuestohan Highlands Resort must be the best; it has 2 pools, play ground, all these life-size cartoon / comic heroes characters, and all these "hanging" kind of activities - from hanging bridge, zipline, rope course, etc. (The owner seems to have "hanging" obsession.).
Definitely, it has more than enough amenities for my kids' short-attention span to handle. It was perfect except, see below for the except...

7. Comfort food. :) Forget about the gourmet foods, and the chance to eat the hard-to-pronounce foods because it's going to be CHICKEN breakfast, lunch, and dinner because you do not want to ruin the "moment" by arguing over what food to eat.
Binakol, another chicken dish. I LIKE!
And, of course the ice cream too!

7. Bring a board game. Check ballistagames.com for cool games. :)
8. Get a fulltime yaya. That's I! And probably the main reason why i'm hesitant for this road trip because it will NOT be a "grand vacation" at all for me. But i'm not complaining because Selfie pa, 'day. :)

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So Campuestohan Highland Resort felt like its owner wants to bring all his experiences from his trip to Disneyland, Universal Studios, etc, including the Holy Week way of the Cross into one resort with a Pinoy touch of swimming pools. And, definitely he got it right because everyone flocked to it that it felt like there was a fiesta celebration. There were just too many people, the extrovert in me was overwhelmed that I wanted to run away from the first sight but then it's NOT my trip so suck it up.

Their accommodations have cool designa (but hot because it was all cement) -- indian village and hobbit home. They were too cool that they're part of the public attraction. 

So It was not enough for it to be like a brick-oven hot (because we're dirt cheap, we chose the cheapest one which turned out to have no aircon), worse was that we could not open the windows and doors because a lot of the guests of the resort were passing by and checking, taking photos with our "touristy" room.

(There were always this group of people milling around taking photos of the "accommodations.")

(Rapunzel, let down your hair.)

But still, it's worth checking. Plus the food was okay -- that homecooked meal kind of food. :)

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