Lakbay

Lakbay — journey — is the travel section, and it is built around the questions people actually ask before a trip. Not what an island looks like in a photograph. What the boat costs, which terminal it leaves from, whether the tricycle driver at the port will ask for ₱50 or ₱200, and how many days you really need before Palawan starts to feel rushed. Province guides, budget itineraries with the arithmetic shown, and the practical shape of a balikbayan trip — the returnee’s trip home — when three weeks have to cover two provinces and everyone’s family.

It is written for Pinays travelling their own country, whether that means a long weekend from Manila or a flight home after four years away. Costs here are indicative ranges with the month they were compiled, never a promise, and where we have not been somewhere first-hand we say so in the piece. Start with the five-day Palawan itinerary if you are planning your first trip, or Batanes if you want somewhere the weather still runs the schedule.