Braving Bacolod: En Route

Remember my post about how you can travel on a tight budget? This is the first of the many travels I plan to do for the years to come. One of my goals for the year is to travel at least twice anually. Now this plan involves money. I could attain this by selling my left kidney and probably one of my limbs! Kidding aside, I'd definitely make it happen in ways that helps me keep my faculties intact.

bacolod, cebu north terminal, cebu-bacolod, ceres bus

Why Bacolod?

I thought I'd start with domestic travels for the following reasons:
1. Language would not be a pain in the neck. 
2. Money is the same. No need to convert.
3. Time zones and jet lags are zip and 
4. Pasalubong is very cheap! :D

Straight from my 9-hour work, I hailed a taxi and went to Cebu North Bus Terminal for the first trip to Bacolod. Arrived around 4:20AM and found a trip to Bacolod via Don Salvador. Bus fare is Php350 per person and you are required to purchase ferry tickets before the bus leaves the terminal at an additional Php200 per person. We left at 4:30AM and the bus was barely full.

This is going to be a very long land trip and I loved that the air-conditioned bus played Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone before we started  our journey. I tend to wake up in between cities during bus trips and decided to doze off some more until when we reached Toledo. This is the last stop before we jump into a ferry. We reached Toledo at around 6:30AM, grabbed a quick breakfast and headed to the pier.

Note: If you hate buses that frequently pick up passengers on the day then ride the air conditioned ones/Tourist. They never stop at passengers that hail at them on the street thereby saving you maximum time on the road.
FTW! Travels, bacolod trip, local trip, Toledo Passenger's Terminalbacolod, cebu-bacolod, FTW! blog, terminal fee
The bus will be loaded on the cargo area so all passengers are instructed to pay for the terminal fee at Php15 at the Toledo Passenger Terminal. 

We then queued to embark the ferry, we arrived in Toledo early and thankfully we only stood in line not less than 30 minutes. I was looking forward for the sleep that I am truly neglected of. I failed to mention this on the North Bus Terminal as you get ferry tickets, you are asked if you like the sitting or the sleeping option. Clearly, I selected the sleeping. There is only a Php20 difference anyway. Sitting option - Php180. Sleeping option - Php200. I like traveling but sometimes the long hours get sthe best of me, so I amp up on the snooze when I can. 
FTW! Travels, bacolod trip, local trip
We docked at San Carlos Port around 10:30AM. As we waited for the Ceres bus to disembark from the ferry, the sun was starting to scorch. It was after all summer. As soon as we got boarded the bus, we noticed that there were new passengers on board and some passengers ended their trip at the port. 
FTW! Travels, bacolod trip, local trip, Port of San Carlos, Negros

We finally reached Bacolod proper at 12:30PM. We headed out to Ong Bun Pension House at the downtown area to check in for the next few days. Once settled, we headed out to find some brunch and checked the city by foot. 

FTW! Travels, bacolod trip, local trip, Downtown Bacolod
What I also love about local travel is that people are easy to talk to. It took us a while to find a good person to ask questions cause we couldn't converse in the local dialect.

Check out our next exploits as we visit Silay City and the heritage museums on the next post. :)

Braving Bacolod Series
Braving Bacolod - Getting There
Braving Bacolod: En Route
Silay City
El Ideal
Balay Negrense
Hofileña Museum
The Ruins
Calea Pastries & Coffee

11 comments:

  1. If there was a promo plane ticket for 1400 roundtrip to Bacolod, would you take the plane instead of the bus?

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    1. Maybe, Php1400 for a roundtrip to Bacolod is rather expensive yeah? OMG! I am such a cheapskate! I only spent Php2500 for the whole trip. If I took a plane back home I would have taken 2 boxes of Calea cakes with me.

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    2. You spent 1100 for the roundtrip bus and ferry, right? Just wondering if you would be willing to shell out extra 300 to shorten the trip.

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    3. We opted for the bus trip to have time for photo opportunity but if I had the moolah to pay for 2 then why the heck not? :D

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    4. Then that means you're not really a cheapskate :) Hehehehe

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  2. Bacolod is a foodie paradise. Calea and Kansi, just to name a few. :) I shall be awaiting updates on this series. I think it's my first time to comment here. Keep on traveling!

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    1. Hi Bren, welcome to my humble blog. HAHA! This is my so called attempt at travelling. :)

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  3. Hello Zhequia, we will have our family reunion this December so I really found this blog informative. Thanks for the info. I would like to know, how much is the bus fare for kids?

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    1. Hi Dawn! Thanks for checking my site. I am sorry as I do not have the bus fare for kids. When we were on the bus we I barely saw kids on the bus. :(

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  4. Thanks for the info. Great blog by the way and looking forward to more travel posts = )

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  5. Thank you for sharing information. it is new and useful to me..bus rentals

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