“You’re no longer traveling alone?”, mumbled a friend.
That’s just one of the rewards of solo traveling – bumping into travel buddies along the road or finding one back home and realizing after all, you’re not really alone.

Palaui Island photo : from Jerome Baluyot’s camera
I will never abandon solo travel, it will always be my first love but it’s not my only love anymore. I travel solo and write about it to encourage everyone to do it, at least once in their lifetime. But I’m not here to renounce traveling in groups. Ever since I started travel blogging, I’ve meet a lot of strangers who share the same passion in traveling. I feel so blessed to have met them and call them my friends now and they’re the reason why I’m mad about group trekking and adventure lately. Let me share to you some lessons I learned when travelling in groups.

The Benefits of Group Travel
1. Cost Sharing
Group travel is equated to cost reduction. Instead of joining a trek group, we decided to do our own trekking and adventure. Initially the trip was meant to be a much-awaited return trip to Palaui Island with Angel but it ended up as a group camp trip when Edcel whose based in Cebu arrived in Manila, and Darwin asked about the camp trip then later on Jerome joined us. We’re able to save much on this group adventure because we shared the expenses of the trip.

Our challenge is to spend Php 2,000 each including foodies, fare to and fro Manila, boat, guide fee.
Our Budget:
5 Manila to Tuguegarao Bus Tickets- P2900
Trike Victory to Van Terminal – P100
Tuguegarao to Sta. Ana Van (5 pax) – P900
Royal 1.5L on Lunch – P30
Grocery Items – P230
4L H20 – P60
Trike Centro Sta. Ana to Port – P70
Packed Foods – P210
Boat/Guide – P1000
Trike Port to Van Station – P75
Sta. Ana to Tuguegarao Van (5 pax)- P900
5 Tuguegarao to Manila Bus Tickets – P2900Total = P9375
P9375 / 5 pax = P1875 each
Jump here for Palaui Travel Guide

2. Ability to Share the Experience
Sometimes I doubt if I could actually convey my travel experience to you or if you could relate to what I;m trying to express, unless you’ve actually been at that place or experienced that moment. I don’t know if my photos or writing could give justice to a destination I explored or if they’re good enough to convince you that the place is really heavenly or how standing there feels surreal.

Whenever I tell my travel stories to my family or friends, oftentimes I see blank stares or generic smiles. All I know is they’re glad I’m home in one piece. It doesn’t matter to them what happened out there or what I did, so long as I’m back safe. I wrote this blog initially as a memento, something that I could read 20 years from now or so and remind me of how it feels to be in that place at that moment. But as constant as change itself, this travel blog is also evolving. Now one of its goal is to encourage you to experience how it feels to be in that place and make your own story to remember.

under the blue skies! (photo by Angel Juarez)
Traveling in a group erases that doubt- you know your travel buddies can see the majestic sight that you just marveled or relate with what you’ve gone through because you’ve shared that travel experience with them. There’s no substitute for actually being there.
”Happiness is only real when shared.”
-Into the Wild-
3. Two heads is better than one.

Jack and Jill finally made it to Palaui Island’s highest peak!
When you’re planning on traveling solo, most of the time you spend hours of hours online trying research about the place before embarking on that trip. But when you’re joining a trek group, most often than not some of your travel buddies know some areas to explore that you haven’t encountered online. This adds twist and more excitement to your travel. For this trip I feel like Angel knows more about Sta. Ana, Cagayan than us, so we were pretty dependent on him.
4. Constant Support
A camping trip with like-minded people is inevitable in group trekking and adventure. You may be flexible but as humanly as possible, you don’t want to join a group of whiners.

Darwin and Jerome photo by Angel Juarez
In this trip, I was lucky to have traveled with fellow travel bloggers : Angel, Edcel, Jerome and Darwin because during the entire trip we we’re just , helping and supporting each other and uhmm..taking their vain photos! Just pure happy moments!

“I have found out that there ain’t no surer way to know whether you like people or hate them than to travel with them.”
- Mark Twain-
Indeed, traveling with a group is fun especially if you’re traveling with flexible people who shares the same interests. I prefer a smaller group of 4-6 people so we’d be able to enjoy each other’s company. I’m sure there are more advantages of group travel that I have failed to include here.

I’m not vain! lol (paparazzi shot by Edcel Suyo)
Traveling alone will always be my passion, no one can steal that away from me even if that invincible love finds me on my way home. My ultimate goal is to help, understand, inspire poor girls like me to travel and meet diverse people and culture on the road. And hopefully find myself and restore myself in the process.

This time I’d like to thank my travel buddies who were able to handle me even at my worst and never left me despite my imperfection. No explanations needed, just pure faith.
*This is part of Cagayan Valley series.
* Click here for Palaui Travel Guide
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About the Blogger : Gael is a Filipina solo adventurer, a dream chaser and a student of life. Her (mis) adventures are documented in this blog. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter.
For advertisement, partnerships and sponsorship, click here. or email me at thepinaysolobackpacker(at)yahoo(dot)com.
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I wish I could have met all of you before this trip. Would have loved to tag along. I’ve had far too many solo travels, laughing on my own or talking to myself during 18 hour bus rides that, I have to be honest, I am getting a little tired of. But I agree that solo travel is indeed good for the soul and has to be done at least once in a lifetime. Nice entry!
hihi.. kainggit tlga yung Palaui trip nyo. hihi. agree ako sa three benefits of group travel mo ate gael.. hihi..
I enjoy traveling solo or with a small group. Parehong me plus and minus, I just go with the flow and have fun.
i love it… i’m sure super saya ng adventure na yan
It’s nice to have a balance of solo and group travel lalo na kapag puro kwela ang kasama
Enjoyed the company of Edcel and Darwin dati and ina-anticipate ko na soon makasama ko na rin sina Angel (wah 2008 pa tayo friends di pa tayo nagttravel lol) and Jerome. More solo and group travels for you Ate Gael!
Girl Power!
Galeng ng mga pictures ah png magazine…
kakatuwa ang higa shot mo. masaya nga pag marami. lalo na kung makukulit ang mga kasama.
i love solo travel for explorations and finding stories as much as i love going with groups.
Hope to bump into you somewhere in the world.
You each spent less than P2,000? Wow. Just this evening, the FX I was riding in was robbed. I lost P2,000 just like that. Then I read this. Lalo ako na-depress. Pang-travel na rin pala yung nawala sa kin. Huhuhuhu
OMG! I’m sorry to hear that. yeah malapet na kase pay day kaya cguro dame na naman holdaper.
yngat AJ! hope to see u din sa mga events.
Some really great images love the Im not vain one lol and the light in the last one, really nice!!
Your tips are great you make so much sense your blog is a must reader from travelers
exciting mag-travel mag-isa pero mas masaya at matipid kapag madami kyo.hehe
wow! ayos ah! maka-Palaui nga. he he
is family travel considered as solo travelling? coz that’s what we do regularly as our way of bonding. as our motto goes, a family that travels together, stay together
I;m envious.
I hope to travel w. my family in the future.
The best thing about traveling with a diverse group of people is being able to share the experience as well as learning from them. I agree with a balanced solo and group traveling.
i love solo travel for I can make friends easier when I’m on my own. Group traveling? depende kung sino and kasama…
allergic din kayo sa araw ni Ed? hahah! Apir tayo diyan! Sometimes it’s really nice when you travel with your best buddies. Puro kalokohan. Game lahat. No pretensions. You’ll get to know them more. (Pero ang best part, ikaw ang pagsisilbihan ng mga boys na yan. hahaha!) Thanks for sharing this Ms. Gael! ^_^
@kura: lol. at nakapagcomment talaga sa payong! hahaha
@gael: that’s why I’m still a fan of group adventures. di magastos! especially kapag mga kuripot yung mga kasama mo!
Haynako bitter pa rin ako sa Palaui na to.
Hahahaha! Joke!
For me, travelling with a group pa din ang preferred althought I would like to experience travelling alone. =)
I miss you again Ate Gael! <3
whether alone or solo, i agree that it’s the experience you gain in traveling that matters most.
i think i owe to myself to travel solo one day and i already have a place in mind. kaya lang mami-miss ko pamilya ko.
ps : one of the boys ka pala, gael! nice…
Jill, gawin ulit natin ito aoon
How about Lubang, Balabac, Cagayancillo or Masbate
yey!
teka lang check ko muna yan, yung LUbang at Masbate lang alam ko. haha. Lets do it soon!
Hello Gael,
Just want to let you know that I love reading your blog.
Enjoy mo talaga that experience while you’re still single. Kasi when you get married, things will somehow change, specially when you have a kid and your husband does not feel the same way like you do about travelling.
Hope to see you and all the bloggers in Davao in the future.
Thanks.
Lea
hi Lea, thanks for dropping by and thank you so much for your kind words. Ill be in davao nxt year. naudlot yung trip ko this year eh. i hope to see you too.
Sige, so I can take a break and show you around. Sana madami tayo, I’d like to go to Agusan Marshland pero wala akong kasama. hehehe… Baka matuloy trip ni Chyng also in the future. Then maybe we can all do that.
Kung sino interesado, sabay tayo. Thanks!
wow… I miss my travel buddies bigla ng mabasa ko ang post na eto. I am currently searching for a travel guide to Palaui… Balak ko sana solo, pero na-realize ko, parang iba pa din talga kung with friends… you have someone to laugh with you… hehehe.
Nice Read!