All Hands Beach Resort, Subic

I have been to All Hands Beach Resort for numerous times but this is the first time I've ever had an overnight stay on that resort.

This us on a stop over while going to All Hands Beach Resort.

I'm was pretty much excited on what the resort can offer especially when I came with my whole family. And when I said whole - I meant complete attendance of my father's siblings together with some of my cousins.

See, this trip wouldn't even been possible if my uncle haven't recently passed away. His death brought my Titos and Titas home in Manila. Some of them came all the way from Ireland, USA and Australia. It is really the first time to have an outing grand like this. It's just sad that it only made possible because of a death.

All Hands Resort Villas

THE STAY

As I have mentioned, We were a lot.

25 pax I believe? They've (they meaning I have not shed a single centavo in this trip. so, Yey!) managed to rent 3 Villas that almost fit us. Me and Paul managed to stay on the top bunk bed together while my Mom and my Dad had separate beds. I wasn't paying for the trip so, yeah it was ok. They paid 1,700 pesos per person on that overnight stay on the villa. The Villa comes with a Air-conditioned room, several beds can fit 6 adults or more. And the per person package comes with:

• A fresh new towel (you can bring it home)
• Toiletries for every single one. (Shampoo, Soap, Toothbrush and Toothpaste)
• A bottled water
• Breakfast Meal

For a big group, I think it was a good deal rather spending a lot more on much high-en resort / hotel. My brother told me the expense was more or less on 25-28,000 pesos so, I'm not really sure on or head count, ok.

The Beach was still an ok for me. It was not the best on Subic probably but for me compared to Camayan Resort (which I have been too also), it was much better. In terms of privacy and price range. Me and Paul beach go to is All Hands because it was the nearest beach Me and Paul can easily drive to.

You could also feed the fish there

I don't know the feedback of my family from All Hands Beach Resort but I hope they enjoyed as much as I do. It was my first time to have an almost complete family member outing. Plus, there weren't a lot of people at that time that got us an almost private beach resort of us.

I forgot to mention that I had a work at that time (I've gone freelance now) I bought my work at the shore, I commend their wifi. It was reliable at times.

So, if you are trying to have a huge beach family outing, Try to consider All Hands Beach Resort.

Here are some more pictures of the resort for your pleasure. Enjoy!

Surfing Capital of the Northern Philippines – San Juan, La Union

Before LaborUNION became a thing of 2018, Me and my friends went to La Union last 2017. This post was from my previous blog.

Summer time in the Philippines is fast approaching. Unlike other countries, Philippines only have 2 Seasons – Wet and Dry. Dry Season starts at the end of March and ends up around May thus we Filipinos call it Summer. During those months are the perfect time to hit the beach, temperature around the Metro hits up to 41 degrees and who wouldn’t wanna like to get away from that? As a part of my #SummerTravel2017, Me and my office-mates went on a early summer escapade and head on to the Surfing Capital of the Northern Philippines – San Juan, La Union. It was my first time in a very long time (I went there when I was a kid) and my first to spent an overnight with my new mates at work.

Last Day at Elyu with Officemates. ☀🌊👭👫👬👭

A post shared by Maia Alcomendras Castillo (@pancakemaia) on Mar 25, 2017 at 7:50pm PDT

The Trip

We left Ortigas around 12:30am (Saturday) before we left I had dinner with my husband at SM Megamall and spent the rest of my time waiting at my mates condo. I didn’t realize that the trip would be so long. We arrived at San Juan, La Union at 7:30am. I was sleeping through the whole trip, but from time to time (when I need to stretch my legs) I check on our drivers driving, he was really slow. To the point that one of my mates notice that he was slightly dozing while driving (Yikes!). We had 2 stopover – 1. At 7-11 near TPLEX Rosario exit and at 2. San Juan, Wet The Trip We left Ortigas around 12:30am (Saturday) before we left I had dinner with my husband at SM Megamall and spent the rest of my time waiting at my mates condo. I didn’t realize that the trip would be so long. We arrived at San Juan, La Union at 7:30am. I was sleeping through the whole trip, but from time to time (when I need to stretch my legs) I check on our drivers driving, he was really slow. To the point that one of my mates notice that he was slightly dozing while driving (Yikes!). We had 2 stopover – 1. At 7-11 near TPLEX Rosario exit and at 2. San Juan, Wet and Dry Market.and Dry Market.

A post shared by Maia Alcomendras Castillo (@pancakemaia) on Mar 24, 2017 at 9:10pm PDT

Going Home, it took us again roughly 7 hours. We left La Union around 1:30pm, they dropped me off at NLEX – Meycauayan Exit, Bulacan (Where I live) at 7:10pm. Me made 2 pee breaks during that road trip. Everyone went home safe.

Beach Doge 🐶

A post shared by Maia Alcomendras Castillo (@pancakemaia) on Mar 27, 2017 at 5:41am PDT

The Stay

My first time to stay at a transient home with bunch of other people. The house we stayed at is a 5 storey building. We stayed at the 4th floor which happen to be the Kitchen and Patio area open to everyone who stays at the building.

The place was clean and obviously new (evidence was the bed with plastic cover).

The only problem (and the whole San Juan, La Union problem) was the power interruptions.

The power interruption kept turning on and off until 7pm went it all went dead – total blackout for the whole San Juan Shoreline. Some of the hotels have power generators but the place we stayed had none. It took around 30-45 minutes until the power was restored. The owner of the house told us that the supply and demand of power has not been met by the power distributor of their area. Hope that they can fix that problem right away because the influx of people going to La Union will double this season, for sure. Other, than that the whole stay was nice and homey. 

The Beach

From the place we’ve stayed we have to walk across the highway just to reach the shore line. Entrance to the beach was free. We stayed at the shoreline of the famous hotel and surf school – San Juan Beach Resort.

The sand was a little bit rocky but fine, the color was grey to black when wet. The waves was huge for me, for I have not experience a lot of waves.

The previous beaches I have been through was always calm to no movement at all. It was also really hard to swim, I have been always known as a good swimmer because I took swimming lesson when I was a kid. But at San Juan, my swimming knowledge was put to a huge test when I accidentally swim to far from shore. I had a hard time of getting back to the shoreline because of the huge waves that kept pulling me backwards, good thing that one of my mates was pretty tall, he had to pull me until I can reach the ocean floor.

At least I didn’t drown and kept my cool the whole time. After my near death experience, I just kept swimming near the shoreline and took awesome pictures.

Overall, I loved San Juan La Union. It’s fastly becoming an “it” place for the millennials because of it’s hipster appeal, from the surfer lifestyle to hostels and food experience, as we millennials say it – San Juan is definitely lit. Definitely would bring my husband and would stay much longer if possible. I just hope that they would maintain the cleanliness and protect the San Juan shoreline for over population.

Sunset at San Juan, La Union 🌅

A post shared by Maia Alcomendras Castillo (@pancakemaia) on Mar 26, 2017 at 9:42pm PDT

Breakdown of My Expenses:

• Transient Home – 400 each
• Van Rental – 1,000 each
• Grocery items and Food (Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner) – 250 each

Total – 1,650 pesos per person in a group of 8 pax.

Other than that, I also spent 75 pesos for fruit shake and 208 pesos for my brunch the next day.