JANUARY 2016:
OVERVIEW:
My costs start in-transit at Manila Airport and include:
- 8 nights in a BELOW GRANDPAcking Standard hotel
- Food & Drink
- Mobile Data / Communications
- Visa cost apportionment
- Trips & Tours
- Some personal shopping
CROSS REFERENCES:
For more detail, read about Puerto Princesa – Philippines – Information.
Click here to read about Retirement Locations in this country.
Click here for detailed Travel Information and more Travel Budgets in this country.
Read About – GRANDPAcking Costs if you don’t know how to interpret my figures.
SPREADSHEET SUMMARY:
MY ACTUAL 1 PERSON GRANDPAcking COSTS:
Cost Of Existence (COE):
Accommodation: My accommodation was 2 nights in a BELOW ‘GRANDPAcking Standard’ Double with fan and local TV (excluding breakfast) followed by 6 nights in a BELOW ‘GRANDPAcking Standard’ Double with aircon and cable TV (with English sports & movie channels) about 1-1.5kms out from city centre (a simple breakfast included).
Transport: I rented a scooter for 7 days. I did not need to catch any taxis / tribikes. My costs are, therefore, higher than a GRANDPAckers would be.
Communications & Fees: In Manila Airport, I purchased a 1 month Globe SIMcard with ‘unlimited’ data and no texts nor calls.
Food: Once breakfast was included, I averaged PHP162 / day but I was all over the place… some nights I would just grab a PHP30 burger but on others I would splash out in a nice restaurant.
My ‘Cost of Existing / Day’ was PHP1155 / NZ$39 / US$25 / €23 / £18.
This put a ‘basic’ roof over my head, gave me necessary transport & other basic necessities, fed me 3 times each day in a local cafe, and paid for my refreshments.
Cost Of LIVING:
My available ‘LIVING Funds’ each day were PHP1214 / NZ$41 / US$26 / €24 / £18.
Visa: I had to extend my visa for another 29 days which cost PHP1340. This isn’t cheap, so I have apportioned this cost against my nights in Puerto Princesa. It comes out at just over US$1 / day.
Bars: A small San Miguel in most bars starts at PHP55, it was easy to average PHP184 / night on beer.
Personal: I bought a big can of bug spray, some mouthwash, and some toothpaste for PHP478. I also got all of my clothes laundered for PHP225.
Trips: I did a Honda Bay islands snorkelling trip which added up to PHP1790. With the right tourist office, you should be able to get this down closer to PHP1500.
Shopping: I took advantage of the cheap prices and bought some Crocs shoes (PHP190) and a nice top (PHP830).
My actual GRANDPAcking costs came in at PHP1766 / NZ$60 / US$38 / €35 / £27 per day. This was 75% of my total budget… I still had 25% of my budget left.
I had enough LIVING funds to have fun as and when I wanted to.
WHAT IT SHOULD COST 2 GRANDPAckers:
Cost Of Existence (COE):
Accommodation: You will struggle to book a GRANDPAcking Standard room online for PHP900 / night (US$19 / night) for your first couple of nights. Expect something sub-standard. For the same, you should be able to negotiate a nicer long term hotel (including breakfast) walking in off the street.
Transport: I have included a shared scooter each week with petrol so that you can get out of town. You should be able to negotiate them down from their starting price of PHP600 / day to PHP400 / day if you stay firm. have also included a return Tribike from your hotel to city centre every other day so that you can get out and about.
Communications: I have included a prepaid 1 Month Globe ‘unlimited’ data package with no texts and no talk time.
Food: You should be able to get breakfast included in your hotel rate; this will save you PHP178 / day. For Lunch and Dinner, I have included a budget for eating in local cafes. This will be a buffet lunch but you will need to spend PHP90 each to get a decent dinner.
The ‘Costs Of Existence’ of 2 GRANDPAckers is about PHP1410 / NZ$48 / US$30 / €28 / £21 per day.
Cost Of LIVING:
This is about PHP959 per day to LIVE on (i.e. 40% of your GRANDPAcking budget).
With that money you could:
- Upgrade your dinner and eat in a nice restaurant (and still have PHP600-700 left)
- Drink 19 small San Miguels
- Save up for 4 days and both go on a Honda Bay Trip
- Go shopping
With that amount of LIVING funds available each day, every day is a good day.
CONCLUSION:
Puerto Princesa is worth a visit. Some GRANDPAckers may even see it as a possible Retirement location (but not me).
Personally, I think that after 1 month you will have had enough of the place and will want to move on.
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