MACTAN, CEBU – Heto na, heto na! If a few months ago I blogged about loving being single, now’s the time to blog about…getting into a relationship. HAHA! (Disclaimer: I won’t wax poetic about how to get into a relationship or how you should be in one; I’ll merely talk about how I went from single to “In A Relationship With” on Facebook. LOL!)

Again, this is one of those posts that I initially planned as a Facebook status but thought better of it–that is, why not just blog about it? After all, given the limited space I have on FB status posts (I mean, I can’t really make them long, can I?), there are loads of room for misinterpretation; at least here, I can elaborate as much as I want. And write about my travels in the process.

You see, Cebu proved to be a very significant part of my life. First, a little bit of work history: When I used to work in GMA as a PR (public relations) specialist, I actually used to write a column for The Freeman, a broadsheet here in Cebu (yes, I am writing this post in Cebu!). So, that columnist stint actually paved the way for my becoming part of the local lifestyle media–an industry I love.

But, I digress. Many, many years later, it’s in Cebu that I lost the relationship I always thought would be my last. While vacationing in Cebu in 2012, my boyfriend at the time broke up with me. That’s all I will say about the matter, and because of that, I intentionally stayed away from Cebu for all of 2013.

I decided to give Cebu a shot when I returned to the city for a press junket in February this year. The US Potato Board invited me to their US Potato Safari, wherein we were brought to different restaurants around Cebu that served four- or five-course meals, consisting of dishes that were either made of US Potatoes or made use of them in a truly ingenious, creative way. We dined at Cafe Laguna, Cafe Marco at Marco Polo Plaza Hotel (where we were billeted; click here to book a room), The Cove at Bluewater Maribago Beach Resort (click here to book), and Anzani in Cebu City, and each dining experience was truly worth the carbs. Potatoes are my favorite carbs, after all. (Read more about it in my article for Hitlist.ph here.) After over a year of deliberately staying away from Cebu, I finally came to terms with my painful memory of it–and it all boils down to food. The best way to heal your heartbreak is to satisfy your stomach. HAHA!

That trip paved the way for more Cebu trips. On Independence Day weekend in June 2014, I returned to Cebu, this time to do a resort review of Crimson Resort and Spa Mactan (click here to book). It was such a luxurious experience staying for a night in that resort: I got treated to really good food and an awesome massage and body scrub, and relaxed in a pretty garden suite of my own (click the hyperlinks for my review of each of them on Hitlist.ph). It’s definitely one of the resorts I WILL come back to, and if you haven’t stayed here yet, I recommend you give it a try. It’s worth it. Again, like all my other Cebu trips, this one revolved around food: Aside from sampling Crimson’s many buffets and dinner menu, I also tried Marco Polo Plaza Hotel‘s Independence Day buffet (where I got to taste Sampaguita ice cream–no kidding!–and the most awesome chocolate chip cookies ever, that are always part of their buffet menu) as well as Cebu City Marriott Hotel‘s Friday Night Seafood Buffet. I think I gained 10lbs. from that three-day trip alone.

And then in August 2014, there was a pseudo-5-day weekend (technically there’s one day of work in between, which became work from Cebu) that was too tempting to not schedule an out-of-town trip on, so I decided to return to Cebu with two of my friends. Agoda.com helped me book a two-night stay in Be Resorts Mactan, which I’ve always wanted to visit because its Facebook ads just kept appearing each time I went online (which is, like, all the time). My friends and I were supposed to visit a resort in Bantayan Island, too, and we actually took the five-hour trip going there, but due to unfortunate circumstances that I would rather not discuss here, we went back to Mactan that same day (yep, another five-hour trip) and booked two more nights at Be Resorts, which accommodated us so well on our first two nights in Mactan. We couldn’t get enough of their beachfront pods and infinity pool, not to mention their affordable rates and cozy rooms, so it was a default choice–we just didn’t have the energy to look for another hotel when we already knew of a good one.

Well, I guess this is a classic case of good things come to those who suffer, because, our flight delays to Cebu and Bantayan misadventures notwithstanding, it was actually at Be Resorts that I met my, well, new (and hopefully last) boyfriend!  When something is that easy and natural and good, there’s just no point staying away. The best part? He’s a travel bug like me! So expect more travel posts on this blog with the boyfriend in tow.

I never promised any words of wisdom about getting into a relationship, but if you’re waiting for me to spit out some, here goes: A relationship (and love) comes when you’re not looking for it. Friends have been telling me this time and time again, and it wasn’t ’til I actually proved it to be true that I really believed it.

And this brings me back to the title of this blog entry, which I have always wanted to post on Facebook, but I guess it was better to give you the full story on this blog: I may have lost something in Cebu, but heck, did it give me something wonderful back. So thank you, Queen City of the South! You will definitely be seeing more of me. I’m actually back here now, spending the long weekend (Oct. 4-6) with the boyfriend.

Click through the gallery below for some snapshots of my last three trips in Cebu in 2014–so far! (More to come from my current vacation!)

Click here to book a hotel in Cebu City or Mactan Island via Agoda.