If you follow me on Twitter or Instagram you’ll have noticed me incessantly banging on about Siargao for quite some time now. If you don’t then this next post will be a bit of a treat for your eyes and will likely make you want to become one of the tourists I’m trying (probably not too sucessfully) to deter from visiting the island. I went to this tiny teardrop-shaped isleo back in April. It’s part of The Philippines archipelago and is not known to that many travellers let alone the general public. It is however a mecca to the surfing community, which is the reason I went there myself. I spent four incredible days surfing with the locals, eating fresh-caught tuna sashimi, doing yoga on the beach by sunset and exploring the island on a moped, staying at both backpacker accommodation run by an affable Brit and a five-star eco resort usually reserved for honeymooners which I was lucky enough to experience because of my work for Wallpaper* City Guides.
What struck me was how undeveloped the island was, even more so because I learned during my stay that the island would soon be facing it’s biggest challenge – keeping its USP after an airport extension on the island threatens to increase tourist footfall enormously in the next few years.
I wrote about the island through rose-tinted specs for the beautiful travel and fashion journal SUITCASE here and about the more serious concerns facing some of the island’s local and expatriate communities for World Travel Guide here. Take a look, and let me know if you think it is truly possible to retain the desert island appeal of such a beautiful and ultimately lucrative part of the world.
On a separate note I’ve gone and bought a URL for the blog in an attempt to force myself into posting more often. There’ll be a little bit of re-design over the next few days also. I’d love to hear your thoughts on how it looks, and please check out the About page to find out what to expect from me from now on.
Travel Guide Girl 