First Time in Manila, Philippines! Eating Jollibee, taking the metro, and visiting tourist places

We are finally exploring Manila! When we first arrived in the Philippines we were immediately invited to a family party in Pampanga, so it has taken us a little longer than we expected to explore the Philippines capital city; Manila. There are so many tourist places to explore in Manila, so we chose the best tourist spots according to our taste and are excited to share our first day exploring Manila with you.

First up, we visited Bonifacio Global City (BGC) which is a luxury piece of Manila that attracts many foreigners because it is very safe and has all the comforts that Western foreigners are used to. The shopping and coffee are amazing, but what really makes this place worth visiting are the free-roaming cats and the dogs in strollers!

Then, to really get a feel for the city, we took the Manila Metro! The metro was CROWDED, but, it ran well and was really affordable. We love taking public transportation when we get to a new city, and Manila is a great place to learn how to use the metro system because Manila traffic is terrible (seriously, we can't emphasize this enough!). If you are a traveler visiting Manila, we highly recommend learning how to take the metro system to save yourself money and a few headaches 🙂

After our packed metro experience, we rewarded ourselves with Jollibee! For me (Nicole) it was my first time trying Jollibee, and boy did visiting Jollibee make a lot of things about Mico make sense! You'll have to watch the video for all of the details, but when we left Jollibee's I felt like I had put a few pieces of the puzzle of Mico together at last. Maybe it really is true that Jollibee is part of the fabric of being Filipino, even for those Filipino who have been living outside of the Philippines for many years 🙂

With the energy to explore (actually fried chicken made us feel tired haha) we visited Rizal Park and learned a bit about the Filipino patriot, Jose Rizal. After touring Rizal Park we made our way to Intramuros – a very popular tourist spot in Manila. Intramuros is a beautiful area that gave us a chance to learn more about the Spanish conquest in the Philippines. We saw the gorgeous Manila Cathedral and ended our day with a visit to Fort Santiago. And if you watch to the end of the video, you'll see a very interesting shot of a man rowing a boat with what we think was cardboard (I thought it was impressive :p)

If you enjoy our videos and want to give us an extra special thank you, we would love to have you become a channel member! Check out the perks here https://www.youtube.com/nicoleandmico/join
If you choose to support us in this way, THANK YOU so much!

If you are planning a trip, check out our packing video to see what we pack for long-term travel: https://youtu.be/BHv-6U9eeWY

SafetyWing is our favourite travel insurance provider (including health insurance) – definitely give them a look to protect your own travels! https://tinyurl.com/2p87ewbr

== Connect with us! ==
♥ Instagram: @nicoleandmico_
♥ Website: www.nicoleandmico.com
♥ Email: info@nicoleandmico.com

== OUR FAVOURITE TRAVEL GEAR ==
+ Matador soap bar case: https://amzn.to/3LcUNQC
+ Travel Adapter (Universal): https://amzn.to/3HEwqL3
+ Makeup Remover Cloth (Erase-Your-Face): https://amzn.to/3Lehe7X
+ Solid shampoo and conditioner: https://amzn.to/3itGkDm
+ HeroClip Carabiner: https://amzn.to/3itXX5Z
+ Ex-Officio Underwear: https://amzn.to/3wwZyA5
+ Toiletry kit: https://amzn.to/3tznIYR
+ OmniCharge (all-in-one battery bank): https://tinyurl.com/36hssspu

Our FULL Packing List: https://nicoleandmico.com/our-packing-list/

== OUR FILMING GEAR ==
+ Insta 360 X3 https://amzn.to/3HV6T1W
+ SONY ZV-E10 Camera https://amzn.to/3tRCMRD
+ Camera Microphone https://amzn.to/3QGpwsz
+ Sony 10-18mm Lens https://amzn.to/3iz5z7g
+ Sony 18-135mm Lens https://amzn.to/3IH81TI
+ DJI Mini 2 Drone https://amzn.to/3LdJkzX

*Some of the links above are affiliate links and we may get a small commission at no cost to you if you choose to use a link to purchase a product!

== Chapters ==
0:00 Welcome to Manila and Bonifacio Global City
2:51 Taking Manila's Metro system
3:34 Getting in touch with our inner Filipinos
4:35 Finally trying Jollibee!
7:50 Rizal Park (and a statue that looks like Mico?)
11:10 Checking out Intramuros
12:52 The easiest walled city to get into
14:48 An extra scene for those who stayed 🙂

#travelphilippines #filipino #manila

======================

Hey there! We are Nicole and Mico and in March 2021, we quit our jobs, sold our belongings, and began traveling the world! We never thought we'd be making travel vlogs on YouTube, but after realizing that we had a unique opportunity to share our adventure and make the world feel more familiar and inviting to anyone watching, we took the leap and picked up the camera! We hope our videos show how wonderful, delicious, and friendly the world can be.