With much to celebrate, Tessa joins her jet setting friends on a weekend getaway to relax, reset, and rejuvenate
Timing is everything! During our latest trip to beautiful Balesin Island, the timing was perfect as we ended our Yoga + Wellness weekend on the day the new version of the MECQ was to be enforced.
It should be clear by now that we are living in unprecedented times. When else did we need to do a risk assessment about getting home before traveling? The wonderful thing about flying to Balesin Island is there is no quarantine time needed. Balesin Island Club requires all visitors to get a
COVID-19 antibody test before flying and the short flight time enables all passengers to wear a mask throughout the flight. As a result, the island has remained COVID-free throughout the pandemic.
Although any test is acceptable, my fave is to get it at the Aegle Wellness Center at Alphaland Makati Place, where I know MedTech Topher Moreno will make the procedure totally painless. While waiting for the results, our ladies group will usually have a poolside coffee at The City Club, just adjacent to the wellness center. Aegle also just launched their COVID-19 antigen swab test that produces results in an hour. It is the fastest swab test for the virus available in the country today. Aegle has a range of products, many of which are targeted at boosting our immune system, rejuvenating our bodies, and detoxing our mind and soul.
The mind healing is combined with Aegle’s medical analyses and treatments, including one-on-one consultations with their medical director Dr. Ben Valdecañas. I love the Center’s Thalassotherapy, a treatment that makes use of seawater and its natural elements for detoxification, anti-aging, and regeneration. Aegle Balesin is the only facility in the Philippines, and one of very few in Asia, that offers Thalassotherapy.
On top of all that, guests receive a month’s supply of Aegle’s Immune Booster Packs, a set of formulated supplements that contain the highest appropriate levels of vitamins B12, C, and E, and folate, zinc, and selenium to ensure that their health will be at its optimum level. You know the safety protocols are on, once you arrive at Alphaland’s Balesin Island Club hangar at NAIA, where all the luggage is sprayed and temperature checks are done, in addition to the usual security screening. All guests are given a QR code to ease contact tracing in the unlikely event of a positive COVID-19 guest.
The basic hygiene behaviors that can reduce the spread of COVID-19 are the same worldwide. So you will notice that all common areas, entrances to all restaurants, toilets, and villas have alcohol dispensers. Balesin now also mandates the wearing of a mask or face covering in certain public places such as the clubhouse, restaurants, aviary, and Aegle Wellness Center.
Read the full story written by Tessa Prieto-Valdes in Lifestyle Asia’s September 2020 issue titled, “Have Courage.”
