Davao city, here we come!

One of the places we plan to go to in PH is Davao.  My big sis always includes this place in their itinerary when they visit the country because my bro-in-law has many relatives here.  They also bought a lot in a posh subdivision within the city.  

Since I synchronized our trip with that of big sis’, we decided to tag along with them in Davao.  I have been researching for the beautiful Davao sights which we can tour, and this Eden Nature Park and Resort caught my eye.  It looks like a wonderful and relaxing place for the whole family to stay.  Aside from the forest which we can trek, there are many activities for adults and kids alike. There’s a mix of nature, adventure, leisure and other interesting activities.  They also have a swimming pool for those who likes water fun.  They have fishing and horseback-riding.  I was thinking of trying the latter. I haven’t tried any adventure for a long time and this one looks okay enough for me to do. I don’t know if they require riders to wear riding boots, or if we can just use our regular footwear.  Or maybe they provide these items for their clients.  

Whatever!  This whole Eden experience looks soooo promising and so much fun!   Unfortunately we’ll be staying there for only a day.

getting ready for a trip to Philippines

Now that our plan to go home to Philippines have been set, I am starting to shop for pasalubong (gifts) for my family and friends.  I am eyeing for the malls’ season sale so I can get discounted stuff.  It actually already found some good buys - 50% off on the regular price.  Really good I should say! 

I have two more months to hunt for pasalubong items.  That would be enough time to do all the shopping.  I chose stuff that are light and easy to pack as we only have a limited baggage allowance.  I don’t want us to exceed our baggage limit and also haul heavy bags when we arrive PH coz we still have to travel from one city to another before settling down in our hometown.  

Weeee! I can’t believe we’re really going home.  What I have thought of as only a plan, a dream because of financial constraints is starting to get real.   Thank you Lord for providing for our needs!

travel plans

Comparing life insurance quotes is not on my priority list right now.  We’re planning to go on vacation to Philippines this July and we need to save all the money we can for our fare.  Since our family has grown to four, our travel budget has also increased.  Our little girl is already 2 years old which means she will be charged for airfare.  Our second child, though he is still an infant, has to be charged with taxes.  

I spent few hours last week looking for the cheapest fares I could find.  I am glad that the one I found only has 1 stop over.  Some of my friends bought cheap ticket to Philippines but they have to go through minimum of 2 stop overs.  I wouldn’t mind if I am traveling alone or with hubby but with two kids in tow, more than 1 stop over is already a big hassle.  

Now that we have booked for our flight, we should allot money for that immediately coz the due date for paying is already next month.  Whew!  I hope we can come up with the amount.  

plan your trip ahead of time

Nothing beats a trip that has been planned in every detail.  It can save a lot of time, money and trouble.  We’ve had our own mishaps in several of our trips; sometimes no matter how prepared we are there are incidents that happen which are out of our control.  But still, being prepared lessens the hassle.

Honestly, I sometimes like impromptu trips.  My husband is a no-fuss guy who doesn’t mind if I suddenly announce to him that I want to go somewhere.  He makes a perfect travel partner for me.  He can get ready in a matter of minutes and then we’re off to where ever I fancy going to.

Travel is easy these days because of services like a Car Service NY . These kinds of transportation services provide affordable and reliable transportation especially for travelers who are new to the place and don’t have a car of their own.  When you’re in New York, check out the GO Airlink.  They’re one of the trusted car services in the city.

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touring NYC

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

When visiting a big city like New York, I bet there are tons to see and do; a week wouldn’t be enough to experience everything. It’s better to list down Things to do in New York City so you can schedule your visits and not miss important places of interests. Like for Day 1 you visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and Statue of Liberty. Day 2, you visit the Chinatown (you’d probably end up spending the whole day here) and so on. Having an itinerary for your trip always comes handy especially if you have kids tagging along; much better if you already know how to get there and where it’s exact location is. You’d save a lot of time with being organized and prepared.

If you don’t want to explore the city by yourself, you can always ask an agency to tour you around the city. CitySights NY, a recognized leader in New York City sightseeing operates 60 new double-decker buses to provide tourists with a good viewing of New York City’s attractions and places of interest. They also have different packages to cater to the different interest of tourists. There’s the Super Downtown tour, Super NY tour, Night tour, Uptown & Harlem tour and lots more. If you’re staying for longer time, it would be nice to avail of the different tours as long as you’re not out of cash! hehe

no bulbs allowed!

We’ve arrived safe in Prague last Monday night. Whew!  It wasn’t as tough as I expected my travel to be.  This time I made sure that I was ready with a stroller for baby C so transferring and moving around the international airport(s) wouldn’t be tiring.  Everything was okay except for one disappointing thing.  The white ligthing bulbs that I brought with me was confiscated at the Cebu-Mactan International Airport.  I bought it coz it’s hard to find such bulbs here in Prague where they mostly have the yellow bulbs available. When dad and I was shopping for it, It took me a lot of time searching among discount lightings and what?  only to find out at the airport that those precious bulbs aren’t allowed to be brought outside the Philippines!  Huhuhuhu, what a disappointment, really!

travelling with a group

Have you experienced going on a trip with the family?  Was it fun? I bet it was! A trip within your own locale, to another city or out of the country is twice more fun when done with the whole family that’s per my experience, ooohh and especially if there are kids to add to the merriment and (chaos!).

Preparations can also double if the group is big but with proper planning, everything can be settled to lessen the hassle.  One problem can be the transportation.  A big vehicle is needed to transport the group to the airport, hotel and other points of interests. Whom do you contact for this kind of service?

Travel to New York City is no problem as they have a reliable NYC transportation service which travelers can hire. With the New York Bus Charters, any group size of 9 to 57 passengers can be transported to any destination.  They have good and quality service, well maintained vehicles and affordable rates.  You can easily contact them through their online service which is available to serve you on a 24 hour basis, and they’ve got clean and eco friendly buses. 

You can only hope that there’s such service as this when you visit other places, so you can have a relaxing and worry-free travel.

breaking the silence

After almost a week of being silent, I am back!  In case you didn’t know, exactly a week ago hubby paid for our air ticket to Philippines.  I only had 3 days till our travel to prepare, pack up and shop for our trip, so you can imagine how busy those last few days were.  Plus we also spent the nights visiting baby C’s grandparents.  I’m glad I survive the long travel along with my little girl last weekend.  It was TOUGH!!! And to think that after three months I’ll be doing it over again when we return to Europe. Huhuhu But I don’t want to think about that now.

New arrivals: ULTRA slim cast aluminum architectural LED exit sign, only from Exit Sign Warehouse.

december trip

I’m still keeping my fingers crossed and praying so hard that our planned trip back to Philippines will come true.  We have few glitches though that needs to be tackled like the passport of baby C which will expire this coming December and my permanent residence which has still my old passport number.  All these important documents have to be renewed before we can finally settle on the exact date of departure.  Huhuhu! 

My sister and her family is planning a 3 day stay in Boracay beach.  I don’t know if we’ll go with them. I don’t want to make any plans yet about our stay there until I can finally step on the Philippine soil.   But since my sis and company are already set on their vacation, she’s already exercising a lot so she’ll look good in swimsuit!  Hehehe.  We’ll see if she’s successful with her weight loss experiment or she might want to look for the best diet pills to make her weight loss dream an instant reality. 

I’ve been seeing lots of diet pills reviews in the internet lately and one of which is from the Weight Loss Guide. They also have some appetite suppressants, cellulite reduction and anti depressants.  So I bet it’s not really hard to lose weight these days. 

airfare woes

Oh no! I tried searching for fares for our planned trip to the Philippines this December and I was taken aback with the prices! The lowest airfare started from $2900 and you can imagine how horribly high it went up from there.  Geeez!  $2900 is already even too much for me. And that’s just the airfare, we still have to spend for other expenses travel insurance, visa fees plus its Christmas so we’ll have to spend for gifts too. Hala!  Aside from that, hubby has yet to ask his office if he can take a month leave during that time.  So everything is still a plan which hopefully will come true.

Anyway, for your insurance needs such as group health insurance, medical health insurance and family health insurance, visit anthem.com.

essential tool for travelers

Traveling always excite me and oftentimes stresses me out too.  The thrill of seeing new sights, experiencing new culture, meeting new people, tasting new cuisine and everything else new that you will be encountering during the travel makes travelers all excited.

Preparation is the most important task a traveler should do.  Without proper preparation, a trip can be a disaster.  And lastly, to store all these wonderful travel memories we captured in camera, we need a tool where we can organized and relived the experiences.

Sosauce Travel is the right answer for all travelers.  With their cool website, one can browse for pre trip planning resources and also record and recreate the trip using their interactive map, photo albums where you can upload and display your travel photos, and journals.  You can also share travel tips and reviews of the places you’ve visited.  It will be helpful to other travelers who are planning to go to the places you’ve been to.   That reminds me to give it a try coz I have been travelling to several cities the past summer and I want to have a place where I can put all those memories for me to see and share with friends and family too.

the cold day makes me dream…

Since last night, the temperature has dipped down to winter-like.  I heard it’s not going to get better.  It seems then that summer is gone though it’s not officially autumn yet.

Cold times like this make me dream of being in warm countries.  Hubby’s dad is currently in Greece enjoying his two weeks vacation. What a great life for him!  Greece is still one of the places I’d like to visit.  Mykonos would be one of those places in Greece.  It’s got some charming landmarks such as the windmills, little Venice, the Aegean Maritime Museum to name a few. I was also looking at Mykonos villa rentals and they’re really lovely to stay at especially if you’re vacationing with family.  I’ll keep that dream alive. In the meantime, I’ll just turn on the heater to high to warm myself.

dinner cruise by the river

Rivers!  All the European cities I’ve been too have rivers and of course you can’t help but notice those river boats passing by.  It’s very romantic to be in one of these cruises with your partner especially when the sun is about to set. Awwwww!  Do I wish to experience this? Definitely yes! Would it be soon? I hope so!  It’s summer and it’s the perfect time to be on a dinner cruise coz the sun sets late and even at 7 in the evening, it’s still bright all around.  Hmmmm…

the cost of travelling abroad

Since my parents arrived home from their Europe tour last Saturday, it was only today that they were able to get online.  The modem at home was busted and they reported it yesterday.  Good thing the response was quick.  Globe sent their technicians today and it’s fixed!

Anyway, it was a nice vacation and I’m glad they were able to visit many countries in Europe, thanks to their Schengen visa, it made travelling to other Europe countries easier.  I still don’t know how much money was spent in all; from their airfare, travel insurance, visa fee, and everything that comes along with travelling.  One thing’s for sure, it’s a LOT of money! hehehe

website for spanish-speaking travelers

Traveling on a budget is a challenge especially for those who don’t have much to spend yet are so eager to go places.    Looking for airfare and hotels at good price can be hard.  Good thing that there are websites which helps travelers find hotels offering reasonable rates.  But what about for Spanish-speaking travelers?  Combining booking hotels with good rates and with Spanish language feature,espanol.hotels.com has come up with a site to assist Spanish-speaking travelers with their trip.  With  dedicated staff running the service center, travelers will be delighted that there’s someone who can understand them and take care of their concerns. Spanish-speaking travelers can try ofertas de hoteles.

spending vacation with the family

After being away from home for more than a year, my hubby and I along with our baby took a family vacation to be with our loved ones again.  Everyone was excited coz it’s the first time they’ll see our daughter.  After our two month of stay there, it’s my parents turn to have a vacation, this time they flew back with us in Europe.  It’s great that they’re able to witness spring as we don’t have this season back home.

Traveling with family and enjoying a vacation is nice especially if the place you’re staying is comfortable and relaxing, much like staying in Azul Sensatori Hotel. Even when you’re away, you still feel like you’re at home.  It’s one of the best hotels around Riviera Maya.  They’ve got wonderful suites and casas that offer the magnificent view of the white sand beach.  Plus they also serve gourmet cuisine.  Their all-inclusive accommodation makes vacation hassle-free coz they take care even the tiniest details. 

Why don’t you take your family for a relaxing vacation? It’s a nice bonding moment which everyone will treasure in the years to come.

at the "City of Big Shoulders"

What do you expect to see in Chicago?  Chicago is known for its numerous museums, performing arts centers and music scenes.  Food tripping is also ideal in this city with its thousands of restaurants offering different cuisines to cater to everyone’s taste.  A quick Chicago travel guide will give you the list of things to do and the sights to see in this city which is nicknamed as the “City of Big Shoulders”.  

packing up

Since last week I’ve been slowly packing the things I’m sure I’ll be bringing with me to Europe.  I’m not really fond of packing up or its sister, unpacking but somebody has to do the job, and there’s of course only me to do it.  Preparing early helps a lot being organized especially when I’ll be away for another long year or years, not really sure how long.  But what I know is that I can’t afford to have my things sent through shipping boxes and let it travel halfway across the world.

a place called Branson

A friend asks for an interesting place to travel to and you suggest Branson Missouri.  What could one possibly do there?  She’d ask?  Well the place as I’ve read has actually many theatres, elaborate music shows, theme parks, family entertainment centers, and an endless assortment of restaurants. All to entertain any visitors to their place.  Seems like it’s one lively place alright.  And don’t miss the Branson golf courses too.  Perfect for the golf fanatics! And you can also tour around their wonderful cabins, great for relaxing vacations.

going to Roma

A visit to Rome is one of my dreams that would probably become a reality soon.  Being based here in Europe with a permanent visa and with Czech Republic being a new member of Schengen state gives me easy access to travel to other parts in Europe, one of which is Rome.

I would love to see the St. Peter’s Basilica and the Vatican, both places means much to me as a Catholic.  Of course I wouldn’t want to miss the other famous tourists’ attractions such as the Colosseum, Spanish Steps and Trastevere to name a few.  And then there’s the promise of gorging on Italian food! How I love Italian food; pasta and pizza are some of my favorites. (more…)