2012 Revisited

Time passes so quickly! It's almost the end of February, so I figured it was the best time to take some time, and look back on the highlights of the past year. Admittedly, this is very much delayed, but here goes. :)

To be honest, 2012 flew by so fast I could barely keep up, probably one of the most highlight-filled years of my life, and probably because I celebrated an important milestone last year, I turned 30!

I started the year on a pretty low note, with a bad viral infection that had me taking antibiotics going into the new year, missing a family reunion and being downright miserable. But it picked up...some highlights:

• Mamma Mia @ the CCP, although I honestly think this could have been staged by Filipinos, it was still a fun musical to watch.


• PBA All Stars Game (DLSU vs ADMU), which La Salle won, btw. :) It was really great seeing the old 4-peat players play against their rivals, especially since those players were the ones I followed while I was still in La Salle.


• Anawim Outreach with the ASAP team, always a good, uplifting experience.


• La Luz sith the ASAP team


• Getting paid for a blog post, hahaha, hopefully won't be the last time.


• Bellarocca with Jeng! Santorini-inspired, and totally relaxing vacation.


• Getting my Asus Transformer!


• Ria and Fen's wedding.


• Forbidden Broadway @ RCBC, very, very funny!


• Rock of Ages @ RCBC, with Mig Ayesa. Total rock-fest, will definitely catch this again in 2013.


• Going back to DLSU to do interviews...first time back after 9 years, and there was a certain sense of accomplishment being there and interviewing soon to be graduates for prospective jobs.


• Diablo 3!


• Watching The Fray in Manila


• Boracay with the Family

and last but definitely not the least, my biggest trip to date, to celebrate my 3 decades of existence, the Rome-UK trip. Thanks to our gracious hosts in Rome, tita Mildred and tito Enrico, and tito Sol, tita Elise and our Manchester hosts, tita Este and tito Tim. Also discovered one of the best tour providers, Expat Explore for our UK excursion. Definitely a separate post needed for this trip, but I still need to find the time to do it.

It wasn't all highs though... one of my cousins, Cathy, succumbed to a rare illness after over a month in the ICU. Rest in peace ate Kels, we'll miss you.

Now, 2 months into 2013, we're faced with new challenges, new highlights.. it's going to be a hell of a ride I'm sure, and I just can't wait to see what 2013 has to offer.

2013 Goodreads Reading Challenge

In an effort to get back into the habit of reading, I took on the Goodreads reading challenge. For the year, I'm challenging myself to read at leas 75 books.

I actually bought a Kindle Paperwhite to help me with this goal. :) I just need to wait for it to be shipped, so for now I'm using the Kindle app on Jarvis (my Asus Transformer pad) until I get Snow, which will be the name of my new Kindle.

I also discovered that Amazon has a Bestseller list that lists down the top 100 Paid and Free e-books. This is a n excellent (and legal) way to score free e-books, or make a note of titles worth purchasing. The list is updated every hour.

Since this discovery, I already downloaded over 35 titles for free and bought around 15 titles from Amazon.com, and I'm expecting to get a lot more in the future.

So really, this 75 book target, should be easy for me. :) I actually wanted to go for a 100, but since I haven't been reading much lately, I decided on a more modest target.

Wish me luck! Happy reading!

Expat Explore - 7 Day Great Britain Tour: Excellent Value for Money!

My older sis Maitz and I went on the Great Britain tour from Oct 3-10, 2012. I was celebrating my 30th birthday on the 9th and I thought what better way to spend it than travelling to places I've never been? So, I was on the lookout for tours and sample itineraries that we could go on, and I found Expat Explore. I was just blown away by how much cheaper it was than other tours, so I did my due diligence, checked out some reviews and booked it right away, months before our scheduled travel date.

We were a bit anxious at the beginning, but we shouldn't have worried. We were picked up at Ibis Greenwich on time, and from the moment we got on the coach, we knew it would be a good trip. When we did our introductions on the coach, almost a third of our group were "repeat customers" of Expat Explore, so we knew we were in good hands. Our tour leader, Paul and our driver Gary, were excellent companions, telling us about the sights, insider tips, places to eat and such, and took us from place to place with great efficiency. The trip was well organized, and it's an excellent way to meet new people.

There are some caveats, because of the number of places to visit, there are times you feel rushed, but I think what's good about the tour is that you get to "sample" the places and then you can decide which ones to go back to at a more leisurely pace. With the price, we were prepared to stay in small inns/B&Bs, but surprisingly our accommodations were quite decent, with Holiday Inn, Premier Inn, Ibis and Caledonian hotel. Hotel locations were good too, especially the Premier Inn in Cardiff and the Holiday Inn in Edinburgh. We were also pleasantly surprised that we had full English breakfasts all the way, and there were even some dinners included in the cost of the tour, and we also had great walking tours from local guides and got to ride a punt in Cambridge. Really, really excellent value for money, so I will not hesitate to recommend this to others, and am already saving up for the 17 day Western Europe tour. :)

Expat Explore Great Britain Tour
Day 1: London – Cambridge – York
Day 2: Hadrian’s Wall – Jedburgh – Scottish Borders – Edinburgh
Day 3: Edinburgh (Free Day)
Day 4: Edinburgh – Inverness – Loch Ness & Urquhart Castle – Scottish Highlands
Day 5: Highlands – Loch Lomond – Liverpool
Day 6: Liverpool – Stratford – Upon-Avon – Wales
Day 7: Wales – Bath – Stonehenge - London

I Need A Breather!

Yeah, I get tired too.

Every once in a while. work just gets on my nerves and I feel like everything just keeps going wrong and things are beyond my control.

And if you still haven't noticed by now, things that I can't control, tend to upset me.

Yeah, I'm upset.

The only thing that keeps me going now is that I know I've been through worse, and I know it will get better soon.

Two is Better than One: Dual Sim Love

Since I started working in HP, dual-sim phones have become indispensable. My first dual sim was a Myphone Q22. It was cheap, at aeound P3,500. To be honest, I wasn't expecting too much from it, but that phone actually passed the two year mark and was still functioning pretty well when I decided to replace it with an LG P698, dual-sim Android phone.

Big mistake.

Not only was battery life dismal (well standard for a smartphone), but touchscreen was quite laggy at times and worst of all, there were times battery drained from 50% to 0% on standby! I guess some of these could be minor caveats for those who don't necessarily have to be available all the time, because the phone functioned well most cases, but it was not acceptable to someone like me, who was on call, and have this weird need to being "always on".

I missed my MyPhone. It was basic, it was no-frills, but it was reliable. And it would take days before I needed to charge it.

So, I started looking for a replacement, this time I knew what I wanted. Nothing fancy, something functional, and with a strong battery life. I considered getting another MyPhone, but I also checked out other "branded" phones who were now offering dual sim models and I found the Nokia Asha 200.

I love the way this phone looks, mine's white, it's made of plastic but feels durable, and it's very light. So far, I'm still getting used to it, because I haven't owned a Nokia in over a decade, but I'm sure I'll get the hang of it.

Initial thoughts, it's pretty good, it does what its supposed to. The things I don't like too much about it, would be it takes too many clicks to send something, and the headset is just plain awful, and I mean awful. I replaced mine with my regular earphones and sound quality is decidedly better. But these little things are just minor negatives, especially since the phone can be bought at just P3,250 and maybe cheaper in other stores as of time of writing. Anyway, I have the rest of the week to test it out, but so far, I'm liking it. It's not perfect, but it's pretty good.



 

 

Trip Planning Mayhem!

I'm not even going to give any excuses about the missing posts that I promised I would complete. I'll do it one of these days, but I figured if I stopped blogging just because I haven't "filled up" the rest of the entries, then that could be a very long wait.

Soooo...I decided to just go ahead and write stuff. It's the
2nd 3rd (as it is already past midnight) day of a 4-day weekend, and I am taking a break from planning the biggest trip of my life to date. This fall, my sister and I are taking on Rome and the U.K. and I am once again in charge of the itinerary.

To be honest, this isn't the most complicated itinerary that I had to plan, but for some reason, I'm having a lot of difficulty in finishing it. I think it's because there's just so much to do and such a limited time to do everything and it's probably also because it's the most expensive trip I've had to plan. With a finite budget, and infinite ways to spend it, I find myself stuck.

But that doesn't mean I'm not enjoying myself.

I love finding great deals and bargains on accommodations, plays, attractions...I love being able to maximize budgets and schedules to make sure everything gets done. There's nothing like seeing a trip fall into place on paper... it's almost like foreplay, knowing that the climax is to come. :)

OK, sexual references aside, let me share some of the tools I use to plan the perfect trip.

1. Google - OK, so this is a bit of a cheat, almost an all-encompassing entity. I know I don't have to explain it, but it had to be said. Google is your friend. Here are a few of the things I usually search:

• Places to see/top attractions/things to do


• Accommodations/hotel reviews


• Food/Dishes to try


• Events/plays/musicals


• Promo codes


• Customs/Culture


• Weather


• Currency/daily budgets/sales/merchandise


• ..and so much more!

2. Tripadvisor - I go to Tripadvisor for the reviews, it's a good way to see how other people rate hotels, B&Bs, attractions etc. I also like the forums, I once got a promo code for Megabus for 1$ ticket fares from New York to Philadelphia and New York to Boston.

3. Google Maps - So I can plan the perfect route, or the best grouping of attractions to visit on a day. I'm paartial to trains/MRTs/trams over buses so this site is a lot of help.

4. Booking.com - I only recently used started using Booking.com, previously I would always go directly to the hotel website, but when you're canvassing for multiple cities and just want to get an idea of the rates, this is a good choice. And once you have a hotel in mind, you can cross check with their own website, plus reviews on Tripadvisor.

5. Travel Agency Websites - These are excellent sources of information and sample itineraries. You can then pattern your own trip from the ones being offered. If you're feeling diligent enough, you can even compare the cost of your own itinerary, and feel good about the money you would most likely save by going the DIY route.

So there you have it, my top 5 tools for trip planning. Usually I consolidate all the data into an Excel file, with separate sheets for budget, itinerary, important info, directions... yeah I'm OC like that. But before you think I'm some super control freak, I don't do that for all my trips obviously, but for my upcoming Eurotrip, I'm sure it would be better if I came prepared.

SEA Odyssey: Sunflower Place Review (Bangkok)

This place is just fantastic! Location is very accessible, near the BTS and MRT stations. However, taxis are affordable so my friends and I usually just take the cab, but make sure they use the meter!

Rooms are very clean, a/c very cool (which is a must in the Bangkok heat), water pressure is good, with elevators, the place is very secure and quiet. There are 2 desktop computers in the lobby, free printing upto 2 pages, Wi-Fi available in the rooms.

Near the Patpomg night market (and other nightlife entertainment spots that we didn't go to), several shopping areas available, food choices abundant, 7-11 just around the corner and also near a big supermarket for all your needs.

The place is cozy, well appointed, clean, secure, safe, quiet. The people at the reception, especially Wiwi are all great, and best of all the rates are affordable! Really an excellent find in Bangkok! You won't regret staying here!