When in Rome, Do as the Romans Do

Oh how I'd love to. But, I haven't been to Rome or Italy for that matter. Italy has always fascinated me. I found some really good reviews on the Colosseum from the guys at www.virtualtourist.com and yahoo.travel. By the way, these sites are very reliable. The people there are mostly friendly.

When I was young I used to dream of riding the gondolas of venice. We used to play sailing with pillows all around us. Of course, I had to have an umbrella and my boatman would have to don a hat.

But really, I am considering a trip to Rome. I'm much into culture, heritage, arts and history that I'd like to see the best living museum there is - the vatican. A side trip to Milan would be good too. Wwww.cheaperthanhotels.com is now offering a special on Milan for as low as 40 Euro. hmmm... interesting. Maybe I could attend some Italian cooking class while there.

Being Filipino, I'd have to make side trips to my relatives' place in London ? tees from Lapagayo! Maybe a dozen? haha!

Bouncing Through Travel Sites

Hah! I've not been able to book my hotels for our Hong kong trip yet. Hong Kong has always fascinated me. I've come across so many stories- personal accounts from friends, historical accounts from books since one of our former presidents went on exile there, and from blogs and websites over the internet. It is a good thing that travel bookin sites such as www.cheaperthanhotels.com are now made availabe to us, the travellers.

I can't consider myself a seasoned traveller yet. Yes, I've been to 4 countries and a great deal of domestic sites but that doesn't make me a seasoned traveller. When we go to a place unknown to me (and most countries are in fact unfamiliar to me), I get hold of as much information as I can. www.cheaperthanhotels.com
,booking.com, hotels.com.ph, and other such travel agencies come in so handy. I get to compare prices, am able to obtain information about hotels, events, tourist attractions, budget... and all those pertinent data. It's so funny sometimes that our friends in those countries I've been to even ask why I know such and such exist! Technology is such a powerful tool to the traveller, whether neophyte or seasoned.

In case you're wondering though, I've come to the decision to book with www.cheaperthanhotels.com. I don't like taking too much risks and have asked friends and travel forums for travel sites that they could recommend. So far, from those that I've been give, www.cheaperthanhotels.com
have the best rates I could find over the internet. I can make this conclusion for myself because I've made a comparison table in excel listing down costs from booking.com, expedia, asiarooms, asiatravel, lonely planet... and a hundred more sites. www.cheaperthanhotels.com
beats them all.

Well, next time I hope I can go to the Scandinavia area. Why would I go to sandinavia? Well, for one, I do like driving and I like how I can drive and see the sites on a cool day with my family. Sounds interesting eh? what about having to spend a night or two in a rustic hotel, with a fireplace and some cheese and wine? Finland would be perfect. Alternatively, drive to Sweden and stay in one of its hotels. Or probably see the auroras? A good resource I've found for this travel would be www.visitfinland.com . The tourism www.cheaperthanhotels.com provides info for those who wish to drive the countryside of Scandinavia. Some of their tips include:

1. Cars are driven on the right side of the road all over Scandinavia.
2. Use of seatbelt is a must.
3. Driving under the influence of alcohol is prohibited.
4. There are different speed limits in the different scandinavian countries.

I've browsed the site and searched for pictures through the internet. Seems like they do have a beautiful scenery in those countries. The site has resources too for stockholm hotels, norway hotels and Oslo hotels with hotel rooms that cost as low as 550 SEK! Some rooms are breakfast inclusive. They do have great deals. Budget travellers can find great deals in these travel sites. It's like finding pearl in the deep blue sea.

Trip to Macau - Creating an Itinerary

Whew! I never thought preparing for a trip could be so exhausting. Or maybe I've just forgotten how it is to get ready for a family holiday. It has so far cost me sleepless nights and huge eyebags in the morning, not to mention that my sleep pattern has been altered to that of GMT -8:00, being awake in the wee hours of dawn and asleep until noon.
Cebu Pacific recently had an PHP888 promo for all its international flights. After all taxes and charges had been added, it amounted to about 4,600 pesos or so. It was the perfect opportunity for us to travel abroad after not having done so for the last 2 years. Instead of taking a trip locally, why not go abroad? After all, part of the reason for travelling is to familiarize Ikee with the place which she will study about in the Social Studies subject next school year. Second year in PCSHS has Asian History. Social Studies has always been boring to her. But travelling makes it interesting. So, why not hit two birds with one stone?
This time it would be Macau-Hong Kong-Zhuhai. It should've been Beijing after all Chinese history revolves around it. But it must be so boring for my husband that when presented with a choice of Shanghai-Beijing and Macau-Hong Kong, he chose the latter. So, I said what the heck? Macau and Hong Kong are Special Administrative Regions and Zhuhai is part of mainland China. We're getting 3 histories for the price of one.
I know very little of Macau and Hong Kong but I absolutely did not know Zhuhai was even part of the globe! But, the adventurous person that I am, I started to buy our tickets from the Cebu Pac website which endlessly bumped me off until i finally got our booking for 7 nights! I couldn't do anything. It was my first time to book online with them and from what I heard before, I had to get the first schedule available for me.
I am so used to coordinating travel plans for my family even when I myself am not familiar with the place. Usually, I would have read heavily about the place before I even book. But with this trip, it's the other way around. I got to learn about the places only after we had purchased our tickets. So, I then I found out that travelling to HK and Macau aren't so cheap after all. Zhuhai however is a different story.
The more I learn about Zhuhai, the more it becomes inviting to me. It has cheap hotels and has both beaches and hot springs which I like going to. Not only that, it's a shopper's paradise. Of course I've not gone there yet and might be proven wrong. But so far, from the virtualtourist.com traveller's reviews and reviews from both Yahoo travel and Trip Advisor, I've been able to locate Hotels and interesting spots which I have not heard of in the past. All hail the net!
The challenge is to be able to come up with an itinerary which would be both interesting and affordable. So far, I've come up with the idea of spending 2 days in zhuhai, 3 days in hong Kong, ang 2 days in Macau.

Let's see if I can meet the challenge. 25k?

Bon Apetit! - Buon Giorno at the Cliffhouse

Boyet and I went to Tagaytay by ourselves last Dec. It was his birthday and he took a leave so he'd be able to pay for the tax for our Cavite property. Fortunately, I was free because I had just taken the nursing board over the weekend.
We left the house at about 10:30 am and had reached Dasmarinas at 11:45. It would have been past 12 noon if we had gone to the city hall and we'd have to wait. Instead of going to the city hall, we opted to go straight to Tagaytay to have lunch and some coffee.

We headed straight for lunch at Buon Giorno at the Cliffhouse. Boyet ordered some seafood primavera pasta while I had a sandwich. It was really cold outside because it had been drizzling since the night before so I ordered some pumpkin soup to keep me warm. The meal was superb and there was superb. Of course we knew that because we had already gone there thrice. On all occasions they've not failed to serve a meal that was not nearly perfect (nearly because only my mom's is. I'm a loyalist!). Other than just its flavor, food was served at the right temperature. This thime I particularly liked my Roast Beef Sandwich. It had lots of the veggies which I prefer. And the soup was creamy but not too creamy and had a lot of flavor. Next time I'd like to try their dessert. I always end up so full that I don't have room for it. But they do look tempting and I was told they're so mmmmm... delicioso!

Rating afineplace.com - Just How Good Are They?

Always when I search for baguio accommodations, I never fail to see the listing of afineplace.com. I used to wonder whether these guys who operate the site were real or a hoax. But some friend of my husband recommended it to us after my hubby transferred from his former company (where accommodations in Baguio were had for a minimal price) to his present one which does not provide the baguio treat. So, far we've occupied 2 of their properties and we liked both thus far.
The houses are well kept, there are caretakers who can attend to your requests, there's enough space for the specified number of persons, we can cook and barbecue and , in unit A which we rented this year, we had a fireplace. the only thing though about both properties is that they are not in the middle of the action (which we actually prefer) so we need a car or take a cab going to and fro. But don't take me wrong, they're not too far from the center of the city either. Just not right at it.
Both properties are along Marcos highway just about 5 to 10 minutes away from SM on session Road. Unit A cost us about 2,200 per night for 5 persons for a house with 3 rooms. Unit A cost us 3000 per night for 5 persons. As far as I'm concerned, afineplace.com gets a grade of 8/10. One thing I didn't like with the unit I (or was it F, sorry I've forgotten) though is that it was a little noisy at night. It is a compound and there were about 2 other "houses" right below ours. Some foreigners were occupying the place and they would play in the middle of the night. The caretaker tried to tell them twice but they'd be back to it just the following night. But that's about all. Those guys, just like us, were transients too. That means, there will be other people there every week and not the same ones we were with. So, the next time you're planning a trip to Baguio, you may want to consider afineplace.com instead of a hotel. You contact them through their website at www.afineplace.com. Do tell them Jane Cajuguiran highly recommends them.