prime gods

My brother, Pleni (his girlfriend), and I will be attending our friend’s wedding in Samal, Davao, a beautiful island in the Philippines, this July 18. At the same time, my friend Mark and I will be enrolling in Kendo on July 5.

I have been dreaming of going to Davao with friends, and enrolling in Kendo with someone like Mark… But with all the expenses in just one month, making those dreams come true will require thorough budgeting and planning. Then again, if there’s a will, there’s a way…

Oh, and I’m also expecting a huge chunk of cash from someone who borrowed from me last February. If it will materialize this July, then I’m all set for Davao and Kendo! ^_^

  I’m a person who loves to travel. I have always been fond of visiting various places in and out of the country. Every week I have a new area that interests me, that’s why I have a long checklist of places to visit. Since this week, I am interested in North Carolina, I’ve googled various companies that could provide good vacation rentals and I found Outer Banks to fit my expectations.


  I’ve read that it’s one of the best out there in the market, and I can say I’m pretty impressed. Comments regarding this topic would be appreciated, especially if you have any other companies to recommend or places in North Carolina I should visit when I go there.

  If you love traveling as much I do, you should also considering travel health insurance to make sure that you don’t end up with an accident and wake up hours later in the hospital discovering that you’re in another country with no money, or something worse than that.
  You should always think of the worst scenario that could possibly happen to you and make sure that you’re ready for it. That’s what my mom always taught me since I was little, and it has helped me a lot ‘till now and it’s probably one of the reasons I’m sharing this thought to you, so that it can help you as much as it did to me.

Most of us Filipinos want to travel to other countries like the United States to earn more money. We think that if we work abroad and earn dollars, then we can at least raise our social status or ease ourselves from stressing money problems.

Others want to travel abroad just for the sake of being able to share stories and photos to our friends. I, for one, am dying to go to New York to be able to share my own New York City travel stories! I think New York is an awesome place, since there are a lot of different people with different races and cultures there. That would be an interesting experience.

Whatever the reason for traveling is, it still is fun!

It had been the promise of my Aunt Virgie who is now based in New York to give my youngest sister Ruth, a high school graduation gift. That gift is an out of the country vacation at her place in New York. Ruth has been dreaming to have her picture taken near the Statue of Liberty.

Ruth has to pass the entrance examination of the state university is the additional requirement for her to get her gift, which she did. With this, she was instructed by Aunt Virgie to search for the best offer on New York vacation deals. This graduation gift is an all-expense paid with pocket money for shopping. My advise to other students, study hard. Your gift might even be better than what Ruth got.

Several years ago my mother went abroad to study in the East Coast at North Carolina. On her way back home, she had the opportunity to visit our relatives in California. Since, it was only a few days vacation, her schedule was so hectic that even in the evening she was brought to the tourists’ destinations.

My mom recalled that the evening before she took the plane back home, after visiting other friends in the area, my aunt with my mother still manage to drive to Las Vegas. My mom said, it was like a dream, because due to her tiredness, she was very sleepy as my aunt was pointing to most frequented places at Las Vegas. They were then in a hurry that they could not stop even for souvenir shots/pictures. Thus, mom could not recall the places she had been in Las Vegas the following day, more so today.

With this experience, mother said, the next time we go to the United States, we will stay in one of the hotels in Las Vegas for one week so as to be able to go around and have our pictures taken. It will not be like a dream anymore, for we will have the proofs of our stay in Las Vegas.

Dad is a retired military officer and is about to celebrate his birthday. Mom and the rest of the family members had thought of giving Dad a perfect gift on his 65th birthday. The family had decided to give Dad and Mom, the Eastern Caribbean Cruises.

Out of three cruises and we had chosen the Eastern considering that Dad is a former naval officer who wanted more time at sea to relax. In addition, Dad loves history and the chosen cruise has a blend of activities related to history and culture. The cruise is our perfect gift for Dad.

Bryan will be migrating to Australia next year. He is worried he might not be able to get any Jobs in Adelaide that’s why he’s currently looking through Adelaide classifieds. Being a computer science graduate though, I’m sure tons of jobs await him there since Australia is looking for IT people.

If I were him, I’d worry about Dating in Adelaide. After all, in a foreign land, getting a job is much easier when you have credentials than getting hooked. Then again, he’ll look exotic compared to the locals there. Anyhow, there are lots of ways to get dates like engaging in sports and other recreational activities. Or, he could just search for everything he might need in the Adelaide Gumtree website section.

Oh well, I just hope he’ll be able to adjust well in his new location next year.

I chatted with Romar, my well-traveled instructor, yesterday. He shared with me that he’d been to Italy, Rome and Venice, France. He took a lot of photos of the places he went to, including the hotels in Italy and the romantic Venice hotels where he stayed in to include in his personal collection. Typical of him.

Anyhow, here are some of the places he visited while in Rome and France:

1) Fontana di Trevi (Trevi Fountain), the largest and most famous Baroque fountain in all of Rome located at the small Trevi square in the Quirinale district. (Romar of course did the traditional coin tossing - “A traditional legend holds that if visitors throw a coin into the fountain, they are ensured a return to Rome.”)

2) Duomo di Milano (Milan Cathedral), located in Lombardy, Italy, is the second largest church in the world and is the seat of the Archbishop of Milan.

3) The Colosseum (Coliseum or Flavian Amphitheater) is the first permanent amphitheater to be built in Rome and one of the largest and greatest architectural monuments created in the Roman Empire. You can also see this in the movie “Gladiator”. 0;)

4) Canals of Venice, France plus gliding in their gondolas provide one of the most romantic experiences in the world.5) Palazzo Grassi, located on the Grand Canal, is the Grassi family’s monumental three-storied marble mansion slash a renowned art and history museum with a 600-seat garden theater.

6) Teatro La Fenice (The Phoenix), Venice’s leading opera house known for its dramatic beauty. This was recently restored from the fire it caught in 1996.

He also visited the Pathenon, Vatican, and Sistine Chapel while he was checked in one of the hotels in Rome. I have yet to see his pictures though, and savor them until it is my turn to visit those places.

I have been planning to go on a food trip for a long time now. It had never pushed through though because I don’t want to go on a food trip alone and I haven’t found someone who wants to join me in my food hunting trip…until recently.

My newfound food-trip friends and I had just decided to go for a ‘food & drinks hunt’ in London with a list we saw from Pride of Manchester consisting of: Bury’s black pudding, Lancashire hot pot, Uncle Joes mint balls, Eccles cake, Manchester tart, and fruity Vimto drink. Typing those savory delicacies already makes my stomach growl with excitement.

Anyhow, while I search the net for the best places to avail of those local specialties, my friends are busy with finding Accommodation in London. Since the dishes we wanted to sample and judge were in Manchester, it is logical of course that our London Accomodation will end up in one of the Manchester Hotels… or maybe not. It will depend on the price of course.