It’s summer time back home. A lot of my friends are planning for their summer get away. Reading ahead hotel reviews in order to help them choose the best offer. It’s always fun to go around with your family. I still remember our trip 2 years ago in Boracay, Philippines.
I wish to go back and enjoy the breeze of the water on my feet. I was 2 months pregnant that time, and hated my mood swings. I slept most of the time. Ugh! I swear to myself that we’ll come back and will enjoy my time.
I’m looking over Gogobot to check out their reviews of travelers all over the world. It breaks my heart seeing “Caribbean” and “Europe”. Those are my dream places that I hope to visit some day. The travelers feedback and their reviews about the places they were look so exciting. I showed the places to my husband and I’m sure that he’ll check it out for planning our next trip in the future.
It’s really nice to travel around the world if everything is plan ahead of time. And one of the best thing about reading a good reviews, are the tips that the travelers can provide for you. I remember our stay again in Boracay, we had to depend on my friend who went there before. She did all the research, reservations and did all the talking with all the people that we need to contact before.
Ratings in particular is the next important thing you need to check for planning the best trip. Having a 5 star rating I guess is important, but for me a 4 star is acceptable.
So for those out there planning their next trip, good luck to you all. Don’t forget to have FUN. Make sure that you pack up all the things you needed. Write it down and first kit is a must. Be safe everyone.
Most of my friends are off to plan their trip since it’s already summer time back home. School year will end after a month as well. So it’ll be a family month for most of them.
If I will be given the chance, I’ll be choosing one of those China tours for me and my family. And I’ll let Zicasso do the rest for my trip. It’s as easy as 1, 2 and 3. Describe your dream trip, they’ll provide you with the top 3 travel agencies or specialist that can provide you the complete tour that you wanted, and once satisfied with it, booking the trip will complete your best vacation ever. It’s best to trust website such as these who understands your needs for having a satisfaction with your trip.
Having a vacation with family is very necessary for me. Aside from bonding with one another, it will unwind your mood. For those workaholic people, it’s a must of course to have a special time with your love ones. And then after a good vacation, you will find your self having back the mood to work and probably get the good ideas for your job. How about that? China, Hong Kong, Venice, Italy and Australia are the top countries for me. We’ll save for it as early as now.
BIL and MIL are arriving next week from a week pilgrimage to Mecca. They will be traveling by land as usual. It’ll take them about 18 to 20 hours to go back. I wonder if the bus driver has a handheld gps with him while driving… Because I can still remember last year when we went to Mecca too, Hubby took with him his mobile with built-in gps, it guided us with our 2 hour road trip going to Mecca. We could’ve bought a Garmin branded gps gadget but we were out of time already to do some late shopping. Anyway, I wish my in-laws to have a safe travel back home. I miss them so much already.
I’m supposed to post this on my meme blog but since it involves a photo of me my family, might as well post it here on my personal blog then.
For this week, we’ll share our unforgettable summer.
It was last 2008. Hubby’s first time to visit Philippines and his first time to finally meet my parents in person too. It was in July of 2008. We were working abroad and we decided to take our annual vacation before giving birth because of the airline security regarding passengers who are currently pregnant. I was due giving birth November of that year. We were supposed to take our vacation December, but we had scheduled earlier because of our unexpected blessing.
Here’s me and Hubby at People’s Park in Tagaytay. His very first time to see one of the wonders of Philippine’s nature. We were planning to take him to Baguio, but since the travel time is long, we decided not to pushed through with it – especially in my case that year.
It’s nice to be with someone who hasn’t been around the Philippines. It was my first time as well to see La Mesa Eco Park that year. If it weren’t for Hubby, I think I can be found strolling in the mall like usual, hahaha! 
And lastly, here’s our recent vacation back home. Our first time as well to see Boracay. We’re planning to go back Insha Allah by God’s will. I was on my 2nd month with Julie here. We stayed in Boracay for 3 days 2 nights. For me, it was like a sleeping Boracay. Why? Because of my pregnancy, it took me a hard time to enjoy our stay. Most of the time, I was asleep. Believe it or not, I will take a nap at 5pm and is supposed to wake up after an hour, but because of my mood and pregnancy swings, I will not wake up instead, will get up the next morning. So borring! Duh! So we really do hope to come back on our next visit, Insha Allah God willing.
I miss Philippines! I miss my friends back home. And most of all, I miss the summer breeze. But just don’t put me under the sun. I’m not ready yet for the sun burn. Hahaha! 
Right now, MIL is not here with us. She went to travel by land the other day to visit FIL and might stay there for a month. Hubby said that she needs to renew her resident visa as well. Aside from that, it’s their wedding anniversary yesterday. So I’m sure they spent a romantic night for that occasion.
Travelling by land was not at all an issue with my IL’s since they’ve been doing this for so many times. It will take them at least 18-20 hours before they reach their final destination. It’s much faster if you travel by your own vehicle. With MIL, she rode the bus. The bus is complete with a built in cabin for passengers who want to make a time out 
And aside from that, it has it’s own emergency breakdown services just in case it broke down the middle of the road. Not bad right? At least you yourself will feel safe to travel at a long distance like this.
If they will travel by air, it will just take them at least 2 hours. But the feeling of excitement to get to your destination will not be that long. Yeah I know it sounds weird. Well, whatever way you travel, for as long as you’re comfortable with it – go ahead.
For me, I don’t mind travelling by land. Just give me a pillow and a blanket so that I can sleep on the way and lots of food to eat
We’re off soon to Lebanon to apply for a Lebanese citizenship. And my in-laws are planning as early as now as to when we will travel as well to apply for a Lebanese passport for our little peanut. It’ll be a repeat as per hubby. It’s like doing the things we did a year ago with Julia.
We’re planning to rent a big van with those trailers along because it’ll be a long trip for us. We’ll use it as well during our trip to Saudi which I’m not yet sure of. Making sure that we sign for a 5th wheel warranty. May God Bless our future journey for this year.
At the time when we were still processing the renewal of my passport, we had to passed by Good Shepherd’s Convent in Cubao Quezon City. I had to attend a quick seminar and get the Certificate of Attendance from their office since DFA is requiring us to have this because I’m married to a foreigner.
I was surprised when I was browsing Hubby’s mobile pictures and I saw this cute photo of Julia with her cousin (a 9 months older than her), Bless. Look at Julia’s smile. It made me laugh looking at her with this not-so-much-sunny-today smile, hahaha!
The current partner that we’re using right now for our local SIM packs has a very weak signal. If we try to do a manual search, it will not do as well since the provider will tell you that the official partner for the SIM that you’re using is “blank”, please try again later. Ugh! We were out of town for a night in Batangas, and we don’t have a signal at all with all our 3 phones from abroad. Good thing there’s Blackberry service in the area, 2 of our local SIM card is working fine.
I asked hubby to bring with him the laptop on our journey since I was planning to do some online task while there, but as usual, broadband’s signal is weak too. Well, what can I do? I suddenly remember an incident with a customer when I was still working. He bought a broadband device from me. He came back after a month and was asking for help. He was looking for a device or a gadget called cell booster antenna, it was a first time for me to hear that type of device. I wish I could help him with his inquiry, but we don’t sell those types of devices. And now I’m thinking if they have the same one here in the Philippines. Why do you need to call it a broad band connect every where if you limited signal strength in the city? Right?
On the other hand, I wish they could improve the signal for their services.
Last month we went to Island Cove with my parents to unwind. Julia had fun swimming in the kiddie pool and I on the other hand enjoyed myself in the Jacuzzi. There were so much things to do supposedly in the Island, but I was on a house arrest as per my OB so I was obliged to stay in the room while Hubby went out for a spa and a massage too.
We stayed in the Island for 3 days and 2 nights. We left on the 3rd day in the morning since we had plans to go somewhere else in in the next few days.
There are more photos to share but the broadband is killing me with it’s speed. Living you the photo above when baby J started to get scared walking alone in the pool. Hahaha!
Finally! An long missed update. We’re here in Tarlac right now because tomorrow is the baptism of my Uncle’s daughter. So we visited them today to attend this important event.
It’s been years since the last time I saw my cousins from the province. They traveled too from Pangasinan and Baguio. I missed a lot with their lives and all of them are grown up already. Most of them are still in the secondary education and 2 of them are in college already. Being secured with such insurance are really a must these days. My aunt was asking me for some life insurance quotes I know. So I told her that I’ll try my best then to check out some infos for her.
We might be extending our stay here in the Philippines. I’m in the process of renewing my Passport in order for us to apply a visa to go to Syria for a quick visit to my in-laws. Syrian Embassy is requiring us to have at least a minimum of 6 months validity for the Passport. Mine will expire in 2 months. So we’re left with no choice but to renew my Passport. Thank God Alhamdulillah, we were able to find some ways to extend my Passport validity at at the same time to have it ready in 3 days. I’m not sure though if we’ll celebrate Christmas here in the Philippines. I wish we could, but only time can tell.
