My Wishlist for Cebu for 2012...

I was in Manila overnight for a very short Holiday break/shopping with Mama. Given what she wanted to do, I had to make sure I'm able to manage our time so both of us get to do what everything we want by the end of the trip. 

Since most of the trip was about going somewhere to buy this and that... Here is a list of things I wish we had in Cebu so I can stop my craving and have more shopping time while in Metro Manila; instead of making sure to include these places in my itinerary to try and get a taste of what they offer.

1. ARISTOCRAT - The barbecue chicken, honey garlic fried chicken, sotanghon guisado; Aristocrat can definitely add more excitement to Cebu's dining experience. 

Taken from the Roxas Blvd branch which is open but undergoing renovation after being hit pretty bad by the last storm in Manila.

2. BINONDO - I want a Chinatown in Cebu. Somewhere we can get hopia, and all those other delicious Chinese delicacies.

I was too scared to take pictures in Binondo, I took this photo of the Starbucks Binondo before stepping out of the cab.

 3. BON CHON CHICKEN - Thanks Karen for going with me to Glorietta to eat here. Definitely must have in Cebu.

4. DAIRY QUEEN - With Krispy Kreme, Cebuanos have proven they don't really care about weight gain. Someone bring Dairy Queen to Cebu and in IT Park, please? 

5. MRS. FIELD'S CAFE - Who doesn't love Mrs. Field's????

6. CINNABON - Thanks for being so conveniently located in NAIA but maybe Cinnabon can put up a stall somewhere in Ayala Center Cebu, I will willingly wait. I promise.

Well, that is more or less my Manila trip. The rest of the time were spent in Divisoria, Tutuban, Greenbelt, Sofitel, MOA, etc... Don't get me wrong, but i love Cebu and I can live with Ayala, Colon, Manalili, SM, Marco Polo, etc... but I do hope seeing some of the things above opening here in 2012, that would make not want to leave CEBU at all... 

Musings of a Solo Traveler...(part 3 of 3)

Well, the rest of the trip is pretty much something other bloggers may have documented before. I went to Macau, went around HK following the same usual tourist routes, and visited Disneyland. Sharing with you some pictures with anecdotal notes of the experience. Enjoy! 

For whatever reason, the first restroom I went to had a pair of boxers  hanging by the door. 

I was next to this mother and son pair in Starbucks, kind of reminded me of me and my mom when I was a kid. 

Talk about "Parent Trap", he seemed like my missing brother, we caught each other laughing after looking at each other. I only got a back shot. I was too shy to ask for a side by side pic.

This attendant from Disneyland carried my luggage to the counter. His name is Chin or something like that. He gave me a personalized map, with handwritten instructions on what places to go and what shows to check out. I knew they couldn't eat out with guests, so I skipped on my intent to invite.

And by the way, something happened at The Venetian. I am still thinking if I should blog about it. 

Coke Happiness... Family and more reasons to be happy this Season.

Musings of a Solo Traveler...(part 2)

Mind. Lost. Hazy. Blurry.

Nathan Road... Take me there... 

I remember crossing a few intersections, entering and coming out of a few subways; and walking a couple of blocks but none of these seem to get me anywhere near Tsim Sha Tsui. The road names have changed as I continued walking and I started to get a little weary when I realized how they remained unfamiliar and not sounding any close to Nathan Rd. or Tsim Sha Tsui.  

7/11. I'm so glad to see you...

I know I quit smoking but these two kept me warm and company while lost in Kowloon.

Coke and Coffee... Always does the trick.

Having updated my Facebook status to indicate my intent to head to Kowloon, I was very happy to find a comment from a previous colleague about them being in HK at the same time. And luck seems to start pouring in when I saw a 7-11 store in Austin Road. I started to get some help from my friend who were also then in HK for a vacation via social networking. An hour later after our comment exchanges in facebook, they arrived with a map that will soon be my guide while I am in the Chinese territory. While waiting for them I have managed to smoke a few sticks, chatted with a 7-11 customer, and painfully attempted to get directions from the Chinese lady in 7-11 which really kind of turned out to be a waste of time due to language barrier.

Thanks to roaming access and social networking. Friends are coming to the rescue.

After an hour of briefing on which way to go, which trains and exits to take, they took me to a Mc Café where I spent an hour of cat napping before heading to China Ferry Terminal in Macau. In between I spent my time observing Chinese nationals having their after party meals still dressed in Mc Queen’s and limping in their high stilettos...

Thanks Jelai and Issa for helping me out... 

Fast forward... I found myself on the first ferry out of HongKong to Macau at 7AM the same day. 

Musings of a Solo Traveler...

This was my first “solo” out of the country trip; that alone makes it memorable. 

Interesting graffitti in one of the posts in Kowloon. These are public announcements on temporary closures, renovation of  places in the next few blocks from the said post. 

My first out of the country trip was as a chaperoned minor and the rest were accompanied by college friends and colleagues. Needless to say, I had the convenience of companion and everything that came with it in all my previous of out of the country travels. Even my domestic trips had always been in groups, and this Thanksgiving itinerary was definitely an exciting but somehow frightful venture. 

Plans, Maps, and Google. With a little help from a friend, I came up with an itinerary with two things in mind: visit as much places and interact with people .I wanted to be away from signature shops as much as possible, my budget in this trip definitely is not within the “Hermes buying people” scale and I didn’t want to waste my time having pictures taken in front of signature stores and monograms. On the contrary, I wanted to be on the streets, wander, ask directions from people, take the cheapest public transport possible and just be spontaneous. 

"Charlie", resting in one of the fire hydrants in Austin Road.

Nathan Road. Midnight after Thanksgiving.

I arrived in HongKong a little over midnight the day after Thanksgiving. Between booking a hotel and lounging around the airport cafes until the first ferry to Macau, I chose the latter. Of course, I took spontaneity to the next level and jumped on the first train I saw out of the airport. That gave me around 5 hours of productive time between me and my backpack “Charlie” in the streets of Kowloon without a plan on hand. 

Instead of getting out of Exit E in Kowloon, I found myself exiting in a flyover and walking on the highway.

Me. Alone. Subway. Midnight. Lost. Picture. 

 After almost and hour of walking, going in and out of subways, I found myself getting lost... This is where is the real fun begins... (to be continued... ) 

Crazy Thoughts...

In the next few months, I will be moving into another decade of my life which makes me:

1. Thankful for the last 3 decades of happy and relevant existence

 2. Excited about what’s in store for me in the next ten years. 

Yes, I am turning 30.

 That said, I would like to share with you some of the crazy ideas I have on what I hope may happen in my 30’s.

• Go back to Hawaii... I want to experience Honolulu again, this time when I am legally allowed to buy liquor and socialize with the surfers. I will definitely make up for what I was restricted to last time, only God knows what I am capable of doing this time around...
• Meet the Dalai Lama, life is about balance, I do not only wish to know what it’s like to be broke in the Upper East Side but I want to feel how it is to be in the presence of this inspiring being.
• Get a divorce, of course that means getting married before that. I want to fall in love, real hard, so hard that I will eventually want to get out of it.
• Be a prostitute. I wonder what it’s like to be paid for what they do. Maybe not, maybe for a night. Maybe....
• Disappear for a month. Go somewhere nobody knows me. Pretend to be someone else while in the new place. Come home after a month and never mention or talk about what happened to anyone.
• And yes, I want to have my own apartment in NYC. Who knows that may just pave the way for the 1^st 5 items on the list. Right, Carrie???

The list may grow... Please note that this is not necessarily a bucket list. I won’t really make an effort to make this happen, what I am saying is, if a similar situation confronts me in the future, you can bet on my direction. Meantime, let me get a day closer to my 30^th. Goodnight!

Bicol Adventure--- The Cebu Pacific Way - where low cost flying is Poor and Cheap Travel

I admit, my attitude toward's writing and blogging should change. Here I am waking up at 3 in the morning and doing some catching up on entries I was supposed to write a month ago... While these are all over due, I still want to share how I got myself to Bicol despite the challenges of a tropical depression and the poor customer service of a low cost  cheap airline ---- yes, Cebu Pacific Air!

The actual departure day from Cebu was all about being out of luck and a couple of misfortunes, most of them I attribute to the airline's lack of customer service. It wasn't poor, there just wasn't any. We were informed via airport PA system that the flight got cancelled due to deteriorating weather condition. The more frustrating part was nobody from the airline came, the next instructions, on where to go, what to do, who to get help from there where really no instructions on who get help from --- was also announced over the PA system. 

Nobody from the airline came, everybody had to figure out based on PA System instructions, where customer service area was which turns out to be the boarding counter. As if the the frustration wasn't enough, we arrived to an empty customer service counter. The airline person arrives and starts shouting that everyone should line up so we can get the help attention we needed. If they were there when we arrived, maybe they could have organized the crowd, but of course, you don't really expect that from Cebu Pac.  Of course it's not their fault that the weather was bad and they were telling us we can re book within the next 30 days. Another frustrating thing was that rerouting as an option wasn't disclosed until a lot of us asked if we can reroute that day. We were then informed that the only option was to get the last flight out of Cebu to Manila at 11:15PM, earlier flights were not possible, even as chance passengers. This they were firm about. And yes, Mactan Internation Airport Administration, your air condition unit in the departure area was under maintenance that time - for how long already? that I don't know. 

So we went spent a few more bucks for airport transfer going home, and decided that while waiting we can call the customer service hotline to ask "AGAIN" if we can take a chance on the earlier flights to Manila that day. And we did get confirmation via phone, that the chance passenger option is possible, this was after being told the opposite earlier in the airport that day. 

There is a reason why Cebu Pacific is assigned the letter D in the signage above.

And so we went to the airport and waited, finally got accommodated in the 8:15PM flight, and yes, I had to lie that I had an important wedding to go to in Legazpi to get some attention. Another interesting note that was highlighted to us by the airline people in Cebu was that they cannot guarantee that we won't have to pay for the Terminal Fee in Manila, and that we can try to ask the Manila Team of their airline to help us with it, and they kept saying it over and over --- NO GUARANTEES.

As expected, we arrived to an empty Cebu Pacific Customer Service Counter in NAIA. After a minutes of waiting, two ladies came and confirmed they had no idea  they we're not informed that Cebu - Legazpi passengers are rerouting that night due to a flight cancellation, we even told them that the rest of the passengers from our flight are going to be arriving in the next flight at 11:15PM. Of course, the low cost airline doesn't have a passenger lounge we can stay while waiting, they told us to sleep on the benches or even the floor until the check in time at 5:45AM. 

Rather than sleeping in the airport benches and floors, I went and met my best friend in The Fort. And moving on to the only good part, I did get to Legazpi at 7 AM most of which was because of my own effort and never the airline. It is also interesting, how when we asked for consideration on many and several things, like checking in our hand-carry luggage during the half day wait in NAIA, we were told that they can't help us because they are a LOW COST Airline. 

YES Cebu Pacific, I still have a pending complaint from last year. I booked Cebu-Dumaguete Flights and NOBODY told me they stopped operation/flying to Dumaguete from Cebu for a while already. Everyone acted as if I was expected to find that out on my own. After telling me through email that someone will call me, nobody did. You can check your email for complaint number : GSAS0000645996-11. You will see how many follow up emails I have sent without getting any response. (just in case, this does get to Cebu Pac and they give it some attention, help isn't really in their vocabulary and budget as a LOW COST airline).