Travel Journal
At the start of the year I decided to get a travel journal. Fully Booked offered several notebooks and I ended up choosing the Lonely Planet Travel Journal. I liked the color of the sheets, and the bonus sections such as the time conversion, world maps, and trivia on popular destinations. Click here to read the rest of the entry…
Hostal Opera
There were so many hostels to choose from in Barcelona, so we looked for one with good reviews on the net. Our choices were narrowed down to 2 – Hostal Benidorm and Hostal Opera. Good thing my friend’s cousin-in-law was based there. Click here to read the rest of the entry…
Easy Easyjet
My friends and I were supposed to take the train from Barcelona to Paris. The idea was to combine our transportation and accomodation fees into 1. Hey, can’t blame us, the Euro is expensive! We tried to purchase tickets 2 days before our flight to Barcelona from an official representative, the Adventure International Tours, which has a branch in SM Megamall. For some reason, they couldn’t book tickets for us – though there were several seats left, the system kept resulting in errors.
We had to come up with Plan B. …click here to read the rest of the entry…
Europe Photos!
Finally finished uploading all of our Europe photos! YAY! It took me to 2 days to upload everything, but it’s worth it!
More details in http://www.happytripper.com!
Barcelona’s Bus Turistic
With Bus Turistic, it’s very easy to be a tourist in Barcelona. It’s a bus tour with 2 routes that allows you to see the famous Barcelona tourist attractions and go around at your own pace. …click here to read the rest of the entry…
KLM
We flew KLM when we went to Europe last week. I didn’t have a choice because the airfare was paid for by the office. I didn’t know what to expect – I just knew that KLM was a 3-star airline (according to Skytrax)… click here to read the rest of the entry…
Happy Trip!
Check out the new site that Nikki and I came up with – Happy Tripper!
He approached me with the idea, after reading all my posts and seeing all my travel photos. I love travel, and some might say that it’s “unfortunate” that I only ‘discovered’ it 3 years ago. I see it differently – I’m thankful that I got into this because it’s really wonderful! Travelling allows me to see beautiful places, experience new things, take photos of interesting subjects, and learn about new cultures. And it doesn’t matter if it’s a roadtrip, or a long-haul flight to another country, or a short flight within the country – all of these places offer different things, new experiences, great finds, and of course fantastic photos!
We hope that the blog will inspire others to travel and go on trips too. Come and be a happy tripper like us!
Link up okay? 
Vigan
Vigan
Originally uploaded by Carambs!.
Jovan and I went on (yet another) roadtrip for the long weekend of August 25-27. We were supposed to go there last year but I got sick, and we passed it on our way to Pagudpud. So we’ve been talking about it, and decided to just go during the long weekend. It was perfect timing – I believe that you need at least 3 days to enjoy the place.
We left August 25, a saturday, at around 4AM, and got there at around 11:30AM. We only had 2 major stops – 1 in the North Expressway to have breakfast, and 1 in the Shell station before the right to Baguio. The trip was okay, except for the really bad traffic in Candon, because only 1 lane was functional.
For our accomodations, we chose the Vigan Heritage Mansion because it wasn’t “creepy”, based on the online reviews I encountered. Plus, it was right beside Calle Crisologo, which is a must-visit in Vigan. We checked in, dropped off our bags, and headed to Cafe Leona, which was supposed to be a popular restaurant there according to our (very worn out) Lonely Planet Guide.
There were a lot of people in Cafe Leona, which I thought was a good sign. Our guidebook did not fail us! First we had to go to the ‘display’ area where almost all of the available food was displayed, and we picked what we wanted. Be warned – orders were good for 1-3 people – I made a mistake of ordering embutido thinking that I could order 2-3 pieces, and was surprised when they served the whole thing! The food was good – they actually tasted like “home-cooked” food, and not commercialized food. We ordered embutido, chicken in pineapple sauce, fish fillet (which Jovan didn’t enjoy as much), and other viands which I forgot already. Obviously, we didn’t finish, so we had the food wrapped.
These were the Vigan destinations/activities that we were able to visit/do:
Calle Crisologo – A cobbled street where cars are banned, this street has small stores left and right where you can buy products of Vigan such as woven napkins, handtowels, blankets and bags
Padre Burgos Museum – The birthplace of Padre Burgos which showcases antique furniture, old photos of famous people from the Ilocos Province, paintings of the story of GomBurZa
Kalesa Ride – Not a lot of places offer kalesa rides anymore. But in Vigan, it’s one of the major modes of transportation.
The empanada from the plaza is *supposed to be* a specialty, but Jovan got a very upset stomach on the second day. We suspect it was because of the empanada. I heard that Jovan’s friend suffered the same fate. I took a bite and nothing happened to me, so we’re not a hundred percent sure. Just be warned.
Before we headed to Manila on the third day, we passed by the palengke (wet market) to buy the famous Vigan longganisa and bagnet. It was a different experience for me, but I truly enjoyed it!
We left Vigan at around 9:30AM. We visited the Church in Sta. Maria, the town after Vigan, because it was a Unesco World Heritage site. It was beautiful!
More pictures of our roadtrip here:
Baguio Once Again
Jovan and I went to Baguio last July 28-29 for Tour de Baguio, this time. It was my first trip to Baguio for the year and Jovan’s second. It was a nice trip because Mom and Dad joined us. We didn’t stay at our usual hotel, Hotel Veniz, mainly because they didn’t have broadband wifi in the rooms. We stayed at El Cielito Inn instead. We left Manila at 4AM, made 2 stops – 1 for gas and the other for a bathroom break – and arrived in Baguio at around 10AM. El Cielito is a pretty decent hotel, but not as good as Hotel Veniz. There were no elevators, the carpet in the hallway was old, and the doors to the rooms were old as well. The bathroom was really nice though.
After a short nap we headed to Camp John Hay, for our usual strawberry juice from Strawberries and Ice Cream at the Filling Station. We had lunch at Little John’s – can’t seem to let go of that place, even if their food is getting greasier and greasier. Maybe it’s the ambience? We decided to do all the touristy stuff (mainly for my parents) on Saturday so Sunday can be a relaxing day. After lunch we shopped at Mines View Park and Good Shepherd, then went to mass at St. Joseph’s. By that time we were so tired so we decided to have an early dinner at Oh My Khan. The food was okay, they offered an above-average mongolian buffet and lots of desserts to choose from.
Of course at night we watched the Tour. We couldn’t afford to miss it because it was the final time trial. The wifi didn’t work at first, because the connection was down. But we were able to make it work after a while, just in time to watch the favorites.
The next day, Mom and Dad went around Baguio once more without us, as we decided to sleep in (which is what we usually do when we go out of town). We had breakfast, lunch at The Filling Station, excuse for another round of strawberry juice. Then we went home.
Here are some photos:
Best. Strawberry. Juice. Ever.
Tour de Iba (Iba, Zambales)
Determined to get higher marks in Lakbayan, Jovan and I headed to Iba, Zambales last July 21-22. It was the height of the Tour de France, but we went anyway, and were very lucky that our chosen resort, Palmera Garden, had wifi broadband. Coolness!
Aside from getting a higher mark at Lakbayan, I also wanted to take photos, so I brought my camera (which I have yet to learn, by the way). Here are some photos:
Click here for the complete album.
Jovan and I left Manila at around 8AM. I was thinking of passing by Powerplant to get the Harry Potter book but decided against it. We arrived at Iba, Zambales at around 1PM. We had 2 stops – 1 at Total NLEX to have breakfast at Andok’s, and 1 at Luisita for a bathroom break. Palmera Garden is a nice, decent resort to stay at if you just want to get away from Manila. The rooms and the bathrooms are okay, and the food is better than average, though a bit expensive. The resort has a nice pool, and the beach at the back is good enough for sunbathing and swimming.
In the afternoon we slept, and went to the beach to take pictures of the sunset. We overestimated the time – sunset came way after 6PM. We couldn’t wait for the actual sunset because of hunger so we left. We went to the town proper to buy water and chips, and bought dinner from Jollibee, to save a bit. The whole night we watched the first time trial of the Tour de France, which Vino won.
We left at 11:30AM after having breakfast. Tour de Iba was officially over. We arrived in Manila after only 3 hours and went straight to Powerplant to get the Harry Potter book.