Back in high school, our school sponsored personality tests to help us figure out what we should major in at University. I still have the results filed away somewhere at home, but I'd forgotten what my results were. I recently took an online test on 16personalities for fun and I was fairly amused with the result since I felt it was 96% accurate. Strategy:...
Bali was a lot bigger than I expected. Seeing as we (my sis, cousin and I) were only staying for a few days, we limited ourselves to Ubud; it was exactly as I thought it would be: perennially chill, just the way I like it. We basically walked everywhere, and it was a nice way to explore and really take in our surroundings....
Where my girls at?? Disclaimer: our awkward years are over [I think] All I want for Christmas is books. All I need for Christmas is you. ...
My dad and I share the same birthday; I was born the day he turned 35 - so basically I'm the best birthday gift he ever got. jk Anyway, I've recently been thinking about life and how we have to play the cards we're dealt. We don't have any say over what kind of family we're born into, and I just wanted to...
Or rather, the current lack of variety. I started blogging mostly as a way to help stay in touch with friends and family; a lot of people have moved to different parts of the world, and while there are more and more ways to stay in touch with each other - I suck at it. I really do. I've tried to work on...
For the first time in my life, I actually enjoyed the land activities more than sea activities. Isla Gigantes Norte is small enough that you could probably walk around its coast within a day or two. Nevertheless, it has a few lovely sights worth exploring. One morning, we woke up before sunrise and took motorbikes to another part of the island. After a...
Pronounced eel-o eel-o. Not "o" like "oh", but "o" like the phonetic sound of the letter o. Long weekends are for travelling! The Philippines has several holidays that allow mini vacations. My latest opportunity was a 4 day weekend, where I decided to tick off another province in my Panay checklist. ☑ Aklan ☐ Capiz ☑ Iloilo ☐ Antique I left the city in...
We went on what was supposed to be an easy hike, but 90% of getting there was uphill, and I apparently have the knees of an old lady - so I got more than I bargained for. For most of the hike we were in the forest, so there was no direct sunlight to make the journey sweatier [than it already was]. I...
Just a few hours drive from the city, Anvaya Cove in Bataan is my family's go-to place to relax and recharge during the weekend. The time spent here is what you make of it - you can 100% relax and just lounge by the pool or the beach with some drinks, or engage in outdoor activities; they've got several watersports activities like kayaking,...
I think one of the things that shaped how I experienced Phuket was that I had no expectations. It was planned entirely by one of my traveling companions and I'd been too busy before the trip to do any research of my own. First of all, I didn't realize how big Phuket actually is. It's huge! It took an hour from the airport...
...that is the question. 2014. Photo by Jeremy Jude Lee There was a time you wouldn't have gotten anything else out of me except a cheesy "always" ala Snape / "okay" ala The Fault In Our Stars, but I don't think that's how I feel about it now. ...
Tourists come in hoards - flying in through Caticlan and Kalibo airport to get to Boracay. Not many set aside time to explore other parts of the province or island; part of this could be not knowing what there is to do. Up until recently, I never showed interest in exploring the area either. Flash geography lesson! Panay is about 12,000 sq km...
Óbidos was my favorite place we visited in Portugal. Quiet with classic cobblestone streets and no modern buildings. Busy enough for small businesses to thrive and big enough to get lost and explore on your own without jostling through a crowd. ...
I was really worried about 2015 considering 2014 was the best year of my life (so far). 2014 was a dedicated gap year after finishing University where I traveled as much as I could. I got pretty attached to that lifestyle, and was concerned that the traveling would stop once I planted my roots firmly to a job. A few months into working,...
Five miles of beach in Morong, Bataan. Not just for sunbathing and beach volleyball, but the nesting grounds of many momma turtles. © Pia T. We stayed a while and got to talking with Manolo, who runs the conservation center. Years ago, he used to be a fisherman and a poacher. Turtle eggs were a delicacy, and many people in the area found selling...
If it's not obvious from past blog posts - I'm a big Bastille fan. When I found out they were coming to Manila, I put an alarm on my phone to let me know when pre-sale was coming. There was a lot of nervous sweating going on when the internet decided to be slow while I was trying to buy the tickets. Lots....
I didn't think I'd like Paris; I thought it had been hyped up so much that I would be disappointed (what a travel snob). In the planning stages, I thought maybe we could stay one or two days just so we could visit the Louvre. At the insistence of the party I was travelling with, we kept Paris on our itinerary. Maybe it was that I...
If you can't read the phonetic thingy - it says thankful. As a new year begins (and let's face it, I may not be off to a great start considering this post is a month overdue), it's time to reflect on the year that has passed. I feel so incredibly lucky to have experienced so many different things this year and, for the...
