Trippy 🫧
October 21, 2022
It’s good to be back
March 12, 2022
in Paradise ✨
Paradise ✨
March 10, 2022
El Jardin de Zaida
December 2, 2021
our first travel since March 2020!
It felt good… to be able to explore again, to see new things, and honestly just to be somewhere else other than our home.
El Jardin de Zaida is a pleasant retreat from city life, a great place to get away from it all. It was my little one’s first road trip and I believe she truly enjoyed. The place is expansive enough, with lots of trees and manicured lawns, two pools, and even a spa (had my first massage in ages)!
If you’re looking for a relaxing getaway close to Manila, it’s an easy 2.5 hour drive from the CBD. Great for kids and grandparents alike.
Glad we did this and looking forward to (hopefully) more trips this coming new year.
Romblon Islands adventure
January 7, 2020
Romblon
January 7, 2020
Happy new year! I hope you all had a wonderful break.
The end of 2019, I traveled to the Islands of Romblon, an archipelagic province of the Philippines located just above Boracay. Its main islands include Tablas, Romblon and Sibuyan. This holiday was ultimately a backpacker kind of trip. For one, they do not have any 4 or 5 star hotels in these islands. Only small local hotels and inns, b&b’s and the like. Secondly, the only way to get to these islands is by pump boat or the local roll-on/roll-off ferries. Lastly, it’s just so inconvenient to travel between these islands that you super need a lot patience.
While planning for our trip, I realised that there were not many online information regarding how to travel to and around the islands of Romblon. So I hope this post will be helpful as I share with you all how we did it and what we visited.
Day 1 : Cebu Pacific flight from Manila to Tablas / Tricycle ride from airport to Aglicay Beach Resort (Php 500)
Aglicay Beach Resort is quite far from Tablas airport, and even farther to San Agustin Port where we had to be to get to Romblon the next day. But honestly, it was a nice cove and apparently the best resort in Tablas, so personally it was worth visiting.
Day 2 : Tricycle ride from Tablas airport to San Agustin Port (Php 700) / San Agustin Port to Romblon (Pump boat Php 100)
The pump boat in San Agustin Port leaves at 8 am sharp so you better make sure that you are there early because it gets full easily. It’s first come first serve so if you get left behind, the next pump boat leaves at 1 pm.
We arrived in Romblon at 9 am so we had the full day to go around the small island. We hired a tricycle driver to take us to all these sites (Php 1,000). Below are the places we visited :
● Fuerza de San Andres
● Marble workshop
● Reggae Vibes
● BonBon Beach
● Tiamban Beach
Day 3 : Romblon to Sibuyan via Roro at around 7:30 am
We only had a day in Sibuyan but we wished we had stayed longer so we could climb Mount Guiting-Guiting. Instead, we chose to visit Cresta de Gallo, a small island south of Sibuyan. We hired a small pump boat with the help of our B&B (German Terrace) and it took us 2 hours to get there. Really tiring but definitely worth it.
Cresta de Gallo is so beautiful and luckily, we were the only ones there at that time!
I mean look at that.. Amazing!
Day 4 : Sibuyan to Boracay
We wanted to spend New Year’s Eve in Boracay so we pushed ourselves to make it to Caticlan on time. The ferry from Odiongan, Tablas to Caticlan was cancelled so we had to find our own way to Boracay. We rode a jeepney and then a tricycle to get to the southernmost port of Tablas and then hired a pump boat to get to Caticlan. Luckily we found a boatman for Php 4,000. It was quite an adventure, but omg, I would not want to do that again.
While waiting in Magdiwang Port Sibuyan
Day 5 : Boracay
A great way to end our adventurous Romblon trip. 2 days of just lounging and sun bathing in the island of Boracay bliss.
Wishing you all a great start to 2020! Here’s to more adventures xx
Hunter Valley + Lovedale + Melbourne
November 23, 2019
Another beautiful trip to Australia
Hunter Valley and Lovedale is 2.5 hours away from Sydney. We were there for a friend’s wedding. They had welcome drinks at Dark Horse Vineyard and then the following day, the reception was in Wandin Valley Estate.
We had breakfast at the Deck Cafe on our last day.
Then we flew to Melbourne and stayed for 5 days.
What to see and do :
● Melbourne CBD for some food and shopping
● Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria
● The Great Ocean Road Tour
● St. Kilda Beach, Brighton Beach and Brighton Bathing Boxes
Where to eat and have coffee :
● Market Lane, Patricia, Le Petite Bourke and Brunetti
● Pellegrini’s Espresso Bar
● Higher ground
● Rice Queen and Rue De Creperie in Fitzroy
● Royal Stacks Burger
And of course, Chin Chin!
Lastly, China Town in Melbourne CBD also has a lot of restaurants and bars, do check them out.
‘Til next time Australia 👋🏼
Aloha 🌺
September 2, 2019
10 days in Oahu island, Hawaii | August 2019
We stayed at 4 different places during our whole trip in Oahu Island. First we spent 2 nights in an AirBnb house in Kailua (a town on the east coast of the island). Beautiful place and personally the best area in the island. Lanikai beach was really nice – not crowded at all and very clean. The Lanikai Pillbox Hike was also walking distance from the house. Highly recommended. It’s an easy hike, a good workout and a great view waiting at the top.
After we checked out, we went to Kualoa Ranch where they shot Jurassic Park, Jumanji, 50 First Dates and Kong: Skull Island to name a few. If you want to do ATV’s and other activities, make sure you book months in advance as it gets fully booked real fast.
In the afternoon, we moved to Four Seasons in Ko Olina, which is on the west side of the island. We stayed here for 2 nights for our friend’s wedding.
After the wedding, we rented a car and stayed for 2 nights in an Airbnb in North Shore (a popular surfing area in Hawaii). I really liked this part of the island as well because of the laid back vibe of the community – very nice and relaxing.
We went surfing at Chun’s reef beach and checked out Waimea Falls Park & Botanical Gardens. Make sure to visit Giovanni’s Shrimp Truck, a must in North Shore.
Since we had a car, we drove all the way to the Polynesian Cultural Center for some Luau and their Hā Breath of Life evening show.
We also hiked up Manoa Falls and drove up to the Ihiloa Loop to check out the view of the Diamond Head.
Our last leg was, of course, the popular Waikiki, a neighborhood of Honolulu on the south shore of the island. Crowded, very touristy, but for me a must see when you visit Oahu. Glad that this was our last stop because honestly all we did here was just shop and lounge.
We did check out Pearl Harbour though and rode the bus to Downtown Honolulu for some dinner and drinks.
The historic buildings in Downtown Honolulu are nicely preserved. The nineteenth century and Neo-Renaissance architecture are so beautiful against the Hawaiian sunset.
Last but not the least, do visit Leonard’s Bakery for some fresh malasadas. So yum!
Mahalo Oahu. Can’t wait to visit the other islands of Hawaii next time. A hui hou! (Until we meet again!)
Summersonic Osaka 2019
August 21, 2019
Inspired by Iceland
July 20, 2019
The beauty of Iceland is more than just the Aurora. Sure, most tourists choose to visit Iceland during Winter to see the majestic Northern Lights. But visiting Iceland during Spring or Summer is just as breathtaking as seeing the impressive dance of the Aurora Borealis.
Iceland is made up of 130 volcanoes, 10,000 waterfalls, 800,000 sheeps and get this, around 2 million tourists. Spring is considered to be shoulder season so personally it is the perfect time to travel around Iceland.
On our first day, we went straight to Selfoss and checked in at Hotel Grimsborgir. It’s a lovely hotel in the middle of nowhere.
A tip when choosing accommodations, it is better to move around depending on your itinerary. Because if you stay in Reykjavík the whole time, you will waste a lot of time traveling on the road. For our 1 week stay in Iceland, we stayed in 3 different hotels which helped us save a lot of driving time.
So going back, there are a lot of beautiful waterfalls in Iceland. And we probably saw more than a handful while driving on the road. We even stopped a few times to see them up close.
My favourite I would say is the Seljalandsfoss as seen below. It is the only known waterfall of its kind, where it is possible to walk behind it.
Another personal favourite is the Gullfoss, a waterfall located in the canyon of the Hvítá river, southwest of Iceland. It is so powerful you can feel the mist and hear the strong burble.
Of course, a trip to Iceland’s black sand beach, Reynisfjara and the world famous Blue Lagoon is a must I’d say.
Another cool place to visit is the Dyrhólaey which literally means “door hole”. It’s not that far from the seafront village Vík which is also a nice area to see.
We also went to The Great Geysir which was pretty fun to see.
On our second to the last day, we hired a Mountain Taxi that took us to Iceland’s farmlands and lava fields towards the Hekla Volcano. We went to Landmannalaugar a place in the Fjallabak Nature Reserve, in the highlands of Iceland, had some sandwiches near a natural hot spring and walked around the area to explore.
Seeing that part of Iceland felt so surreal, as if we were on a different planet. The colors of the different rocks were so nice to see and everywhere we went, we saw something so truly amazing. Be it a secret lagoon, a geyser, a waterfall or a field with horses or baby sheep, it was just so breathtaking.
Forgot to mention the beautiful view of Þingvellir (Thingvellir), a historic site and national park in Iceland, east of Reykjavík.
And Sólheimajökull, a glacier in southern Iceland where you can go Glacier Hiking.
In Reykjavik, we visited Hallgrímskirkja (a Lutheran parish church), the Perlan Museum and ate in Þrír frakkar. Weather that day was a bit gloomy but at least we were mostly indoors.
On our last day, we stayed in Hotel Berg, which is in Keflavík a cute small town near the airport.
The days were long in Iceland during our trip and the sunset in Reykjavik was just so amazing. The Icelanders are truly blessed with their country. It is just so amazing to see how beautiful it is in this side of the world.
Hello. 