the not-so-OC's guide to traveling - part 4

just in case you're already fed up with this "series", allow me one final post -- the random stuff.

♥ bring a photcopy of your passport with you and store it in another place, like inside your luggage. while no one wants their passport lost or stolen, having a photocopy makes it easier should you need to present proof that you were actually issued a passport by your home country.

♥ US$50 and US$100 is converted at the same rate, while US$20 below is converted at a much lower rate. therefore, if you must change your dollars at the airport (just so you'll have the local currency already), bring a US$50 at least. that way, you don't lose on the exchange rate either way -- you get the best rate, but you can save the rest for a money changer in the city which gives a much better rate than the airport banks.

♥ however, if the currency is already available in manila, well you might get a better deal buying the currency of the country of destination from manila rather than buying dollars here, then buying the local currency when you get to your destination.

♥ check online (yes, the internet is my friend -- most of the information i used are available online) for the exchange rate. that way, you'll more or less have an idea if the rates you're getting are accpetable.

♥ bring a small calculator with you. while i know my cellphone has a calculator, it's so much easier to press just an on button rather than several buttons to get to the calculator application. also, a calculator is much easier to hand to the salesperson who doesn't speak english rather than an expensive phone.

♥ have a separate wallet for foreign currency and leave your regular wallet in the hotel safe (just make sure to retrieve it before going home!). if you're like me, then your regular wallet will have your credit cards, identification cards, driver's license, and a whole lot of stuff -- none of which you'll need when you're out of the country. storing your foreign currency in another purse means that you can leave the "real" one at the hotel, safely out of reach from pickpockets, and you'll be able to monitor your remaining foreign currency better.

♥ bring a pen with you -- you'll be asked to fill out a number of forms from the time you check-in so while there are pens readily available at the check-in counter and immigration, having your own makes it more convenient as you can fill out the forms somewhere else. (in our case, at yellow cab while eating dinner)

♥ pre-departure expenses: P1,620 for travel tax (which you don't have to pay anymore if it's already included in your ticket) and P750 for terminal fee. there are certain individuals who are exempt from paying travel tax and you may check it out here and here.

♥ if no one's picking you up from the airport:

☺ don't forget to set aside money for the taxi fare

☺ depending on where you live, you'll have to decide between taking a coupon taxi or an airport metered taxi. in my case, the airport metered taxi is much cheaper.

☺ if you're kuripot, then go down the ramp and take an ordinary taxi. much cheaper than any of the airport taxis.

so i've covered the technical stuff, and given that i've been writing about this for four days already, i do hope i'm done. and if i haven't covered everything, well, that's why there's google.

enjoy your flight! bon voyage.

the not-so-OC's guide to traveling* - part 3

so i don't pack light. in fact, i'm the girl who relies on "group check-in" most of the time. what can i say, i hate not having something i might need on a trip.

i know that you'll save Php200 on a cebupac flight if you choose not to check-in any luggage. to my mind, though, P200 (a little more than what a frap from starbucks would cost) is a small price to pay for extra fifteen kilos on a trip.

and so, without further adieu, more tips:

♥ if you're really got nothing to check-in, then avail of the discount. it's there for a reason.

♥ but if you're going someplace where shopping is bound to be amazing (hello, vietnam!), then don't hesitate to pay an extra hundred bucks each way so that you'll get an additional fifteen kilos of baggage.

♥ group check-in is available only for those people whose names appear on the same ticket. we made the mistake of booking two individuals at a time when we went to vietnam, so we wasted a kilo here, and a couple of kilos there which would amount to several more kilos of check-in baggage had we all booked our flights under one confirmation number.

♥ the type of luggage helps. when i was packing for bohol early this year, i wanted to take a bigger suitcase so that i wouldn't have a difficult time fitting everything in my three-day suitcase. however, when i weighed the entire thing, it was around 17 kilos, meaning i'd have to pay extra, so i transferred everything to my small suitcase which, for some magical reason, was 14.9 kilos according to the official airport weighing scale.

♥ if your baggage is already overweight, be prepared that they will also weigh your hand carry. real life story: the girl in front of us in the low cost carrier terminal in kuala lumpur was told by the counter guy that her baggage was overweight by two kilos. rather than paying, she said she'll just transfer her things to her carry on baggage. uh-oh -- the guy then asked to see her carry-on baggage and weighed the entire thing (2 kilos above the 7-kilo limit) which meant that she did not only have to repack, but actually had to leave some of her things in malaysia.

♥ bring your own -- water and snacks, that is. when i first traveled with my aunt to singapore, she told me to bring my own water and snacks since our luggage would (logically) be less full leaving manila than coming back. so, in order to make full use of the extra space, i stuffed it with water and food (crackers, biscuits, chips, cup noodles), all well within the limit, of course. going to KL, we actually had one baggage with nothing but food and water inside which was particularly useful when we arrived at the hotel in the middle of the night slightly starving after a long trip. plus, it always feels great when you save your much-needed foreign currency for shopping rather than buying water.

♥ they're not particularly strict in manila regarding the bringing of liquids on the plane but be ready to throw your carry on water when you get to customs in an airport abroad.

*note: the past two posts i spelled this word with a double "l". today, i'm using a single "l". both are acceptable ☺

the not-so-OC's guide to travelling - part 2

if you read yesterday's post, then you'll know why certain people agree with the observation that i'm bossy -- i like things planned, organized, and not-so-free flowing. now don't mistake that for being overly rigid. as a matter of fact, i don't mind change of plans at all. what matters to me, though, is that there's a plan to begin with. change that as you will over the course of an entire trip, i'm okay with that, but i'd rather much leave manila with a thick sheaf of papers outlining a plan of action for the entire vacation than not knowing what to do when i get there.

thanks to the internet, it's now not only easy to book a flight, it's also quite easy to figure out what to do when you get to a place. as a matter of fact, hong kong and malaysia have amazing sites (here and here) run by their tourism authorities which proved to be helpful. from the websites, i got connected to a bazillion other links which allowed me to not only figure out where i wanted to go but, more importantly, how to get there.

♥ email! - months before i went to hong kong with my family and to KL with my friends, i was already scouring the internet for information and emailing the links to my travel mates. whether or not they wanted to be involved with the planning stages, at least they knew what was going on and could put in their two cents' worth should they wish to do so.

♥ don't just email, email a plan. not everyone will be exciting over seeing a bunch of links, so it will help a lot of if you draft a plan and tell them that you want to go to certain places. prior to my hong kong trip with my mom and brother, i had figured out what we were going to do on each of the four days that we were going to be there, subject to their approval. now, since they were family, i was easily able to indicate that failure to reply within an appropriate time will be deemed as a waiver on their part to comment, but this might not necessarily be a good idea if you're traveling with friends.

♥ be flexible! while i had a plan of attack for hong kong, i didn't mind it when we didn't push through with some of the things i wanted to do during the sheer exhaustion (goodbye, victoria harbor) or lack of time (goodbye, ocean park). i just filed them away for future trips to these places -- after all, given their proximity to manila and the cheap flights now available, i'm sure that i'll get to do these things next time i visit.

♥ figure out your non-negotiables. on our last day in KL, we had counted on getting morning tickets to the skybridge at petronas towers, only to get a 2:45 p.m. slot. some of the people ahead of us left after the schedule they wanted was filled up, but our group decided to get whatever slot would be available and give up instead a planned trip to batu caves. we figured that kuala lumpur = petronas towers, and told ourselves that since we had waken up early just to get in line, then this was something we had to do. batu caves can wait for a succeeding trip (see tip above).

♥ public transportation & walking = a tour on its own. while i was basically stuck in city tours and what nots on my first few trips abroad with family, my trips these year all involved taking public transport. again, information is readily available online. and, if you have more questions, don't hesitate to ask hotel staff who are, more often than not, locals who take public transportation themselves. in hongkong, we availed of the tourist day pass which ended up being really cheap since we were staying at HK disneyland. in vietnam, we walked around and discovered hidden treasures within the city which were not on any of the tour guides and maps that we got. and in kuala lumpur, we were virtually able to take all available forms of transportation except, surprisingly, a cab.

♥ have a mini-planning session. see the picture above? that was taken by one of my travel companions to KL. while i had already sent a number of emails, and we had all exchanged a number of emails between the four of us, it still helped that we sat down, discussed everything (including the maximum budget), and agreed on a number of things. that meant less time wasted abroad discussing where to go and what to do.

♥ figure out how everything costs and plan accordingly. before going to hong kong, i already informed my mom how much the admission fees were, as well as how much we should set aside for food and travel. that allowed us to determine exactly how much money to bring with some left over for something really important -- shopping! when we went to KL, we agreed to pool a fixed amount and have a designated "treasurer" pay for everything (bus, train, transfers, meals, etc) so that we weren't all digging into our pockets for change, or worrying whether or not we'll have enough money left for the rest of the trip after making a purchase.

tomorrow: part 3 - packing light? not me.

the not-so-OC's guide to travelling - part 1

first things first: i am by no means an expert. as a matter of fact, up until recently, i haven't traveled out of the country in years. that said, i'd like to think that by the time i took my KL trip last week, i had my routine down pat, and thought that it might be helpful to list them all down here, if not for the three people who actually read this blog, then for my own personal reference should more trips present themselves in the future.

on booking flights and hotels

♥ if you're a budget traveler such as myself, booking flights way in advance are super helpful. not only are you able to file your leave early, after paying off the credit card charges, you still have sufficient time to save up for your pocket money.

♥ for the KL trip, we also booked the hotel the same day we did our flight. for that, we used agoda, which gave us around 30% in savings plus a cool breakfast buffet to go with our room.

♥ if you're traveling with a big group, opt to avail of the hotel breakfast buffet. i traveled to vietnam with a group of 7 other women, and while i love my friends, i hate the waiting the comes with waiting for everyone to be done getting ready for the day. having breakfast in the hotel at least cuts down on waiting time since those who are up early can have more time to enjoy their breakfast while those who are late will be *forced* to hurry up since the others are done and ready to go.

♥ while we lucked out with our hotel in KL, i will admit that i and commuter were "duped" into picking the one we got because of (what we felt) were already cheap rooms and (seemingly) fluffy pillows on the sample pictures. don't hesitate to scroll through all the hotels and check the locations against a map. we ended up booking a hotel in the suburbs which was, thankfully, right beside the mall, but a good distance from KLCC, which wasn't that great.

♥ both my KL and vietnam trips involved red eye flights from manila and back. in vietnam, the city isn't that far from the airport which makes it relatively easy to pick a hotel within one's budget and taste. on the other hand, the airport in KL is a good hour or more away from the city and the taxi cabs are as crazy (and ganid as the ones we have here in manila) so best to take that into consideration when booking a hotel for your first night. in our case, we booked a cheap but acceptable hotel -- my hotel @ sentral -- which was a five-minute walk from where the airport bus dropped us off in the middle of the night. so, while the hotel wasn't really where you'd want to stay for a long time, it was better than sleeping on a cold airport floor after an uncomfortable flight.

♥ while i generally trust the reviews online, take it with a grain of salt. usually, asians are more forgiving and westeners have more refined tastes. therefore, what might be acceptable for you might not be for an american tourist. also, a "small" room for them might be "average" for you. and although pictures help, they usually pick the nicest rooms to picture, not to mention take it at an angle that will best show off the room. you'll be better off reading the details: does it have a ref? how many beds in the room? what kind of television (if this matters to you) did they furnish the room with?

♥ ask. most websites have a "contact us" button, and agoda has a 24/7 live chat as well. when i couldn't find the answer to my questions online, i emailed the hotel or used agoda to resolve certain issues.

tomorrow: part 2 - planning your itinerary

BYOB,* anyone?

remember this?

i took that picture when we went on that pasig river cruise in the hopes of finding our own dear "august". needless to say, what we found was lots of trash. it was enough to make one swear off plastic bags forever.

however, when the image (and smell) faded from my mind, i must admit that the practice of bringing a recyclable shopping bag with me at all times likewise faded. while i do remember to bring them with me once in a while (like last friday when i did my groceries☺), i think i don't do it often enough.

it was thus a wonderful surprise that in Hong Kong, there are places where they have a zero plastic bag policy, and ngong ping happens to be one of them.

on our first day in HK, we just dropped of our bags in the hotel and immediately went to ngong ping village. this "sculpture" was the village's ode to their policy of "fading out" the use of plastic bags. and, if the idea is something that you're not exactly comfortable with, the brass plaque on the sculpture has a couple of fascinating facts for the skeptic:

1. the plastic bag you take lasts longer than yourself on the earth.
2. plastic waste is pollution!
3. plastic bags are harmful to the environment
4. they are like monsters invading earth. although plastic bag[s] are still available everyone should do their part in changing their habits and fade out the usage of plastic bags in their daily lives.

what's more impressive is that in several stores - like mannings and taste - actually charge you 25 cents (Php1.50) for every plastic bag that they will use to put the stuff you purchased from the store in. quite revolutionary -- at least in SM on Wednesdays they give you the option of putting your purchases in paper bags for free -- and alarming (especially when we found ourselves in taste without our disposable bags and a whole lot of groceries -- thank goodness we had purchased a number of items from some of the other shops so we just redistributed those and used the extra bags for the groceries). i mean, can you imagine manila without plastic bags? can you imagine buying grocery and being told that unless you have your own shopping bags, you will have to pay for the plastic bags they will use? naku, baka magwala ang madlang pilipino niyan.

then again, can we entirely wipe out plastic bags from everyday use? i'm willing to bet that instead of buying trash bags, you use grocery bags as trash can liners. and that your "dirty clothes" as well as extra pairs of footwear during out-of-town trips are stashed in grocery bags as well. if households had no plastic bags at all, will we not end up buying some other form of plastic as well like garbage bags?

i wish i had an answer to my own questions. but for now, why don't you try it. it really doesn't hurt at all. ☺ ☺ ☺

* bring your own bag

hello, world, i'm back in manila

pictures, stories, and comments to follow. for now, i've got to buckle down and start working.

but, lest i forget, a couple of notes for future reference:

1. i hate how sun cellular omitted from its website that you can only go roaming if your outstanding balance is more than half of your credit limit. hence, no roaming for me.
2. being off the grid for four days is weird, but actually manageable. being away from work for the same number of days, on the other hand, is scary, especially in this economy.
3. contrary to the comments i've heard from friends, HK disney, IMHO, is fun and worth every penny.
4. i realized i love grocery shopping in HK.
5. money is never enough.
6. wednesday is crazy in HK.
7. when will we catch up to our neighbors? i loved the public transportation system in HK
8. having traveled with friends for the longest time, traveling with family feels different. one must actually prepare herself mentally for it.

sigh.

the vacation left me more tired than before i went on it. still, i'm glad i had that chance. now, time to work and save up for the next one.

today's my last day at work this week.

tomorrow, mama and i will go to cabanatuan to visit my grandmother.

saturday will be laundry/packing day. hopefully, mama and i can squeeze in a trip to the parlor.

and at 3am sunday morning, thanks to the kindness of a good friend, we'll be ferried to the airport and we'll be on our way to the place where your dreams come true and there are hidden mickeys everywhere.

of course some have been teasing me over the very juvenile vacation. well, it's *almost* every kid's dream, and it has been mine for the longest time. who cares if HK disney is tiny, or is meant for kids, or isn't fun. this big kid plans to have the time of her life.

*image from hongkong-attractions.com