ITCHY FEET

My lola(grandmother) used to say that if you have a mole(nunal) near your mouth you would be a glib talker, and if you have a mole down your nosetrils you will lead a good life. I dont have a mole in my feet which would denote I have either an itchy feet or a knack for travelling but thats how I had become because of these cheap airline bargain trips.

Next week four of us(without hubby who is in Taiwan) me, my two boys Nygel and Niles and our ever faithful alalay Nette will be off to our Bali holiday. I had long dreamt of Bali and it was only 6 months ago when I was finally able to get that bargain ticket of $40 for a round trip ticket to this Indonesian Island Resort.

I am also excited of course to go home this December and we will be visiting Coron ,Palawan. The seat sale of Zest Airlines was incredibly tempting at P400 but when I finally decided to book our tickets the price already went up by a 1000 bucks but it was still worth going there.

Hubby doesnt know yet but by next year, I had planned our return to Phuket in March for the kids school holidays. Just the two of us ,we will be in Beijing in April(to finally see the Great Wall) and in Borobodur,Indonesia in May. In between , Singapore’s Universal Studio might already be open and hopefully we can visit before we live and settle in Canada.

From Canada onwards, it will be penny pinching time for us….but hopefuflly not the end of my Itchy Feet saga. 

2009 A Busy Travel Year

Thanks to the different budget airlines in Asia, 2009 marked a busy travel year for me. and my family. 

Beijing is in my List of Places to Visit in 2010

Except for my US trip financed by hubby all the rest of our family trips materialized due to numerous online sales of budget airlines namely Air Asia, Jetstar and  Tiger Airways.

Here is my busy travel schedule this year:

JANUARY-FEBRUARY- Los Angeles,San Diego,Sta Barbara and Carlsbad California USA

MARCH- Macau, China

APRIL- Penang,Malaysia

JUNE-Bintan Island,Indonesia

SEPTEMBER-Perth, Australia

OCTOBER- Siem Reap,Cambodia

NOVEMBER, Saigon,Vietnam

DECEMBER- Bali, Indonesia

                         Palawan and Manila ,Philippines   

My wish list next year(2010) is to visit these places:

MARCH-Phuket again

APRIL- Beijing to see the Great Wall of China

MAY -  Yogyakarta,Indonesiato visit the Borobodur temple

JUNE- Settle in Ontario,Canada 

Being in Singapore is an advantage since most budget airlines have their base here.This is the reason why most fares are cheap coming from Singapore.

Saigon Bound

    We are travelling to Vietnam particularly in Ho Chi Minh(Saigon) by Tuesday next week. Last week in Phnom Penh we met a US couple who didnt like Saigon very much because they said the War Memorial brought back memories that they didnt want to be reminded again (Vietnam War).

I heard that the Vietnamese are very happy people. Maybe much like Pinoys. We also forgave the Japanese about the atrocities they have committed during the Japanese War.  

We dont expect to see awesome structures like Angkor Wat in Ho Chi Minch but as we were told Vietnam is a gastronomic adventure.

Saigon here we come/

BUDGET PLANNING FOR OUR SIEM REAP TRIP

There is this wrong notion that only rich people travel Although that maybe true in the past nowadays, anyone can travel.

With the numerous budget airlines and price wars and sale programs going on….one cant resist the offers of travelling at the least costs.

 Our trip tomorrow in Siem Reap,Cambodia is an example.

Out tickets costs  S$220 for two($110 each). We had booked at Golden Temple in Siem Reap where our room is US$22/day. for our 3 days 2 nights trip we estimate that we will spend about $50-$100 for food. Our entrance to the Angkor Wat Temple is US$20 and our departure tax is US$25.

Estimated costs for the entire trip(without shopping) is therefore about  US$500-US$800 for two persons.

Memories Through Facebook

hi! my maiden name i carmelita “milette” baring. i was wondering if you and i were classmates in st. joseph’s college qc?

 Hi Betty,
Are you Apha Delta from UP?

Cost of Migrating to Canada

This is to document the activities and expenses one has to go through and spend when you are planning to migrate to Canada.

First of all these expenses that I am going to list down are expenses without the cost of any consultant or legal attorneys that some would engage to apply for them.

These are the expenses for going to Canada in Singapore dollars

1) Application fee-                                                                          S$2,051.8

2) Cost of medical fees (xray etc for 2 adults and 2 children)  -S$599.8          

3) Cost of NBI /Police Clearance and Photos                              S$180.00

4)  Cost of Issuing Visa for 2 adults at $599@                         S1,200.00

5) Other Miscellaneous costs(transpo,xerox etc)                          100.00

ESTIMATED /ACTUAL TOTAL EXPENSES                          S$4,131.00 or about P137,500

In our case, we received our notice to do ou medical examination a 1st step for issuance of our permanency visas exactly 3 years

after we submitted our application.

We still have to spend for our air tickets and our relocation which will amount to probably around S$10,000-20,000 or about P500,000.

Its not a joke to migrate to Canada. 

Unbelievably Cheap Air Tickets

   With the advent of budget carriers in Asia,nowadays you dont need to be rich to be a jetsetter.

Look at the bargain air tickets that I was able to snap for my family:

 Jetstar Perth Airtickets two way- S$469 for 4 or about S$117 (P 3,904)/person. This is for our Sept 6-11 trip.

Jetstar Siem Reap tickets - S$110 or P3,670 /person for our October 20-22 trip.

Tiger AIrways Airtickets for Saigon S$76 or P2,536/person. This for our November 3-5 trip to Ho Chi Minh City.

Air Asia airtickets for Bali (the cheapest) at S$40 or P 1335 each.This is for our Dec 1-3 trip

It pays to monitor prices of air tickets once in a while specially if you are planning for vacations.You can enroll in Message Alerts from these budget airlines so that they will notify you when they have special promotions.

Touring Austral Asia

 Now that we are about to embark on a transfer to Canada (sometime next year), Asia will be a far off continent that would be too expensive to make a trip to.

Some of my friends and relatives who have moved to the US and Canada have not been outside the US and Canada and taking a vacation is an expensive indulgence .

So now that we are still here, I have lined up trips for my family to visit till end of the year.These are not expensive trips since there are a lot of budget airlines in Singapore:

Sept 6-11,2009    PERTH AUSTRALIA- we will spend our 15th years anniversary,Niles Bday which falls in September and the one week school holidays of the kids here.This is our first time to Australia

 October 20-22  SIEM REAP,CAMBODIA -me and hubby will visit the ancient Angkor Wat temple, a once in a lifetime trip that might not repeat itself. So while we are still 2 hrs away from Cambodia and still in Singapore,might as well visit one of the Ancient Wonders of the World.

November 3-5 HO CHI MINH,VIETNAM - This is the first time that we will be using our Marriot Timeshare plan, we will be staying gratis at amore at the Renaissance Marriot hotel just infront of the Mekong Delta River in Saigon(Ho CHi Minh City)

December 1-3 BALI  -This will be a dream for me to see Bali and we are staying at the Ritz Carlton Bali (Marriot). AT last I will visit this place that I have heard so much of.

Except for our Australia and Siem Reap trips, our hotels in Bali and Vietnam will be through Marriot Vacation Club.

At least pag nasa Canada na kami, we have already toured the exciting places in Asia

Sino Sya?

SIno Sya, was my first reaction ng bigla na lang nagsolo etong mukhang instik na e2. Biro mo bida siya agad

When the all-star Michael Jackson memorial ceremony in Los Angeles came to an end today, millions of fans watching the event became curious about the woman who sang lead on Jackson’s “Heal the World.” The mystery singer was Judith Hill, a Pasadena, California-based vocalist who was recruited to be one of the backup singers for Jackson’s This Is It! concerts at London’s O2 Arena. Hill wowed the crowd and the millions watching around the world with her rendition of the Dangerous song, but her identity had most viewers baffled — the “We Are the world” and “Heal the world” performers weren’t identified in the handouts at the Staples Center or on any other documents distributed to the press.

According to the bio on Hill’s official Website, “Judith was born in Los Angeles and raised in a family of musicians. Her mother is an immigrant from Japan who met her father in a funk band in the 1970s.” Hill is described as discovering her love of music at an early age while growing up in a deeply religious household, which led her to attend the Christian university Biola University in Southern California

Its Back to School in Singapore

  Unlike in the Philippines were schools are extended, in Singapore, the schools are now monitoring the travel of all their students. If the child has travelled to any of the H1A1 affected areas, they will be given a Leave of Absence for 7 days from the date of their travel till school opening which is on June 29,Monday.

This morning I received a  call from Niles teacher and he was advised to stay home till June 30 since we arrived from Bintan Indonesia only on June 24.

These efforts to contain the spread of the flu epidemic is laudable but I dont think it would really be  so much effective since as proven in the Philippines it has affected children who had never even travelled overseas and has spread to the community at a rapid phase.

Happy Fathers Day

Adam Lambert-The Next American Idol

With the exception of Carrie Underwood, there has never been a time except now that there emerges early in the contest a sure winner.

This year Adam Lambert will surely win.I am willing to bet on it.

The top two will be Danny Gokey and Adam Lambert

FLIGHT BARGAINS

Lately there had been a lot of airticket bargains online. It seems that airlines are just trying to fill up their capacity to survive.

Jetstarasia has launched noontime bargains(11-2pm).Just by logging on during these hours, fantastic bargains on airtickets are  at stake.

Airasia has launched also zero fares for trips to Indonesia. I bought our plane tickets for Bali at an unbelievable S$40 roundtrip.Just imagine that. It is even cheaper than going to Malaysia by bus.

Travel to and around Asia is getting cheaper but still nobody is travelling now adays.

Now is the time to travel , just surf for your cheap tickets online.

Bali here we come!!(this December) 

Boracay is one of the 44 Must Visit Places in 2009

The New York Times has come out with a compelling list of 44 Places where one should go in 2009 and Boracay Islands is one of them. However it is a bit annoying that the write up said that Boracay might be the next Phuket?

Please go to this website and click on the recommend button for Boracay so that we can promote our very own

Nygel School’s Open House

We are back in Singapore after two weeks in Manila. We terriby enjoyed our Boracay trip and now I can make a judgement that Boracay is much much better than Phuket.

Today January 10, was Nygels schools’ Open House. Assumption English school located in Upper Bukit Timah is the nearest Catholic school from our residence and it was Nygels choice for his secondary school.

We met all his teachers ,the Principal and all faculty heads. In addition we were given a report of each childs learning profile(meaning an assessment of his study habits and style).

It is such an active  and dynamic school that after the briefing we were recruited to be members of the Parent Support group. I met a lot of Filipino parents and also other foreigners whose childrern are studying in the school.

The principal also informed the parents that the new website of the school http://www.assumptionenglish.moe.edu.sg has just been launched.

Nygel will be spending four years of his adult life in this school and I am happy he has chosen this school.He is in good hands.