Luck was on our side. Afternoon of the last Saturday before Christmas, traffic on the southbound lane of South Luzon Expressway was eerily light. A bunch of travel bloggers and I were aboard a shuttle that was to deliver our group to the (relatively) new kid in Nuvali, Seda Hotel. We were all invited to…
hotel reviews
Rivertime Ecolodge Resort, Laos
As if Vientiane wasn’t sleepy enough, we hauled our indolent arses onto a pick up and headed about thirty kilometers northeast from the capital to a rural setting. It was a service I had prearranged with Rivertime Resort Ecolodge Resort, which was to be our home for a night. Our forty-minute countryside drive, unperturbed by…
Hulhumalé, Maldives: A Newborn Artificial Island
Our low-cost airline flight provided an on-board entertainment that surpassed all others we’ve experienced… The spectacle of Maldives’ islands, strung together like a jewel necklace, sitting oh so pretty in the middle-ish of Indian Ocean nowhere. It was one of those travel moments filled with imaginative swear words, muttered under the breath. Hulhumalé’s public beach….
Istanbul, Turkey Accommodations: Sultan’s Inn Hotel Review
It was a smart move to organize a hotel pick up. Hefty at 25,00 €, but worth every dang cent. After a Philippines-Singapore-Malaysia-United Arab Emirates-Turkey transit, we were sleep-deprived and weary to the bones and bordering deranged. Our cabbie was at Atatürk International Airport’s arrival hall on the dot, and in my head I wanted…
The Circle Hostel, La Union: Amidst Artists And Adventurers
Buddha’s Surf Resort, Siargao: Surf’s Up, Feet Up
Our twin-engine turboprop bird unsteadily circled above the island for about twenty minutes. The air was tense inside the cabin. Not so much because we were terrified of a rough touchdown, but because we were worried about not touching down at all. That the near-zero visibility will force the pilots to abort landing. The captain…
Win A Staycation For Two At The Linden Suites!
I was up all night to get lucky. With the karaoke microphone. Midnight, the after-effects of merlot and moscato were depicted by off-beat dancing. Were heard through off-key singing. No matter how hammered, mic hoggers were on standby. There were about seventeen travel bloggers in our Linden Suites one-bedroom suite. Fifteen Filipinos, one American, and…
The Linden Suites, Ortigas: Sweet Suite Review
Faces, battered and blooming/raucous and reserved trickled in past meetup o’ clock. I was one of them late birds who arrived looking befuddled after tearing my way through the rowdy check-in crowd at the under-refurbishment lobby. When introduced to The Linden Suites’ Marketing Communications Manager Michael Sagaran in Mesclun Restaurant and Café, I waved a…
Hotel 878 Libis: Loft And Cafe 878 Review
There was a festival of dangerous party ideas that eve. Ideas which we knew will never materialize, but we had a ball playing with our imaginations anyway. I gasped for breath as Ron of fliptravels.com descended the loft’s stairs while hip-thrusting with his tongue sticking out. Not the most ridiculous Miley Cyrus impersonation I had…
Pink Manila Hostel Review: The Hostel Of Awesome
It must have been my fourth bottle of the night. I bummed a smoke off an American and invited myself to a circle of conversation about Caucasus and how blatantly Middle Eastern the other American guy’s nose is. The guy himself revealed his Armenian heritage later on which led us to the touchy discussion of…