Happy Ramblings

There are trips when I wouldn't mind sleeping on a basic bed and facilities, but here are also those times when I want a really good bed and soft sheets. On my last trip to Boracay, we stayed in a basic accommodation for the first 2 nights and for the last night, we stayed in a fancier place -- Hennan Prime. Hennan Prime is located at Station 1 in Boracay. We stayed in one of the Deluxe Rooms with 1 double bed and 1 single bed configuration. My favorite parts of staying in a hotel are the beds and the breakfast buffets! For the bed part, they got my approval. We checked in at Hennan Prime after out island hopping and snorkeling activities. I was so tired so you can just imagine how happy I was to feel the fresh sheets and soft mattress.  I love hotel robes! Makes me feel fancy, comfy and cozy! :D  I love how spacious the toilet and bathroom is!  What I also love is how good the hair blower in the hotel is! It might not be a huge deal for...

As part of the perks of being a member of Astoria Leisure & Vacation Club Inc, we received complimentary 3D2N stay at Astoria Palawan. Since we have already visited the top tourist destinations in Puerto Princesa, we decided to not leave the hotel and just relax.  Warning: This is a photo heavy post. LOL Having been able to stay in  Astoria Current  and visited Astoria Boracay, I had high expectation from Astoria Palawan. I kinda knew that I wouldn't be disappointed. Just like Astoria Current, it is so vibrant.

When Private Pool comes into conversation, Pansol, Laguna instantaneously comes up on top of the list. It wouldn't be dubbed as the Team Building Capital of the Philippines for nothing, right? While there really are a LOT of options in Pansol, Laguna, it's also a known fact that the transporation and car rental to reach the Private Pool of choice is going to hurt your budget. A van rental alone, which normally sits 10-12 people can cost P8,000-P12,000. If you're going to add that up with your food and other expenses for the team building or family bonding budget, it will really be too much! I personally had quite a lot of challenging times looking for a Private Pool just within the Metro. If you are looking for a place for team building, family bonding, events place or just a simple swimming/gathering, Lorenzo's Place - Valenzuela is great choice.  With no traffic, in less than 30 minutes, you'll get here if you're coming from QC North Area.  RATE...

The first time that I went to Boracay, I stayed in one of the hotels in Station 2. To be honest, I didn't really like how crowded Station 2 is even on lean season. Station 3, where Current by Astoria is located, might sound a bit far for some; but I reckon it is the best spot in Boracay! It's less crowded, bigger area to swim and nearer to the tents where activities  booths are! So, about Current by Astoria. The first time I saw and came to this hotel was when we got lured by the offer of free buffet dinner at Astoria Boracay. lol. We were given buffet stubs and were told that there was no catch/fees/whantnots. So we went to have dinner in Astoria Boracay in Station 1 and little did we know, it was a marketing strategy. We were 'kind of' forced to go to Current By Astoria to listen to a loooooong presentation about Astoria Vacation & Leisure Club. (We eventually signed up and now members of AVLCI, separate post coming!)

Aside from the plane tickets (if you were unable to take advantage of the seat sales), the only other big chunk of your travel budget normally goes to the accommodations. When travelling within the Philippines and the purpose of our travel is to relax, we do not hesitate to allot more on accommodation. But if the main purpose of the trip is to explore and see as much places as we can, then we make ourselves ready to sacrifice comfort a bit and settle for something a little bit lowkey. We didn't actually have enough time to plan this Bangkok trip. Me and my partner had our minds set that we will go to Bicol. But two months before our planned vacation, change of mind and plans, we ended up booking a flight to Bangkok! So needless to say, we spent so much on our plane tickets hence, we needed to make sure that we won't spend so much in where we are going to stay. I have checked Agoda and everything is over our budget. Good thing I remember AirBnB! I started looking around...