Girls on Holiday

Booking holidays online has become one of the perks of the internet. Sitting at home with your friends browsing through thousands of potential holiday destinations is almost as fun as spending the day shoe shopping with the girls.

Decide when you want to travel, pop in your travel dates and see what comes up. Do you want to travel to Europe and flop on the beach for a week or are you looking for a far flung adventure? Deciding on the destination is often dictated more by cost and time restraints than desire, so sensible thinking is required at this point. Once the country has been chosen then the fun really starts.

The search results will bring up a whole host of resorts that match your dates in the destination you want to visit, so if you narrow it down by the price you can sensibly afford, then you can whittle down the options until you find something that fits your requirements.

Do you want to go for a five star hotel with an all inclusive board basis or are you planning on more of a self catering apartment? This again will be determined by your type of holiday. For instance, if you want to go out clubbing every night and only need somewhere to lay your head for a few hours then expensive hotels will be a waste of money. However if you are planning a more glam getaway and intend to make the most of the hotel facilities then choose the best that you can afford, as paying the extra will definitely pay off once you are there.

If you want to pay for something special but still get a bit of a bargain then look at last minute holidays from Thomas Cook or other similar agents. If you leave it until a few weeks before your flight date, you will often find some really good bargains. Which means you can spend the savings on shoes...

 

Day Tour in Starcove Resort Hotel - Batangas

The ache to go on a road trip down south finally found a way.  MetroDeal made this real when I saw their Starcove Resort Hotel Day Tour with Free Lunch promo deal.   I grabbed 4 vouchers and booked. Then last Saturday, off to Balayan, Batangas we went with Son driving for us .

DH depended on his mobile phone’s GPS for direction.  However, it took us longer travel time coz our driver was very cautious with his driving.‘Twas already 12nn but we were yet in Tagaytay.   Having had no breakfast, these people who were hungry as a horse decided to stop over in Mahogany Market in Tagaytay for lunch.  Luckily, we still found a space to park coz the eateries were already packed with people.  We had the usual Tagaytay fare of hot Bulalo, Crispy Tawilis, Lechon Kawali (not for me) and the beef Papaitan with free eat all you can twig of sweet “Señorita” bananas.  For that satisfying lunch for four people, we paid only P780. Not bad, huh?!
 

All full and satiated, we proceeded on our search for "the new place to see".  We were trekking long and   narrow roads without any signage of Starcove in sight when DH’s GPS finally pointed to a closed gated property as the Starcove Resort Hotel.  But we couldn’t agree coz it doesn’t look like a resort/hotel from the outside.  It has no signage indicating it is Starcove.  Doubtful, onward we went 
only to pull over again to verify directions..   

 Meantime, while the 3 people were arguing which way to go, I caught sight of the mango tree bearing fruits on the fenced area of the road.  I know it’s not right but I always have that desire of picking hanging mango fruits from the tree whenever I see one.  Thus, the moment I saw those  mangoes within reach ,I let loose!  Happiness!! Lol!

 
Although doubtful, daughter asked to try follow where GPS was pointing at.  Lo and behold!,  a security guard opened the gate and confirmed it is the Starcove Resort.   Oh my!  We should have not doubted the GPS before hand. It's indeed reliable! Shame on us!

As we alight from the car, we were greeted and  warmly welcomed by a pretty girl named Jillian along with a number of courteous crews.  I looked around and saw a fairly huge resort.  This resort hotel I could tell had seen glorious days.  Though the buildings and other structures are big and beautiful,  it is showing significant signs of wear and tear. Nonetheless, with its two swimming pools, (the other one for kids), vast garden and attractive kois in a well maintained  pond, it is still worth visiting and staying.  Unfortunately I forgot to get a peek of the rooms.  Yes, we had free lunch that became our snacks.  With the word  “free”, we didn’t expect much for our lunch.  Yet we had big servings of tasty Pancit Canton and a platter of  crispy Fried Chicken, also big platter of rice plus a large pitcher of Iced tea. The food was good, however, we consumed only a small part coz we’re still full from our Tagaytay lunch.

This place is definitely worth visiting especially with group of friends or with special someone or by families like us.  Just bear with the narrow roads you’re gonna traverse without any signage to follow. :) Nonetheless, it's all worth it anyway!

Thanks for the visit everyone! Hope you are having a great week!  

Acknowledgment:  Thanks to MetroDeal for the credits to purchase this promo deal from Starcove Resort.

Family Birthday Dinner at Don Cuisine

Janina, our most beautiful daughter, (she’s one and only, that’s why. Lol! ) celebrated her birthday last Wednesday, Feb. 6.   It was just a simple family affair of dining out together.  We chose to try the newly opened fine looking restaurant near our place so we wouldn’t need to travel far from home.  I guess, we will never get tired of having Chinese cuisine over and over again!  Don Cuisine it is, this time around, a relatively newly opened (as earlier mentioned) Chinese Restaurant along the end stretch of Commonwealth Ave, in Fairview, Quezon City.

We had ignored and passed by this resto many times before. Little did we know that it is also as excellent as the other fine Chinese Restaurants we’ve been to.  I sincerely love everything they have in their menu (except pork).  I thought nothing can compare to Peking Garden Restaurant, but here it is, Don Cuisine boasting  their Peking Duck that is truly perfect!  With just the first bite, I can’t stop uttering words of approval and awe!  And mind you, it’s not only me who loves it here.  This family of insatiable eaters couldn’t say more.  The food and the place is simply great, to say the least!  Though their price isn’t far from those first rate restaurants, it is competitive enough.  Or could it be that their slightly lower prices is only to attract new customers?  I hope not!  One thing is sure though.  We found the better place that’s so near to us. 

Btw, let it be known this is not a paid review.  Nevertheless, I’m calling the attention of the people of Don Cuisine. How about giving us discount next time we visit huh?! Lol!

With the family and the good food, simple as it maybe, another birthday was celebrated our old traditional way!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY, our Bunso!!! 

Thank you for taking time to read this post.  May your day be as bright and gay!  Hope to see you here again!

Dunsulan Falls, Clark and Subic in a Day – Part 2

In continuation of the Part-1 post with same title, Clark was next in our itinerary. Sis is a passionate   driver, hence, we reached Clark, Pampanga almost in a wink of an eye.  Lol!  We were in Parkson Duty Free Shop way before lunchtime.   Shopping for sporty shirts, little knick knacks and what-have-yous!   Then moved to another duty free shop named Oriental.  I remember having visited this shop more than a decade back.  It was truly unbelievably cheap stuff they had back then unlike today.  Yet, we didn’t leave without a loot even if it’s just a pack of chips and chocolates.  Just to say we bought something eh. We finished rounding the shops at around 2pm.  We wouldn’t have noticed the time if not for our growling tummies.  

Went to lunch in one ordinary looking eating place. Likewise, cuisine is ordinary, but tasty and delish!  Not surprising why I spotted a good number of beautiful uniformed flight attendants lunching in one long table. I learned it is the favorite eating place of airline employees in the vicinity.  

Next, we passed by the SM Clark.  My ‘tourist guide’ sis, brought me there when I mentioned I haven’t been to that specific SM branch yet just to satisfy my curiosity.  Thereafter, we headed to Subic in less than an hour via SCTex.  When in Subic, it’s hard not to be enticed and be lured to big discount sales.  OC  struck again when I saw my favourite Fitflops on sale together with other popular named footwear.  Hmmn.. partly blaming big sis on that. Haha.. but no regrets. I love my loot!

SM Clark

As we rounded up our day in Subic, sis bought a mouth watering Beef Bake Roll from “S n R”!  The serving was tremendously huge that i was full till the following morning. 

You think I was drained and exhausted?  Nah.. not me!  We were up before sunrise the next morning to catch the breathtaking seascape in the nearby fishing village and picnic park.  I really love seeing bodies of water and sis knows that.  She may not know it, but I appreciate all the efforts she throws on me every time! For these and everything else, including the sumptuous food she always prepares for me,  I wanna say "Thank You, Ate!"

MyLife – Refund

Few months ago, I have mentioned the powerful people search tool, My Life.com in my previous blog as I heard it is a reliable tool to find missing friends or loved ones as well as for finding out the one who’s looking up for you.  If you are interested in people search, you only have to register and become a member.  For its members, it uses an auto-renewal feature to ensure all subscribers have steady access to the services that they want.

Have you subscribed membership to MyLife?  You probably have found the loved one you have been long searching for thru this site or maybe already lost interest in pursuing your search or is no longer interested in finding out who’s looking up for you.  For these and other reasons you have, you may choose to discontinue your membership with MyLife.com.  If ever, all you have to do is disable the auto-renewal feature and wait for your paid term to expire

Disabling the auto renewal feature is made easy by MyLife.com.  As an alternative to having to search their website to disable your account, just call their Customer Care representatives on weekdays between 6am and 9pm PST or on weekends between 6qm and 6pm PST.  Just contact their toll-free number at 888. 704-1900. Perhaps, MyLife Refund can be brought to Customer Service representative’s attention.  If Paypal’s service is used, it is best advised that you make arrangement with Paypal to discontinue the MyLife auto-renewal payment to avoid inconveneiences.

I hope this helps.