Monday, October 31, 2011

I won a travel contest!



I like joining travel contests to be able to travel for free. I joined about 5 contests before I won the SEAIR's Summer memories Contest. The prizes are:

  • Two round trip tickets

o Manila/Boracay/Manila or Cebu/Boracay/Cebuor Clark/Boracay/Clark

  • Three days and two nights stay at Tides Boracay
  • A dinner for two at FishbarBoracay
  • Zipline for two @ fairways & Bluewater Resort
  • Two pairs of sandals from ResToeRun
  • Two pairs of Rayban shades
A video that will get the highest number of votes (counted by likes on Facebook) will get these P70, 000 worth of prizes. So I created a video about my first trip to Boracay Philippines which was lucky enough to garner 3332 likes. I got this plenty of votes with the help of so many people working on it to get it to the top. Believe me it's not easy as it seems. Honestly, If I knew that soliciting votes will get so much of my time I wouldn't join this contest. But all my efforst paid of because I won :)

I was searching for travel contest on google 2 days before I found out about this contest. Then I saw this accidentally on Seair's website ( I don't look at ads; I look for fare promos). The contest was already going on for about a month and there were already so many entries. I wanted to kill myself for not finding about this earlier because I've been checking Seair's website everyday. But I just realize that if I didn't join then I'm gonna miss the chance to win and so I created a vid. It took me like 10 hours to create. Guess what? just when I was about to upload the vid, the file got CORRUPTED. It's 1am then.. I slept 5am because I had to create one again. I didn't wanna give up. Then the next day, I was able to finish this vid. I was exhausted but happy. I'm happy coz a lot of people liked the vid. The next challenge for me is to solicit votes. My competitors got over 800 LIKEs and I got only 60 on the first day. Until I got very very lucky with the help of my friends and I won. :)

Here is the video that I'm so proud about: Feel Free to watch and experience Summer in Boracay in less than 4 minutes.

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Butterfly meets the Merlion

My mom sis, cousin and Mama's BFF and kids went to Singapore . I was really excited for this trip because it's been 2 years since I went out of the country plus I heard a lot about Singapore that is why I know that I'm gonna have a lot of fun here. Actually mom's original travel plan for this summer is an Asian cruise (star cruse). However I told her that I don't wanna stay on the vessel long enough. I want to see Singapore in it's entirety not just a portion of it and a portion of Bangkok and another portion of Malaysia. So she realized that it'll be better to visit one country at a time instead of seeing them partly.

Day 1

This is my cousin Irish Joy at Seair's plane. It was my first time to board seair I guess their plane is cozier than CebuPac's, this is because we were not crowded there were a lot of empty seats that time. Our fare only costs around P7,000.


For some weird reason, when I was young I thought Singapore is a part of the Philippines. I thought it was a distant province. It was my aunt who told me that Singapore is a country. I don't actually remember why I thought that way. But I guess it was because Singapore was part of the everyday news back then..

My first impression of Singapore after I got out of Changi airport is that it looks like Clark. I think its very nice because there are loads of trees even if you're inside a city. I wish Angeles City was like this.

We were starving when we arrived at Singapore. After we checked in at Hotel 81 Bugis, Our local friend brought us here. I'm sorry but I don't remember the name of some of the food that we ate here.. But I'll guarantee you that the food here is really great! I'll give it a rating of 5 out of 5.


Vegetable soup :)

Chicken Rice


This one looks and tastes like chop suey
Coconut in can I love this one

Chili crab
Shrimp
Squid




After eating loads, we got back at the hotel and guess what we did? we slept. We were not in a rush because we are gonna be here for 5 days anyway. That's why I'm never gonna book a 3 day tour again coz you're not gonna savor the trip that much when you're always in a hurry.
When I woke up it was already nightfall. We hit the streets and went to Suntec mall and booked for the hop in and hop off tour bus. Then it was again time for dinner.



Then after we got our tickets, we went for a little stroll and ate dinner again

Beach Road Singapore

Singapore's traffic management is comparable to New York City
I like the City's ambiance. It's very modern, there are cameras all over the city and you'll feel really secured to walk around, just make sure you won't break the rules coz Singapore is a FINE city. You'll get fined for every wrong move :p


There are plenty of restaurants a few steps from the hotel and we chose a Shabushabu house that is a bit different from what is being served in Fortune Restaurant in Angeles City. Here you get to choose the food that will be part of your shabushabu soup. There loads to choose from. There are squid, frogs,pork, squidballs, shrimp, fish, vegetables and many many more.

Preparing shabushabu

Again, I am so full, I ate so much. We decided to sleep early to prepare ourselves for tomorrow's adventure. I'm lovin Singapore on the first day even if we haven't done a lot of things.

Day 2
Our next stop is at Sentosa. Universal Studios is what I'm really looking forward here in Singapore. I love theme Parks! :)

This bus can take us anywhere in Singapore

Finally we're here :) I like it here at Sentosa it's like a one stop place for fun. However 1 day is not enough.

USSG wee I'm so happy I feel like a kid :)

Woody Wood Pecker

He is the cutest guy I've seen in Singapore. However he's a horse.. :p haha!!
New York Singapore. This portion is really cool because I really felt as if I'm in NYC


Craziest ride I've experienced in my entire life.






After a whole day in USSG ou next stop is to see the light show and Ocean Park











We missed the bus that will take us back to Suntec Mall, so we had to take the taxi home.
But before we called the night. We tried a treat that we definitely love.
Ice cream :D There is an ice cream house in Bugis Street that you shoudn't miss! Especialy if you love durian

Day 3
The next day, we woke up early to eat The food Republic and set ourselves for another round of exhausting adventure. And here we are for another round of City Tour and fun fun fun :)



I bought these clothes in Suntec. I was running out of clothes already coz I change a lot during this trip

Seems that we were the only tourist on the bus.. Naaa!! They were all downstairs coz It just rained. They're scared to get wet :p

Check out the photos that we got when we were on top of the bus
Police Station

Skycrapers


Singapore Flyer
We are at Sentosa again..


able car ride in SG is better than Cable Car ride in ocean Park Hong Kong.



Marina Bay Sands most beautiful structure I've ever seen. Someday I will experience you..haha! Papayaman muna ako :p
Night Safari at Singapore
The fire dance

Then again, before we end the night, we had another round of Ice cream

Durian Sago Ice cream--The best!
At the end of the night my Joy and I went to Clark Quay and had some fun.


Night life at Clark Quay: The clubs were too crowded that's why we decided to just have few drinks.



Tiger Beer is good but Red Horse is better :p




Day 4
On our last day we had a very weird experience right after we check out from the hotel. Mom and thea gone shopping at the nearby stores while Joy and I was waiting for Roslie at the bus stop. Some guy from Sri Lanka went up to us and ask about a mall we don't know about. And then he introduced himself and started a little chat. He said he was alone and he was in SG for a film project he was asking if we would like to have lunch with him but we told him that we're about to leave soon.. Then he started talking about being so good in giving massage and he tried to convince me to get into the hotel and promised me that his intention was clean and he just wants to be friend. Then we noticed that a 4 or 5 men that looks like somewhere from his country started to surround us and they chatted with him. I started to get nervous and we suddenly walked away and entered in 711 where we feel very safe. Then they were gone. Thank God nothing bad happened. Then we also went to little India and shopped for Chocolates

Before we boarded the plane we had a delicious treat from:



Steak

My lunch


And of course, ICE CREAM!! :))

And that ends my trip to Singapore. Overall I love Singapore. I wish to go back even if it's just for a day. Guess where I'll spend it? in Universal Studios of course! I wish I could post all our photos and share you every details and share everything that I learned during this trip. Maybe I'll just save those for your questions. Please feel free to comment, ask questions, give suggestions and follow this blog.



See you on my next trip :)
-Zzy Martinez