Our Holiday is SO OVER!

I'm back!!! So sorry for the long absence/non-blogging. Anyway, we've been back in Sydney since Tuesday. We've been going to house inspections because we need a house SOON! My husband starts work again this Monday. I can't believe the number of people looking for a rental property right now. Is there a shortage or what? Forgive me if this post is beginning to sound like a rant. A lady told us that the hardest part of going on a holiday is that YOU ALWAYS HAVE TO COME BACK. Very true, indeed. But I won't let negativity affect me anymore. Fact is WE HAD AN AWESOME HOLIDAY!!! Time spent with family and friends is truly precious, no amount of money can buy. 

I'd like to enumerate first some of the places we went to and the things we did. Then I'll elaborate in later posts. Here it goes:

~ Coron, Palawan --> island holiday with my family, non-stop swimming, snorkeling and of course, picture taking/camwhoring

~ Tarlac --> saw my godchild, spent the day with friends

~ Hong Kong --> wandered aimlessly but still had a great time, HK is <3

~ UP --> ate at Rodic's, saw half of Maskipaps and friends from Beta Epsilon

~ Tagaytay --> zipline baby!, lunch @ Dencio's

~ Daet, Camarines Norte --> visited my husband's family
~ Manaoag, Pangasinan & Camiling, Tarlac --> attended mass @ Our Lady of Manaoag, visited relatives in Tarlac

These are just some of the places/things that come to mind right now. I'm sure I missed heaps that if I check all our holiday pictures, all the memories will come rushing back. :)

One of things I enjoyed the most was our family photo shoot. I'm glad I got to share it with each and every member of the family. <3

Holidays Within A Holiday

Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong

When we went back to Manila for a holiday last year we decided to have mini-holidays on the side. We figured it's much easier (and cheaper!) to go to other countries from Manila than Sydney. So it resulted to us going to Hong Kong (where we spent New Year 2010 and Ochok's birthday), Macau and finally Singapore before returning to Sydney. Using my husband's words, that holiday was like Amazing Race. Hehe. In total we only spent two weeks in Manila, that meant just two weeks spent with family and friends. I only realized that fact when we were back in Sydney and felt like I didn't spend enough time with them as much as I should have. I must say though that my family was with us in Singapore. Still, I felt like time went by so fast.

St Paul Ruins, Macau

Merlion, Singapore

For our holiday this year, we still have mini-holidays but not as long/hectic as before. We've learnt our lesson the hard way. As I mentioned in a previous post, we're scheduled for a family holiday to Coron. I can't wait for that trip. I reckon we'll have heaps of (mis)adventures! All the tours are already organized, we just need to fly there. Then just last week my husband and I booked tickets to go to Hong Kong (again). Just for 4 days this time. I'm still on the process of doing our itinerary, searching for new things to do and new places to see. We might skip Disneyland this time. We're still debating about Ocean Park though because there were heaps of renovations last time. We're thinking maybe they have new attractions to offer now. 

So far those are the mini-holidays confirmed for this year. I'm thinking of not adding to it anymore. I want to spend more time in Manila, more time with family. I'm looking forward to having quiet days at home. We'll see if I can stick to the plan. :)

100 Days

Yay! It's only 100 days before our Philippine holiday.

I've been keeping myself busy by doing the prerequisite research before each holiday. As of writing this post, we have already booked our accommodation and island hopping tours for Coron. The only detail left for me to sort is food/meals whilst not on the said tours. You see, the tours that we availed of include food. Based on what I've read about Coron, we wouldn't have problems in terms of food because restaurants and cafeterias are abundant. We just have to choose which ones would suit our budget.

This is my first time to plan a holiday for a group of 11 people. That's a fairly big group for me. I only ever planned for holidays for two people -- my husband and I, so it was always straight forward. So when faced with the task of organizing our Coron holiday I was worried at first, especially since I'm not in Manila. But thanks to my sister Aina and the trusted websites I frequent before each holiday (GIRLTalk and Pinoy Exchange), all is now well and truly good.
 

I'm still on the lookout for cheap flights to Hong Kong and Bangkok. My husband wants to bring his god-daughter Dana to HK Disneyland. The problem is she doesn't have a passport yet. We've been bugging her mum since last year to get her one. Dana was supposed to be with us when we went to HK last December but because of the passport issue she was left behind. I'm afraid history will repeat itself this year. I hope not. Also, I was hoping I could cross Bangkok off my travel list but the matter is still under 'negotiation' with my husband.

I can hardly wait to go home and be with my family. *excited*