[TRAVEL]: Splendid Taipei!

For months and months we planned and thought of all the possible places we could celebrate our birthdays together in advance. If you have been following our travel blogs, each year since 2011 we made it a point to fly out of town for our birthdays. For this year on the other hand, we decided to step it up a notch – we decided to fly to Taipei.

We had an amazing time during this trip and lots of stories to tell, so I've decided to breakdown my blog into a series of entries. Our adventure starts here ….

Day 0.5

February 9, 2013

At 8:35 PM - EVA airline called for boarding. Both Jcel and I couldn’t stop grinning at each other as if we were drugged of happiness. When we finally got on the plane, there were more grinning and giggles seeing that the whole interior of Eva plane that we were on was Hello Kitty themed. All the seats have Hello Kitty Headrest, even the headsets, and the paper bags. It was as if we were on a kiddie ride to Taipei.

At 8:47 PM It was ready for take off. The thought of the plane taking off always makes me feel nervous especially that I've just watch the new movie - FLIGHT. The thought of it ... Gosh! How nerve-racking!

After take off, they served our dinner. Fish fillet and rice together with sautéed vegetables and some meat salad plus a tetra pack of all natural 100% orange juice. The main event on our meal was the utensils; they were Hello Kitty and come in pink colour. They were very cute and kind of gay for the “macho” passengers. Dinner wasn't bad at all; I actually enjoyed it and it tasted good, better than the food I've tasted from other airlines. Coffee and tea were served right after.

The flight only took about an hour and a half, it was as if we only went to Shenzhen. But before we descended, I decided to go to the loo; just as I entered I just can’t stop smiling. The toilet was so adorable! Hello Kitty’s everywhere! The mini cups, the tissue papers, I’m telling you; it was Hello Kitty madness on that plane - but in a good way! :)

You must be thinking where are the pictures of the toilet I'm talking about?But no, I did not take pictures of the toilet, I think it's a little too much if I did that. :).... hehehe

An hour and a half later, we landed safely in Taiwan and the first thing I saw was a firework on one of the buildings that was near the runway. It was as if, welcoming us to the country. There weren't that many people as we were lining up at the immigration so it didn't take long before we headed to the luggage carousel. A similar event happened in regards with our luggage. Jcel's bag came in a little later than mine. Thought her bag was lost again. hahahaha

According to our research our hotel should be near the airport. But we were mistaken. Initial thinking was to take a cab, but I was a little worried about the safety. Nevertheless, we lined up for a cab. A cab officer then approached us and asked where we wanted to go. We showed him the paper we printed out from the website and he then listed the place and address in his record book and told the cab driver. On our way, random fireworks were visible as they were celebrating the CNY as well. But aside from that, the road was very quiet and not what we expected it would be. It took about half an hour before we arrived in the hotel. 

When we arrived, we were welcomed by a very cheerful woman at the front desk. She was  friendly and made sure we've got everything we needed plus she speaks English quite well so communication wasn't a problem.  On the other hand, we were told that we won't have our free breakfast for two mornings because their cooks were on holiday for the CNY. :(

Our hotel was standard. Actually we were expecting it to be worse  but thankfully it was decent enough. They offer you all your basic needs sans the glamour but all is well nonetheless.

So I'll end this blog here, but watch out for more Taipei adventures! 

Cheers!
-= bex =-

Preppin' for a trippin'

I know what you are thinking, what is there to say in preparing for a trip. Truly there isn’t much we can discuss here in fact I can just give you the bulletpoints and be done with it even so we shall try to stretch this topic and see what we come up with.

(Step 1) First of, before you make any plans whatsoever you need to set yourself or with your friends/family/lover a budget. Now this is a “make or break it” kind of thing because you can’t plan to go to Hawaii but only willing to have a budget of 5000(HKD). You need be realistic on how much you can shell out for the trip and make sure to plan around it.

www.pinterest.com

Step 2:

Where? When? How?

These are the questions you need to keep asking yourself when planning a trip. “Where” is like the seed. If you got this right you can then add water which is the “When” then after you need to shed light and ask yourself HOW. “How” is a tricky business because it consists of tickets and hotels as well as your trip allowance.

Step 3:

Get subscriptions to airlines and websites that offer trip packages.

We have a few that we consistently check and make sure not to let “special offers” pass.

www.zuji.com.hk

They offer good prices for plane tickets and packages, which includes hotels. 

www.hotels.com

Good range of hotels you can choose from with good price offers as well. Plus they do a complete refund on your money if you decide to cancel your booking.

http://www.cheapoair.com

Offers tickets only as well as packages even for cruise! Prices are very comparable to Zuji.com but always worth to cross check them. 

Also how can we forget Groupon and Beecrazy. They have good travel promos and packages from time to time so do check them as well.

http://www.beecrazy.hk/

http://www.groupon.hk

Also other airlines that offer awesome ticket promotions, (aside from Cebu Pacific) are:

http://www.tigerairways.com/hk/en/
http://www.cxholidays.com/

Step 4:

Once you are all booked and ready to go it’s time to start researching.

I cannot stress this enough, make a thorough research on the place you are going to.

Things to note are:

• Travel visa --- some countries require this so be sure to check beforehand.
• Dos and Don’ts --- this is due to tradition/religion. There are certain countries that are very strict in dress codes so be aware.
• Weather --- very crucial when packing but it won’t hurt to add in an umbrella or raincoat in your suitcase for just in case.

Step 5: 

Packing!  

Now I have only one suggestion for this and it is to make a checklist. I love checklists. I make them in absolutely everything. Not only are they very helpful they are so much fun to do. 

If you have a checklist, packing should be easy-peasy. But I always make sure to prepare one extra for "just in case". Like if I'm going to travel for 5 days, I prepare an extra outfit. Plus I also like to have one outfit that is semi-formal because you never know when you might go for a nice restaurant or get ask out for a date. *wink*

Another suggestion for packing is make use of zipped-lock bags. I put most of my toiletries and other liquidy items in them. 

For carry-on bagagges, I'm sure we are all aware of the TSA Guidelines, if not please see the picture for reference. 

That's all the steps I can think of thus far.  

Other tips: 

• Have a map of the country, either print them beforehand or lookout for them in the airport or hotel. 
• Get an idea of their means of transportation. Like study the train maps/routes, etc.
• If you are going to a foreign country where English is unlikely to be the main language then make sure to have a translation of your hotel in their language unless you have someone picking you up from the airport. 
• Prepare a list of places you plan to visit with, address, phone numbers and if possible name of the place in their respective language. 
• Change your money beforehand otherwise prepare US dollars as this is the default currency and will be accepted in most countries. 

the map of our hotel in Taipei in Chinese 

to show the Taxi driver :)

I hope you found this post helpful and if I forgot something please feel free to share.

  

Till my next post,

jCel♥

[CHOWTIME] Hip Sushi

Yay! Last night was Sushi night for Jcel and I at Hip Sushi Restaurant in New World Plaza in Shatin.

It sure was hip because everyone seemed to want a table. Fortunately for us, we didn't have to wait.

Our first set of sushi was the Salmon Sushi which is my all time favourite. Considering they are priced equally as the other sushi places this one is a lot thicker.

Next came the Egg Sushi, the yellow pickle sushi roll and rice rolls with cucumber.

Then came the Miso Soup, Tempura and a bowl of salad. The soup was the bomb, the salad was great as well as the tempura. 

The service was average but I have a higher regard on the tea server because she kept serving bottomless HOT tea - non-stop! The place on the other hand was clean and standard.

And the total cost ...

Ratings:

Food: ****

Staff: ****
Place: *****
Price: ****

New Town Plaza Shatin - G/F (1 floor down from City Super)

Sushi price range: $9.00 - $35.00 (HKD)

+ 10% Charge.

Would I recommend this place? 

Yes, because like I said compare to other sushi places this one was worth what we paid for.

Cheers!

-=bex=-

[CHOWTIME] Breakfast @ Great Cafe

As I am writing this blog, I feel so giddy of excitement, why? Well because the most anticipated day that Jcel and I have been waiting for is nearing. I'll talk about it in my next blog. 

On the other hand, Jcel and I had the chance to have breakfast inside Pacific Place Admiralty at Great Cafe. And here's what we had ... 

"3 Eggs Omelette"

                   

The omelette was "ok", it was neither good nor bad. But we still prefer omelettes in La Fontaine. The stuffing's in J's omelette was tomatoes & cheese, mushrooms and ham. Here's what she said ...

"It was something that needs to grow in you. I was hoping i'd get mushrooms only but the waitress didn't bother to ask and gave me all of it which I wouldn't suggest especially the tomatoes & cheese. It was a bit too much for my liking. All the stuffing's mixed made my taste-buds go crazy." - jCel

"Egg any Style"

I had the "Egg any Style" which includes a toasted bread, 2 sausages, hash-brown and egg. It was a typical western breakfast. Nothing extra ordinary. 

  

                           

And for the finale, "Pecan Waffle". Our first impression was, THICK! Too thick! At some point, Jcel thought she'll choke but once you get pass the choking hazard then you will be able to enjoy the waffles. They were actually quite good. 

And the total is .....

                                 

The downside was their service because it was NOT so Great. The staff at the bar side were busy chattering with each other and the servers were serving like zombies and to think it was already 10+AM when we went in. We ordered 2 glasses of orange juice but a server gave us one glass first and waited for another 10 minutes for the other one which I could see that it was already prepared and yet no one took the initiative to serve it. It was just sitting on the counter for quite some time. 

Ratings:

Food: ***

Staff: *
Place: ***
Price: ****

Great Food Court - Pacific Place.

Price range: $50 - $100 per head

Would I recommend this place? 

No, for the amount of money that we have paid we can dine in a better place like La Fontaine, Habitŭ or even Mcdonalds. :D

Cheers!

-=bex=-

Unfinished Business

This is my first entry for the year 2013. Hurray! Okay – the reason I'm blogging because Jcel, mind to say very petite, "innocent" looking yet monstrous and a bully in the inside won’t stop bombarding me to blog. 

As I was thinking what to write about, I went through my draft folder and realized that I've written quite a lot of drafts and never had the chance to finish them. Here's a few of them ...

  

1) 

This was supposedly my “BOOK it” review. But since one sentence is enough to break a heart, the lost prince deserves the one sentence review. :D

2) 

Ahhhh – Yes! I've been working on this for a week now, but apparently I can’t find the right words to say.  So, another one bites the dust! 

3) 

This I've written last November 2012. I really meant to finish this book review but unfortunately I've gotten so busy, I just forgot about it. :D

4) 

Here’s another one from last year as well. Based on my writing I think I was going to rant about music in the Philippines now-a-days. But yes it’s true; almost all of the songs in the Philippines sang by a new artist are revivals.   bleckkk!

5) 

Yay! Birthday is coming my way in three months time. :D

6) 

Oh!  What a memorable day that was! I totally forgot I've written a paragraph about it. But yes, it was a very terrifying day for all of us and I thank the Lord that it was only a false alarm. On the same day, my brother told me that they had to go home early from school because their alarm went off as well. The culprit?! HUMIDITY.  Apparently, a humid condition causes fire alarms to activate as per the firemen.

 So there you go, my drafts. Frankly speaking, I love to write but words don't seem to come out right for me or is it one of my many excuses? 

I've decided to show you my unfinished work of art (^_^) – I meant – unfinished compositions because I have just realized that I like to start something and always fail to finish them. I have Jcel to thank for, because she made me realize that it has become one of my many bad habits. As much as I want to deny it, the evidence in my draft folder couldn't get me out of it. Therefore, I plead - Guilty!

In this case, I have here two resolutions to start off this year or should I say, to start off the month of February.

1)     To always finish what I have started.
(i.e start to write a complete blog just like this one not having Jcel to nag me to do it.)

2)     Implement self-discipline in all areas. 
(i.e Waking up and going to work early, to move more and do more "simple" chores at home etc.)

It’s the only two that I could think of right now. But I’ll add some more when I've crossed the bridge of actually doing those two resolutions and see improvements for the whole month of February. So, fingers crossed! 

Cheers,

Bex