I was browsing Cebu Pacific one night, about midnight and checked how much return tickets to Sydney is. My eyes widened in surprise when I saw the price! It was only about P13,000 or about $290. I thought hard whether I could afford it or not. I know I have enough money to pay for the fare. But there’s also the visa application, and what I’ll be spending when I get there. I did a quick mental calculation of whether I will do serious damage to my budget if I go to Australia. The pragmatic side of me said “You’ve already been to three countries this year” while the adventurer in me said “You know you’re gonna go to Australia anyway within the next ten years. Cheap tickets like this for a date that soon does ... read more

Day 2 - Odaiba It was mostly just malls which I was not interested in. I saw a Godiva cafe but it seemed like an unnecessary expense at the time. The walkway that connects Diver City to Aqua city was very pretty at night. It's the widest bridge for foot traffic I've seen anywhere. It's more like a park than a bridge really. Never seen anything like it anywhere else. There was a concert happening from afar that you can see from the walkway and lots of people were freeloading there. The best thing about the place was the huge statue of Gundam who apparently has a cult following. I have not seen a single episode but I was still thrilled to see a robot statue that big. And I have lot's of friends who are ... read more

I came down with a flu when I got back to Vancouver after my USA road trip. I was surprised that I got sick. I thought you only get sick when visiting third world countries with unclean surroundings. Then again, the apartment of my AirBnB host in Seattle was far from clean so I blame him. I was down for four days. I spent those days studying for my IELTS exam. It’s an English proficiency test required for applying for jobs or immigration in English speaking countries. I’ve decided to try my luck and apply for immigration in New Zealand, Canada, and Australia; in that order. I was so sick the day of the test I thought I’d faint and not make it to the venue. The proctors recommended that we leave our jackets in one ... read more

I'm not sure if there are other Asian nations more obsessed with Hollywood than the Philippines. We try to talk like them, dress like them, look like them, and live like them. Inasmuch as living in a poor tropical country would permit. If there were only two places I could see in the United States, it would be Los Angeles and New York because those cities are the setting of most of the movies and series that I watched growing up. Prior to my trip, me and my colleagues talked about what they would do when they get the chance to visit the US. Most of the responses were something like: I'm going to reenact that scene from Pretty Woman when Julia Roberts said "Big mistake. Big. HUGE" to a store clerk while shopping in Rodeo ... read more

The US visa is perhaps the most elusive and desired for most Filipinos. I’ve heard dozens of sob stories about people getting their visa denied multiple times! Visa application fee costs $160 USD and that’s not nothing. I’d hate for that to go to waste if my application gets denied because it’s non-refundable. But by God’s grace I’m now at a point in my life where being granted a tourist visa could be possible. So I did my research and found out that contrary to popular belief, being granted a US visa is much easier than what most people think! So here’s my experience. Step 1 Payment of application fee. Go to this website http://ustraveldocs.com/ph/ph-niv-paymentinfo.asp and print the visa application payment slip. The instruction says you must pay the fee in BPI bank within 24 hours. ... read more