Selamat Datang Kota Kinabalu

Finalmente!

International Trip 2015 - Booked

I can't hide my excitement for my first ever out of the country trip!

AIRFARE:


 

My college buddies and now considered as my travel buddies, planned the trip for our first out of the country trip  with the whole bunch of barkada. Some of my friends already traveled abroad while on my case, It's my FIRST! FIRST INTERNATIONAL TRIP and luckily it on my birthday! hahaha! We have booked the tickets like a year before the trip of course! 

"SEAT SALE ATTACK"

Thanks to my zombie friends who patiently waited for seat sales every night. Luckily, we had a good deal with our flights:

First we booked: (AIR ASIA) MNL to MIRI, MY for only 500 pesos (all in) haha. Then, from Miri we will travel to Kuala Lumpur (center of Malaysia, where you can find the  Petronas Tower and Batu Caves, Post card moments!) booked a flight from (AIR ASIA) MIRI to KUALA LUMPUR for only 700 (all in) and SG to MANILA (Cebu Pac) at cost of 3,300 (we can't find cheap tickets from SG especially we booked it a month before I think) total of 4,500 round tickets for two countries (not bad!) haha!

Then, we planned our itinerary for the whole trip, actually Ian did planned it, then we just thought of different places that we can visit in a limited span of time like three days in Malaysia and two days in Singapore. 

Here are the following places that we prioritized to visit:

Malaysia:
 Petronas Tower and Batu Caves 

Singapore: 
Merlion, Birds nest, Gardens By the Bay and of course Universal Studio at (Sentosa)

  

       

so there, we actually visited Manaoag (Pangasinan) to pray for our flight coz lately we heard news on missing planes, plane crush and terrorism. We dont like that to happen, God nooo! So we pay a visit to Manaoag to pray, also to plan the trip and unwind from the big city.

 HOTEL BOOKINGS:

It's almost few weeks before the flight and still we don't have any hotel bookings, we are planning to walked in there, but the the back of our mind, it might be dangerous especially it would be our first group flight abroad.

So we visited: www.agoda.com , we searched for possible hotels that we can stay, it may bit costly but we need to consider things and of course our budget: 

Things to consider on booking a hotel:

Location: We wanted a hotel, which is within the city, few minutes away from the airport, near the malls (of course shopping!) and street foods( we love to eat new delicacies!) and place that is near the landmarks of the city.

Fixtures: We are not looking for that instagram worthy hotel besides we are here for adventure and to meet the place and not just to stay at the hotel the whole time, but if we can look for a hotel that suits a budget and looks so classy! why not grab the opportunity right?! But, we are just looking a nice hotel with a clean bathroom and proper  thats it.

Price: Of course budget friendly!

Good Internet Connection: We sort of considering this, especially we love to share our travel photos!

Electric Sockets: Seriously? Yes! Enough electricity socket for our our gadgets: like, our cameras, go pros, ipads, cellphones, power bank and etc. We cannot afford to loose battery on our trip. Thats a big NO NO NO!

We had a booking at a resort in Kota Kinabalu, aside from the fact the we are not after going around Kota, so we decided to stay at a resort, for only 5000 pesos we booked a whole duplex accommodation for the four of us, well it may sound expensive but after all there's a beach that we can enjoy! Photos will be posted below.

In Kuala Lumpur, we booked at Hotel Soliel, actually there are various hotel around the place coz it was in Bukit Bintang (main city of KL) where we can find Petronas Tower and near Selangorfor Batu Caves. Standard room with two single beds. 

For Singapore trip, Hello Walk In! hahaha Seriously!

We planned to stay at Bugis street which is near to all shopping center.

 We got good deals with our hotel bookings!

The day finally arrived! April 24, 2015!

My friend Barbz, let me stayed at her place coz we have a early flight the following day, so we meet the night before. We met Ian and Marc at the airport three hours before the flight. 

here's some snaps from our trip.

Hello Ian, Emote na emote ah.

 

Boarding, yey!

Seatmates: Hi Ian, Marc and Erika!

 

Touchdown MALAYSIA!

      

Hotel arranged airport pick up. Oh Smooth!

Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia:  Vacation Started Oh!

 

Our simple abode.

Sympre hindi ako papahuli. haha!

 

Witwiiw, Hi Bru!

      

  

 

 

  

   

Instagram pa more, Selfie pa more! 

    

    

  

Nightie- Nightie

 

and then,  wala ng pansinan, haha nasa social media world na. 

We just stayed the whole day at the resort, unwind and enjoy the beauty of Kota Kinabalu.
Budget friendly trip!

 

NEXT STOP: Miri and Kuala Lumpur, MALAYSIA 

Another star on my world map!

#MAURICIALAKWATSERA strikes again! 

Thought.

And then I realized, adventure are the best way to learn. 

THAT THING CALLED LAKWATSERA

Traveling is one of my escape from stress and problem.

Visiting places that you can't imagine to step on it.

Experiencing adventures that you can only think of.

Capturing sceneries and collecting memories

Every year I make it sure that I could travel twice or thrice a year.

I'm sure that I really deserve this. Do I? 

Last December 2014, My aunt invited me to come with them on their December getaway at Ilocos.

It would be a whole week escape from the city.

ROADTRIP= Manila to Ilocos Sur to Ilocos Norte To Baguio

How exciting!

Sharing my experience and some travel tips

Van for Rent with driver, thats more convenient that ridding a plane then rent a van at Ilocos.

Here are some of the advantages:

1. Comfortable during trip: Yes, plane is more convenient and time saver but when travelling with family I suggest to rent a van. In our case we are five in the group and we rent a Grandia van, Thanks kuya rolly and kuya marlon for making this possible. We can rest anytime we want, no more stop over and layover to think of. But if you dont want to waste time for traveling to North, leave Manila around 3AM or 4AM and you'll arrive at Ilocos after lunch. But if you will take a plane and you will still rent a van to cover all the tourist spot around Ilocos. Calculations with all the gastos, renting a van is cheaper and I swear you can go around Ilocos, no time limit to think rather getting a van at Ilocos.(this is my own point of view)

2. You can buy anything you want without considering your baggage allowance, If you'll take a plane back to Manila, say Goodbye to lots of pasalubong for your family and friends. Unlike, having a van rented you can buy what you want for your family, like me I bought a gallon of Sukang Ilocos! haha! literally, 3 year supply of Suka! haha! if I took a plane I can't get a gallon but a bottle of suka only which is good for a week for me wahaha!

3. Time for bonding, with a long hour of trip, you can have a time to bond with your family and friends, enjoying the sceneries during the trip, especially if that is your hometown like in our case, Ilocos is my grandfather's hometown so during the trip, my aunt is reminiscing their childhood with each town that we passed through. Priceless stories and memories!

so that's my little tip for traveling with family. 

Last May, 2012, My friends and I visited Pagudpud for a short vacation. We met our fantastic driver/tour guide, Kuya Jason. He is a good tour guide at the same time we had a photographer during our trip, I promised him to make a blog during our trip so we could promote his tour guide services in Pagudpud. After a week, he message me and thanked me, he received client bookings because of my blog.Yey! so as a reward, He gave us a free tour for Ilocos Sur and Norte! yey!

Anyways, I'll be having a seperate blog post for Kuya, He deserves it! To make the long story short, without Kuya Jason helped we cannot discover the beautiful sceneries of Ilocos! 

Super thank you kuya! 

TRAVEL TIME!

Visited Calle Crisologo

History time, Crisologo Museum,

Thanks Kuya Jason sa tour!

Visited Ninong Chavit's place, Baluarte haha!

Time to stop and smell the flowers.

Channeling my Inner creativity! 

It's time for Captured By Mauii Perry

The famous Bell Tower, sad to say I can't come up on that tower, hay hehehe!

VIGAN at Night!

Jampacked Calle Crisologo!

We booked our hotel in Vigan through Agoda.com, we find it more convenient and a little cheaper if we walk in at hotel. But we thought of having an early booking to avoid hassle coz as we all know December is one of the peak season of the year.

Travel tip: If you can book a head of time, do it, aside from the fact that it is more convenient but i must say a bit cheaper plus with freebies!

We had booked a hotel room at West Loch Park Hotel, around 10-15 away from Vigan.

We checked in and rest for a while at the hotel.

We are welcomed with fruit juices and hot towels.

There's a complementary fruits for the guest, plus a can of macademia nuts fresh from Hawaii.

The hotel room is spacious, perfect for the five of us.

The bathroom is neat and dainty.

I think we picked the perfect hotel room to stay.

photo from: http://www.westlochparkhotel.com/

photo from: http://www.westlochparkhotel.com/

photo from: http://www.westlochparkhotel.com/

ADVENTURE CONTINUES, DAY TWO...

Visited Marcos House and Museum 

The famous Paoay church

of course, mandatory selfie shot

Pimp our kicks! Adidas for the win

 Instax LOVE! 

Most awaited Sand Dunes experience!

Extreme ride indeed!

Buwis buhay hahaha!

walang seatbelt only "KAPIT PO MAM" hahaha!

Lightghouse and sceneries

Thank you to my second family!

Keep calm and do your OOTD pose hahaha!

of course hindi papatalo ang mga boys haha!

Quick stop at Fort Ilocandia

The breath taking electric fan este windmills of  Ilocos Norte

Kapurpurawan Rock Formation

Indeed a paradise for me, especially the wind that blown my crowning glory, pati ako natatangay haha!

The wind beneath my heart :)

One of my favorite spot in Pagudpud, Patapat Via Duct

Till my next visit

I'll definitely be back here!

Ilocos will be forever have a place in my traveler's heart 

Oops wait up, there's more...

ADVENTURE CONTINUES, 

DAY THREE AND FOUR...

Korean Food trip night! Super enjoy!

Bulgogi Extreme

My favorite Japchae!

Mines View Park!

Baguio trip is not complete with Strawberry Taho! 

Our simple abode at Baguio, Bahay San Jose Condo

Where are you Mace and Anthony?

is this the place of  broken hearted people?

haha!

The famous museum that took us different route just to be here!

Thanks to WAZE App haha!!

Beautiful!

Scrumptious lunch at Cafe Sabel

Pines. Pines. Pines

Coffee Break to complete the whole trip 

and finally we are coming home!

It was a great trip indeed.

Definitely another funfilled "Lakwatsa" for me

Thank you Tita Zet and Guillermo kids for having me!

Super thank youuuuuu!

Till our next escape!

#MauriciaLakwatsera Signing Off

Where Do Lakwatsera Go?