Gone are the days where you have to spend thousands of money to book a plane ticket. Thank goodness to the budget airlines which offers affordable plane tickets, traveling is made easier and way more budget friendly that will not leave a hole in our pocket. But did you know that you can actually book a plane ride for FREE. Yes, you read it right, you can score a free plane ticket, lemme tell you how.
Almost all businesses offers a loyalty program nowadays. For instance, department stores offers a rewards card in which you’ll earn points every time you shop or buy your groceries. Those points will then be accumulated and can be used as a payment on your next shopping provided that you’ve reached the minimum number of points required. Even spas or salons also offers the same. If you’re a loyal or frequent customer they’ll give you a card and once you reached the number of visits required you’ll get a free massage or haircut. Airline companies also have the same rewards program, Philippine Airlines has Mabuhay Miles, AirAsia has BIG Loyalty Program and Cebu Pacific has GetGo . Personally I’m a member of all three rewards program. You know, I have a hobby of collecting cards and whenever there’s an opportunity to get free services/products, expect me to sign up on it. We need to be practical nowadays and if you are always traveling might as well sign up on these rewards program to earn free flights.
What is GetGo?
GetGo is a lifestyle rewards program launched last 2015 which allows Cebu Pacific travelers to accumulate points on cebu pacific ticket purchases and everyday spending ( on groceries, utilities, gasoline, credit card purchases and many more). Since then the program has grown and partnered with many establishments which enables eveyJuan to earn points which can be use to redeem free flights.
How does it work? Whats in it for me?
Same concept applies with your Puregold suki card or SM advantage card, every time you shop you earn corresponding points. In the airlines’s case, every time you book a plane ticket you earn points and once you have reached the number of points required, use it to purchase an airline ticket. As simple as that. But this doesn’t really apply to everyone, if you only travel once or twice a year then you won’t really benefit much from it. This is usually very useful for travelers, like me that’s why I have all three :). Not only you can earn points which can be used to book a plane ride, being a member also allows you to have exclusive access to their promotions, seat sales and insider deals! Whenever there’s a seat sale, they usually let their members book a ticket first, at least an hour before the sale becomes available to everyone, so that’s a good way of beating the crowd, right. Sometimes local airline companies also offers seat sale exclusively for their members. There are many other ways aside from earning points on your ticket purchases. GetGo has partnered with different Banks such as Union Bank, Citibank, BDO, BPI and a few more which allow its members to earn points thru credit card purchases. Other partner establishments are, Robinsons Department Store, Petron, Getgo Hotels, Zap, Travelbook and many more. Clickherefor the complete list of GetGo Partners.
There is a one time P150 registration fee inclusive of the card. Once you are successfully enrolled, you will be assigned a membership number sent to your registered email address and you can start earning points then. Your GetGo membership card will be delivered within 20 business days. I received mine within 7 days :).
Sorry for the picture quality but this is what my card looks like.
How can I redeem my GetGo points?
You can redeem your GetGo points for a flight, including taxes and ad-ons with Cebu Pacific Air or Cebgo. Just log in to the GetGo website or contact GetGo Team at 714-3846 (71GetGo). Minimum points required to redeem a flight varies according to seasonality, demand, time of booking, destination or other factors and is subject to change anytime. The good thing about GetGo points is that you can use it to pay for taxes, baggage allowance and other fees associated with your flight booking.
What if I have insufficient points to redeem a flight? No worries, the remaining points needed in your flight booking can be converted into cash payment and you can pay thru credit or debit card or other available form of payments. Aside from that, you can also pool points from your friends and/or family members by creating a GetGo Earning Circle.
There are certainly a lot of ways for you to earn GetGo points and score a free flight. So what you waiting for, sign up now and be a GetGo member and enjoy a free flight out of your everyday spending. The good thing about GetGo points is that, it doesn’t expire as long as your account is active.
For more questions/details about GetGo Rewards Program visit their FAQ page. You may also call 714-3846 (71GetGo).
NOTE: This is not a paid Cebu Pacific Air, GetGo advertisement/endorsement.
My first Palawan experience was a blast! Even though it was only for two days, we were able to visit few tourist spots and had some island hopping. It was a two days full of non stop tour and we really made the most of our time. Though due to time constraints we had only toured destinations in Puerto Princesa area which gives me more reason to go back and explore other places especially Coron and El Nido. Of course, I won’t be keeping those happy thoughts with me, so let me share with you my 2 -day Palawan Escapade 🙂 .
Originally, Palawan is not included in my travel itinerary for this year until the 2nd quarter of 2017. I already have travels lining up until June 2017 and already had plane tickets booked. It was last May when Cebu Pacific had a seat sale and Ivan’s friend from Singapore will have her yearly vacation here in the Philippines, so right there and then last May 15 we booked a round-trip ticket to Palawan for Php2410/pax. I was excited and at the same time worried-about our budget, coz I also have a trip to Tacloban this October, just a month after our Palawan tour. But then, due to the strong “travel force” within me I still chose to pursue both travels :), blame it to the seat sale! haha
We booked a land tour with MOFU Travel and Tours. We were all busy to arrange the itinerary on our own and since we were traveling by group (we were 10) we thought that it’ll be better to just pay for a group tour and let them arrange everything. We paid Php3999/pax for the land tour which includes a round trip airport transfer, 3 days 3 nights hotel accommodation, Underground River Tour with Buffet Lunch, Honday Bay (Island Hopping) with Lunch, all entrance fees, permits and Licensed Tour Guide. Not bad huh!
Day 0
We all met up at NAIA Terminal 3 and since we already checked-in via web, getting our boarding passes wasn’t a hassle and we didn’t have to wait on the long queue. Travel Tip: Airlines nowadays offers a self-serve check-in online as early as 72 to 2 hours before your domestic flight or 72 to 4 hours for international flights so might as well take advantage of it for a speedy check-in process. The plane was late for just around 5 or 10 minutes which is a big improvement on the status of our airport :). It was quite a bumpy plane-ride. There was a strong rain that time as we drew closer to Puerto Princesa Airport so we had to sit tight and buckled up as the plane shakes because of a turbulence due to a bad weather. Thank God we landed safe and sound. It was by far one of my bumpiest plane ride experience, kinda scary and nakakahilo!
Puerto Princesa Palawan Airport
Heavy rains greeted us on our arrival.
A hotel representative was waiting for us outside the airport and lead us to a van which took us to the hotel. We stayed at Marianne Hotel which I really recommend due to our superb experience as far as customer service is concerned! The hotel was just around 5 minute-ride from the airport and is near the public market which makes it very convenient for buying pasalubongs and other essentials. I’m gonna be writing a different post/review about this so for the mean time, keep reading… 🙂
Marianne Home Inn
Marianne Home Inn’s Facade
We were all hungry when we reached the hotel so we settled our things and asked the accommodating front desk staff for a good place for dinner and she suggested K’na Boyet. We hailed two tricycles which drove us directly to the said resto. K’na Boyet is an open resto near the baywalk and they sell different seafood from small to huge ones. What’s good about this resto is that, they sell fresh and live seafood and you just have to choose what you wanna eat and they will cook it as to your desired menu. Cool, right? Though I must say that price is not really that pocket friendly. So after our sumptuous dinner we head back to the hotel and called it a day.
K’na Boyet
Look at these huge seafood! and some of em were still alive!
Loooooobster!
Woah! Huge crab called Kuracha!
Picture muna kahit super gutom na!
Day 1
Our first and official day in Palawan. We woke up as early as 5 AM and prepared ourselves for a whole day tour. Our call time was 7:00 – 7:30 AM so we really had to wake up early. We had our complimentary breakfast at the roof-deck of the hotel and the food was really generously provided, another thing that I liked most from the hotel.
First on our itinerary was the Subterranean Underground River. It’s dubbed as one of the longest navigable underground rivers in the world and is also one of the seven wonders of the world. As they say, you haven’t really been to Palawan if you didn’t visit the well-known Underground River. It was quite far from the city center, roughly around 2 – 3 hour drive but in our case, we reached it around 5 hours or more.
As per our tour guide, Kuya Manny, Puerto Princesa Underground River tour often has a paired side-trip, so prior to going to the said tour we went to Ugong Rock Adventures. It was roughly a 1 – 2 hours side-trip. Ugong Rock Adventures is a place for adrenaline rush and thrilling activities such as caving, spelunking and Zip lining. A 75 feet high limestone in the middle of a rice field, with different caves and passageways inside leading to a viewing deck on the top of the rock. It is called Ugong Rock because there are some limestone inside that makes an Ugong or humming sound when tapped. Of course it was all our first time so we didn’t let that moment pass without trying the adventures. We tried their caving which isn’t really much challenging (yabang! i have been to Lumiang and Sumaguing Caves in Sagada and so far no cave has topped my experience yet with the said caves). I also tried the zip line, superman position. They have two options for the zip line, sitting and superman postion and sitting is kinda boring so I chose the latter 🙂 .
Groupie at the entrance of the cave
Yes! I survived!
Right after the Ugong Rock Adventures we head to Sabang beach and had our lunch. It was a buffet lunch and the food was really delicious, fresh veggies and seafood cooked in a local pinoy dish. After we had our lunch we head to the wharf and hopped into a pump boat which took us directly to the island where the Underground River is located.
My lunch! 😀 lakas maka PG!!! 🙂
Walang pansinan!
Puerto Princesa Subterranean River is dubbed as the longest navigable river in the world and one of the Seven Wonders of Nature. The cave is more than 24 km long and contains an 8.2 km long underground river. Tourists are only allowed to navigate up to 1.5 km via a canoe (small boat) ride and would take approximately 45 minutes. As per our tour guide if you want to explore the remaining 6.7 km underground river, you will have to secure a special permit.
It rained hard the night before our tour hence the murky water.
The entrance to the underground river cave
the usual groupie 🙂
The underground river cave is stunningly huge and contains different rock formations. Huge stalactites and stalagmites which took thousands of years to form. The cave is also home to thousands and thousands of bats and many other creatures.
walang kamatayang groupie 🙂
Right after the underground river tour, we head back to the wharf. Our guide was rushing us, haha, maybe because the weather was starting to act up like crazy that time and he thought that a heavy rain might pour and we might get stranded in the island. But it didn’t rain so thank goodness. We head back to the city and since we still had time we decided to buy pasalubongs.
Pasalubong Center!!
We were suppose to have our diiner at KaLui but for some reasons the travel agent forgot to reserve us a slot. Unfortunately KaLui do not accept walk-ins so we had to eat somewhere else. The hotel’s front-desk staff suggested K’na Buch. It is a resto-bar and is also one of the well-known restos in Palawan, so since we were all hungry and didn’t really had a choice we decided to eat there. Unlike K’na Boyet, their menu is like the typical restos which serves different local pinoy dishes. After having our dinner we head back to the hotel and had a mini inuman sesh to cap our first day off.
Day 2
Our second and last day in Palawan. Our only activity that day was island hopping. We woke up early, prepared ourselves and packed our things for an easy check out. We had our 2nd day breakfast at the roof deck of the hotel. By around 7:30 AM mr. sunshine was shinning bright and high, we hopped into a van which took us to the wharf where we commenced our Honda Bay island hopping activity. We had a different tour guide on our second day, Ms. Katrina.
We visited three islands, Luli Island, Starfish Island and Cowrie Island. Before starting our tour as per our guide Ms Katrina, we had to rent an aqua shoes and snorkeling gear. Wearing an aqua shoes is mandatory. If there’s one thing that I like about Palawan, that is their city wide ordinances. They have almost all kind of ordinances which I think is really good and effective in taking care of their city and its people.
First on our list was LuLi Island. Derived from the first two letters of the words Lulubog Lilitaw. It was named after the latter because the island itself sinks and rises with the tide. Composed of 3 sandbars, your best chance of seeing it is during low tide. During high tide the island sinks into the sea-water and you can only see the cottages as if they are floating. You can do snorkeling in this part of the tour but just a heads up, there are no fancy or stunning coral reefs, just lots of different kinds of fish. Fish feeding is also allowed in the area.
Next stop was the Starfish Island. From the name itself, it was called Starfish Island due to the abundant starfish in the area. A white-sand beach and clear water that you can just see the star-shaped creature by just looking down. As per our guide, we are only allowed to take the starfish out of the water for 3 minutes max. As many of us might not know that they don’t have a blood and they only rely on the sea water so taking them out of the water for even 3 minutes is not recommended. After some photo ops and swimming we had our lunch which was also included on our package.
Our 3rd and last stop was the Cowrie Island. Named after the sea snail called cowrie. It has cottages, cabanas and pavilion, ideal for picnics and swimming. Different water activities were also available like the jet ski ride, banana boat, flying saucer and kayaking. We stayed there for an hour or less and enjoyed our Palawan moments.
It was around 3:00 PM when we head back to the hotel and prepared for our flight back to Manila. This is another thing that i really liked about Marianne Home Inn. Supposedly our check out time is 12:00 noon but they let us use one-room and even generous enough to let us use 2 shower rooms so we could take a bath and prepare for our way home. Superb customer service and if given a chance to go back to Puerto Princesa I’d stay in Marianne Home Inn again. Really had a very good experience their.
So there it is! I hope you enjoyed reading my 2-day Palawan escapade. Bitin right? But it was indeed an unforgettable first-time Palawan experience. I will have a separate post about all destinations mentioned above so, wait for it.
” P770 instead of P11000 per Person for a Full-Course Dinner by the Bay with a 1-Hour Luxurious Yacht Cruise in Manila Bay ” very catchy right? Yes, it definitely caught my attention while I was browsing at MetroDeal’s website. This happened last June 2016, I was looking for something to do for my birthday celebration (My 25th Birthday Celebration). Apparently, all plans were not really working that time and MetroDeal was my last resort so I bought this “Dinner by the Bay with a 1-Hour Luxurious Yacht Cruise in Manila Bay” deal offered by Legworks Luxury Cruise. I have bought multiple vouchers in MetroDeal before and so far I didn’t have any issues. I tried calling the phone numbers listed on the fine print before buying the voucher but none of the numbers worked and since I trust MetroDeal I continued with the purchase.
I bought 2 vouchers last June 7th and was supposed to use it for my birthday last June 27th. After purchasing, I emailed Legworks for the reservation and that’s where all the frustrations and headaches started. See the screenshots of our email convo:
I was so excited as I compose this email. Little did I know that a major frustration is waiting for me.
Uhh, next time try to add at least a simple “we regret to inform you sir” and “rest assured that…” statements.
Legworks be like: The hell I care, You already paid the voucher so you have no choice but to wait and use it or endure another headache in getting a refund.
Thank you for being so helpful and sarcastic!
See? They didn’t even had an empathy statement or at least a simple apology on their emails. Clearly I fell into a trap. They knew to themselves that the yacht was on dry dock yet they still posted that sale in MetroDeal, they still continued to offer the service where in fact it was unavailable. Can this be considered a SCAM? If it isn’t a scam knowing that the yacht is under maintenance and someone bought a voucher that you posted in MetroDeal you should have at least offered an alternative.
So instead of having a hard time and incurring more headache with the refund process in MetroDeal, I chose to wait for July so I can still use the voucher cruise though I already lost the interest. I have read a lot of not-so-good reviews with their experiences in getting a refund from MetroDeal so I just decided to use the voucher the following month even though it was already past my birthday. Oh by the way, THANKS FOR RUINING MY BIRTHDAY LEGWORKS!
Here comes July. It was July 25th when I emailed them again to reserve a slot for July 29th. Guess what, the yacht was still on maintenance! I was really upset to the highest level. Nothing could explain the regret that I felt, I should have not bought that voucher, if only I knew this would happen! They told me that they will extend the validity of the voucher until October since it was a miss on their part. Of course it is a crazy huge mistake Legworks! At least their email this time is more empathetic.
Last August 11th they sent me an email informing me that the yachtmaintenance is scheduled to be completed last week of September until first week of October. They also offered a different yacht, smaller than the one under maintenance but……BUT, I have to pay an extra Php200 per person, I bought 2 vouchers so i’m gonna pay an extra Php400 on top of Php1540. After all the hassle and headaches that they gave me, they want me to pay extra money! What a horrible customer service! I told them that i’m not gonna pay for any extras and that they should honor what’s on the voucher. So they just told me that they’re gonna inform me once the maintenance is over! What a joke!!
Seriously!
dry rock?
As of now, I checked at MetroDeal and they are still selling the 770 deal!
So more than 3 months now since I bought the voucher and still I haven’t use it. I really don’t have any interest anymore with it but to think that I paid Php1540 in a instant and haven’t been able to use it upsets me a lot. Finally, I made this post to warn everyone about what Legworks are doing. It already happened to me and I know few people through Facebook who also suffered the same situation as mine. I warn you, DO NOT EVER ATTEMPT TO TRY THEIR SERVICE or else you’ll have your time and money wasted.
It has been more than 2 months since I celebrated my 25th birthday, i’m now a quarter century old! I’m happy and blessed to have reached this age and looking forward to many more birthdays to come. So far, this has been my super relaxed and “self-pampering” unplanned birthday celebration.
I had few plans on how will I spend my 25th birthday. First I thought of spending it by doing charity works. With my 2 friends/workmates, we planned to have a lunch/party for the street children but due to lack of time preparing and looking for sponsors, it didn’t go through. So my second plan was to spend my birthday by travelling to a place where I’ve never been before. I planned to go to Bicol but then again due to time management issues it didn’t go through. My third plan was to just spend my birthday here in the city but should be somewhere comfy and something first-time so I bought a Dinner by the bay with Yacht Cruise at metrodeal. When I emailed them for reservation, I was told that the yacht is on dry-dock and that it will resume its service by August or September. (Read more about my frustrating experience with Legworks) Okay! Finally I gave up. Plans were not working plus work was really not doing good, lots of challenges to a point that I stopped thinking and planning about my birthday.
Three days before my birthday, the start of my 2 days off and 2 days leave at work ( so I had 4 days free time without any plans at all ), I was sad and upset because nothing was working, it was my birth month yet everything wasn’t working the way I wanted them to be. Ivan noticed my not-in-the-mood look so he asked me to go to Baguio. I was kind of hesitant at first because I’ve been to Baguio quite few times already and it’s not really a place where I want to celebrate my birthday but then since I have 4 days with nothing to do, I decided to go. So right there and then after we had our lunch we went home grab some clothes and went straight to the Bus terminal bound to Baguio. As always we took the Joy Bus (Genesis Bus) which is one of my fave Bus ride whenever I’m going to Baguio. Click here to know more on how to book a ride to Baguio online.
Our very comfy ride to and from Baguio
We arrived in Baguio at around 10:00 PM. Since it was unplanned we had to look for a place to stay. Whenever we go to Baguio we always stay in a transient house coz it’s way cheaper than the hotel but since it was my birth month and I want to have a self-pampering-me-day we decided to stay in the hotel. We stayed at Golden Pine Hotel, all other hotels that we checked first were fully booked and it was getting late plus it was super chilling outside so we decided to book the available room which is Double Delux Room. Looking for a place to stay in Baguio? Click here
Two single-sized beds in our room
We stayed for 2 days and 2 nights and the price was good enough. We paid Php3000 for the room with two double-size beds and a complimentary breakfast. The hotel itself looked old but everything in it was still functioning properly. We were in fact amazed of their elevator, pretty fast for an old one :). Font desk staffs were friendly and accommodating, they even offered us a discount! The room was big enough for us and the air conditioning worked very well, though the only thing that we didn’t like is that we didn’t have the AC’s remote control, so we had to call the front desk every time we want to have the temperature adjusted. There was a 42-inch flat screen TV with basic cable channels but unlike other hotels, the reception is much clearer. The bathroom was big enough with hot and cold shower and a bath tub, though when I tried to use it the water won’t drain so we had to call the maintenance to have it drained, it happened twice. One thing that I loved about the hotel was the complimentary breakfast. Since it’s free, hotels would usually offer scrambled eggs and hotdogs but not in Golden Pine Hotel, they let us chose what breakfast we want from their menu which was amazing.
Our flat screen TV with very clear reception 🙂
You know what these are!
Spacious bathroom sink with hair-dryer
Kinda old hot/cold shower but still perfectly working
The bath tub that doesn’t drain with horsie 🙂
We really didn’t have any plans on our first day so we just relaxed and stayed in our room the whole morning. We had our breakfast delivered in our room, we paid Php100 /person service fee. The service was incredibly fast! Our breakfast were delivered in less than 20 minutes after giving our orders. On our first morning we ordered Beef Tapa and Daing na Bangus with scrambled egg. It also comes with our choice of hot chocolate or hot coffee, so I chose the hot chocolate and Ivan chose the hot coffee and it also comes with two glasses of orange juice and two bottles of water! Amazing, right? Worth it for a complimentary breakfast. On our second day, we both ordered Vigan Longganisa with scrambled egg.
First day breakfast 🙂 Bon appetit
Second day breakfast with my surprised birthday cake! 🙂
We got quite bored at the hotel on our first day, just lying on the bed watching TV, so we decided to go out and visit Choco-Latte de Batirol. It was around 1:30 PM when we got to the place via cab (whenever I’m in Baguio, cab is always my fave mode of transpo, haha). The place was super relaxing. Read more about my Choco-Latte de Batirol experience here.
Choco-latte de Batirol
After enjoying a serene and super relaxed moment at Choco-Latte de Batirol, we decided to visit the PMA grounds since I haven’t been there before. I enjoyed taking pictures with the helicopters and warplanes which I was so amazed coz it was my first time seeing those in person. We roamed around the area and even took a picture with the Cadette. We spent some time by observing the cadettes as they march and go to their rooms and also by just appreciating the beauty of nature. We decided to go back to the hotel at around 4:00 PM and had some rest. We planned to have our dinner at Good Taste but since I was so tamad and nilalamig na, we ended up eating at Mang Inasal just right across the hotel 😀 .
Sad we were not allowed to have a ride 🙂
Cute plane
Cool!!!
Pwede na ba? haha
On our second day, we just stayed at the hotel the whole morning up until we checked out. There was no hassle in checking out, we paid the Php400 service fee (for our breakfast in “bed”) waited for a minute as they checked the room (in-case we stole or broke somthing, lol) and that’s it.
Suman with Mangga from Cafe by the Ruins. This was the only good thing that I experienced there.
We had our lunch at Cafe by the Ruins. We wanted to dine in here the last time we went to Baguio (that was last December when we celebrated the New Year) but it was closed that time due to holiday. We were very disappointed as far as customer service is concern, very disappointed. I will have a different post regarding our experience at Cafe by the Ruins and i’ll tell you why we were so disappointed. After our lunch we really didn’t want to go home that early, so we decided to just chillax at SM, haha as if walang SM dito sa Manila. We secured our ticket first going back to Manila before roaming around. As usual, we chose Joy Bus as our ride back home. We also killed some time by walking along Session Road, spotting on something to buy and just going with the flow of different people on the street. It was around 4:00 PM when we aboard at our super comfy bus and waited until 5:00 PM to depart from Baguio going back to Manila.
Indeed, it was one of my super relaxed birthday celebration. Though a lot of not-so-good things happened still I am very thankful to have reached this age and very blessed in so many ways. I was so busy planning for everything that I got upset because everything’s not falling as it should be. One thing I realized is that, sometimes it’s ok to just let go and go with the flow.
Travel Expo’s is where we can find discounted travel packages, plane tickets and other travel deals. This year, the Philippine Tour Operations Association (PHILTOA) held the 27th Philippine Travel Mart, the longest annual travel event in the country. The event lasted for three days (September 2-4 2016) allowing everyone to book an affordable travel deal to their favorite destinations. The event was held at the SMX Convention Center Mall of Asia Complex in Pasay City.
I got the chance to visit the event on its first day last September 2. Registration fee is only Php50 per person. It was my first time attending such event and my only purpose then was to get a SKyjet Php727 plane ticket to Batanes. Unfortunately slots were already fully booked that day as early as 11AM, just one hour right after the event started. Citibank credit card holders also had a priority booking hence the early cut off. We were given a priority certificate and number and that we will be assisted first the following day, so we decided to just spend our time checking other booths.
Philippine Airlines, Cebu Pacific and Airasia were present in the event offering exclusive discounted plane tickets to the on-goers. A lot of other Travel Agencies and booths from different regions were also in the area promoting different tourist destinations. There were a lot of super affordable travel deals that one can choose from, for as low as Php900. I was quite amazed when I saw Punta Bulata’s booth, a well-known resort in my beloved hometown as well as other newly discovered beautiful beaches. Negros Occidental also had their own booth, amazing!
There were different cultural shows from different cultural groups and organizations showcasing their talents in music and dancing, chorale competitions; Harana ng Kundiman and folk dances, to name a few. Food kiosks were also available in the area.
Indeed, Travel Expo’s is a place where one can find super affordable travel deals. Will definitely not miss next year’s event.
ALERT! Summer/Winter is coming! This caught my attention while I was scrolling on my news feed and nope! this isn’t a Game of Thrones teaser…….it’s an ice cream parlor!
Freezer burn is a newly opened sweet spot in BGC. Located at G/F Q3, Bonifacio High Street, BGC, it started serving its uniquely conceptualized ice creams last July 2. It’s a result of Chefs Miko Aspiras and Kristine Lotilla’s dessert experiment and a new addition to their babies. It’s not just your regular ice cream stop, it’s a combination of a cold one-of-a-kind ice cream and hot fried sweets. Last tuesday, Ivan and I visited this place and tried their sweeties.
The place was small but I loved it. I liked the pastel colored wall and decorations. It brings out the kiddie-side in me and adds to the feel good vibes of the place. There are 7 rounded chairs inside and 2 4-sitter tables outside. Even the chairs and buzzing light numbers are pastel colored. I also liked the hospitality of the crews. Just right after we entered the door one of the crew energetically greeted us and asked us if it was our first time. She then began suggesting their best sellers enthusiastically and patiently waited until we gave our orders.
They have 8 ice cream flavors; Butter, Brown Butter Pecan, Maple Bacon, Corn and Cheese, Cookies and Junk Food, Chocolate, The Best Mint Stracciatella, Ketchup and Mayo. Originally they have 45 flavors but they chose 8 strong ones for their opening. They’ll be introducing a new flavor every month.
Ketchup and Mayo as an ice cream flavor? Wondering how does it taste? I didn’t order it so I don’t know the taste but for sure it does taste good. You can either order it as it is (in scoop) or tandem it with their freshly fried fries. Will surely try this one on my next visit. I was also intrigued by their Maple Bacon and Corn and Cheese ice creams. Something to look forward plus the new flavor that they’ll introduce every month.
We ordered their Composed Desserts (P295 each) which I really loved. Composed Dessert is a combination of ice cream and your fave hot dessert in one box. I highly recommend that you try these too. I ordered Junkie – Cookies and Junk Food Ice cream + Nutelladonuts and caramel sauce, while Ivan ordered Ola! – Chocolate ice cream + Churros.
Cookies and Junk Food ice cream really tastes good, though it’s too sweet but I liked it. I also loved the Nutelladonuts, I felt like I could eat a bunch of those. Wondering what’s the syringe doing in the box? it’s the caramel sauce.You can either top in on the donuts or on the ice cream or both. There is really no right way to eat it. You can dump the donuts on the melted ice cream or just eat them the usual way.
Of course I tasted Ivan’s Chocolate ice cream and Churros. Though the churros tastes like the usual I loved how they served it hot freshly fried. The chocolate ice cream tastes like no other (I love chocolates so I think i’m kinda bias on this, lol). It’s super chocolate rich, bitter at first then it gets sweet once melted.
They also have ice cream scoops with cone, worth P150 for no toppings, P180 for two topppings, P190 for three toppings and a Sampler Bowl (four scoops of ice cream) worth P395. Milkshakes, hot chocolate and ice cream float are also available for P250.
I really enjoyed the place and the ice cream experience. Though it’s a bit pricey, maybe because it’s in BGC and almost everything there is pricey. But I wouldn’t mind paying a lil bit extra for an extra-ordinary ice cream flavor. I’m planning to go back and try their other flavors.
PS: I heard that they will be releasing an ice cream flavor inspired by the Game of Thrones characters. Something that we all need to watch out.
Freezer Burn PH
Address: G/F, Q3, Bonifacio High Street, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig
Facebook: Freezer Burn PH
Contact#: 0927 387 2703
Hours: Mon-Sun 11:00AM – 12:00AM
A lot of Burger Cafe’s are popping out like mushrooms these days. I’m not complaining, in fact I love it coz I get to have a lot of cafes to dine and blog with haha. More business means good economy, good economy means happy people, happy people means world peace? (corny, haha) . Before you roll your eyeballs, this isn’t an economy-status-like or a 9gag-you-must-laugh post, so chill and continue reading. 😀
Le Burgeria is a newly opened Burger Cafe which started their operations some time around June this year. Located at No. 9 Pag-asa Street (Kamias St.), Barangay North Signal Village, 1632 Taguig, Philippines, it is a new addition to the growing family of Burger Houses (Burger Cafe as what I call it) in Signal Village. Le Burgeria serves Burgers, Pastas, Fried Chickens and Milkshakes.
Two weeks ago on a rainy Friday afternoon, me, Ivan and friends visited this place. We arrived just few minutes after they open and the crowd was jam packed. Good thing there were two available tables when we arrived. Let me start my review with the location.
LOCATION
Located at North Signal Village in Taguig, the place is easy to find and accessible via public transpo. The street where it is located is just a small one so avoid bringing a car as there is no parking space. Better go there by commuting.
PLACE (The Cafe itself)
Let’s start first with the good stuff. The place is decorated nicely, I like how they painted the wall which looked like bricks. I also like the idea of using chalkboards for their frame designs on the wall, it’s creatively colorful in a pocket-friendly way. Their menus are also written on a chalkboard though some letters are too small or erased making it hard to read.
Menu written on a chalkboard. Too small and letters are erased, very hard to read.
Now let’s go to the not-so-good stuff. The place is very small, though somehow I understand coz they’ve just started their operations recently. But I would really love it if they will expand the area just a little bit more. Since the area is small, it is not well ventilated, there were ceiling fans but not enough to at least provide a little comfort. The entrance of the cafe is open (no wall/door) so there were a lot of flies . Hindi sa nag iinarte ako but how can you eat and enjoy your burger and milkshake if you’re busy shooing the flies. Worst is, there’s a high change that they will land on your chocolaty milkshake. One more thing is that, street kids are freely roaming inside the cafe. It’s perfectly fine with me if they will ask for some money or food but what I don’t like is they’ll keep on bugging you even after giving them what they want (kuya pahingi pera. kuya pahingi tubig, kuya akin na lang yang fries, kuya akin na lang yang donut). We even gave them a mocha frappe but just right after they finish drinking it they went back and asked for more.
They have i think 8 or 9 4 seater tables,
FOOD
Here comes the most awaited part, the highlight of this review :). As mentioned above they serve Burgers, Pastas, Fried Chickens and Milkshakes. We want to try their burgers so we ordered Bacon-Mushroom Cheeseburger, Regular Junior Stacker with Fries and for the Milkshake we ordered Chocofudge Donuts.
Their Menu. Better than the chalkboard one.
Bacon-Mushroom Cheeseburger with Fries and your choice of drink. P110
Regular Junior Stacker with fries and your choice of drink. P230
Burger: Let’s start with the price, I must say that it is worth of it’s price. I liked how the burgers were plated- in a wooden box. The size of the bread is same as with what the usual fast food have but it is generously stuffed with home-made patties, cheese, mushrooms and bacon and flooded with dressings. Totally not bad for a P120 burger, though it tastes like……..a burger, nothing’s so surprising, nothing different but it taste good. Instagram worthy? YES!!
They also provide plastic hand gloves so it’ll be easier for you to eat the burger
Milkshake: Le Milkshake as what they call it. It looks cute and mouthwatering. I liked the way it was served – in a mason jar. Though the only thing that I don’t like about it is the whip cream which is kind of overpowering the taste of the milkshake. The chocolate donut also tastes good. Overall it was a worth it 90 peso milkshake. Instagram worthy? YES!!
Chocofudge Donut. P90
Chocofudge Quadruple Donuts. P120
Fries: Much better than the ones in the fast food (except for Mcdonalds-my fav fries :p ). Nothing’s special but tastes good. Again, not bad for a P45. It also comes with your choice of drink – iced tea or lemonade.
Fries with your choice of drink. P45
Cute writings/quotes in their mugs.
WAIT TIME
Ok, so…..there’s really nothing good that I can say about the wait time. For crying out loud the wait time before orders were served was HORRIBLE. We ordered Burger, Fries and Milkshakes and we waited for more than an hour. Does it really take more than an hour to prepare those?
VERDICT
The food tastes good, affordable (sulit na sulit) and instagram worthy.
Will I go back? 5% MAYBE || 90% NO.
Why? Because of the wait time.
Le Burgeria Address: No. 9 Pag-asa Street (Kamias St.), Barangay North Signal Village, 1632 Taguig, Philippines Hours: Mon-Sun 3:30 – 11:00 Contact#: 0915 748 4889 Facebook:Le Burgeria
I first saw this restaurant featured in Umagang Kay Ganda last year and since then I really wanted to visit it. I’ve been to Baguio multiple times but I haven’t really heard of this place, not until I saw it on the Television. Last June 23, I had the chance to go back to Baguio to celebrate my 25th birthday, so I never let that Baguio moment pass without visiting Choco-Late de Batirol.
From Golden Pine Hotel-where we stayed, we took a cab to Camp John Hay. Choco-Late Baterol is a garden restaurant located in Igorot Park, Camp John Hay. Choco-late de Batirol is a garden-restaurant with a relaxing and cool ambiance. It’s like having a good hot thick chocolate drink in the middle of a forest in a fairyland. The rustic furniture complements with it’s ambiance – wooden chairs and tables and the roofing are made of recyclable materials.
They are known for their famous hot, thick, bittersweet tsokolate drink made from the local cacao beans traditionally blended using a pot and a batirol (wooded whisk with spiky end). They also serve different Pinoy food for breakfast, lunch and dinner and different pinoy meriendas.
I ordered hot Cinnamon Choco-late de Batirol and Bibingka. I was supposed to order Suman sa Lihiya but it was not available so I ordered Bibingka instead. Ivan ordered Strawberry Choco-late de Batirol and Langka Turon.
I was very excited to taste their famous tsokolate and it was indeed one of a kind. It reminds me of the hot chocolate that my lola used to prepare for me when I was a kid. It has a balanced taste of bitterness and sweetness, pleasing to the tongue, very thick and creamy, perfect for the cold weather of Baguio. Plus the cinnamon and strawberry complements well with the taste of chocolate.
Their Bibingka was good too though it tastes like the usual bibingka for me. The texture is not too dry, it’s fluffy and generously topped with grated coconut. Still, nothing beats the Bibingka that I used to eat when I was still in the province (I grew up in Negros, iba talaga ang Bibingkang gawa sa Negros 🙂 ). Their Langka Turon also tastes good. I guess what makes it tastes different is the thick chocolate drizzled on top.
Nonetheless, we really enjoyed the food and it was worth of its price. Sad though coz we were not able to witness how the hot chocolate is being prepared traditionally which is one of the main reasons why we went there. I asked one of the crew and she said that they are only doing the demo if there’re few people and there were quite a lot of customers that day.
They also sell different locally made pasalubong products such as Pili Nuts, Cashew Nuts, Ga
rlic chips and the famous Baguio jams such as Strawberry Jam, Mango Jam and Ube Jam.
This cute cat was with us the whole time and he slept on our laps 🙂
It was indeed one of the super relaxed birthday that I had so far. 🙂 Will definitely visit this place again.
NOTE: Its a challenge to hail a cab in the area. Kinda hard to use Grab either.
Choco-Late de Batirol Address: Igorot Garden, Cam John Hay, Baguio City Store Hours
Monday – Thursday: 9:00 AM – 8:00 PM
Friday: 9:00 AM – 9:00 PM
Saturday – Sunday: 9:00 AM – 10:00 PM Website: www.chocolatedebatirol.com Facebook:Choco-Late de Batirol Email: chocolatedebatirol@yahoo.com Contact Numbers:
0917-877-1427 or
0917-877-1428
I’ve been in Maginhawa street before when I visited The Nook and since then I really wanted to go back and try some other cafe’s in the area but I just didn’t have the time (I guess) and it’s far from my place (I live in Makati and QC is already far for me). That’s why when I got the chance to go to QC last Friday (to visit my partner’s grandma) I took that opportunity to go to Maginhawa since it’s only one ride away from my partner’s grandma’s house.
We went there around 3:00 PM and we didn’t have any idea on where to go or what cafe to visit since it was more of a biglaang lakad thing. So we just decided to go there and walk along the street and choose a cafe that will caught our attention first.
While walking along the street, Antiteasis Books and Brews caught our attention because of it’s cozy ambiance and there was nobody inside, haha. We decided to check it and we liked the place so we stayed. The area was small with 5 tables inside and 3 tables outside and it was like a mini library because there were a lot of books. At first we thought that it’s close because we were not greeted by someone and there really was nobody inside. After almost a minute of saying “hello” a girl came out of the door and asked us our orders (quite weird).
The choices from their menu board was quite limited and we just wanted to drink something refreshing so we ordered Strawberry Yakult Smoothie and Banana Cinnamon Smoothie. The smoothies tastes good, worth of it’s price and it looks cute as it was served in a mason jar.
We stayed there for quite a while and read some books. Board games are also available. We played monopoly and t’was fun. A socket is also available for charging.
Though the only thing that I kinda don’t like about the place was the girl who took and served our orders. I think she could have been more accommodating but it was not really a big deal. I guess I was just expecting much courtesy like what we’ve experienced when we visitedThe Nook.
Overall, we liked the place. It was small but cozy and if one is looking for a place to just relax, read or study Antiteasis Books and Brews is one of those.
Antiteasis Books and Brews Address: Unit C, 154 Maginhawa Street, Sikatuna Village, 1100 Quezon City, Philippines
It was our first out of the country experience and we were brave enough ( I guess ) not to sign up to any tour packages, instead we did a “Do It Yourself” kind of tour as we really wanted to explore and experience a foreign land on our own. The good thing about a DIY tour is that you get to have the freedom to choose where to go, what to do, no need to wake up early in the morning, no cramming, no schedule to follow.
We originally planned to go to Macau on our 2nd day during our 4-day Hong Kong trip. We woke up early and went to Hong Kong China Ferry Terminal at around 8:30 AM lined up on the counter to get a ticket going to Macau. While waiting for our turn, we realized that we might over spend in Macau (since we are on a limited budget) and we can’t afford to miss a lot of tourist spots in Hong Kong. Since HK is our top priority we’ve decided to move our Macau Trip on our 3rd day if our budget permits.
Road Signs
Since we don’t have an itinerary to follow, we chose to go to The Peak to experience a Tram ride and explore Central Hong Kong. From Hong Kong China Ferry Terminal, we walked back to Tsim Sha Tsui subway station and took an MTR bound to Central Station. The Peak Tram ticketing office was just 10-15 minute walk from the central station. It was pretty easy to locate the place as there were plenty of road signs. A lot of Filipino’s are also in the area (probably taking their day off) so if you don’t know where to go next feel free to ask them. We reached The Peak Tram station at around 11:00AM and boy! the crowd was overwhelming. There were a lot (as in a lot) of tourists, but that didn’t stop us from our goal. I managed to get a ticket just 15 minutes after we arrived at the station. We waited for another 30-45 minutes before finally boarding on the Tram Car. It was a thrilling ride. We were travelling on a cliff with an elevation of 1,312 ft and it’s very steep! Kind of scary at first but the view was amazing.
The crowd at the The Peak Tram Lower Terminus
While waiting for our turn to board on the tram
We reached the Peak few minutes after departing from lower terminus (terminal). The Peak Tower is a shopping and leisure complex, it’s like a mall with different stalls and food outlets. Madame Tussauds is also located here. Our tickets includes entrance to the Sky Terrace so after checking different souvenir shops we proceeded to the sky terrace which is known to be the highest viewing point in Hong Kong and provides a breathtaking panoramic view of Victoria Harbor and Hong Kong’s skyscrapers. We were given an interactive touchscreen audio device and a headset. It served as our personal tour guide as it discuss Hong Kong’s history (architecture, cuisine and culture). It was like having a personal tour while enjoying the scenic view of Hong Kong. We stayed there for quite a while, roamed around and enjoyed every view as far as our eyes can reach. Sad though because it was quite foggy when went there so we were not really able to see much of the whole Victoria Harbor and Hong Kong’s skyline.
The famous The Peak tower
It was already around 1:00 in the afternoon and yet the fog was still very thick.
Striking a pose at the highest point in Hong Kong ^_^
Retired Peak Tram Car
By the way, we purchased a return ticket with sky pass. You can also purchase just a single ticket with sky pass then just buy a return ticket from the upper terminus (The Peak Tower Terminal). Two way and single journey tickets without sky pass are also available.
Ticket Prices
This is what our ticket looks like. Was able to get these in just less than 15 minutes despite of the huge crowd. haha
As I’ve mentioned above, Madame Tussauds is also located here but we didn’t bought a ticket because it’s kinda pricey. Madame Tussauds is a wax museum which houses nearly 100 internationally known personalities. This is the first Madame Tussauds in Asia as it was originally founded in France.
Madame Tussauds Entrance and Ticketing Counter
Bruce Lee’s Wax figure at Madame Tussauds entrance.
If you get tired and hungry of roaming around you can take a rest and eat as there are different food establishments in the area.
We left The Peak at around 3:00PM, this time we decided to just walk around Central Hong Kong. We walked around the park, along the highway (lol) just appreciating the beauty of the city. There were many huge concrete and steel buildings which really shows how successful Hong Kong is.
Fountain at the park somewhere in Central Hong Kong. 😀
Bank of China Tower (right) and Cheung Kong Center (left)
Hong Kong’s old Supreme Court building
The Cenotaph commemorating the dead of World War I and II with Hong Kong Club Building in the background
2 International Financial Center
Hong Kong Observation Wheel overlooking Victoria Harbor
We felt a little bit tired since we did a lot of walking so we ended our Central Hong Kong tour at around 5:00PM. Since we were at the Central Pier area we decided to take a star ferry ride. We were quite surprised that we only have to pay HKD3.40 for the ticket, haha (it’s quite cheap isn’t it?). Funny thing is, we didn’t know where the ferry is going, haha. We just bought a ticket and boarded, excited and happy on our first star ferry ride. We only realized that we were back in Tsim Tsa Tsui when we got off the ferry ^_^.
The Star Ferry which only cost HKD3.40 per ride ^_^
Inside the Star Ferry
TRAVEL GUIDE FROM HOTEL IN TSIM SHA TSUI TO THE PEAK TRAM
1. Take the MTR from Tsim Sha Tsui station and alight at Central Station. 2. From Central Station exit at Exit J and follow the arrow signs to The Peak. It’s around 15 minute walk.
Going back to the hotel just follow the same route starting from Central Station and alight at Tsim Sha Tsui. Or since Central Station is in Hong Kong Island might as well roam around and do the sight seing, like what we did. You will find here the Hong Kong Observation Wheel like of the gigantic London Eye. Then going back to Tsim Sha Tsui, since Hong Kong Observation Wheel is near the ferry port, might as well just take and experience the star ferry at Pier 7. It’s around 5 minute sailing for onyl $3.4, half way cheaper than the MTR.
