#rent big bikes in philippines

[marketinsight1234]

Sweden Bike Sharing Market: Forthcoming Trends and Share Analysis by 2030

Sweden Bike Sharing is Expected to Grow at a Significant Growth Rate, and the Forecast Period is 2023-2030, Considering the Base Year as 2022.

Big Swedish towns like Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö have seen a rise in the use of bike sharing by both locals and tourists. The availability of strategically positioned docking stations and the ease of hiring bikes on-demand through smartphone apps have both contributed to the growing popularity of bike-sharing services. Bike sharing has gained popularity as a practical and effective means of transportation among commuters, visitors, and residents looking for an eco-friendly way to get about the city.

Sweden's dedication to environmental conservation and sustainability has increased demand for environmentally friendly modes of transportation. Bike sharing is a great fit with the nation's goal of cutting carbon emissions and advancing environmentally friendly transportation options. Consequently, the market for bike sharing has experienced steady expansion, propelled by the rising number of people who place a premium on sustainability when making transportation decisions.

Sweden's tourism business greatly benefits from bike sharing, which provides visitors with an immersive and one-of-a-kind means of seeing the nation's breathtaking scenery, iconic sites, and cultural attractions. Renting bikes allows tourists to take leisurely rides through scenic areas, improving their trip experiences and making lifelong memories.

Get Full PDF Sample Copy of Report: (Including Full TOC, List of Tables & Figures, Chart) @

Updated Version 2024 is available our Sample Report May Includes the:

Scope For 2024

Brief Introduction to the research report.

Table of Contents (Scope covered as a part of the study)

Top players in the market

Research framework (structure of the report)

Research methodology adopted by Worldwide Market Reports

Leading players involved in the Sweden Bike Sharing Market include:

 Helbiz (Italy), Green Bike Sweden (Sweden), Nextbike (Germany), Lime (US), Mobike (China), PBSC (BIXI) (Canada), Vaimoo (Italy), Bycyklen (Denmark), Smoove (France), City Bikes (Sweden), Jump (US), Donkey Republic (Denmark), Velove (Sweden), Easymile (France), Malmö by Bike (Sweden), Ofo (China), Voi (Sweden), Citizen (Belgium), Beryl (UK), Mobike (China), and Other Major Players.

Moreover, the report includes significant chapters such as Patent Analysis, Regulatory Framework, Technology Roadmap, BCG Matrix, Heat Map Analysis, Price Trend Analysis, and Investment Analysis which help to understand the market direction and movement in the current and upcoming years. 

If You Have Any Query Sweden Bike Sharing Market Report, Visit:

https://pristineintelligence.com/inquiry/sweden-bike-sharing-market-170

Segmentation of Sweden Bike Sharing Market:

By Bike Type

Traditional Bike

E-bike

By Sharing System

Docked

Dockless

By User Type

Tourists and Visitors

Regular Commuters

By Regions: -

North America (US, Canada, Mexico)

Eastern Europe (Bulgaria, The Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Rest of Eastern Europe)

Western Europe (Germany, UK, France, Netherlands, Italy, Russia, Spain, Rest of Western Europe)

Asia Pacific (China, India, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, The Philippines, Australia, New Zealand, Rest of APAC)

Middle East & Africa (Turkey, Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, Israel, South Africa)

South America (Brazil, Argentina, Rest of SA)

Highlights from the report:

Market Study: It includes key market segments, key manufacturers covered, product range offered in the years considered, Global Sweden Bike Sharing Market, and research objectives. It also covers segmentation study provided in the report based on product type and application.

Market Executive Summary: This section highlights key studies, market growth rates, competitive landscape, market drivers, trends, and issues in addition to macro indicators.

Market Production by Region: The report provides data related to imports and exports, revenue, production and key players of all the studied regional markets are covered in this section.

Sweden Bike Sharing Market Profiles of Top Key Competitors: Analysis of each profiled Roll Hardness Tester market player is detailed in this section. This segment also provides SWOT analysis of individual players, products, production, value, capacity, and other important factors.

If you require any specific information that is not covered currently within the scope of the report, we will provide the same as a part of the customization.

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[n0resistance]

Studio City

   My friend would say beautiful things come out of Studio City. She grew up there and turned out to be one of the coolest humans I ever met. I remember being in traffic on the way to the Sylvan and Esso Concert at the Greek Theater as she said that. My lease was about to be up in East Hollywood and I desperately wanted to visit The Philippines with my friends and then move back to New York. I needed to save money and had to come up with a plan to have it all work out. My lease was up on February 1st; I remember that because I moved to LA on January 4th and stayed in an Airbnb until I was able to sign a lease a month later.

   So my plan was to work and save until May and leave for Singapore and then The Philippines on May 7th. I asked my best friend if I could stay with her and pay some rent, utilities, so I could save enough money to leave. Thankfully she and her roommate were okay with it. When I left, I only brought a small hand-carry, backpack, and my ukulele on my trip. I left my big luggage in LA (my moving to New York luggage), so when I came back to New York I purposely had a layover in LA to say bye one last time and get all my stuff.

    It all was a good plan that was working out but to be honest 3 full months of being a gypsy to save money for a month-long trip and a move back to Brooklyn was difficult. I think I’m a good roommate because I’m never around. At the time I was working 2 jobs. 1 concierge job and the other as a bar-back on weekends in West Hollywood.  Every time I got paid it went to a flight, a hotel, and the trip I was about to embark on. My route was Singapore, Manila, Palawan, Cebu, Bohol, Manila, back to a layover in LA for 12 hours, and then home to New York.

   If I wasn’t at work I was working on a project. Having 3 months left in LA to create, I was trying to get involved in everything. My projects were acting in the play Romeo and Juliet, post-production on the short film “Layla”, and my first attempt to write and perform the intro to a one-woman show. Doing that and having a bucket list of places to visit in and near LA. There’s so much to see on the West Coast outside of LA proper.

   I was happy to spend the last 3 months in LA with my best friend from Jersey. Sometimes I would sleep at either one of my two other friends’ places I knew from work who lived closer to my jobs. One in West Hollywood and one in Hollywood. I was so lucky to have these girls and the best part was it was a good excuse to actually hang out with each other. LA is spread out and if you didn’t plan it, it’s easy to never see each other. Especially if you only have a bike like i did. So these sleepovers were literally just catchup before I said goodbye to my friends.

   I did feel unstable not having my own place. One time I reconnected with a guy whom I met when I first moved to LA. He was performing somewhere in the valley. He toured around 30 countries and was living in Airbnbs or couch surfing as a lifestyle. What amazed me was his ambition to perform everywhere. It was pretty annoying that at every single spot we went to, even if there were already performers there, he would squeeze his way to get on the mic. One restaurant we went to in Studio City had live performers and somehow this kid got on the Mic, singing "No Diggity" and had a minor altercation with the lead singer who got paid to be there.

   The lifestyle he was leading not having a consistent paycheck and being on the go that much, it altered his sense of time, space, and reality. Traveling is exhausting and even though he was pursuing his passions; everyone needs a little stability. In the end I called him my Layla, after the movie. Who’s a person who’s there for the moment and disappears with a inspiring image.

   My best friend and I would go and try different vegan food in LA. They had so much to offer. My favorite was Sun Cafe in Studio City. Couldn’t believe it was vegan and the food was like crack. I cooked a lot of pasta at home; it’s the only thing I’m excellent at cooking since living in Italy. My fav times were cooking pasta and catching up with her.

   I worked a lot and then had rehearsals coming up for Romeo and Juliet. I was so happy to get the roles of The Prince and Peter. At the beginning, The Prince stops the brawl. In the middle, Peter is a servant who tells Romeo about the party. I also was at the end having the last words to the dramatic scene. The play was an all-girl cast.

    I had never done Shakespeare and originally auditioned for Romeo. There’s a lot of research that goes into it for me. To actually understand what I’m reading. Watching the original movie helps a lot. It’s almost a different language. We had an impressive fight choreographer for the fight scene. The kissing scene was very believable. When I promoted the show I would tell people that it was an all girl cast with women fighting and making out. It was a joke but that was really what it was. The other actors were so talented and I was thankful to be able to do it. The play even made it into LA Times as a must see. 

    The completion of my short film Layla worked out because of a deadline and a rigorous schedule. I would go and be in the room to edit the film with the cinematographer and editor in Santa Monica everyday after work until it was done. I felt the need to be in the room since I hadn’t done that the last two times of making a short film. Editing is really where a movie is made. That process was fun. I learned it matters who you make movies with and if you have the same goals for the process to go smoothly. I prefer to be deadline oriented and with me moving home there was a sense of urgency. This to me is important because as artists we can feel a sense of complacency without deadlines.

    My go to bar in North Hollywood called Idle Hour. It's a bar that is shaped like a barrel with an actual dog house in the shape of a dog in the back. I never got to go to the jazz club I wanted to go to called The Baked Potato. Some place I’d like to try and see again if I can. I did like the tikki bar and this dive called residuals. A residual is when you do a commercial and get checks for $10 or a different amount when it airs but over the course of 10 years, they would have people’s pay stubs attached to the wall. At the end of my time at Studio City I partied, I worked, and I joined this group that met up to create dialogue for a one woman/one man show in the hotel we worked at. Before I left we were going to perform what we personally came up with in front of a small audience.

   Now this group had steps every time we met. The first time we just wrote a stream of consciousness. Then we shared the entry of what we wrote to a partner. I made a friend who's from North Jersey in the class who also lost her mom. Learning that felt really connected to her and vulnerable. Then we took our stream of consciousness and told it like a narrative with an activity and a setting. I called my piece "Little Girl". The monologue was short and effective and really pierced me emotionally which impacted other people. I wrote that my mom was a dancer and my dad was a traveler who saw a lot of the world. While I was telling their story I was folding napkins because in the piece I was at my job in a restaurant with an apron on. I tell the audience that my parents don't live their passions anymore because life got in the way, having a family got in the way.  So I made it a purpose to pursue my own passions. In the monologue I’ve been shut down by someone who’s close to me who says "I'm a bad actress who's never going to make it". Every time I said that line a tear came out because it was true. Or felt true, even if it was not, I believed it to be true. Even though I'm thought of in that way and don't have support, I do what I do because my parents are not able to, and maybe that experience and my own happiness is enough motivation to keep pursuing what I love.

     It felt good. I screened Layla at a Tibetan boutique shop in Santa Monica and every actor, coworker, and friend who I met in LA came to the showing. Where we projected the movie onto a white sheet and had a speaker. We all sat on the floor, the space was filled, and went to the bar on the other side of town called Harvard and Stone to celebrate. I left shortly for Singapore and was really happy to change my life into the unknown.

[manalastasrycarenzykreena]

Baguio as its finest

Baguio is called “City of Pines” because many pine trees dominate the landscape. It is known as the “Summer Capital of the Philippines” since Baguio has an unusual cold weather perfect for hot season. People also loved to visit this City because of its beautiful places.

The first time I visited Baguio was on January 2017. As we arrived there, I was mesmerized by its beauty and the air was fresher than the other places I’ve been visited. We really enjoy the tour as we roamed around Baguio. A lot of places is really eye catching and very rich in history. Like the Diplomat Hotel there’s belief that some ghosts are living here though I haven’t seen one. The structure of the is very old that makes it very interesting and beautiful. Another spot that I enjoyed was in Burnham park they offer many activities here like biking, riding a swan in the lake, etc. also every night they organize a night market where in you can buy much affordable stuff.Money and time is worth it here in Baguio that’s why I promised to be here again.

Last year we had a chance to sojourn in Baguio again for 4 days much longer than our past visit. We toured different places like the strawberry farm, wright park, burnham park, botanical garden, etc. and It’s still the same since no big changes happened. As always we enjoyed our time here, we’ve also met other people who live next to our rented house. They are also kapangpangan, so we get comfortable to each other.

Aside from the places we also enjoyed the food. Strawberry ice cream from the strawberry farm is the best. Honestly I hate strawberries because I don’t like its taste but that ice cream is life-changing. Let’s talk about the cold weather in Baguio that is very chilling and refreshing. I personally love shopping that’s why I never miss the chance to shop in Harrison Road Night Market. Here you can find clothes, shoes, etc. at a cheap price.

I hope to visit Baguio again for the third time. I wish by that time there will be more places to visit and improvements to their old attractions. Though my experience in Baguio will always be memorable not just because of the beautiful places we visited but also because of the people I am with. I will treasure those memories forever. If you’re reading this take this as a sign to visit Baguio; I’ll see you there!

[iamcerbatosarvin-blog]

Cavinti: A Hidden Place to discover

The Municipality of Cavinti, is from the word "Kapit sa Binti" and a 3rd class municipality in the province of Laguna, Philippines. Situated in the Sierra Madre mountain range, it is also known as the "Land of the Seven Falls". Major produce are its pandan made products, including the Sambalilo (straw hat). Cavinti is a place of Eventful, Ecotourism, Adventure and Falls Capital of Laguna.

           Here are some beautiful places that Ive already visited in Cavinti, Laguna and you can also visit if you want an adventure with friends or a vacation with your love ones:

Bumbungan Eco park

           Bumbungan Eco park is a manmade Falls here at Cavinti. Before, it is an over flow between Brgy. Tibatib and Brgy. Poblacion and it serves as a wet bridge going to Lumban-Caliraya-Cavinti Road. After the new bridge was constructed, they used that bridge to easily pass on that roadway and also in that bridge, you can see a beautiful Falls when you are in the bridge and so on, the overflow become the Eco-park. When i was there, the environment was beautiful, you can swim on the river to experience the fresh water. The falls was very relaxing because you can go in there and you feel like you are in the spa while having a massage. The staffs are really hospitable and giving a smile to the tourist who wants to make a visit and wants to swim in Bumbungan Eco-park. The river is like a swimming pool not just to swim you can make a relaxation. On the river, there’s a rope that you can use to swing just like a Tarzan and jump on the river. It was really exciting to do it again and again as well as you can also have a family bonding and bonding with friends. There’s also a nipa huts and bathroom facilities if you want to have a picnic in that area. Entrance fee is only 10 pesos per person. When you go in there, you need to bring foods because there is no sari sari store to buy some food, you also need extra clothes if you want to swim to the river.

Japanese Garden

           Japanese Garden is located at Lumban-Cavinti Road. It is a memorial park built in 1970s. It is a burial site of General Yamashita and also a burial of those Japanese soldiers who died during World War II. It has an altar shrine to be visited by the Japanese to offer prayers and gifts to the spirits of the dead soldiers. Japanese garden built as a symbol of friendship of the Japanese and Filipinos. When I was there, I feel so comfortable in that place. Because of the fresh air that I breath, the big rocks that I've seen and of course the beautiful nature and also the beauty of Caliraya Lake when I finally reach the upper part of the garden. In fact, Japanese Garden is so relaxing and a very beautiful place especially to those people who really loves nature.  Entrance fee is only 20 pesos per person and it is also a great picnic spot and a perfect venue for prenuptial photoshoot.

Caliraya Lake

           If you want outdoor activities and water sports, Caliraya lake is suited for you. Did you know that Caliraya Lake is in the top of a mountain? Yes! Caliraya lake is 950 above of Laguna de Bay and it is a manmade lake created after the construction of Caliraya Dam in 1939 to make a large water reservoir for generating hydroelectric Power Plant located at Lumban-Kalayaan, Laguna. Caliraya is also the place that the air is so fresh. That place had a cold breeze of wind. When I was there I saw the beauty of the lake. In fact, it’s nicer to go there when it is sun rise or sun set, because you can see the beauty of bodies of water together with the sun. You can also see those people who is biking, jogging dating and etc. on that time. There’s also a lot of resort located along side in Caliraya Lake if you want to stay and have a vacation like Caliraya resorts club, Lagos del Sol, Porta Verde and Mountain lake resort. It is suited for water sports like boating, jet skiing, surfing, swimming and outdoor activities like playing golf, teambuilding activities and Riding a Bicycle or sky Bicycle. Entrance fee is ranging 2000 to 5000 pesos but is really worth it because this place is so relaxing and a perfect time for family bonding.

Cavinti Underground River and Caves Complex

           If you want thrilling Adventure and discover some beautiful rock formations, Cavinti Underground River and Caves Complex is the one you’ve looking for. Cavinti Underground River and Caves Complex is located in Brgy. Paowin Cavinti, Laguna. It is one of the newest ecotourism destinations and it is most promoted destination here at Cavinti. It is discovered by Mr. Gardo Sanchez, a farmer and local resident. He said that he accidentally discovered the cave while he was collecting a pieces of wood for charcoal making. On March 22,2011, the municipality of Cavinti explored that cave and finally on March 30,2013, they opened it to public as a ecotourism destination. Before going to the cave, you need to rent a 4x4 jeep starting in Bumbungan Eco-park because it will take 6 hours including the travel time and from the site seeing of the cave. When Im on my way going to cave I saw the muddy road. The vehicles that is full of soil. The Entrance Fee is 500 pesos per person and the Tour guide’s fee is 400 pesos per group. When I’m already in the cave I saw the very beautiful rocks formation. The one rule that I remember is we can’t touch everything around us. I also saw the water droplets on the side of the rocks formation. It is really a wonderful because there’s a lot of stalagmite and stalactite around the cave that we need to treasure. Our tiredness is really worth it because of that wonderful place.

Cavinti Falls/ Magdapio Falls

           If you want adventure and amazing waterfall to relax your body, Cavinti Falls is the best. Cavinti Falls also known as Pagsanjan Falls is located at the boundary of Cavinti and Pagsanjan but mostly located at Brgy. Anglas, Cavinti, Laguna. To go there, you may encounter a very challenging way in the forest of Pueblo El Salvador Eco-Park and Picnic Grove in Cavinti Laguna. The challenging way is the metal ladder that is so high. The time that I walk going to falls, I really felt the tiredness. I saw how hard to go there. Especially when I saw the high metal ladder that I need to pass to finally reach the falls. That’s why I pursue. When I finally reach the falls I can say that all of my fear and tiredness is better because of the very relaxing falls.  All of the natural sceneries that you will encounter will take your breath away. When you arrive on the falls you can feel the splash of the water. The entrance fee is 285 to 645 pesos only. The price is really worth it because of the beautiful place and feel the best experience during the adventure going on the falls.

Come and visit the wonders of Cavinti and I hope you’ll enjoy reading on my blog. Thank you!!! ^_^

Credits to:

https://www.facebook.com/CavintiTourism https://www.cavinti.gov.ph https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavinti

[book2wheel-blog]

Yamaha Mio sporty Fully automatic for Php 500 per day. Hire motorbike in Moalboal. For more details visit http://www.book2wheel.com/inquire.php?id=42

[viktoriaweinberg-blog]

Day 109 -110

Saturday is shopping day! It was our only day in Oslo were most of the shops were open. For that, we divided into two groups: the shopping group (Mama, Töni and I) and the bike and Hollmenkollen group (Papa). Papa didn’t want to go shopping so he rent a bike to go to Hollmenkollen the famous ski jumping hill in Oslo. We already had a plan to leave at 9:30 to go shopping to have a lot of time, but then we realized that all the shops will open at 10:00..so we had to wait a bit until we could get started. At first we started in the pedestrian zone in the city center and then to Grünerløkka. This is the more alternative and creative part from Oslo with a lot of second hand, alternative and smaller shops and not like H&M, Zara, Mango & Co. ‘Unfortunately’ we found a lot of nice stuff and had a great time!  Grünerløkka is also really beautiful, because you can walk next to a river and there are a lot of cafés and little restaurants and parks were we also took a small snack break. Also in this day, the weather was really nice and we could walk without a jacket and everything is getting greener and greener! So finally spring is here! In the evening we met with Papa who also really enjoyed his day (alone) and he even found some snow near Hollmenkollen! On the way back we found a big streetfood market (also a recommendation from my friends who’ve already been in Oslo) where we decided to eat because everyone can pick something he/she likes. There were stands from a lot of different countries: Greece, India, China, Philippines, Italy, Spain, US,...For example I tried a philippine dish ‘Tapsilog’ which was beef with soy sauce, garlic rice, onions and a poached egg. At first I wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to try something new and special but then it tasted really really good! I want to cook it myself back at home. After we ate, I texted my friend from the Philippines, if she knows a good recipe :) (Connections!) As a desert, we bought one of those huge waffles with a lot of sweets and cream and nutella to share it. It was really hard to eat it and we had a lot of fun with it and took a lot of nice pictures :D 

After a short power nap in the apartment, Töni and I decided to go back to the opera house to watch the sunset on our last evening in Oslo. Unfortunately it was a bit to cloudy so you didn’t see much, but if you take the picture through sunglasses, it looks beautiful, hihi. Also, a seagull just landed on the balustrade of the opera rooftop, right in the direction of the sunset, so we had nice sunset pictures with the seagull. We also tried to take selfies with us and the seagull on it, but the seagull was always walking around. Still we had a lot of fun! :D 

Oh funfact: In norwegian, you say ‘Uschlu’ to Oslo :D 

On (easter) Sunday, we took the train (back) to Bergen. This train is really famous because it is one of the world’s most beautiful rail journeys, says my travelguide. But it also in real, it was beautiful! You pass such a lot of different landscapes like forests, fields, then you pass the winter wonderland, a lot of lakes, like everything in 7 hours. I would really recommend to take this train! It is really worth it! We also had an airbnb right in the city center, where I also stayed because it was much easier to handle. To celebrate easter, we went out for dinner to a really really delicious asian restaurant and had the best sushi I’ve ever had! After that, Töni and I took the bybane to Fantoft to get some of my food for breakfast and the next days to cook dinner. 

At the end of the day, we all were really tired after this quite long and exhausting journey. 

[anistransport0]

Best Things to Do in Metro Manila Philippines

It’s a megacity with a huge appetite for fun. From its historic neighbourhoods to the outrageous housing developments, Metro Manila is a maze of vibrant energy with bits of calm in between. Weave your way through this mighty megalopolis, made up of 16 cities, one town, and eleven million people with this list of top things to do.

Open your senses – Learn about Manila’s rich history through Carlos Celdran, eat your way through Chinatown with Ivan Man Dy, or see what’s inside the old walls of the National Museum.

Listen to music – You’re in this part of the world so you might as well do something one of a kind, like listening to the world’s only bamboo organ. Be moved by this spiritual music during the daily masses at Saint Joseph Church.

Shop then sleep – If you’re not up for some hardcore shopping in Greenhills, then Mandaluyong is your best bet. Malls like SM Megamall, Shangri-La Plaza, and The Podium carry a wide range of local and international labels. Hotels are within walking distance so you can easily return to your room when you get tired.

Have a staycation – No time for a vacation? Make no excuses. Book a room in one of the premier hotels in Muntinlupa and have an instant vacation. It’s far enough from the grit and grind of the big metro, but close enough to remind you that you’re still in the city.

Mix business with pleasure – And we say, a lot of pleasure. Here in Makati, overtime means checking out the newest restaurants and chilling out in bars and lounges.

Shop, shop, shop – This is what you do in Manila’s favorite bargain shopping centre, Greenhills in San Juan. When you’re famished, just go to nearby Wilson Street for a food trip.

Eat, drink, jog – Leisure activities are brimming in Manila’s hottest urban development. You can dine, party, bike, shop, or walk your dog—you can do it all here.

If you are planning to visit Metro Manila then Rent a Car and Van in Manila, Philippines with the option of driver or self-drive with Anis Transport. We offer budget friendly Car & Van Rental Services.

[keenregine]

I miss hearing those airplane engines Words. .ideas. . thoughts. . I’ve been struggling these past few days attempting countless times to write an entry. This doesn’t mean I’m anywhere successful, because even up until now no ideas are coming. This will be my ninth try. I’m glad I decided to do this at home and not at work where there are tons of distractions. Oh wow, how clever, ugh. If I think about it intensely, it has been almost eight months since my last out of country get away. And that mere vacation was not even at my homeland. So, to count it correctly; it’s been about a year since I set my foot in the comfort of my own home. Surprisingly, I’m not bothered by it (maybe in a painful medium amount, don’t kid yourself). Yes, I miss my parents terribly and my dog, my friends, even inhaling the oxygen within the Philippine air space, which is most probably contaminated by about 75% right now idk. But even then, I wanted to go home so bad. If I came into frustrations like these, I just try to wipe those worries away by thinking, once everything is settled, once it’s safe to fly, once the virus completely goes away (I believe nowhere close) then it’s time to finally achieve that chance in a risk free and practical way. And I know, I’m not the only one overseas who feel the same way. Anyways. . Moving on, a little story time perhaps. And when I say ‘little’ uhh you’ll see. Since I was a kid, I was always fascinated riding scooters. (hence, my Paris story) Not the electric ones available today, but those manual kick-scooters. It was a big hit back then. I was in elementary school, around grade four I’d say. My mom would not allow or buy me such thing. Luckily, right at the back of our old ancestral house was a store that rents out kick-scooters. Yey, awesome. Me and my friends would ride all afternoon until we hang our tongues out from all the fun and exhaustion brought about by kicking endlessly. That was the one of those memorable experience I had with it. I never learned how to ride a bike, even with its massive and convenient availability, and honestly I had no valid reason why. Or maybe I’m not just plainly interested to learn it first hand. Aww. Fast forward to the present time. When I went to Paris, that childhood memory of mine was awoken once more riding the scooter, in a best fun way due to its fucking electric ability. Then the worst part of the pandemic began and riding bikes became popular. To suppress my frustration of inability to do the same, I thought I should buy a scooter instead. Light bulb! I went online, which is my daily norm to relieve stress. And I saw one up for sale. Add to cart, check-out; the next day it came during work and one of my colleague was nice enough to help me carry a massive coffin looking box. I was so excited to try, and ride it home. I threw away the vampire bed box and zoom. Then again fast forward to recent happenings. My colleague planned a mini overnight get together, we had so much fun during the entire night and the next day I was shaken by one of them to share with me a bad, rather confidential news. She was crying helplessly. Out of all the person in the room, she chose me to vent out all of the sadness. Given she told me most stories of her life, maybe that’s why. I can’t stress enough how ineffective I am when it comes to comforting someone who’s depressed. Being that, I don’t know the exact words to give, the right advice to tell. I might even come off as sarcastic or harshly straight forward which may not be very supporting. It was too late for me to avoid the situation, one other person was with us during the incident. I was in disbelief with myself how I said all those impressive reassuring things. Is this me? Am I a changed person after all? Huh, maybe. I just want to make things clear, the scooter story has got to do something with this entire story, and it’s gonna be stupidly funny, I swear. If not, then you’re just mean. Most people say that the most effective way to console someone is just listen, at least I got that part right. I consider myself an ambivert, I can get along fairly with any kinds of people. And in times, I prefer being alone. Well, most times the alone thing. Lol. I swear, I really find it satisfying being alone, whether at home or outside, to the point that I tell myself “Wow, it feels nice to be alone”, like I’ve never been alone in some events of my life. Example, many of my solo hiking journeys which always ends up me having new set of friends. My solo travel, and my upcoming travels. Oh God, please let it happen soon. The perks of being alone, I could write about that some other time, to elaborately express my solitary thoughts. Lol what? Knowing myself, maybe another 48 years delay on that one. So anyways, my lonely friend asked if she can stay with me for few days. In my mind “Oh no, I have plans to do exactly nothing, and I’m looking forward to be in that scenario after this get together.” I came straight forward as I cited earlier, and told her I understand everything but I also need some time alone for myself (that’s not understanding it, is it?) and at some point she needs to deal with whatever she’s going through all by herself, that way she can think more clearly. I felt dreadful saying that afterwards, and I eventually agreed to what she’s pleading for. Then I thought, she really needs to be someone right now, someone to at least lean onto. She went straight to my place, and reassured me that she will not disturb me in any way, and go ahead do my own things, and that she just needs to be around someone whom she truly trust, comforting and non judgmental like me. Those words alone fucking hit me right in the chest, am I really that kind of person? I regret refusing at the first place. Now, with all the heavy guilt I’m carrying, I noticed she won’t eat anything or even drink water. I offered her things I know she likes, but I know it’s not also therapeutic to force her with things she don’t feel like having. I don’t know what’s gotten into me that time, but I’m constantly thinking how can I make her atleast take some fluids. Here comes the interesting part that I promised. I very well know she likes chocolate drink or anything remotely sweet, I don’t like sweets (about how many times I need to tell you this), a valid reason for me not to have that random kind of drink sitting on the fridge. I planned, I should get her something in the store. While she’s sleeping, I wore the usual hoodie and sweat pants. I recently bought a standard baseball New Era cap, the same one I lost that has probably worn out by now wherever it is. I took out my scooter and head outside, a blazing sand storm was happening. I can’t back out and I won’t give up just yet. I continued on, as I was starting my journey I felt the heavy wind and dust pushing back against my forward direction. The front bill of my cap keeps lifting off my forehead, and I was scared it would be blown away. I ignored that and carried on. In the mid part of my said journey, the wind became more aggressive and my velocity increasing, I felt the sensation that my cap was completely lifting off. I totally ignored everything else and unconsciously, I let go of the right handle bar in the hopes of fixing my dearly fucking cap. Too bad, I was also unaware that I’m about to approach a hump. And there we go. .I’ll forgive anyone who’s going to laugh at my miserable accident. Even I, was laughing after it happened. Damn you baseball cap. Lol. Wait, it doesn’t end there. Imagine me, in the middle of the air catapulting above a small hump. I’m not carrying any bag or purse that time. But all things in my hoodie pocket bursted out, my keys, wifi modem, phone, and a 20sr bill, entirely spread out. The exact incident happened around five in the afternoon, no random people saw my tragedy, but one. A hospital bus heading out from parking saw the whole thing, the good side though, I knew he was not carrying any passengers, perhaps only the driver himself or another friend. The bus was on my parallel side when I fell, I saw him going slowly, idk maybe laughing, recording me to make it viral or seeing if he can offer any help. But much to my pride and preventing further embarrassment, I stood up at once like nothing happened. Even if my knees was already partially burning, so he went on. I let the bus pass by far enough before I went ahead to the store, I was ashamed. I managed to ride the scooter as it is still functioning well, with minor scratches. And of course I didn’t wore the cap anymore, only during that time though. Lol Up to this very day, I can’t explain the possibility how I only got a simple knee scratch, it was bleeding the right amount, but still I was really thankful that’s all I acquired. The scar it might leave, I will deal later on. Because from the way I see it, I went like a fired canon, seriously no joke. But my face, elbows, palm, my teeth oh God oh God, if that happens. Luckily, everything went gladly fine and almost untouched, even my walking was just as fine. I went home, gave the drink to her and she didn’t want to take it at first. Although she felt sorry for what happened to me, then I said I would feel much better and relieved if she at least drink what I brought her, and she did, ahh finally. In conclusion, I’m alive. Yeah! I may be over reacting, but it was a life long lesson, to what? Never wear a cap again on a sand storm? Take a chill pill and stop being forceful to cheer up a friend? For what it’s worth, somehow my small deed has paid off. Plus, I made people laugh telling my tragic story. I have no regrets. Did I stop riding my scooter? No. Quite traumatic, but I learned something. Be careful! Did I stop wearing that darn baseball cap? No. I love it too much. Uwu. Do I go the same speed as I did that day? Yes. There’s a reason they set the maximum 25kph.

[higherfeed]

Nikko & Shikinejima: Two Adventurous Day Trips From Tokyo

For first-time visitors, a trip to Japan almost always revolves around Tokyo. But locals know that the real adventures start when you venture beyond the bustling metropolis. That’s because the rest of Japan beckons with all kinds of beautiful, off-the-beaten path destinations. To get acquainted with Japan’s wild side, check out “100 Experiences in Japan,” a comprehensive guide book recently released by the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO). From world-class skiing to mountain biking and more, it makes a great primer on how to best experience the country’s natural wonders. That scenic beauty is on full display around Nikko, a city just a few hours north of Tokyo, and Shikinejima, a rugged volcanic island located just a few hours south. Whether you’re looking to hike to the summit of a sacred mountain or explore tidal hot springs at the edge of the sea, Nikko and Shikinejima both make great excursions from Tokyo, and they deserve a place at the top of any adventurer’s list. What to Do in Nikko

© NIKKO CITY TOURISM ASSOCIATIONNikko is a small city in central Japan surrounded by mountains, lakes, and waterfalls. The area is steeped in Japanese history—it’s home to several magnificent shrines and temples that together form a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Selected as one of the top National Parks in Japan, it’s especially popular in the fall, when the area’s deciduous trees put on a striking display of color.

Irohazaka Winding Road © NIKKO CITY TOURISM ASSOCIATION Sushi, Skiing, and Snow Festivals: The 4-Day Weekend in Sapporo, Japan To get the most out of your visit, you’ll want to head toward Nikko National Park. This preserve is home to three sacred peaks, known collectively as Nikko Sanzan, that tower above the landscape: Mt. Nantaisan, Mt. Nyoho, and Mt. Taro. Getting there is half the fun. From Nikko, rent a car (just remember to drive on the left!) or catch a bus for the drive up Irohazaka Winding Road, a narrow mountain highway that follows the Daiya River valley and includes 48 hairpin turns. As you drive, you’ll get stunning views of the valley, the river, and the mountains beyond. Make sure to pull off at the Akechidaira Ropeway, where you can take a gondola up to an observation platform for an excellent view over the Akechidaira Plateau. At the top of the Irohazaka route lies Lake Chuzenji, Japan’s highest natural lake. Make a stop to check out Kegon Falls, where water from the lake tumbles over 328 feet into the valley below, forming the Daiya River. The observation platform at the top of the falls is free and gives a great view, but the cascade is even more impressive when viewed from below. For a small fee, you can hop in an elevator and access the lower observation deck, which gets you closer to the water.

Kegon Falls © JNTOThere are plenty of opportunities to get on (and in) the water, too. The Tochigi Kayak Center offers twice-daily guided canoe and kayak tours on Lake Chuzenji—there’s no better way to appreciate the lake’s stunning scenery and the views of Mt. Nantaisan. If you’re looking for an adrenaline rush, sign up for one of the guided whitewater rafting trips on the nearby Kinugawa River. Hop into an eight-person raft and paddle hard to make your way through the river’s churning rapids as you descend through the scenic valley toward Nikko. The Kinugawa valley is also a great place to try canyoning. If you haven’t done it before, it’s a bit like visiting a water park, except instead of sliding down plastic slides, you get to cliff-jump into crystal-blue pools of water and shoot through waterfalls. Trust us, it’s a lot of fun.

Canyoning © NIKKO CITY TOURISM ASSOCIATIONHiking is another big draw in Nikko National Park. There are plenty of easier hikes circling Lake Chuzenji, but if you’re up for a real challenge, head to the trail up Mt. Nantaisan. At 8,156 feet, this sacred mountain is Nikko’s highest peak, and for a small fee and plenty of sweat, you can get to the top of it. The trail starts at the Futarasan Shrine at the foot of the mountain and rises steeply all the way to the summit. The whole out-and-back hike takes about seven hours, but the exceptional views from the top are worth the effort. While you’re up there, be sure to explore the Okusha shrine located on the summit. The Ultimate Backcountry Adventure in Hokkaido, Japan's Powder Paradise What to Do in Shikinejima

Tomari Beach ©Shikinejima Tourist OfficeMore of a beach person? Japan has plenty of those too, and Shikinejima is home to some of the best stretches of sand and surf in the country. A remote, sparsely populated island in the Philippine Sea about 100 miles south of Tokyo, it’s a world apart from the teeming city. If you’re looking for a quiet, nature-focused escape, this is the place to go. Beachgoers flock to Tomari Beach on Shikinejima, and with good reason: This picturesque crescent of sand is surrounded by towering cliffs that form a sheltered cove with sparkling turquoise water. The rock formations keep the water calm, so this is a great spot to take a dip and enjoy the ocean. Looking for something a little more active? Head over to Nakanoura Beach, which is great for snorkeling. Put on your mask and flippers to catch views of coral, colorful fish, and even sea turtles. If you want to see even more of the island’s natural beauty, rent a kayak from the Shikinejima Sea Kayak School. The waters around the island are usually calm—perfect for paddling—and you’ll be able to explore hidden coves and beaches and get top-notch views from the ocean. You can find hot springs, or onsen, all over Japan, but few are as unique as the ones on Shikinejima. Here, the hot water bubbles to the surface right by the ocean, making for a one-of-a-kind onsen experience. There are several springs scattered across the island, but we recommend Ashitsuke Onsen, which is relatively accessible and features several different natural baths at the water’s edge. Try out a few different ones until you find a temperature you like.

Kambiki Observatory ©Shikinejima Tourist Office/©JNTOThe rest of the island is rocky and heavily forested, with plenty of great hiking trails. A trip over to Kambiki Observatory will reward you with breathtaking views of the ocean (and on a clear day, even distant Mt. Fuji). For a more adventurous journey, the trail to Oura Beach makes a great day hike: It winds through the western side of the island and takes you to a quiet cove that opens into the ocean. The beach is famous for its natural stone arch, which looks like a horse’s head bending down to drink from the water. Biking is another great way to explore Shikinejima—rent a set of wheels in town once you step off the ferry, and you’ll be able to get around the island with ease. How to Get There Nikko is a short ride from Tokyo. Catch a bullet train from Tokyo to Utsunomiya (a 50-minute journey), and then hop on Japan Rail’s Joyful Train Iroha, which is designed specifically for sightseeing, to get to Nikko in 40 minutes. To get to Shikinejima, head to Takeshiba Pier in Tokyo and catch a high-speed jet ferry, which will get you to the island in about three hours. Where to Stay

Nikko Kanaya Hotel ©KANAYA HOTELWant to spend more than just a day exploring Nikko? Book a room at the Nikko Kanaya Hotel, the oldest resort hotel in Japan. First opened in 1873, it has attracted visitors—including people like Helen Keller and Albert Einstein—for over a century with its views of the Daiya River and easy access to the surrounding countryside. It blends the best of Japanese and Western hospitality with tastefully decorated rooms, a main dining room specializing in French cuisine, and a wood-paneled cocktail bar that boasts over 200 types of single malt whiskey.

The cocktail bar at the Nikko Kanaya Hotel ©KANAYA HOTELThere are plenty of unique places to stay in Shikinejima, including small local hostels and traditional Japanese ryokan, or inns. For a real off-the-grid experience, camping is a great way to enjoy a weekend on Shikinejima. There are two main campsites on the island, and both are perfect for a rustic escape. Just check in at the Tourism Office once you step off the ferry to inquire about tent camping. The post Nikko & Shikinejima: Two Adventurous Day Trips From Tokyo appeared first on Men's Journal. Read the full article

[mwcowan]

Alaska Fall 2019

Days 1 & 2 – Reno to Anchorage

Yes, I just ended the last “Philippines” blog 10 days ago, and now here’s another one. This particular trip started back in January when our friends Todd and Kathleen invited us to go on an Alaskan fishing trip. Turns out that’s one of those bucket list things for both Georgia and me so it took us about one look at each other and we signed up. The fishing part is 4 nights in a lodge in Sitka with 3 full days angling for salmon and halibut. More on that when we get to it. And of course when you’re coming all the way here, second time for me and the first for Georgia, you’ve got to do more than just fish for 3 days so yesterday we flew to Anchorage for some adventures before the fishing begins.

I’d planned today to be a blockbuster to start the trip off as I’d arranged a full day flying with a local “bush” service for some flightseeing and bear chasing. The plan was to fly south towards the Kenai Peninsula and Lake Clark National Park and land wherever bears were – lake shores, meadows, riverbeds; get out and hike around to see and photograph the bears who would be busy packing on pounds for the coming winter. Unfortunately, I got a call from the pilot the day before we left and he told me of the “challenges” they were having due to two large wildfires south of Anchorage, in the areas where we planned to go. First, the visibility was sometimes near zero, and when they could see, it was apparent the bears had all disappeared to wherever bears go when they sense a fire. Best we could do is play it by ear, but checking in after we arrived it was clear that flying wasn’t going to happen. We’d planned one day to hang around and explore Anchorage, now we have two.

The air in Anchorage is pretty smoky too, after a day hiking around it’s starting to get to our noses and lungs. Nice city but it will be good to get into some clean air. Leaving Anchorage we’ll be taking the Alaska Railroad. Since we’ll have an early departure on the morning we leave I got a hotel close to the train station; here’s a view out our window of the 1940’s-era depot.

Being close to the train depot is great; when we leave it’s maybe 200 yards down a little hill to the station. Being close has its disadvantages too. Trains like to blow their whistles. Why a train coming into the station at 1½ MPH needs to blow it’s whistle over and over I have no idea. To warn people? You’d have to be deaf and blind to miss this train coming even without the whistle. Trains stopped in the station blow their whistle. And of course when a train leaves it has to announce the fact with its whistle. Luckily the train activity ends about 11:00 pm and doesn’t start again until 6:00 am.

This morning we slept in, then after brunch we hiked around Anchorage. First we walked up Ship Creek (no, I didn’t misspell that first word but neither did we have paddles…) as we heard there was a footbridge where you could see salmon heading upstream to spawn. Salmon fishing is very popular in the creek but they’d set up a “no fishing” zone 100 yards above and below the footbridge. Not surprisingly the smart salmon know this, and looking down from the bridge we could see large numbers of salmon hanging around, we suppose to take a rest before heading on upstream to fulfill their destiny.

As we hiked around we found Anchorage to be a very clean town. Not crowded at all, almost seems deserted, but then we’re at the end of tourist/cruise ship season. The downtown area is fairly small and walkable. One nice thing we noticed are all the flowers. Every lamp post has a hanging basket or two, planters all over the area were in full bloom with colorful displays.

One unique thing we noticed was the use of kale and swiss chard in the planters as an ornamental plant. We’ve never seen these grow so big and beautiful even in our veggie gardens; it’s amazing how well they grow here! Not sure why the residents don’t just sneak over at night and clip a bunch. Here’s some red swiss chard in a colorful planting.

On our walk we went into a local market with a nice fish section. Lovely fresh Coho and King salmon, going for $10.99 and $12.99/lb, respectively. Thinking about our fishing trip and what it’s going to cost, and the fact that we expect to come back with maybe 100 pounds of fish, we realize it would have been a whole lot less expensive just to buy the fish.

Tomorrow we’ll have another day to explore Anchorage. Not sure where we’ll go, maybe rent bikes and pedal around. After brunch of course.

[poolenick-blog]

Growing up in the islands of Batanes in the Philippines, I am no stranger to natural terrains and formations that can easily take anyone’s breath away. In fact, I’m quite hard to please when it comes to such things; but of course, this does NOT mean that I do not appreciate nor acknowledge the beautiful sights that I see in my travels — because I do! However… in order for me to be in utter awe and wonder, the landscapes must be far incredible. To date, there have only been a few places that has made me felt this way and on top of that list would have to be the far-flung yet stunning Faroe Islands.

Right from the moment that I landed there, I have felt as if I was sucked into a grand fairy tale — every where I looked, there would be something that will draw my breath in awe, as I constantly question myself if I was still on Earth!

Yes, it was that majestic and surreal.

It might still be an understatement to say that the Faroe Islands are a natural masterpiece; but either way, it is my hope that you will see the outstanding beauty of this place in the flesh!

I bet that you have this now on your travel bucket list and surely, it would be my pleasure to help make your travel planning easier… and so, with this post, I give you the ultimate travel guide for the Faroe Islands — complete with infos, tips, resources, and itinerary that you’re free to customize depending on the length of your stay or the style of traveling that you will do! Enjoy! .title-bar:after, .title-bar:before, .title-bar:after, .title-bar:before, h2{ border-color: }

Faroe Islands : 5-Day Itinerary

» PRE-TRAVEL GUIDE

But before we go on, let me give you some quick and basic facts about the Faroe Islands…

It’s a self-governing small group of islands under the external sovereignty of the Kingdom of Denmark. The Faroe Islands or Føroyar are quite far from Denmark; truth be told, its 18 rocky and volcanic islands are closer to Iceland, Norway and Scotland. But one important thing to mention is that though Denmark is part of the European Union, the Faroe Islands are not.

TRIVIA: One of the inhabited islands, Koltur, has only one resident! (…Or two, because I keep seeing conflicting info online; but some of the locals said that there’s only one left there. Maybe they were talking about 1 family which are these 2 residents.)

TRIVIA: The Faroese language is said to be one of the North Germanic languages and it is closely related to Icelandic and the now extinct Old Norse Language. Anyhow, English is widely spoken especially by the younger ones.

TRIVIA: The name of the islands first appeared as Faereyjar (in 1225) which means “Sheep Islands” that was given by the Viking age settlers from Norway in the 9th century.

When is the best time to visit the Faroe Islands? Weather here can be quite unpredictable. It’s common to somewhat experience all 4 seasons in just one day! But yes, generally, sunny days here are rare because the islands are mostly windy, cloudy and chilly. For starters, expect cool summers (with an average temperature of 13°C) and mild winters (with an average temperature of 3°C). I went here in the summer around end of June and the days can really have long hours of sunlight with the sun setting after 11PM or even later! (The longest day will be in June 21 spanning at almost 20 hours). As for winter, it can be as short as 5 hours — imagine that…

With all that said, it’s best to visit the archipelago around June to September to enjoy the green scenery. Don’t forget to pack your jacket! ;)

How to get to the Faroe Islands? By air. There are currently 2 airlines that fly to the Faroe Islands. First is Atlantic Airways that has 2 flights per day from Copenhagen, Billund, Aalborg, Bergen and Reykjavik. Flighs cannot be booked through travel websites so you’ll have to book directly on Atlantic Airways website here. The other one is Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) that just started having daily flights to the Faroes.

By sea. Smyril Line’s ferry, M/S Norröna, sails to the Faroe Islands from Hirtshals in the north of Denmark and from Seyðisfjørður in Iceland. It doesn’t sail as frequent though so make sure to check by its website for the scheduled departures.

What kind of clothes should I pack? If you’re coming around May to September to the the Faroe Islands, you should pack for chilly weather so your bare essentials should be a sweater, a raincoat, and a set of good comfortable (hiking) shoes. If you’re like me who can get cold quite fast, go and pack a warm hat or even some gloves just in case!

Of course if you visit around winter or the colder months, your clothing essentials will be different.  The same goes for when you’re coming here mainly to camp or hike.

Where to best stay (for accommodations)? The central city of Tórshavn is where you will find most of the accommodations and it’s a strategic place to base yourself in for all your adventures around the islands. (Of course it can get cheaper if you get places outside of  Torshavn, but for the best capital picks, they would be the following). Luxury: Hotel Foroyar / Mid-Range: Hotel Hafnia or AirBnB / Budget: Kristjanshavn or AirBnB

How can I go around the islands? By car. Driving your own car is highly recommended (to make the most of your time!) and you can arrange a rental online before your arrival on the islands. Rest assured, you can rent a car (from small cars to SUVs) on-the-spot when you land at the airport since there are stalls there by Sixt, AVIS, HERTZ, and Unicar. Once you start driving around the Faroe Islands, be mindful of the driving conditions and rules because for instance, there are one-way tunnels in the islands and you have to make way for incoming vehicles (you can find all the details in here).

By bus. The main inter-town bus that they have is called Bygdaleiðir (they’re easy to spot since they’re big and in the color of dark blue). To see the complete timetable of the buses, go here. It helps to note, however, that public transportation is expensive in the Faroe Islands, so it’s best to buy a travel (multiple-ride) card beforehand with Strandfaraskip Landsins (the mother company of Bygdaleiðir) at the airport or at the main bus terminal in Torshavn. This travel card already covers busses and ferries around the islands (except to Mykines Island) and can cost 500 DKK ($70~ / Php 3,500~) for 4-days or 700 DKK ($100 / Php 4,900~) for 7 days.

By ferry or by helicopter. Since this place is made up of islands, some are not connected by roads so you’ll sometimes need to hop on a ferry. The schedules for this can be found on Strandfaraskip Landsins.  Now if a helicopter ride seemingly sounds expensive to you, don’t worry! Here in the islands, the service is subsidized by the government so it’s quite cheap and it is serviced by Atlantic Airways (see timetable here, and remember, booking in advance is mandatory). With these affordable helicopter rides, I say take advantage of it!

By bike. Some districts like the capital, Tórshavn, can be explored on city or sports bikes. You can rent these from Visit Tórshavn that is located in Steinatún in the city centre. The cost for a day can start at DKK 150~. To book, just send an e-mail to booking@torshavn.fo or call (+298) 302425.

What tour operators can I contact? In case you don’t like to DIY your trip and want to have someone take care of everything for you, I suggest that you book through local operators in order to help support the local economy. Some of them are as follows:

62°N Tours

GreenGate

MakeTravel

MICE

Should I get a visa to visit the Faroe Islands? Even if the Faroe Islands are connected to the Danish immigration policies, like I’ve already mentioned above, there are some differing factors to take note of. So…

If you come from a Nordic country: showing off your document of identification with photo is enough to enter the islands.

If you come from an EU (European Union) or Schengen country: if you’re an EU citizen, you may enter with just your ID card with photo. However, EU residents are not part of such scheme because you must be a citizen (so for instance, it follows that if you have a Danish residence permit, you still need a visa to the Faroes). If you have a Schengen visa or Danish visa, it is NOT applicable for entry to the Faroe Islands — you still need to apply for a separate visa that is specific to the islands (the requirements will be similar to obtaining a Danish visit visa).

If you are of any other nationality: naturally, you need to apply for a Faroe Islands visa (remember: NOT a Schengen visa) at the Danish embassy in your country of residence — unless your nationality is exempted from getting a Danish visa then you can enter the Faroe Islands.

Helpful Faroese phrases the official language of the faroe islands is faroese which is a Germanic language that descended from Old Norse. Since they are within the Kingdom of Denmark, the locals also speak Danish. Rest assured, most of the people can speak English (sometimes even German and Norwegian). All in all, it doesn’t hurt to learn a few of the local phrases.

Hello: Halló (hahloh) Thank you: Takk fyri (Takk fi-reh) or Takk (Takk) Yes: Ja (Ya) No: Nei (Ney) Goodbye: Farvæl (Far-vyel)

I’m sorry: Orsakið meg (Or-sha-kee mey) Excuse me (getting attention): Orsaka (Or-sha-ka) Excuse me (begging pardon): Umskylda (Um-shil-da) How much does that cost?: Hvat kostar tað? (Kvat kost-ar tay?) Is there someone here who speaks English?: Dugir nakar her eingilskt? (Du-cheer nak-ar her ain-gilsk?) Help!: Hjálp! (Yolp!) Cheers!: Skál! (Is-kol!)

Now, before I begin with the itinerary guide, if in case you’re more of a visual person, you can already watch my video below to get a ‘ brief peek’ into what the islands can offer.

» Day 1

» Day 2

» Day 3

» Day 4

» Day 5

Explore parts of Vágar and Streymoy Islands

After you land and pick up your rental car at the airport, I highly advise that you don’t go straight to Tórshavn yet (which is likely where your accommodation will be) because there are some nearby spots around the airport that are worth looking into!

You might be thinking, “I can visit those later!” — sure you can, but the thing is… they’re quite far and to save time, I think it’s best that you visit them ASAP while you’re in the vicinity. (Otherwise, you can visit them on your last day on your way to the airport, depending on your scheduled flight back.)

If you want to see one of nature’s mind-blowing ‘optical illusions‘, make sure that you drop by Lake Sørvágsvatn (also called as Leitisvatn). It is the largest lake in the Faroe Islands and it has been dubbed as the “lake over the ocean” — this is because if you go up a certain angle, it will appear as though the lake is floating directly above the ocean! The lake is just 40 meters above sea level with a magnificent waterfall at the end of it that’s called as Bøsdalafossur.

To get here, set your GPS and near the location or by the church in Miðvágur, you will find signs to “Trælanípa/Bøsdalafossur”. Follow these signs until you find a parking spot. You will then find a gate and you must start walking from here to the south towards the ocean by following the gravel path. The hike takes about an hour (one way) and in order to get to the spot that shows the iconic ‘illusion’, you must go to the southern tip (not on the southwest end of the lake). You will know if you’re in the right place when you see 3 small sticks sticking up or if you see a steep hill. (Doesn’t matter if you end up at the wrong vantage point because every angle is stunning here! But if you really want some more specific instructions, go to this page and scroll to page 36 to 37.)

• • •

This is yet another iconic landscape in the Faroe Islands which is just an 18-min ride away from Vagar Airport. As you will see from the photo above, the Mulafossur Waterfall is a grand sight! It is nestled within this small village of Gasadalur and there are 2 ways to see it: with minimal effort and with some effort. What do I mean by this? You can see this glorious spot by car as you do some short walking from the main road; or if you’re a dedicated hiker, you can do a hiking trail that the villagers used to take before the car tunnel was built.

TRIVIA: Gasadalur used to be one of the most isolated places in the islands. Residents had to hike through 700-meter mountains just to get in and out of the village! After the car tunnel was built, access to the town got a lot better, but to date, the residents here still number at only 18!

Since I didn’t have much time (and a bit tired from my flight), I opted to just drop by here with my car as I enjoyed the waterfall and do a bit of strolling in the village itself. If you want some more detailed tips for this place, like how to find the trail that leads to this vantage point and how to do the longer hiking trail itself, check out my guide found here: Gasadalur & its Mulafossur Waterfall

• • •

The central city of Tórshavn is where you will find most of the islands’ accommodations and it’s a strategic place to base yourself in for all your adventures around the islands. But of course it can get cheaper if you get places outside of  Torshavn, but for the best capital picks, they would be the following. Luxury: Hotel Foroyar / Mid-Range: Hotel Hafnia or AirBnB / Budget: Kristjanshavn or AirBnB

I stayed over at a guesthouse with a local though and unfortunately, it’s not really a place you can book — but I wish it was because the house was in the traditional style and it was so cozy with a great view of the sea and a river!

• • •

Like a natural amphitheatre, Saksun is a splendid remote hillside village that is known for its serene atmosphere. The place where it lies now used to be a deep inlet in the sea (fjord) and during low tide, you can walk along the lagoon’s sandy shore which is found at the foot of the village.

Whilst here, make sure you check out the village’s church and Dúvugarðar, a farm that houses 300 ewes — which also functions as a museum.

• • •

This is the largest waterfall in the Faroe Islands at a hight of 140 meters. Located near the village of Haldarsvík, this waterfall has two cascades that falls down to the sea. If I may share a tip, it’s best to come here after some heavy rainfall because that’s when it becomes even more spectacular!

TRIVIA: Fossá in Faroese means “river with waterfalls”

• • •

As the night falls, you can choose from an array of restaurants that speckle the city of Tórshavn; but if I may suggest, go and dine at Barbara Fish House! It has a great menu that consists of Faroese seafood dishes; plus, the place itself is quite charming given that it is built into the rocks.

Kalsoy and Gjógv

Rev up your car,  wear good shoes, pack up some food and sail to the nearby island of Kalsoy! You can spend a whole day here to explore its various sights. If you still have time by the end of the day, you can drop by the charming village of Gjógv.

Kalsoy is like a flute-shaped island due to its thin shape. You can reach it by ferry along with your car by driving from Tórshavn to the port of Klaksvík (this is a 1-hour drive). It’s best to catch the first or earliest ferry to Kalsoy’s Syðradalur port so that you’ll have enough time to explore the island. To check the timetables, see this page (take note of the departure times as well so you can time when you will have to drive back to port). Take note: it’s not possible to book in advance so you have to pay on the spot (DKK 160 for one vehicle), and if you’re coming with your car, make sure you arrive there 15 minutes before departure.

Once on the island, there’s no need for maps because there is but just one highway with lots of tunnels — make sure that you watch out for sheep because they can come up anywhere and block the road, seemingly seeking for some sort of showdown.

First, I recommend that you go straight to the north to Trøllanes not only to see the surroundings of the village but to also hike up the mountains to see Kallur lighthouse because the view here is superb. I actually had a hard time finding the trail that leads to this place because there are no signs that lead me to it. Thankfully, my companion and I saw a tour group by the road who were headed to the lighthouse and they gladly invited us to join them.

Basically, somewhere on the road before the village, you will find a small red gate along the fence. This is closed but you can open it — most of the gates in the island are closed not for people, but for sheep. Once inside, you just have to climb up the hill toward the north direction until you see the white Kallur lighthouse. With this in mind: make sure to wear good and comfortable hiking shoes! Rest assured, the climb up isn’t that hard but it can get a bit steep.

On the way back, make sure that you stop by the village of Mikladalur to visit Kópakonan, or the “Seal Woman”, which embodies one of the popular folktales in the islands. Made of bronze and stainless steel, it stands above a rock near a waterfall with a great backdrop of the mountains and the sea. The legend that surrounds this is quite sad and dark though and you can read all about it here.

TIP: Pack your own lunch and snacks because I personally had a hard time looking for a restaurant in Kalsoy. There was a canteen in Mikladalur but it only served snacks.

• • •

Just an hour away from Tórshavn, this is the northernmost village in Eysturoy island. Nominated by the Nordic Council for the Nature & Environmental Award in 2014, this well-preserved town is nestled by mountains on all sides and filled with traditional houses that are made of timber and turf roofs. For those who are fond of hiking, there are also several trails for you to do here! What’s one thing that you absolutely must NOT miss? it would be the natural harbour that they have which is a picturesque gorge.

• • •

Once you’re back at the capital, have some more classical Faroese dishes — but this time around, try some fine dining at Aarstova!

All about mountains

The way I see it, the Faroe Islands is a hiker’s dream paradise! In fact, almost all of the best landscapes can be seen via hiking.

But for those who don’t have the stamina for such things (like me), don’t fret because there are hiking trails that are at an easy level. …Yet if you could push yourself — by all means, do so! I have personally done a difficult hike up the mountain of Villingardalsfjall, and I was so glad that I pushed myself to do it even if my legs were about to give way because the view that I saw up high was one of the most jaw-dropping landscapes that I’ve ever seen in my life!

» READ: Hiking Trails in the Faroe Islands

Anyhow, if you think you can’t really do any moderate to high level hikes, you can spend this day visiting the villages of Saksun or Gjógv if you haven’t managed to do so in the past days. You can even revisit the past spots I’ve mentioned if the weather became a lot more favorable for this day.

(Hiking difficulty: medium) Towering at 880 meters, Slættaratindur or “flat summit” is the highest mountain in the Faroe Islands so it’s an absolute must-see! According to Guinnes World Records, this is the world’s longest sight line because due to the light bending effects of the atmosphere, the largest glacier in Inceland called as Vatnajökull can be seen from here on a clear day (aside from the fact that you can have awesome views over the whole Faroese archipelago). For complete hiking instructions, go to this page and scroll to page 22 to 23.

• • •

This is the hike that I was talking about — as a non-hiker, this has been one of the most difficult hikes of my life but also one of the most rewarding (together with Norway’s Trolltunga)! The whole hike to the top takes 3 to 4 hours with a distance of 6 kilometers yet at a steep height of 841 meters. I can talk on and on about this place, but I think it’s best that you read my blog post below to read more about my experience as well as to see the other views you will witness from its summit:

Hiking Faroe Islands’ Stunning Mountain of Villingardalsfjall

• • •

Good news: this does NOT involve hiking. The top of this mountain plateau near Hotel Føroyar can be reached by car and reaching its amazing viewpoint will only take you a 30-meter walk.

A Mykines kind of day

Mykines island is a favorite in the Faroe Islands! You need a whole day for this mostly because the transportation to the island usually only happens in the morning, and the ride back in the afternoon. Regrettably, when I visited here, the weather wasn’t good. In fact, once we arrived at the island, we were stranded in a small cafe together with other tourists as we waited for the heavy rain and strong winds to pass.

It still ended up as a great day though because we met a lot of interesting individuals — one of which was a well-known harp player from Ireland who was on tour at that time and who gladly played songs for everyone. Still and the same, before leaving the island, my companion and I braved the rain so that we could at least glimpse at the cute puffins that live on the cliffs!

Anyhow, it’s my wish that you get a good day so that you can see the great sight below.

There are 2 ways to reach Mykines: by boat or by helicopter. Remember how I said that helicopters are subsidized by the government of the Faroe Islands? With that in mind, I highly suggest that you take a one-way helicopter trip to this island by booking in advance! I say one way because Atlantic Airways’ helicopters mainly service a round trip route to Mykines in the mornings only from Vagar Airport. To see the complete timetable, see this page. For the boat or ferry, timetable can be found here.

Once on the island, you can hike from the old turf-roofed-filled village to the lighthouse which is at the western end of the islet of Mykineshólmur. If it’s summer time, make sure to visit some clifftops to see an endless sea of cute puffins nestled in the burrows. After all, this is called as the “paradise of birds” so take advantage of this fact and do some birdwatching while you’re there!

As you wait for your ferry back to Torshavn, take your time exploring the small village. One important thing to take note of though is that if you take a helicopter to the island from Vagar Airport, the ferry will land somewhere else and it’s at the port of Sørvágur — so if you parked your car at the airport, you have to do a 20-minute walk back, or you can take the 300 bus. (Details here).

TIP: Much like Kalsoy, it’s advisable to pack your own lunch and snacks. There’s a small cafe in the middle of the village but it mostly serves light food.

NOTE: Just recently, a new policy has been set that tourists have to pay DKK 100 to travel to the Mykineshólmur lighthouse for maintenance of the birdlife and nature on the island. This fee includes a certified guide to ensure that everyone sticks to the path and not disturb any of the local fauna. For more information, you can contact the Visit Mykines office.

• • •

Assuming that it’s summer, by the time that you come back to the main island, it will still be light outside so if you could, make a stopover at Kirkjubøur. One notable attraction that you must see here is the huge black building at the center of the village that is called Kirkjubøargarður. It’s arguably the oldest inhabited wooden house in the world with over 17 generations of the same family that’s living there (there are sections that are turned into a museum). It even once housed the episcopal residence and seminary of the Diocese of the Faroe Islands.

You could also visit the old churches that they have such as Magnus Cathedral and Saint Olav. And if you go by the shore, you will see two old stone houses.

Before capping the night, while you’re already in the area…

• • •

I highly recommend this restaurant since I have dined here myself! What’s special about KOKS? Well, it has been awarded as the best restaurant in the Nordic countries in 2015 by the Nordic Prize; plus, it is also the first and the only Michelin star restaurant in the islands. The restaurant which only uses local ingredients is housed in a private house that has been turned into a guest room, and it has an open kitchen where you can watch the chef and his assistants cook (but there is a bigger kitchen in the back).

Dining here is obviously not cheap, but if you have the money to spare, I urge you to give it a try. I’ve dined all over the world and this is one of the best places I’ve ate in. Besides, they surely know how to do pairings!

Basically, dinner here is a tasting menu and you can choose to pick your own drinks or choose their wine pairing or juice pairing set — YES! You read that right, juice pairing! This might sound boring to you but their juice pairings were simply phenomenal. I never though that fresh juices can be mixed in such ways that would perfectly complement a dish. Aaaah… simply put: I hope you get to try it to experience a truly gastronomical feast!

Explore the rest of Tórshavn

We’re now on the last day and I think it’s time to fully explore and enjoy the main capital of Tórshavn. Let yourself get lost in the city’s small streets; if not, you can take your pick from the array of activities below…

Tinganes is an area where you can see a beautiful clutter of red wooden houses. These are one of the oldest parliamentary meeting places in the world that once functioned as a meeting place for Vikings. Today, it houses the office of the prime minister. You will rather find the Faroese parliament — the Løgting (‘Law assembly’) — a few streets down. What’s great about this area too is that there are enough signs and plaques to explain the history of the place.

• • •

Go over to the waterfront and you will this store that’s housed in an old factory building. They sell products made in the islands itself such as traditional clothes, wool sweaters, postcards, posters, and other design products. For sure, it’s worth looking into!

• • •

You can experience a magnificent horseriding experience in and around Tórshavn and you can do it with the tour provider, Berg Hestar, who uses Icelandic horses. The experiences vary in difficulty and price range but take note that it’s only allowed for 7 years and older. To protect the horses, there’s also a weight limit of 95 kilos. To book your spot(s), check by their website here.

• • •

This experience will grant you a unique perspective to the Faroe Islands as you sail by the most remote and breathtaking sights that the islands have to offer — one of which is to circle around the nearby island of Hestur. RIB62 tailors tours upon request every day of the weak so feel free to contact them for inquiries. (Departure for this boat tour is from Gamlarætt which is 15 minute away from Tórshavn).

Wondering where to dine in the Faroe Islands or the local dishes that you must absolutely try?

Check out this blog post to find out: Top Faroe Islands Restaurants . .

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Overall

It’s clear to see that the Faroe Islands has an untouched beauty that’s worthy to be seen and explored! I guarantee you that it is the kind of place that will fit your fancy, NO matter the kind of traveler that you may be.

Besides, it’s a destination that a lot of travelers have NOT heard of yet, so why not be one of the “forerunners” (like me) who will sing its praises? Through that way, the Faroe Islands could soon be known by more people, thereby paving the way for its popularity — which they so rightly deserve!

How about you?

What do you think of the Faroe Islands?

Would you like to visit? Why or why not?

Or have you visited here before? How was it?

Did you like this article? Follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or YouTube and be notified about my newest posts and updates!

The post DIY Trip Faroe Islands Itinerary: 5 Days (More or Less) appeared first on I am Aileen.

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“Once Upon a time in Singapore”

Meryll, Julie Anne and Denmark Dominguez at Singapore Changi Airport

By Julie Anne, Meryll and Denmark Dominguez

Life is unpredictable. Unexpected things really happened. To go abroad and tour was one of our biggest dreams and yet it really happened. At this point of time, we would like to share our wonderful experiences from the “Lion City” also known as Singapore.

Our arrival at Changi Airport

We can still remember that it was April 20, 2019 10:30 A.M when my aunt, Melet or Edna, sisters Julie Anne and Meryll, and I departed Philippines for Singapore. For my sisters and me, it was our 3rd time travelling up in the air, although this time, internationally. We were all so very excited. We flew from General Santos City, near our hometown in Mindanao and transferred at Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), Manila for Singapore. It was 7:00 P.M when we arrived in Singapore. While the plane was circling above, we could view how lovely the Whole City was. The lights were indeed an art up in the skies. Inside Changi International Airport, we witnessed how strict the immigration was. But we truly understand the situation because they were just doing their responsibility so our salute to the officers. Moving on, around 9.00 PM after we had recovered our luggages from the conveyor belt, we were met by David’s father who’s waiting for us. He gave us a warm welcome with a nice hug. David’s father brought us to their home where we will be staying during our visit to Singapore.  It had been a long day. We were all tired and peacefully took our deep rest because tomorrow’s another day.

Spize Restaurant in Bedok

And then it all began April 21, 2019 Sunday. It was a day off for the workers there including the Filipino workers. It was a day where Filipinos meet their friends and spend quality time and enjoy each other’s company. Moving on, the three of us together with our aunt Melet went to Lucky Plaza, one of the famous places for Filipinos in Singapore, to meet our other aunt Emily, who also works in Singapore. As we continued walking, we can tell that everybody in Singapore really worked hard to make some money for living and even the old ones did really worked hard for it. As we observed, we can tell that all of the products in Singapore were expensive and that made us realized why everybody worked hard for living. Indeed, Singapore was an expensive place to live. In the evening, we enjoyed each other’s company as we took our dinner in Spize Restaurant in Bedok. We were all tired that day but it was a worthy day. David’s father always prayed at night so we asked if we can join. So we prayed to God, our love ones in heaven and for David after which, we took our rest.

                 At Pasir Ris Park 

          Relaxing by the condo pool                              

April 22, 2019 Monday we all went to Pasir Ris Park together with Dumbledog, Sara and David’s pet dog and walked among the shady trees and swamp. It was humid, making us sweat a lot which was good to our health. It was quite relaxing because the tall trees, beautiful flowers and the ambiance was good. Indeed, a nice place to meditate. As we continued walking, we saw many young children picking up litter alongside the sea-shore. Starting the little ones at the young age to help preserve Mother Nature was a good thing to do. Before we left the park, all of us took the quick run challenge and ran fast as we can. It was a good cardio-vascular exercise and we really enjoyed a lot. At home, we went swimming to cool ourselves. In the evening, we thanked God, our love ones in heaven and David for a successful and wonderful day through a solemn prayer and took our beautiful rest.

At Chijmes, a lovely former Convent school converted to fine dining restaurants

       About to board the “Duck”

The Marina Bay Sands with the ArtScience Museum in foreground       

                     Aboard the “Duck”

April 23, 2019 Tuesday we’ve decided to go and explore the true beauty of Singapore. The three of us together with our aunt Melet walked around the streets of Singapore and were amazed by the tall and beautiful buildings. We took a lot of photos for remembrance. What a beautiful and wonderful city it was. As what I’ve said a while ago, unexpected things really happen. David’s father bought four tickets from Duck Tours. There we’ve rode and experienced the amphibious vehicle that can travel both water and land brought to us by Duck Tours. During the tour, we saw spectacular views and were amazed by the exquisite infrastructures of Singapore. All of us were astonished by the appearance of Marina Bay Sands Hotel. It was like a boat up in the sky with two buildings underneath. We were stunned by many views some of those were Gardens by the Bay, Science Art Museum and many more. It was really an awesome experience. And we went home with an overflowing happiness that day. At night, we shared our precious experiences to God, love ones in heaven, David, David’s father and our aunt thought of wonderful prayers. Tomorrow’s another day so we took our rest with a smile 

“Universal Studios, Singapore Escapade”

Aboard the cable car to Sentosa Island

April 24, 2019 Wednesday. Life was really full of surprises. In the morning we all went to Vivo City Mall to ride a Sky cable car. As we rode the sky cable car, we were thunderstruck by the view up in the air. It was truly a magnificent moment. From Vivo City Mall, the cable car brought us to Sentosa Island and to one of the famous amusement parks in Singapore, the “Universal Studios”. Along the way, we’ve decided to have a walk and called it “Sentosa island hiking”. As we walked around, the noise created by bugs were everywhere. We sweated a lot from the humidity, but when we’ve arrived at Universal Studios, we were all charged up when we saw the beautiful place. There’s a lot of people walking around and taking their selfies and groupies so we’ve decided to take many photos before going to have our lunch. 

After lunch, the magical moment happened. We all entered Universal Studios with full of excitement wondering what will be the attractions we will encounter inside. “This is it!” We all said with full of happiness. At the very beginning of the journey, we saw many familiar mascots who are characters in Walt Disney and Universal movies. We were entertained by different cartoon characters and laughed a lot with them as we took many photos. First stop was inside Elmo Street, one of David’s favorite Muppet characters. There, we all had a good time like we all went back being a child. Second stop was all about knowing how the directors create all kinds of special effects in their movies. So now we knew how movies being made and laughed with each other because we thought all movies were made in a real situation. 

     Julie Anne and Friends

Third stop was inside the Transformers roller coaster. The three of us went inside and didn’t expect that it was a bumpy ride so we all shout like crazy and laughed with each other. The most interesting part of the journey is that facing and conquering the two breath taking rides inside Universal Studio. Going up slowly, sudden down and twisting rides we all made it and conquered our fears. We also saw many replicas of dinosaurs from the movie Jurassic park. We also encountered mummies as we entered the Egyptians section they are not scary at all well of course we’ve conquered our fears now thanks to the twisters rides (chuckles). And then we went to the Kingdom of Far Far Away from the movie Shrek. There, we were entertained by a laughable show brought to us by Donkey. All of us laughed which made our journey much happier. Thanks to Donkey. Moving on, our last stop was Madagascar. We tried the carousel and boat ride, which was awesome. 

Towards the end of our visit and just before closing time, we went to the souvenirs shop and bought something that will always remind us all the positive, wonderful and exquisite experiences we’ve been through inside Universal Studios. And we went back home with full of joy, happiness and unforgettable memories in our minds and hearts. At night, we were happy sharing those happy moments to God, love ones in heaven and to David and thanked them for making our journey successful through a solemn prayer.  We took our rest by giving a warm hug with each other and bid our goodnights.  

                                                 East Coast Park

April 25, 2019 Thursday was more on cardio vascular exercises. That day we went to East Cost Park to have some fun by renting bikes and rode it. Along the way, we can see more people who were busy with their physical fitness activities such as jogging and biking and couples who are sweet with each other. We did biking for at least two hours. So, when we were finished, everything was covered by the dark well of course it’s night already. Our attention were being magnetized by art in the sea. Actually, we thought it was a series of buildings floating in the sea but they were ships lighted in the night. The lights produced by many ships in the sea really create an astonishing view and can catch attentions. We went back home with another fascinating experience again and thanked God, our love ones in heaven and David for a very satisfying day through a solemn prayer.

                                 Singapore Botanical Gardens

April 28, 2019 Sunday was all about going green. That day we all went to Botanic Gardens Singapore. David’s father told us that it was more than a hundred years old garden created by the British. We can tell that it was really old because of its big trees scattered all around the area. There, we saw lots of species of flowers. We were even shocked by a monitor lizard and big Fishes inside the pond of the Gardens. The size of the fishes was more like bigger than a newborn baby. Indeed it was a healthy garden. It was a Sunday evening and there was a jazz performance at the amphitheatre within the grounds. Moving on, there’s a lot of awesome views inside the garden so we took many photos that will serve as a remembrance from a historical place like that.

                 Meryll, aunts Emily and Edna and Julie Anne

Denmark with an old, old friend at the Gardens

April 29, 2019 Monday. We all got wet (chuckles) just kidding. We all went to the Wild Wild Wet Amusement Resort in Pasir Ris. As we entered the resort, we were all amazed by the beauty of resort and thunderstruck by its tall, long and very challenging water slides. We tried the slides and the thrill was actually there.

 Trying all the slides gave us back the same feeling way back from Universal Studio Rides experience. Well of course we all got thrilled and shout like crazy during the slides. The resort has a wave pool so we tried it. We laughed with each other because as the wave hit us, our body moved like we were dancing for a bit. 

We really enjoyed that experience. At night, we shared that precious experience as we prayed to thank God, our love ones in heaven and David for a very satisfying and successful day.

April 30, 2019 Tuesday. We all got wild (chuckles). We all went to Singapore Zoo and became friends with the wildlife. The three of us together with our aunt Melet went inside the Zoo. Along the way, we saw many animals for a very first time like Zebra, Giraffe, Orang Utan , Leopard, Chimpanzee, Rhinos, and many more. We’ve been also entertained by a wildlife show inside the Zoo. It was a very fun show and all of us enjoyed it a lot. During the show, we can tell that all animals they have shown were well adapted and trained. It was our first time also to see a gigantic python. We’ve learned many things inside the Zoo. Some of those were keeping the forest green to make the wildlife healthy. Indeed, if we all do that we can preserve the ecological balance because here in Earth, humans were not just alone so we need to take care the gifts that the creator gave to us. Go green and keep the animals healthy. 

                                              At Marina Bay

May 01, 2019 Wednesday. That day was the celebration of Labor Day. We’ve celebrated the Labor Day in Marina Bay and went to Gardens by the Bay of our last Gala (Filipino term for explore). Our aunt Emily and one of our aunts’ close friends, Leila joined our last gala. That time, the weather was so hot so it made us sweat a lot. We did walking and walking until we’ve reached our destination and relieved our exhausted feet as we were entertained by the exquisite views. We took a lot of photos which will serve as our remembrance. Indeed, Lion City has its unique beauty.

              Julie Anne

           May 03, 2019 Friday. They said every beginning has its ending and every hi has its goodbye. It was our last day staying in Singapore. David’s Father brought us to one of the famous restaurants in Singapore the Marriot Cafe in Marriot Hotel at the junction of Scotts and Orchard Roads. There we experienced an eat all you can and a very classy dining. All of the foods were so delicious and very satisfying to eat. Hours left staying in Singapore was so memorable as we enjoyed each other’s company. That day we all laughed and laughed as we all sing different nursery rhymes brought to us by David’s father and we were all so happy.

                                                 Mariott Cafe

In this journey to Singapore, we learned a lot. One thing was for sure, nothing was impossible. To all the people out there, continue to dream big because every day we continue to live, we learned something new. Continue chasing your goals and objectives in life with full of determination and perseverance. If you have experienced being down, take that as an inspiration and make that experience to motivate you more. Indeed, experience was our best teacher. For the three of us, we will continue to take the responsibility and put more actions to achieve our goals in life. 

The iconic Merlion at the bayfront. Image by Pixabay

Our heartfelt gratitude to our almighty God for making all of this possible by making Family Singh and my Aunt Melet as your instruments to go beyond our comfort zone and explore Singapore. For David, thank you for watching over us during our stay in your home which gave us a very well accommodation. To David’s sister, Sara and Father MARAMING SALAMAT PO may God Bless you and your family always. MABUHAY SINGAPORE!

At Changi Airport about to leave for home

From  - Julie Anne, Meryll and Denmark Dominguez                                                      May 11, 2019 

Denmark is an accredited teacher, while Julie Anne majors in Business Administration at Sultan Kudarat State University. Meryll graduated last month from senior high school and plans to enroll in Notre Dame University in her hometown of Tacurong on the Philippine island of Mindanao.  

It was a great pleasure and privilege to have been a host to these fine, young relatives of Edna’s. From this visit, I am reminded of the teachings of the ancient Greek sage, Socrates. He taught a method of inquiry which shows causation or linkages to life and to our actions. While this method is most popularly applied in the criminal justice system, it is my belief that Socrates’ legacy goes much further than this. He showed that everything is linked in this world. And so it is with Edna and her family in the Philippines, to Sara, David and me. 

-          David’s father

[ronaldmrashid]

The Definition Of American Prosperity Needs An Adjustment

There’s a common joke here in the SF Bay Area.

How do you know someone went to Stanford? They’ll tell you within the first couple of sentences.

We Americans have a tremendous desire for status and prestige. When we work hard for something, it’s our second nature to tell everybody about our achievement.

You do it. I do it. We all do it. No big deal if we aren’t incessant about it.

But at a certain point, it becomes concerning when we start complaining about our struggles despite being in an extremely fortunate situation.

Let me share one public example and then my own as case studies to illustrate how unaware we truly are about our good fortune.

Being Unable To Recognize American Prosperity

Charlotte from Time magazine sent out this tweet she wrote about everybody’s favorite politician, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. It’s a good in-depth piece about how and why AOC came to power.

What is strange about her tweet is that she claims people her age (20s and 30s) have never experienced American prosperity in their adult lifetimes.

How could this be when the parents of people her age have been able to save and invest in the biggest bull market in history! If only we were able to rewind time and invest as Biff did in Back To The Future III.

Before rushing to judgment, I did what any rational person would do and tried to understand why Charlotte has had such a difficult time in her life so far.

Maybe she grew up in a poor single-parent household in a difficult neighborhood. Maybe she didn’t even go to public college because her parents couldn’t afford the tuition. Or maybe she has a disability.

Lo and behold, it was easy to understand her background because her parents have their own Wikipedia pages! I thought only rich and/or famous people have their own Wiki page? Silly me.

Here are some tidbits.

Jonathan Alter (father): A graduate of Phillips Academy (private prep school) and Harvard University. American journalist, best-selling author, documentary filmmaker and television producer who was a columnist and senior editor for Newsweek magazine from 1983 until 2011, and has written three New York Times best-selling books about American presidents

Emily Jane Lazar (mother): A graduate of Hotchkiss School (private prep school) and Harvard University. Co-executive producer of the former Comedy Central show The Colbert Report;three children: Charlotte (b. 1990), a writer for TIME Magazine, Tommy (b. 1991), a producer for HBO Sports, and Molly (b. 1993), who works in venture capital.

Then, of course, there’s Charlotte, who also went to Harvard University and is a staff writer for Time Magazine. I don’t know whether she went to an elite private prep school or not. But I assume so based on her parents’ backgrounds.

Most would agree that if you went to private grade school, private university, and have rich and accomplished parents, you’ve probably experienced some American prosperity in your life. Some might even conclude that all you’ve ever experienced is American prosperity.

Yet, I believe Charlotte and other wealthy people like her truly do not feel they have experienced American prosperity because their life is all they know. I’m sure Charlotte is a fine and nice person. She’s just a little unaware about how good folks like her truly have it.

As a parent, this lack of appreciation for prosperity is one of my worries of raising myself in a comfortable environment. He’ll have a warm home, food whenever he wants, and mostly prosperous friends. When life is so easy, you don’t end up pushing yourself to make something of your own.

The lack of struggle is one of the reasons why we considered moving back to Virginia instead of to Hawaii. Just look at how UVA turned it around in the NCAA tournament by losing in the first round last year to winning it all in 2019. Hardship creates hunger and growth! In Virginia, we could send him to a public school and let him experience more racial altercations.

Whereas in Hawaii, we would send him to likely a private school where more classmates looked like him. We’d also probably buy a nice house on or near the beach and finally start living it up in retirement.

But if you start with a Ferrari, how can you ever appreciate any other car when it’s finally time for you to buy one on your own?

If you’ve spent your entire life in a luxurious home, good luck feeling good about renting or buying a place with your own salary.

Financial Samurai Case Study

Now let’s look at my own lack of recognizing American prosperity. In the post, The Wide Implications Of The College Admissions Scandal, one of the points I write about is:

The middle class may become wealthier and happier. As college becomes less important in finding a job, there will be fewer people spending four years and borrowing tens of thousands in student loans. With more time and less financial baggage, more people will be able to aggressively save to buy a house, start a family, and save for retirement.

I thought this was a good thing. However, what I didn’t realize was that by writing the words “middle class,” based on my current position as a financially independent person, it could be construed as insulting to the “true middle-class” American.

Here is a response from a regular Financial Samurai reader,

Let me start by stating that I love your blog and your views on general and I salute you for your consistent approach. However, one area I repeatedly roll my eyes as is when you describe your upbringing as “middle class”.

Based on your posts, your parents had jobs as foreign service officers for the US Government. That is about as secure a job and lifestyle as one could expect (all living expenses comped by taxpayers). I’m not saying it is a cushy job or easy, as I respect those who do it, but it is an elite job.

Your views are warped and you seem to want to cast yourself as middle class struggle when in reality you had a huge advantage over most of the country.

Maybe not compared to your Wall Street buddies, but compared to most you had a silver spoon. This doesn’t discount any of your success, or the impact of racism that you said you faced which I agree is a challenge, but you need to get real on your upbringing and your parents jobs – not middle class.

This is fantastic feedback that shines a huge blind spot on my lack of awareness that I didn’t grow up middle class, even though I wasn’t writing about my own upbringing to begin with.

All this time, I thought I grew up in an average American household. Here are some data points from my upbringing that made me believe so. My dad verified the numbers.

Went to public high school (free) and college ($2,800/year in tuition at The College of William & Mary)

Dad went to the University of Hawaii (public), Mom went to National Taiwan University (public)

Parents drove an 8-year-old Toyota Camry (bought for $5,000)

Worked at McDonald’s, worked as a mover, and did random jobs as a temp during the summers

Lived in a ~1,700 sqft townhouse that was purchased for $190,000

Parents worked at the US State Department and my mom made between $25,000 – $55,000 and my dad made between $15,000 – $119,000 after a 30+ year career after serving in Vietnam

Here is the actual townhouse I lived in from Google street view. Ah, the fond high school memories. I had the room with the balcony.

It’s now becoming clear that I didn’t grow up middle class, but upper middle class or some would say rich. For example, while some classmates had to walk a couple miles to school, I got to ride a bike. As a result, I could get more sleep and do better in class.

During my time growing up in the Philippines, Zambia, Taiwan, and Malaysia before high school I witnessed a lot of poverty. In comparison, my family was definitely rich. Who gets to live abroad as a child while his parents get to honorably serve their country building foreign relationships? Not many.

Further, being born Asian seems to have given me a leg up in America because how could it not when elite private schools require a higher hurdle rate for admission? Surely these universities must have scientific data behind their decision. Otherwise, that would be discrimination.

For those who have been offended by my belief that the middle class will benefit from the college admissions scandal by helping level the playing field, I apologize. I really didn’t mean any harm and will try to only write about wealthy people stuff going forward.

Why We Can’t Recognize American Prosperity

Here are four reasons why I think some of us don’t recognize our prosperity.

1) Our government and think tanks arbitrarily define middle-class income and status for us nationally instead of locally. Pew Research, for example, believes that a middle-class income ranges between 67% to 200% of the median household income. While some in government, in order to raise the income tax rate at lower income levels, believe rich means earning income over $200,000, regardless of location.

2) Life’s struggles. No matter how rich and powerful you are, you will always experience some sort of hardship growing up. Common hardships include divorce, fights, bullying, rejections, mental illness, loneliness and deaths. These negatives are very real and make us feel less prosperous than we really are.

3) Our desire to always compare and want more. Even though my family drove a perfectly fine 8-year-old Toyota Camry during my upper class upbringing, I was envious of my rich friend whose family drove a new Honda Accord. I still remember that new car smell.

Even though AOC attended Boston University for $70,000 a year in today’s dollars, she might be envious of Charlotte Alter who attended higher ranked Harvard University for only $65,000 a year.

Conversely, Charlotte might be envious of AOC because AOC, with a less prestigious degree, is the second most popular politician in America. The comparisons go on and on and can make us miserable.

4) We’re simply ignorant about how the rest of the country and the world live. We need to travel more. We also should strive to learn another language to immerse ourselves in another culture. If we do, we will better appreciate how good we have things and get along with more people.

Let’s recognize our prosperity while trying to remain humble. If we can help others become more prosperous, all the better.

Always attribute most of your success to luck rather than to hard work. You can still secretly work hard behind the scenes, but never let anybody know. Saying you worked hard in today’s environment is gradually becoming an insult.

Finally, recognize the growing anger in America towards those who have more and adapt. When in doubt, be respectful towards those who denigrate your efforts. And if you feel that a respectful dialogue cannot ensue, then move on. There are so many better things to do with your time.

Remember, “talent is universal, but opportunity is not.” It is up to those of us with opportunity to help those who do not.

Related posts:

Spoiled Or Clueless? Try Working A Minimum Wage Job As An Adult For Goodness Sake

Your First Million Might Be The Easiest: How To Become A Millionaire By 30

Readers, anybody out there think they grew up middle class, but who actually grew up upper middle class or rich? Why do some people who grow up wealthy not recognize their prosperity? What is your definition of American prosperity? How can we get people to recognize and appreciate their prosperity more?

The post The Definition Of American Prosperity Needs An Adjustment appeared first on Financial Samurai.

from https://www.financialsamurai.com/the-definition-of-american-prosperity/

[weditchthemap]

RTW Budget: Detailed Expense Breakdown for 492 Days Abroad

August 18, 2015 - December 24, 2016

492 Days Abroad

Trip Overview

Sylvie and I traveled through 221 cities in 39 countries over 5 continents.  We called hundreds of places our home and slept in more places than most will ever get to in a lifetime.  We slept in hammocks, in trains, in buses, in cars, on boats, in farmhouses, in teahouses, in hostels, in bed and breakfasts, in tents, on cots in the open dessert, in cheap guest-homes, in 5-star hotels, on couches, on a tile floor, on-top a chicken coop, on the ground next to a friendly German girl's bed in Mainz, in attics, in a rented room from an anti-Semitic in Belgium, et cetera, et cetera...

We each took 7 overnight sleeper trains, 26 overnight buses, and 31 flights.  I read 30 books and had 4 haircuts--although only 1 haircut was from a professional.  The other 3 were from my darling Sylvie.  We ate 144 fast-food ice-cream cones, though most were consumed in our first 4 months while in South America.  We bought dozens of new pieces of clothing and threw away/lost/mailed home a little less than that.  We taught English in Vietnam, helped to rebuild an orphanage in rural Nepal, and worked on a vineyard in Mendoza, Argentina.  We hiked quite a few mountain ranges--the largest being the Andes and the Himalayas.

 Our Trip Route Divided into 4 Distinct Legs:

Leg 1: South America

Leg 2: Europe

Leg 3: Indian Subcontinent

Leg 4: Southeast Asia

View Full Size Travel Map at Travellerspoint

Mishaps

We tried to keep records of all our 'mishaps' but I know we forgot most of them.  At last count I had written down 20 of them.  Here are some of them:

ATM card was eaten by machine in small town of Piura, Peru

Had food and supplies stolen from us by a clever monkey in the Bolivian Amazon

A group of children tried to pickpocket Sylvie in La Paz Market - she picked up and they left empty-handed

Nearly stranded at the Bolivian border

Had a collections (inaccurate) on my account and had to deal with that while traveling

My Barclay Master Card was hacked in RIO and had a new one overnighted to me in Lisbon

Got items confiscated at UAE airport and were 'reported' to authorities

Left Kindle behind in Delhi hostel - was later mailed to me in Jaipur, India

Sylvie and I both broke our phones

Electrical surge broke Macbook Air while in Borneo, had computer repaired by sending to Bangkok

Lost credit card/ID in Serbia

Lost Passport while en route to airport in Krabi - had mailed to me in Chiang Rai following week

Sylvie left Kindle behind in Pyin Oo Lwin, Myanmar - RIP Kindle

Ailments

With the exception of being extremely dehydrated for a day in Delhi I never 'really' got food poisoning or sick.  There were times I felt a bit off and am not sure how sick I would have actually gotten but I just popped a very high dose of azithromycin and was fine in a few hours.  I've been to India twice, every country (less the Philippines) in SE Asia, spent a month in Africa and have never had food poisoning.  I eat uncooked street-food every opportunity I get.  I even ate a raw, still-beating, snake heart while in Vietnam without getting even the slightest form of indigestion.  There were 24 instances of being sick while on the trip (the vast majority of them revolving around dear Sylvie).  Here is a tally:

Sylvie:

TD - 11 times 

Fleas - 2 times (possibly more, she loved petting stray animals)

Common Cold - 1 time

Bed Bugs - 1 time

Blister Rash - 1 time

Chest Rash - 1 time

Altitude Sickness - 2 times (1 time was very bad in Cuzco, but at EBC coca tea helped treat)

Scott:

Dehydrated - 1 time

Bed Bugs - 1 time

Common Cold - 1 time

TD - 2 times (took high dose azithromycin both times and warded off all symptoms in 4 hours)

RTW Budget

Notes/Comments 

Budget includes 2 people for the first 461 days and 1 person for the last 31 days.

When there was any uncertainty/fluctuation in exchange rates or prices I rounded up to give a higher than actual estimate to keep the budget extremely conservative.

Every expense was tracked in this budget, even those that are not related to travel.  These expenses--such as the cost of website hosting, VPNs, etc.--were all captured under "Pre-Trip Expense".

The only expenses I had during my time abroad that are not included in this budget are my student loan payments

Though by American standards our type of travel is considered 'budget' we don't truly fit into that category by ex-USA standards.  We met many travelers spending a fraction of what we did.  We ate out most meals, stayed in hotels with a/c fridges and color TVs, and traveled around much more than most backpackers.  Many budget travelers stayed in hostels and cooked their own food (think pasta and sauce).  However we did take buses, trains, and ate at mostly budget-friendly restaurants or street-side carts.  For budget travelers I would say that you can cut our food, lodging, and transportation costs in half.

Sylvie ate meals more regularly than I did.  I was happy snacking on fruit and buying little things from cheaper street-side stalls throughout the day.  We always ate a nice meal for dinner though.

We are not big drinkers so most RTW travelers can expect to pay more on alcoholic beverages than we did.

We took many 'relatively' expensive trips during our RTW (Everest Base Camp, the 'W Trek', 3-day live-aboard SCUBA diving off Similan Islands, Bolivian Jungle trek, 21-day organized Colombian tour, Home-stays in Sapa, Trekking in Hsipaw, Northern Thai Yoga Retreat,  excursion to Borneo w/ associated national park fees and flights, etc).

We also enjoyed splurges many budget travelers couldn't afford to take (We rented a houseboat for 3 days, Stayed at 5-star hotels, took some high class buses/trains, Rented a car for several days, rented a motorcycle for a couple months, got massages frequently, had clothing made, bought extremely rare beer, took cooking classes, went adventure caving, hired private drivers, had food delivery to our hotel room, went to cinemas, saw theatrical productions, indulged in many cafe cultures, etc.)  These are just some of the things that many budget travelers would not consider worth their money.

We spent 3-4 weeks living with free lodging during our three separate workaways--Many budget travelers do less moving around and more workaways.

I've met single travelers living on less than $1,000 a month during their 12 month RTW trip.

I collected over several thousand dollars in sponsored products.  I had most of the gear already but received newer/better products, thus I would not have needed to purchase any of these items.  For this reason I have decided not to include these items in this budget.

Budget Breakdown: 

I decided to break the budget into 4 sections.

Pre-Trip Costs - this includes gear, vaccines, insurance, memberships, transportation to/from US airports

During Trip Costs (Souvenirs) - this includes gifts/souvenirs, non-trip related purchases (non-essential clothing, cosmetics, etc.)

International Travel Costs - this includes travel between countries (mostly airfare but some busing)

Country Specific Costs - this includes all expenses relating to traveling/living within the specified country

1 - Pre-Trip Costs: The majority of Pre-Trip costs are not specific to this RTW trip.  Vaccines, gear, and electronic equipment can/will be used beyond the scope of the trip.  Vaccines and meds can be obtained while traveling and at a fraction of the cost here in the US.  Likewise, gear can be found on Craigslist or during your trip much cheaper than buying new here in the US.  Additionally, we paid nearly $1,500 for the Japanese Encephalitis vaccine, which I would recommend against.  For these reasons I am discounting this portion of the budget by 50% to get a better representation (we will be using all the gear for our next trip).  Therefore I will be using $2,648 for this portion of the budget

2 - During Trip Costs: These purchases are non-essential and not related to travel and will be ignored when calculating the overall cost of our RTW.

3 - International Travel Costs: This portion of the budget shows how affordably one can travel around the world.  Flights, trains, and buses starting and ending within the same country were excluded in this section.  They can be found in the next section.  We traveled through 39 countries, which is many more than most travelers.  This portion of the budget can likely be reduced by traveling through fewer countries.

4 - Country Specific Costs: Once we arrived in a country any/all expenses we faced were placed in this section under the respective country.   Flights and other modes of transportation starting and ending within the same country are found here.  Phone/internet charges, travel-related medicines, visa fees, tours, etc. can be found in this section.  This section is further divided into 8 categories:

Lodging

Food

Transportation

Activity

Alcohol

Visa

Tours/Tips

Supplies/Misc.

So How Much Did It All Cost?

Putting it All Together

Pre-Trip Costs - $2,648

During Trip Costs (Souvenirs) - $0

International Travel Costs - $4,745

Country Specific Costs - $36,414

Total RTW Trip Cost = $43,807 ($89/day)

for less than $45/person/day we traveled very luxuriously around the world

Budget Deep Dive: An In-depth Analysis

Would you expect anything less than an in-depth analysis from a consultant (who is also an engineer)?  Here we go!!

Costs by Country

Below is a table of all the countries we visited, the duration spent in each location, and the total spent.  For simplicity we lumped countries in Western Europe together, as well as countries in Eastern Europe.  A few notes on a per country basis:

Colombia -  We were on an organized tour for the entire time while here.

Ecuador - We were on an organized tour for some of the time while here.  We mountain-biked volcano, took 12 hours (each) of private Spanish lessons, and took a private tour to Isla del Plata.

Peru - We spent 8 days on organized hiking tours to Machu Picchu & Colca Canyon.

Bolivia - We spent 7 days in the Pampas & Rain Forest & 3 days taking a tour of the Salt Flats.

Chile - Much of our time here was hiking through Patagonia

Argentina - We took expensive long-distance bus rides (38 hours), several internal flights, and several organized trips to various glaciers.  Saved money during our 10-day stay working on Mendoza vineyard.

Brazil - Was not here long enough to offset high costs of visas (~$290)

Casablanca, Portugal, and Spain - Spent 14 of the 17 days with parents.  They paid majority of expenses.

Western Europe - Ate out majority of meals & moved around often.  Spent an average of $45/day on food & transportation.  While lodging cost  us an average of $27/day.  We spent the most here, vs any other country, on alcohol ~ $4.50/day on mostly German and Belgium beer.

Eastern Europe - Used Airbnb more often.  Spent an average of $22/day on lodging, $20/day on food, and $17.50/day on transportation.

UAE - Stayed at filthy dorms in both Dubai and Abu Dhabi that still cost us $25/day (and that's after $80 in Airbnb credit and refunds).  Everything was expensive.  Tried to eat cheap but still spent $25.50/day on food.

Nepal - Did not move around much.  Spent 5 days rebuilding orphanage (paid $10/day).  We trekking to Everest Base Camp (rented gear, paid for airfare, hired porter, etc.).  Click here to see trip notes, budget, and planning for Everest Base Camp trek.  Transportation, food, and supplies are higher than typical because of EBC.

India - Most of our activities involved visiting mosques, temples, and forts.  Taj Mahal was relatively expensive.  We hired a houseboat and a crew of 3 for 3 days in Kerala.  We ate out a lot and not always at budget places.  The food was amazing and we wanted to explore as much as we could.

Indonesia - I received my SCUBA certification here.  We took a private excursion to Goa Jomblang Caves, which was pricey.  We also took expensive cooking lessons & surfing lessons.

Singapore - Very expensive.  spend $28/day on food.  Saved money by spending 2 of our 4 nights couchsurfing.

Malaysia - Spent 1 week in Sabah, Borneo and 8 days in Sarawak, Borneo which required a handful of flights.  Food was amazing in this country so we ate a lot.  Adventure Caving and park fees increased our costs more than what you would expect for Malaysia.

Thailand - Spent a lot on SCBUA diving (see liveaboard trip) and ~$840 on a 4-day yoga retreat.  Parents spent 2 weeks with us, which helped offset cost in this country.  I spent my last 31 days renting only 2 places, which also reduced transportation costs in this country.

Cambodia - Angkor Wat and the Elephant Nature Park in Mondulkiri were our largest expenses.

Vietnam - We slept for free during our workaway.  I wanted to try Dog and Cat meat (as well as eat an entire snake in Snake Village outside of Hanoi), which were relatively expensive.  We traveled to the far north, which required extensive transportation.

Myanmar - We spent more money that usual on activities.  We had a private boat for a tour around Inle Lake. We hired a private driver while in Mandalay.  There was a hefty fee to enter Bagan.  We also paid to enter the oldest Buddhist temple in the world as well as hired a private guide to trek through the small villages near Hsipaw.

Monthly Costs

The first 4 months of travel consisted of many organized and expensive tours/excursions (+ remote travel and gear rental for Patagonia, see below).  From January through March we were in Western and then Eastern Europe.  During April we visited Everest Base Camp, which cost us ~$1,400 for just under 2 weeks.  For the remainder of the trip, which we spent in India and SE Asia, we averaged $1,800/month.  The month of August was relatively expensive due to our trip to Borneo, which required 4 flights each plus park/activity fees.  During my last month, which I spent alone, I did not move around much, and took very few excursions, which is why I spent so little.

Patagonia Budget

During November and December of 2015 we spend 24 days in Patagonia.  We spend a total of $2,645, which is an average of $110/day.  This includes all tours, supplies, and transportation (many long-distance buses and 3 flights each).  For this calculation I took Santiago, Chile as our starting point and Buenos Aires, Argentina as our ending point.

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Cumulative Total Spend

Below I re-posted the 4 sections I described above, this time including every dollar spent (even the non-trip related expenses)

Pre-Trip Costs $5,295 | During Trip Costs (Souvenirs) $4,708 | International Travel Costs $4,745 | Country Specific Costs $36,414

The country specific charges were the only expenses that were routine, normal, and able to be extrapolated.  For this reason I held the other 3 segments flat and charted the cumulative amount for country-specific costs (see chart below).  This allowed me to trend out/predict--using the slope--the rate of our spending throughout our travels.

You'll notice that the first portion of the chart shows a steep slope, which is due to our 21-day organized tour through Colombia.  The last month flattens out as I slowed down my pace of travel.

Total Daily Spend and Cumulative Running Daily Average

Below is a chart with quite a bunch going on--though I'll walk you through it.  The solid green line represents the money that we spent each day.  The peaks show expensive activities/tours, visa fees, and other various splurges whereas the valleys are representative of days we  spent very little.  The dashed green line is a 4-week running daily average,  which shows the average of the preceding 28 days.  This line is helpful as it averages out the expensive and in-expensive days to yield a more stable line.  Both of these green lines use the axis on the left.

The next two lines use the axis on the right of the chart. The solid red line represents the average daily cost of travel.  Unlike the dashed green line the red line is a running cumulative average, which means all prior days are included.  Our cumulative daily average starts relatively high and decreases with time due to our initial 3-week organized tour in Colombia as well as many of our SA excursions, which were all quite expensive.  However you see that our cumulative running average steadily decreases with time as you would expect since we were spending ~$60 once we left Western Europe.

The Dashed orange line shows the average daily cost of travel by month.

Comparing Daily Costs of Select Countries with Overall Average

The budget I built allowed me to select, from a drop-down menu, the average daily expenses by category of 3 countries that I wished to compare.  I also graphed the overall daily average using info from all countries.  In the example provided below I selected Western Europe, Vietnam, and Myanmar.  Along the left-hand side of the chart is a color-coded key indicating various categories.

In this example you can see that Lodging was our biggest expense in Western Europe while food was our largest expense in both Vietnam and Myanmar.  Food and lodging alone cost us almost $50/day in Western Europe.  Unlike Europe, Vietnam and Myanmar both required visas.

Budget Summary Page

Here is a the summary page for the budget I built.  Please help yourself and download the budget tracker--I only ask for a small donation.

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[aventurasdeunatortuga]

Alona Beach Okay, picking up where we left off last time, I had been posting but I realized none of them went through so here is a mega post. We've been in Alona Beach for 4 days, here is what has happened Day 1 -Much to our shock and amazement we were woken up at 6am to find a police officer and our cab driver from the previous night at our door, and lo and behold the cab driver had my phone and returned it! He apologized for not having 'reported it'? I have noooo idea what transpired there or why a cop was there but I was just beyond shocked that the phone had made its way back to us. Faith in humanity restored. -So this place is a little confusing. We are staying in the "town" and I say that very loosely of Alona Beach, which is on the teeny tiny island of Panglao. This island is connected via bridge to the slightly larger island of Bohol, whose city is Tagbilaran. We had to get to Tagbilaran to go to the visa place so we got on the back of a motorbike (me, Emily, and the driver on one bike) to take us there. It started completely POURING down rain while we were going and it was a crazy ride to say the least. -We spent the morning in the town of Tagbilaran figuring out our visa extension, and we got it all done in about an hour. It did not take THREE DAYS like the office in Cebu City had told us. After that we went to the mall and then back to Alona Beach where we spent the afternoon on the beach watching the sunset, we had dinner along the beach after that. Day 2 -The next day we spent all day at the beach. It was a lot sunnier than the day before and the water was crystal clear it was amazing, I've never seen water that clear before. We saw lots of giant starfish. We also got badly sunburned, even though we were in the shade most of the time. Oh well. We had dinner at an Italian Asian fusion restaurant which was interesting. Day 3 - On this day we initially were going to rent a motorbike for the day to drive around Bohol but then it quickly became clear that we did not know how to drive one and it wasn't one of those fake it til you make it type things. So instead we hired a tricycle to take us around for the day. Here tricycles are essentially tuk-tuks, a motorbike with a big sidecar attached and a roof and windshield. -We drove first to the Tarsier Sanctuary in the village of Corella. Tarsier are teeny tiny primates that only live on Bohol and they are known for their gigantic eyes and very cute appearance. They kinda look like a bushbaby. There are very few of them left, because unfortunately due to their extremely acute hearing and vision they are horribly sensitive to external stimuli. In the wild they sleep all day and hunt insects at night but tourists now constantly wake them up and make loud noises and flash cameras in their eyes. This causes them enormous distress and it becomes so unbearable for them that they bang their very fragile, thin skulls into walls of the cages people put them in until they die; essentially committing suicide. The sanctuary we visited is the only place which tries to conserve the tarsiers in captivity and keep them from becoming overstimulated but protected from predators. They only have 6 tarsiers there. They live in a fenced off wood without cages where everyone has to be dead silent the entire time and not get too close to them or put stuff if their face. They were very cute animals but gosh I was worried about those poor things. After seeing the tarsiers we rode across Bohol to see the Chocolate Hills. They are called this because in dry season they turn dark brown and are such strange, unnatural looking shapes they look like something out of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but they are completely natural and no one really knows how or why they are there. The road was very steep and twisty and it downpoured again and again. We drove through rice paddies and villages and through a "man made forest" (whatever that means?) which looked exactly like a forest in Oregon. When we got to the hills we climbed to the top of one of the hills to look out and it was so surreal looking; it was like we were on another planet. Hundreds of these comically round mounds sticking straight up out of the ground just went on and on. After we made it back to our hotel we got in about 30 minutes of relaxing before the power went out. We had no idea what had happened until the next day because everything was cut off. No internet or lights or AC or anything. Restaurants had to shut down, the only lights were those from motorbikes. We thought it would just last an hour or so but its lasted over two days now. We found out later through a series of alert texts to our thankfully returned Filipino phone that there had been a 6.7 earthquake about 300 miles northwest of here in Northwest Visayas. (Visayas is the collection of over a thousand islands that make up the center of the country, Alona Beach is in South Central Visayas). Anyway it was a big earthquake and the power supply for all of Visayas was located on the island where it happened and so those are shut down until further notice. They apparently got 1 out of 3 of the power supplies back up and are doing rotational brown/blackouts throughout Visayas for the time being (so we get 2ish hours of power, then it goes off for 4 hours, then back on, etc..). Apparently this happens a lot so most buildings have big scary sounding backup generators that sometimes but not always work. So we've been on and off the grid for the past 2 days, it's been a minor inconvenience but fine. We went and got dinner at the dark beach and everyone was still in a pretty good mood. There was candlelight and some places had generators and gas stoves so they could still serve food. We watched a huge lightening storm over the ocean while we ate. It was a nice evening. Day 4: The power was off all last night and it was like 100 degrees in our room, we couldn't open anything to let in air because mosquitoes. We slept on and off. At like 10am we got some breakfast, slept again because the power was back on for a bit, then went to go get lunch. At lunch a cloud of mosquitoes attacked me (I got like 7 bites in about 5 minutes) and I had an allergic reaction to it. Usually when I get bit by mosquitoes I swell up a bit at the site of the bite and it is fairly swollen for a few hours at least and will go away on its own but I think because I got so many at once it was too much and my whole entire foot started swelling up really big and painful and I couldnt fit in my sandals anymore. So we left our lunch half eaten and limped to a pharmacy and bought a single antihistamine pill (apparently they are sold by the pill here?) for 8 cents. We decided to go to the movies to get some AC and escape from the bugs, so not five minutes after getting the antihistamine we hopped on the back of another motorbike to take us to Tagbilaran to the mall. The wind and sitting on the bike and the pill made my foot calm down. We were going so fast my hat blew off! I had assumed it was gone but before I knew it, someone on another motorbike had found it on the road, somehow knew it was mine, caught up to us, honked and then handed it back to us as they drove by waving and smiling. I was so flabbergasted. People really do go out of their way to be so nice here. When we got to town we got stuck in the most insane traffic jam of hundreds of motorbike, tricycles, the occasional cars and some random pedestrians walking down the middle of the road. Literally the craziest traffic of my life including Mexico City. We realized after the fact that we had been dropped at the wrong mall and had to wander around the crazy streets and traffic for two blocks until we found it. It was like that scene in Mulan when the grandmother is crossing the road. There was just absolute chaos in the streets but for pedestrians the rule is to just close your eyes, put your hand up, and go and people will go around you (its crazy traffic but everyone is going at like 3mph) If you hesitate thats actually worse because it clogs up the flow. We got there and fought through five stories of karaoke singers and zumba dancers and shops to get to the movie theater. We got our ticket and watched the new Spiderman movie. After the experience of getting there, an action movie was pretty relaxing honestly. We got back pretty uneventfully and have been in our powerless hotel ever since. We're leaving Alona Beach first thing in the morning. While it has been beautiful here I do think it is time for us to move on. It certainly has been anything but dull. We are going to the biggest Filipino island (there are over 7,100 islands in the Philippines total) tomorrow, Luzon, where we will be for the next 2.5 weeks. It is where Manila is although we aren't going to stay there. We are going to be in the mountains mostly, first going to stay next to a lake/volcano in Tagaytay and then after that at some rice terraces in Bananue. Yesterday while the power was out I was reading my book about the Philippines and just man, this country has been through A LOT. I won't go through it all but it has not caught a break since the 1500's. They were colonized by the Spanish for 350 years and treated brutally by them (kept in essentially medieval serfdom by the monks and forbidden from education), became independent from the Spanish in a violent revolution only to be immediately taken over by the Americans. While the Americans treated the Filipinos better than the Spanish and installed basic infrastructure and schools; they manipulated the Filipinos to their advantage in just about every way they could think of. They granted them independence in the early 20th century, but continued to occupy it. In WWII they were forced by the Americans into conflict with the Japanese and were absolutely crushed. Manila was practically obliterated and the Philippines was forced to surrender to Japan and the Japanese did like death marches and horrible stuff to them. The city of Manila has been compared to Hiroshima and Warsaw as far as level of destruction caused by WWII. Then after that, a brutal dictatorship until 1989-ish. Now the dictatorship has been overthrown but there is a corrupt government, rampant poverty, limited infrastructure and education, and constant economic and political manipulation by the US and China. Not to mention volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and tsunamis. So through all of that the Filipinos have every right to be angry and bitter; but all of that hardship has just made them kind. They are some of the nicest people I have ever met and time and again they have shown that they will go beyond out of their way to take care of us and of each other and make the best of whatever is going on. Like our minor island wide power outage today. Sure businesses shut down and there was no electricity or internet for a couple days but they made it work and took care of each other and didn't let it get them down. It was just a minor inconvenience and people figured it out. Everyone has been happy and singing karaoke and there to lend a helping hand to their neighbors. Because while the government may not have their back, they will always no matter what have each other's backs. Until tomorrow,