Reality Bites
When I got married and live separately with my own family I’ve opted not to celebrate my birthday, I mean, going out with friends for a treat or a sort of gathering where relatives and friends coming over the house…and this is of course associated with “handaan”. Reasons are behind it, top on the list is that I have kids now and I really love the thrills of organizing party for them, thus, I am reserving as much of the our resources for them. Next, no one will take charge of my celebration except by myself and that is absolutely exhausting for a celebrant (although my husband is supportive, he’s not into this stuff hanggang morale boost na lang..ahihiahuhu). Unlike before when I was still with my parents, my mom was the one dealing with everything, I’ll just invite and eat ha-ha that was my job before! just got to realize the significance of mom’s role in every event of our life and I appreciated and missed that thing. The fact is, the piece is now passed to me.. to us.. to the new mothers, apparently, that is the cycle of life and we are certainly next in line (serious huh!).
Unconventional
Nevertheless, emancipation from our daily routine is our aim, thus, my birthday is far from the usual day for the family. In lieu of the party/”handaan” which is costly and wearisome we prefer to indulge ourselves (exclusive for the family pasensya na po nakabudget.) something soothing...sumptuous...something…suite, “as in” spending a day and the whole night in a hotel. This has been a custom for the past years thru my husband’s initiative. It is good that my birthday is on December because it’s a month of bonuses and in the same way month of spending…buti na lang ahihihi.
For the past years we spent my birthday in Tagaytay while last Dec.16, Sat we have checked in in one of the hotel in Manila. My actual birthday is Dec. 13- that was a weekday, which means conflict with france’s school and py’s work schedules (I anticipated that) thus, I decided to move it on dec.16, saturday at least, nothing had suffered.
Online booking
The emergence of internet has become the tool for communication and transaction and it is indeed an information superhighway, yet let’s not go profoundly, we’re still here..I just want to share how beneficial the internet to me when I made a booking for our hotel accommodation. I was able to locate, took a glimpse, compare and pick the hotel based on own preferences from the wide array of online bookings. I was able to book and pay online conveniently and at a guaranteed cheaper rate! This is lower for as much as 5k! as compared when you book directly to the hotel and it includes buffet breakfast (pls. take a look of the info and our photos at the hotel at end of this blog) .You can choose on your own preference that suits your taste and budget i.e. room rates, inclusions and hotel classification. I was very surprised to find out that the room rate of the hotel-resort we had checked-in and booked directly to the hotel last year in Tagaytay was cheaper by around 1k per day!! when you book online. Moreover, what is notable is that it includes buffet breakfast for two! which costs around 600/pax. oh! that’s a big plus! tsk, tsk, tsk…la pa kasi kami internet connection sa house that time hehehe while sa office intranet access lang nakablock yun outside sites.
Anyways, to get the best deal of booking online, tips are you have to be religiously resourceful and persistent. If you want to get the lowest rate but not sacrificing the quality or if you want catch the promo you have to compare as many online booking/travel sites as you can and check the sites regularly as rates and promos are changing with time. The best travel site I’ve seen and engaged so far is the Asiatravel.com http://www.asiatravel.com/(for Asia booking). . They really attend to the queries within 24 hrs. you can count on them because they have offices here in Philippines and in other asian countries and it helps. More importantly, the rates of the room, tour packages, airport transfer and others are comparably lower (free ad ah!).
Miscellaneous
***For those who are planning to travel (asia and domestic flight), cebu pacific is offering veryyyyyy lowwww airfare! extended yata yun promo nila. we’ve got one for hongkong, timely for our plans.. yahoo!(excited na) just add na lang land arrangement package from asia travel or from CEB. You can check their website http://www.cebupacificair.com/.
***Thanks to everyone who remembered my bday thru friendster reminder & yahoo groups.. salamat sa bati.
*** Can’t wait for our baby charles’ 1st birthday costume party! this coming saturday na yun…hope kids will gonna come in their costumes…abangan…
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