by Erica Poyauan

Escape to the Queen City of the South: FORT SAN PEDRO

November 30, 2012

Built in 1565, Fort San Pedro in Cebu City is the smallest and oldest military defense structure in the Philippines. It served different purposes for the island at various points in history. Spaniards and indigenous Cebuano laborers built the place as a sleeping quarter for Spanish authorities and a house for Spanish firearms and gunpowder supply. From 1896 to 1898, it became a prison for Filipino rebels during the Philippine revolution. From 1937 to 1941, it was turned into classrooms where Cebuano locals received formal education. During the World War II, it was used as prison camp and fortification for Japanese soldiers and an army camp from 1946 until 1950.

To this day Fort San Pedro serves as a public museum-park where tourists and visitors in Cebu City can see some of the well-preserved legacies of the Spanish Government.

Please include this place in your itinerary the next time you visit Cebu! 🙂

Author

Erica Poyauan

Erica is a former PR pro turned entrepreneur. Her greatest joys are family, blogging, music, skin care and social justice. As a Muay Thai enthusiast, Erica prides herself on working with increased focus, humility and diligence. She believes in living a fit life doing everything with a flair of creativity and love! Stalk her social channels @thegirlwiththemujihat

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Make the most of Orlando with SeaWorld 3 for 2 tickets

In Uncategorized

April 10, 2019

Orlando is no doubt a magical place. Whether couples, family or group travellers, people frequent here for fun and adventure.

If you are thinking of visiting Orlando soon, here’s how you can make the most of your time here: avail the SeaWorld 3 for 2 tickets.

With the SeaWorld 3 for 2 tickets, you can get 3 tickets at the cost of two single-day admissions. If you are travelling with your 0-2-year-old children, they are free. You can also get unlimited access to SeaWorld, Aquatica and Busch Gardens for 14 days and free parking and transport as well. Just log on to Ocean Florida to learn more.

Once you have signed up for the offer, you will get an open-dated 3 for 2 Ticket that remains valid for the calendar year from the date of the purchase. Once you have visited either SeaWorld Orlando, Aquatica or Buch Gardens Tampa Bay, the tickets get activated and remain valid for the next 14 days. If you want, you can visit one park or two parks or the three parks on the same day. Or, you can cover them as and when you desire. now, there is no need to miss out on any of those attractions. As Busch Gardens is about an hour away from Orlando, you will need transportation. Well, not to worry, with SeaWorld 3 for 2 Tickets in your hand, you can get free transportation on Busch Gardens Shuttle Express! The Shuttle runs daily between the two parks, and all you need to do is make your reservations for free.

Just complete the form online at Ocean Florida and buy your 3 for 2 tickets to enjoy a dream vacation at the most popular tourist destination in the U.S. Enter your first name and last name, valid email address, city, state, zip code, and other details.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

What do you think about Orlando? Do you also want to visit SeaWorld? Don’t forget to join the raffle. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

How Much Do You Need to Enjoy Maldives?

In Airports, Travel, Uncategorized

March 5, 2019

While it is true that the Maldives is a popular destination for the “rich and famous”, you don’t have to be one to be able to get there and enjoy it yourself.

In the Philippines, Maldives is a honeymoon destination for celebrities. My celebrity friend just spent her honeymoon at Cinnamon Dhonveli a week ago. But then again, you don’t need to be a celebrity to enjoy Maldivian food, Maldives’ private island resorts, Maldives’ pristine waters and its marine life!

Unrivalled seclusion and a price tag

People who can splurge at least Php 47000 (~USD 1000) per night will never go wrong with a respite to the Maldives as it offers utmost serenity with its unrivalled seclusion. The islands are made to pamper both the soul and the senses.

Paparazzi would probably be enchanted by all shades of the crystal clear waters before they could think of stalking Milla Jovovich AT Reethi Rah or anyone there. No wonder it is a go-to vacation place for celebrities.

But for normal people like me (who is willing to spend 21USD for a 3-day accommodation in Cambodia), is it possible to ENJOY Maldives without breaking the bank or overspending?

The answer is a big fat YES (with golden buzzer and confetti)!!!

How much pocket money do I need for a trip to the Maldives?

Coming from a developing country, I am quite sure Filipinos like me won’t mind preferring a 90-minute ferry ride for 2 USD to a 100 USD 20-minute inter-island private transfer. That is already a 98 dollar saving!

Basically, you can skip on the luxury (well you don’t need to rent the whole island for you and your hubby, do you?) and opt for the (more) practical and economical products/ services to stay on budget.

If you have a pre-booked hotel room with breakfast, you can enjoy the rest of the day for free or maybe rent snorkelling gear for about 5 USD from your hotel (in our case we got the gears for free). But yeah you need to eat of course – a good meal can be around 3 USD (cheaper than the snorkelling gear rental fee) and already tasty to satisfy you.

Booking plane tickets

Plane tickets can be really costly especially when you travel to a quite distant country.

From Manila to Male, it is approximately 8-9 hours. Personally, I would recommend to take a LCC like TigerAir from Singapore to Male or Kuala Lumpur to Male or even Manila to Male. You can save a lot by skipping on the flag carrier experience. Here are some screenshots of the plane tix cost. See what I’m talking about?

Finding the perfect accommodation

You can start snagging a good deal for your accommodation here:

Table of expenses

Additionally, you may refer to this table to budget your own trip to the Maldives. I listed down the cost of accommodation, food, fare, activities — the usual stuff we spend on when we travel — including the cheap or expensive counterpart (for comparison/reference).

I realized I mostly inputted the average cost but I promise to update this table every time. If you have pressing concerns you may leave a comment or message me directly so I can attend to you right away.

So here it is:


ESTIMATED COST FOR MALDIVES TRIP (in Philippine Peso)
ESTIMATED COST FOR MALDIVES TRIP (in Philippine Peso)
	LOW	AVE	HIGH
PLANE TIX (RT)
Cebu Pacific (MANILA – MALE)	26000	36000
Tigerair (SG – MALE)	16000	18000
AirAsia (KL – MALE)		21000
Flag Carriers (MANILA – MALE)	47000	88000	106000
ACCOMMODATION (Room/Night)
Hulhamale (Near the Airport)	1200	3000	5000
Male (Capital City)
Maafushi (Local Island)	3500	5000	7000
Private Islands	12000	15000	80000
FOOD
Drink (Convenience Store)		80
Rice Meal with water (local diners)		130
Fruit Platter		150
Restaurant Meals		300
Wafers (Convenience Store)		30
Hotel Breakfast		200
TRANSPORTATION
Taxi fare (Male Ferry Terminal to Terminal to Maafushi/ Anywhere in Male)		90

Public Ferry (Hulhamale – Male)		94
Public Ferry (Male to Maafushi)		94
Bus from Airport to Hulhamale		94
Taxi from Airport to Hulhamale		328
Speedboat from Maafushi to Airport		935
Speedboat from Maafushi to a Private Resort (RT)		2400
Speedboat from Maafushi to a Private Resort (RT)
Public Ferry from Maafushi to Male		94
ACTIVITIES
Snorkeling for 2 hours (to snorkeling sites – incl of speedboat transfer RT)		1869

Snorkeling (3 sites) + Visit to a Sandbank		1900
Day Pass to a Resort	2500	4700	13000
Dolphin Watching		1869
SOUVENIRS
T-shirt		762
Fridge Magnet		122
Sunglasses		800
Post Card		47

In our trip to Maldives, we experienced a spectrum of expenses. You can check this link to read on our day to day itinerary.

Parting Words

Perhaps there’s some cheaper way to enjoy Maldives. If you’ve any idea on that, please feel free to share so we can reward our future travels with wiser budgeting! Or you can also share your travel hacks here and tell us how do you trim your trip costs? Do you spend a lot in your accommodation or do you tend to spend more on food or activities?