Travel: Trip to Subic (Day 1)

June 08, 2012

Our summer vacation came a little late this year but as they say, "better late than never".  The kids, Patrick and I went to Subic for 3 days and 2 nights and we were lucky enough to be test driving the 2012 Subaru Impreza WRX STI for Top Gear Philippines in the same trip.

Our first stop on our trip was the Teriyaki Boy Restaurant in the Petron compound along the North Luzon Expressway.  We all love Japanese food and Dylan especially loves California Maki as you can see from this picture.

The rest of us had Katsudon,gyoza and the rest of the Maki.

It's just great that my kids really love trying out new food for themselves. :)

After having that hefty lunch, we all trooped back to the Subaru STI we named "Ghost" in honor of John Snow's direwolf in Game of Thrones.  Why Ghost?  Well, he's silver (close to white) but he's so ferocious on the road.  He can reach up to 200 kilometers per hour and there's not even a hint of hardship on the engine.  He's as cool as they come.  I didn't even know we were running at that speed!  But sshhh! I don't think that's allowed :D  I did have a problem with it being too sporty as I felt it was a bumpy ride.  I ended up getting a headache upon arriving in Subic.  This car is an animal on the road!!





We arrived in Subic in record time. We checked in at the Bayfront Hotel which was were we usually stay when in Subic.  We were surprised to see a new hotel in front of Bayfront.  It was still under construction when we last came to Subic.    Now it was called the Terrace Hotel and it looked interesting from my vantage point.  At first we had a problem with checking in because the room that they assigned was not the one that I requested when I made the booking.  Then they couldn't accommodate the request because they were fully booked.  Good for them so I settled with a different room.  This one had twin beds which still wasn't what I asked for and not what I paid for.  Eventually, they got it right.  It was a good thing I was still in a good mood or else ...  With this setback, I was considering trying out the Terrace Hotel on the other side the next time we came to Subic.


So we just rested for a while with the kids just watching TV.  In the end, we opted to go to Royal Subic to buy our snacks for the beach trip tomorrow and to see if there was anything worth buying :)


Right after buying what we needed to buy, it really didn't take us long, we went to Meat Plus Cafe for dinner.  It was a good thing we didn't take too long at the Duty Free because when we reached Meat Plus, there wasn't that many people lined up and we were able to get a very cozy table.  Right after we ordered, the people started coming in...

Here are pics of us waiting for our orders at Meat Plus Cafe.

And here are our orders:

Tenderloin Meal

Meat Plus Burger Meal

Hamburger Steak Meal

After a satisfying meal, we all went back to the hotel to rest.  I also had to pack our stuff for our trip to the beach the next day.

16th Philippines Hot Air Balloon Fiesta - Part 1 (Feb 11)

February 10-13, 2011


When we heard that a Darth Vader Hot Air Balloon will be participating in the 16th Hot Air Balloon Fiesta in Clark, Pampanga this February, Patrick and I decided that we won't be missing it no matter what.  It was just a stroke of luck that the event coincided with Patrick's birthday and Valentine's day so it was a kind of multi-celebration trip that we were planning.

At first, we couldn't get a booking at our favorite hotel and we were becoming discouraged.  We even considered looking for a different hotel but in the end, we got lucky and there was a cancellation and we ended up getting a booking at our favorite New Well Being Spa Resort.  It turned out that they had a new hotel built up and we became even more excited to try out this new building.  You may ask why we like it there.  It's simply value for money.  They have large rooms, big comfortable beds (which is very important if you have kids with you), buffet breakfast, a great restaurant, a Korean sauna and spa, a huge swimming pool and great hospitable service.  Here are some pictures of the new building and what the room looks like.  We were in the Superior room that has 1 Queen bed, 1 Twin bed, a huge LCD TV, a veranda, a hair dryer (it's extremely useful for me haha), coffee-making facilities, a ref, a in-room safety deposit box.  Here are pictures if you're interested:

We didn't really make plans for our trip this time.  All we knew was that we were going to the Hot Air Balloon.  But we did arrive early, having lunch that Friday (Feb 11) at the Original Savory restaurant in SM Clark.  We had Hot and Sour soup, Kikiam, Fried Chicken and Lechon with Tofu.  Needless to say, we were so full by the time we checked-in at the hotel.







We took our time and rested for a while, Patrick immediately commandeering one of the beds and cocooning himself in the cozy blankets hehehe  Naturally, the kids were clamoring for the pool and we indulged them after a while :)  After about an hour or two, we got ready for dinner at Zapata's which was one of Dana's favorite places to eat :)  After dinner, we went back to the hotel and settled in for the night.

More to come in the next posts!

Trip to Tarlac - RIP Grandma Loring

January 28-29, 2011


Now that I have experienced how it feels to lose my mother, it pains me and fills me with heartbreak when I hear of someone else undergoing the same thing.  Recently, Patrick and I found out that his stepmom, Tita Flor, just lost her own mother and right then and there, we decided to visit them in Tarlac where the funeral rites are to be held.

Since we haven't gone to Pura, Tarlac on our own, we didn't want to tempt the fates and end up being late because we lost our way or something.  So, we booked ourselves at the Microtel Inn in Luisita which is roughly at the halfway point between Manila and Pura.  At least, we didn't have to battle the traffic along the NLEX and Patrick won't be so tired with the drive.  It was a simple hotel but it's got great big beds which was a major attraction for us especially since Dylan has a habit of kicking everyone he sleeps with LOL :)

 After a hefty breakfast for us adults, it wasn't buffet but the kids can eat all the cereal and bread that they want, we pushed on towards Pura.  The drive was rather scary when faced with trucks carrying "gravel" and "soil" but look mostly like huge rocks and earth.

 It was tough being behind these two because the bumpy ride meant bits and pieces of rocks tend to fly off from the truck and if you're unlucky, you just might get a hit or two from them.





We arrived at the San Antoninus Church in record time.  It was a very touching service and I found myself teary-eyed at some point.  Hearing about Grandma Loring was like hearing about my mom who was also a teacher, an educator and was loved by many.  I never got the chance to be at my mom's service but I figured it would be something akin to this if it was held here and her students were given a chance to pay their respects.



Though Grandma Loring's death was the reason why we came, it was her life, her celebration of it, that we will remember.  Her kids, Tita Flor and her siblings, are a great legacy to behold.  We were fortunate to have been part of it.

Holy Week Vacation

March 30 - April 01

The busy and hectic lives of people have certainly changed the way the Holy Week is commemorated.  Take our family for instance, we hardly have any days for vacation because of Patrick's schedule which often includes weekends especially during the summer when there are a lot of car-related activities going on.  The Holy Week is the only holiday time when you can take longer with your vacation instead of just the usual weekend.  Of course, you have to file your leave applications beforehand and at the earliest possible time.

Anyway, Patrick and I have decided we're going to go to Subic during the Holy Week and spend 3D/2Ns there in celebration of the kids' birthdays and Dana's excellent performance in school.  Unfortunately, we left it too late for scheduling and we ended up reserving for Holy Tuesday up to Holy Thursday.  It was still fine and it was actually better because Subic wasn't going to be so cluttered with people and by the time that we're going home, that was the time when people will be arriving so we'll be against the traffic.

Our first stop during the trip was having brunch at Delifrance along the North Luzon Expressway.  We haven't really tried any of their dishes but we're a fan of their baked products.  The store was airy and cozy and the food was great!

It was smooth sailing going to Subic via the fast and smooth Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX).  We made it in such a short time.  You can however observe that there were many people heading to Subic because of the number of vehicles that were traveling at the same speed as us hahhaha After checking in at our favorite Subic Bayfront Hotel, we all changed into our swim attire and headed for the pool.  In our excitement, we forgot the cameras so we don't have any pictures hahahaha

We timed it well though because we finished swimming with just enough time to spare to head to Meat Plus Cafe so that Den will have a chance to try their great steaks (it's Den's first time to be with us in Subic).  We were all famished and ended up eating so fast we didn't have time to take pictures (gluttons!) hahahaha

With a huge dinner in our stomachs, we needed to walk all of it off so we headed to the beach.  The kids were running around and building sandcastles even though they can't make the sand stick LOL

 The next morning after our buffet breakfast at the hotel's Japanese/Korean Restaurant, we climbed into Stanley in search of a beach to swim in.  We kinda new where to go because we've already scouted some of them in our previous trips.

We didn't go to Camayan because we knew they're fully booked so naturally there'd be a lot of people on the beach.  We headed to All Hands and true enough the beach was packed.  Dungaree beach was relatively peaceful so that's where we stayed.  The beach was clean, the huts were comfortable.

We had lunch there and we all had a blast.  The water was warm, the beach wasn't rocky.  With the kids' floaties, they were able to swim freely  which they loved.  The sand got too hot though and Dylan got a little scared when we tried walking across it the first time to get to the beach from our hut.  We had to run and when our feet touched the water he was all smiles again! :P

We spent the whole afternoon there and we had so much fun.  We're going back for sure!

 We came back dinner time and we had hotpot at the hotel's restaurant.  We just love eating there hahaha We just spent the rest of the night in our room watching cable TV hahaha (a luxury we can't afford!)

The next day, going home, we stopped at the duty free shops where I was able to buy 2 pairs of Land's End jeans that fit me so well and they were so cheap - only P250 each!! Den was able to buy for herself a pair of jeans too :)

It was a great and relaxing vacation :)