My mom’s sister is leaving for Netherlands, specifically in its largest city, Amsterdam – for good. She was able to marry a very polite Dutch whom she met while she was working in a luxury ship some years ago. My mom and the rest of my uncles and aunties will surely miss her. Last week, during her “despedida party”, we all sent our warm regards and gave her our hugs and kisses. Although excited, she was very sad to leave her family behind. My mom assured her though that she will come to visit her soon. I have read so many good things about Amsterdam so I am sure my mom and her sisters who will come to visit will have a grand time in this city that has a rich architectural history. I was even surprised to find out that Amsterdam is the 5th busiest tourist destination in Europe with more than 4.2 million international visitors. The number of visitors has been growing rapidly and steadily over the past decade maybe because of the great beauty the city has to offer. There are said to be a lot great hotels too that are located in the city’s center. Some Amsterdam Hotels are even said to offer special arrangements or activities due to the theme Amsterdam has every year for its tourists. This is to bring in as much tourists as they can according to Wikipedia. Now, knowing all these makes me want to visit this city too. I hope in the near future I can.

I am addicted to traveling. If only budget will permit, I would love to travel all the time! I love seeing new places and I love how I get to discover new things with my husband and daughter. Realistically though, since money is an issue, we cannot afford to travel all the time even if we want to. And since I am due to give birth any time soon, I am taking a long hiatus from traveling starting now. I wish to come back with a vengeance though when my second baby is a bit bigger and can travel with us already. I will surely ask the husband to take us somewhere special. If budget permits, I hope he’ll agree to take us to London! Yeah right! But who knows, he just might say yes. You see, I am a very persistent wife and I usually get what I want. I’ll tell him that he need not worry because I will look for cheap hotels we can stay at while there and with the number of London Hotels, I am sure we’ll get one that will best fit out budget. Destinia, a Spanish online travel agency that now, is penetrating the english language market will surely make it easy for me. I can search for hotels in this site without a fuss. I really hope I can make the husband agree.

…is none other than Paris – being one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world, with over 30 million foreign visitors per year. There are numerous iconic landmarks among its many attractions, along with world-famous institutions and popular parks. Both Jon and I have never been to this romantic city so we vow to visit it soon. How soon? I actually don’t know too. Realistically speaking, since I’m pregnant right now it, it couldn’t really be any sooner. Three more years maybe or five the most, right in time for our 10th wedding anniversary. I hope so. I have heard so many good stories about Paris and I just wish that I could be the one talking about this wonderful city to friends soon. I was told too that Paris Hotels are one of a kind and truly are worth every centavo spent. Well then, I’m sure I’d be delighted to spend my nights in them with my husband while we’re vacationing in one of the world’s leading business and cultural centres they fondly call “The City of Light”.

If ever we do decide to finally visit Paris, I’d be ecstatic and I’ll make sure to come prepared and get us the best hotel that can let us better experience what Paris has to offer. This would be easy as I just need to read up on Paris Hotels guide and I’m all set. Oh, how I wish we could go there soon! Let’s wait and see.

Warning : Picture Overload Post.

Day four was supposed to be our Tung Chung day but since we were not able to go to Disneyland Park on our third day, it became our Disneyland Park Day. We were in the park very early. Right after taking our Character Buffet Breakfast at Enchanted Gardens resto in Disneyland Hotel, we took off to go to the park.

Here are some of our pics during the character buffet breakfast.

By 9:30 am, we were already at the park. Weather was so good. It wasn’t hot! Here are our pics.

We enjoyed the new ride so much – “Its a Small World” ride. This is the newest addition to the park rides and I must say, my fave now together with the Winnie the Pooh ride. We were able to ride most of the park rides since we were early and there were no long lines at all. in short, kami yata nagbukas ng park. LOL.

I have one major booboo though. Right in the middle of our Disneyland trip, my camera’s battery ran out! Wahahahaha. I forgot to charge the night before! Hay naku!

Anyway, for more pics check here.

My in laws are veteran travelers. Since both are retired already and are of age, they take pleasure traveling together. They have been to many places and have tried different airlines too but according to them, one that stands out when it comes to personable customer service is Sun Country Airlines. This airline has scheduled daily service and seasonal flights to over 30 destinations in the U.S., Mexico and the Caribbean.

My in laws usually book through Sun Country Airlines’ very user friendly and up to date website without any fuss. Everything is a breeze according to them which is why they have come to love the services this airline has to offer. Even if not one of the large airlines, Sun Country Airlines takes pride in still offering travel perks such as in-flight meals and free checked baggage all the time which is why they were rated the #1 Domestic Airline in customer satisfaction. For more information, recent developments, travel updates and friendly reminder from your Sun Country Airlines people, you can visit http://www.suncountry.com/programs/announcements.shtml.

Day two in Hongkong was entirely for shopping. Right after we ate buffet breakfast at the hotel, so yummy I must say, we were off. We took the MTR to Central and Tsim Sha Tsui while we rode the taxi on the way back. OMG, our fare was 200HKD! HAHA.

The whole day wasn’t enough though. Jon had things in mind to buy and so did I so at the end, we didn’t manage to go to all the shops we wanted. We had priority shops to visit lang and the LV store is definitely mine. Jon on the other hand was looking for Y3 shoes and boy oh boy, grabe we spent the whole afternoon looking for them! The store his friend told us about which we looked for at Miramar Shopping Center is closed na! After hours of searching, sarado pala! He did manage to buy pa rin naman after we went around the whole Tsim Sha Tsui area yata. LOL.

The whole time, we were walking so slow. Syempre, I needed to be careful so imagine us strolling the streets of Hongkong as Jon would put it, walking on the moon daw.

By late afternoon, it started raining so we went back to the hotel and as I said, via taxi na.

Day three was supposed to be our Disneyland Day but there was a storm! We transferred to Disneyland Hotel and because of the storm, we didn’t make it to the park. So just imagine all the kids in the hotel! Riot haha. The hotel of course anticipated this so they prepared different activities for the kids such as storytelling, crafts, darwing, painting, coloring etc. Some opted to swim in the heated indoor pool but I didn’t let Sophia na. She was content playing with the other kids at the activity room and having a grand time posing with the Disney Characters roaming around the hotel.

We left the house at 5:30am to catch our 8am PAL flight. We were in the airport in no time. Checking in was a breeze. By 7:10am, we were at the Mabuhay Lounge having our breakfast – overflowing congee, sandwiches, fruits, siomai, siopao and coffee.

Here’s me and Sophia while waiting for Jon.

The two of us again at the Mabuhay Lounge.

We were in HK excatly after 1 hour and forty minutes. Flight was on time and we were always given priority in the long lines at the immigration and boarding as I was pregnant and was with a baby pa.

We hopped on to our bus for our city hotel – Park Lane Hotel in Causeway Bay as soon as we got to HK airport.

Here’s the dad and Sophia while inside the bus.

We had lunch at the hotel and slept after. We woke up at 5pm and strolled around Causeway Bay. Our first stop was Toys R Us in Windsor House just infront of out hotel. Symepre pa, toys galore for the little girl. They didn’t have a Leapster though. Next was Sogo and then around the the streets of Causeway Bay lang. We had roasted duck for dinner after and overflowing salmon sashimi with soya milk! SARAP!!!!