Sweating in Dubai…43°C

29 JULY – 02 AUGUST 2016: Dubai has never been on my bucket list of countries to visit. However my Mum and I were due to attend a wedding in the Seychelles and had booked our travel with Emirates, which required us to take a flight from London to Dubai and then a connecting flight…

Barbados – Sun, Sea and Sandals

03 – 10 MAY 2016: Where do you go when offered the opportunity to go on a last minute holiday? Do you go to lastminute.com to see what’s on offer? Nope! You create a spreadsheet. A wonderful spreadsheet full of endless possibilities! After some deliberation, we agreed on Barbados! I’ve always wanted to go to…

Surprise Holiday to Agadir, Morocco

01 – 05 MARCH 2016: Agadir, a city along Morocco’s southern Atlantic coast, in the foothills of the Anti-Atlas Mountains, is the capital of Agadir-Ida Ou Tanane province. It’s a resort area known for its golf courses, wide crescent beach and seaside promenade lined in cafes, restaurants and bars. Rebuilt after a devastating 1960 earthquake,…

Sex & the City – Brussels

08 – 10 JANUARY 2016: To celebrate the end of my twenties, my sister planned a surprise weekend trip! I’d known that we were going somewhere for the weekend of my birthday, months ago. Although I had no idea where, besides knowing I would need Euros and it would be a similar temperature to the…

Hong Kong – Last Stop (for now!)

03 – 06 AUGUST 2015: My sister Jill, cousin Justine and friend Rabikah were in Philippines with me so we decided to go to a nearby country for a few days and picked Hong Kong as Jill and I have never been before. First impressions were that it didn’t reflect the Chinese culture I had…

Cebu – Where My Family Began!

20 – 24 JULY 2015: The Philippines has 7,107 islands, of which only around 2,000 are inhabited. I am proud to say that my family come from one of the most beautiful islands, Cebu. Considered ‘Queen City of the South’ and known for world class beach resorts, water sports and diving spots. I often think…

Frozen in Queenstown, NZ

07 – 13 JULY 2015: Queenstown airport has topped the list of the world’s most stunning airport approaches, and it’s not hard to see why. As the plane approaches Queenstown you can see the most amazing views of mountains, lakes and wild rivers. Overall first impressions; stunning scenery, friendly people, extremely cold! It was winter…

Melbourne – Just Me, Myself & I

02 – 07 JULY 2015: Melbourne was even colder than Sydney! Ugg boots were a must! I can see why they were designed here! I didn’t have a lot planned for Melbourne and the cold weather combined with my lovely one bedroom apartment at Adina Hotel in Northbank made it quite discouraging to go outside.…

Sydney – Doing It Solo

27 JUNE – 02 JULY 2015: First stop in Australia…Sydney! Australia has always placed highly on the list of places I want to see, so I was really looking forward to this leg of my 2015 travels. Unfortunately though my trip didn’t start very well. In fact, you could say it started with a  mini…

Samanda in Bali – Sun, Sea & Sand!

14 – 18 JUNE 2015: Third destination on the Samanda trip is Bali, Indonesia! Which means it’s time to hit the beach and get some colour! Firstly, Bali is as beautiful as I had expected. It’s a well known honeymoon destination so my expectations were pretty high! And speaking of honeymoons, we were actually lucky…

Samanda in Malaysia – Part 2

13 JUNE 2015: Day 2 in Malaysia…. We didn’t make any plans on our second day so we decided to do as much as possible as it was also our last day in Malaysia. LITTLE INDIA – BRICKFIELDS ‘Little India in Brickfields is a medium sized town located just outside of the city centre, Kuala…

Samanda in Malaysia – Part 1

12 JUNE 2015: The next country on the Samanda trip was Malaysia… Hotel: Hilton at Petaling Jaya which is on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur. The hotel itself was very nice although the area around the hotel was fairly run-down and a few places smelled funny. We spent most of our time in Kuala Lumpur…

Samanda in Singapore – Marina Bay Sands

10 JUNE 2015: Ever since I decided to go to Singapore I have been excited about visiting Marina Bay Sands (MBS). It’s considered an architectural masterpiece, towering in front of the city with 3 great towers and a huge infinity pool / rooftop park that spans across them. MBS is one of Singapore’s few iconic…

Samanda in Singapore – Attractions

06 – 11 JUNE 2015: From Thailand to Singapore…. First order of business… Find my best friend Amanda at Singapore airport! Amanda was flying in from London and I was arriving from Bangkok so we decided to meet at the huge slide at T3. It’s the world’s tallest slide in an airport, standing at the…

Bangkok – Third Time’s a Charm

03 – 06 JUNE 2015: After a month in Manila, I decided to go back to England to visit my family for a few weeks. However after a mere two weeks I was weirdly starting to feel a bit unsettled so I impulsively decided to jump on a plane and visit my friend Paul in…

Mother-Daughter Time in Prague

19 – 22 MAY 2015: The initial plan was to take my Mum to Prague in the summer for some mother-daughter bonding time once the rest of my travelling was done. However, since I decided to come home for a few weeks while my cousins were visiting England I decided to bring the Prague trip…

The ‘Ting’ Family visit the UK

07 – 12 MAY 2015: My cousins from Cebu, Philippines and my Aunty from Texas, USA had decided to visit us in the UK for the first time. They have always looked after us whenever we’ve visited them, so we wanted to return the favour by showing them some of the tourist hot spots and…

Manila – Attractions

13 – 23 APRIL 2015: The journey continues! Onwards from my last post, two of my very close friends joined me in Manila recently. Sadly they were only here for 10 days, so we couldn’t do as much as we would have liked. However we still managed to tick a number of places off the…

Hello Philippines

07 APRIL 2015 – 04 MAY 2015: Mabuhay! First stop on my travels was always going to be Manila, Philippines. Being half Filipino, and with family in the area, it made sense to start here. In the UK I am always seen as different because I look oriental, but here they also look at me…

Goodbye UK (for now)

06 APRIL 2015: I’ve never really been in to the whole blogging concept, but I want to keep my mind active while I’m away, and share my experiences! So, here goes nothing…. ‘That’s a very bold move’ ‘You’ll have so much fun’ ‘You’re absolutely crazy, you given everything up’ ‘I just don’t understand why you…

Royal Caribbean Cruising

05 – 17 APRIL 2014: ROYAL CARIBBEAN CRUISE Fort Lauderdale, Florida Our cruise was starting in Florida so we had to get flights there from London. We decided to spend a couple of days each side of the cruise to explore Florida a little. However all I remember exploring was Walmart’s candy section. Coconut coated…

USA – Road Trip (5 States)

20 – 30 AUGUST 2012:   In 2012, 10 members of my family went on a road trip starting in Dallas with a destination of Pike’s Peak in Colorado. DALLAS, TEXAS   Dallas, a modern metropolis in north Texas, is a commercial and cultural hub of the region. Downtown’s Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza…

Frankfurt…Drinking, Dancing and lots of Nuts…

15 – 17 JUNE 2012: Frankfurt, a central German city on the Main River, is a major financial hub. It’s the birthplace of writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, whose home is now the Goethe-Haus museum – which, like much of the city, was destroyed during World War II and rebuilt afterward. The reconstructed Altstadt (Old…