CieLJ Weekend: The Lost Horizon Resort

I've wanted to take LJ to Bohol before, but what pushed me more was the recent earthquake that damaged a lot of the old churches. The original plan was December, but since the province was still trying to recover then, I delayed the trip and waited for a promo. I chanced upon a good deal with Philippine Airlines and booked the trip right away, sakto for summer! *big grin*

This was supposed to be a no nonsense trip. Not really a backpacker type of vacation, but I've decided that our choices will be practical. I've narrowed my hotel search to at least include the following:

1. Price should not be more than Php 3,000 per night, even better if lower than Php 2,500. 

2. Beachfront location, alam nyo naman si LJ anak dagat

3. Breakfast is already included in the rate. Less stress on deciding where to eat. 

4. Lastly, with Wi-Fi, hehe! Yeah, we are high maintenance, like that. 

Some nice to have in my list that helped me decide to sway in favor of another

1. Trip Advisor reviews

2. Balcony? :) 
3. Can be booked through Agoda

We walked in to Lost Horizon, and it wasn't love at first sight. It's not the usual type of hotel that we are used to, and as mentioned in other reviews, there's a little bit of age in it. It did slowly grew on us. One  advantage of an older hotel is the room size, unlike the modern box rooms, the deluxe room that we got has a lot of floor space, even the bathroom is not cramped. The king size bed was very comfortable and it even had a duvet, not your usual resort style beddings that just gives you a flat sheet for a blanket. There are safes inside the room. We never really use hotel safes, but for Lost Horizon, I felt that we need to. There were no unfortunate incident that happened, but the door knobs were a bit difficult to lock. 

CieLJ Weekend: Taal Vista

Taal Vista located along the Tagaytay ridge, is such an iconic hotel. It’s definitely one of the most popular places to stay in Tagaytay. I’ve always wanted to try to book a room here but since its rates are at a premium, it’s not something that you can pick at a whim. 

We had a couple of good reasons to stay overnight in Tagaytay last February, and I was thinking this is perfect timing to book a room in Taal Vista. 

CieLJ Weekend: Arriving in Korea and our AirBnB

I've booked our plane tickets to Korea waaay in advance, but it took me quite a while to look for a good hotel. I usually read reviews through Trip Advisor, but somehow for this trip I couldn't get the confidence that I need. Popular hotels in Seoul are either too expensive or ridiculously small that doesn't have a window or enough daylight. There were also some that were described as love hotels, and it just felt weird. I delayed booking a hotel so much, that with less than a week till our trip then, but we still don't have a place to stay.

I was browsing around and got to AirBnB, whoa! they have a list of cheap apartments , so tempting!!! but are they real? I mean what are the chances that we might get fooled in a foreign country, right?! haha!  

With my husband half asleep, I told him that I'll book a flat, a nice little studio type apartment for our trip to Korea. I guess he had no idea what I was talking about and uttered "sige lang." I browsed some more and found this really cute and reasonably priced flat. Best. Decision. EVER! 

Owner: Sam Woon and his wife 
Apartment: Studio House(S1):Myeongdong&Itaewon

CieLJ Weekend: Anyoung Haseyo, Korea!

Ah, Korea! Such a popular 'thing' in the Philippines, isn't it? K-pop, Korean drama, the hairstyle, and of course, make-up. However, despite it's popularity, my dear husband and I have never really joined the bandwagon yet, and continued to be... let's say, oblivious to this trend.

We booked the trip to explore the country and I immediately became overwhelmed with the options for the tourist. It was such a blessing that an officemate is headed to Korea too, and she was kind enough to share her itinerary to us. The only concern left was that her trip is for 5 days, while ours was only booked for four days so I had to trim it down.

Airline

We booked our tickets through Cebu Pacific. Just a fair warning that this is a budget airline, and despite the 4 hour flight, there's no food that will be served unless you are willing to pay for the rice meal. We ate some early dinner at the airport and got some chips from the convenience store which we brought on-board. We still had to buy the drinks, but we are ok with the 50 pesos per can. We just really can't bear to pay the 350 pesos for such a small serving of rice and viand.

We entered Korea via Incheon -- which was great, this has been awarded the best airport for some years now.

CieLJ Tips: Getting a Korean Visa

You can get a Korean tourist visa for free. It's good for 59 days, and it's fairly easy to get one …well of course, as long as you complete the requirements.

Here are the requirements that we've prepared and some tips:   

1. Application form - you can download the Visa Application form for Korea here. There are some instructions on the second page, take the time read it. There will be available print outs at the embassy and you can use that, but just to relieve you from the stress of standing and looking for the pen, TIN#, etc, just download it and fill it up in advance.