Author: Christine Layumas

UPDATED: How to apply for an Australian Tourist Visa Online (July 2019)

/ Christine Layumas / 8 Comments

We went on a life changing trip to Australia back in 2017. My fiancée and I just fell in love with the place. We especially found Gold Coast super chill and it’s a place that we can live in. Like if I’d become rich and not have to worry about money, I would without a doubt move there. lol

The best part about applying for an Australian Tourist Visa is that you can do it online! I actually thought Australia would be quite strict in their visa application process but it has been quite a breeze. I started searching about how to submit an online application and it led me to this website.

Filipino citizens who are going to visit Australia for tourism should apply for the Visitor Visa (subclass 600). You may still lodge your application at VFS Cebu but I think it’s better if you apply online because you would save more time and money. Continue reading →

Victoria, BC, Canada

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January 9, 2017

After exploring Seattle, my sister and I went on a day trip to the beautiful city of Victoria, Canada. The ferry from Seattle to Victoria takes only around three hours. We booked our ferry tickets (with afternoon Tea at the Fairmont) at Clipper Vacations a few days before our trip. There was an early bird discount for booking the tickets at least 7 days before our trip so we got that one.

We just ubered to the pier at around 6:30am because we needed to check-in an hour before our departure, which was at 8am. We had a smooth trip even though it was raining. We docked at Victoria at around 11am.

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How to Apply for a Chinese Tourist Visa (Cebu City, Philippines)

/ Christine Layumas / 45 Comments

I’m such a sucker for airline promo fares and this time, we booked cheap tickets to China! I’ve always wanted to go to the Great Wall but I always hesitated because there’s currently no direct flights to Beijing or Shanghai from Cebu. (EDIT March 2018: There’s already a direct flight from Cebu-Shanghai through China Eastern Airlines) Also, China is one of the countries where a US citizen needs a tourist visa. :/

There’s definitely a first time for everything and this was the first time that I myself applied for a tourist visa! I was a little nervous, since I don’t have a lot of stamps in my Philippine passport.

First and foremost, I would like to let everyone know that the Chinese Consulate has opened again in Cebu on March 2017. Don’t bother searching it in Google because the address there is still the old address. I’m not sure why they didn’t bother to change it considering a lot of people follow what they see online – like me! It’s super misleading! We actually went to the Cebu-Fil Chinese building before the guard there directed us to its new location, at the Mandarin Plaza Hotel. So this is the complete address and contact number (where someone actually picked up) of the current Chinese Consulate in Cebu:

Chinese Consulate Cebu
25th Floor, Mandarin Plaza Hotel
J. Solon Dr, Cebu City, Cebu
(032) 505-1035
They only pick up from 9am-11am. You may also try to contact Mandarin Hotel (032 266-1111) and have your call forwarded to the Chinese Consulate if you can’t contact their number.

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Seattle, WA – Day 1

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January 7, 2017

I went on a quick visit to my family in Los Angeles for New Year’s. I stayed there for a month so my sister and I had to plan a last minute sister out-of-state-trip. We initially planned on going to New Orleans but the plane tickets to Seattle were much cheaper and the weather was bad at New Orleans at that time.. not that Seattle’s was any good. It rained a whole lot during our visit. lol

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Universal Studios Hollywood

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Jan 6, 2017

After battling jetlag, I finally got out of my bed and went out of the house. Lol I bought a Universal Studios Annual Pass from Costco for USD 110. The one day pass for that day was USD 105 so I just got the annual pass. I can still remember back in 2004-2007ish, day passes were only USD 39 for California residents and they would have a promo of buy one day and get the whole year free. I can’t believe it has almost tripled now but nonetheless, people are still flocking into the park especially now that the Harry Potter World has opened.

The last time I was in LA, the Harry Potter World was still closed. I just took this photo after exiting the studio tour back when I visited on January 2016. I told myself that I had to go back again this year to visit the newly opened Wizarding World of Harry Potter…

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My Lasik Experience

/ Christine Layumas / 18 Comments

A Little History

I was twelve when I realized that I could not see clearly the things written in the blackboard. I immediately told my dad and he brought me to an eye doctor that afternoon after school. Turns out, I was already nearsighted and had a 50 grade on one eye, and 75 on the other. I got my first eyeglasses that day and I thought that it looked cool on me. It made me a legit nerd. lol

It was okay at first because I did not have to wear my glasses all the time. I just wore them when I needed to. But my grade just went up and up every year that it was not fun anymore. My eyeglasses limited my actions. I could not wear sunglasses whenever I wanted. I have a lot of photos where my eyeglasses were on my hands because I just took them off for the photo, like this photo below. lol

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Rome: Day 3

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July 10, 2016

Right when we decided that we will visit Rome, I immediately searched for the Pope’s schedule. I was sad that the Pope didn’t have any parade scheduled for the whole month of July but I was really glad that he held Angelus prayers on every Sunday of the month. And so I scheduled our visit to Vatican on a Sunday to be in the presence of the Pope.

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Rome: Day 1

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July 8, 2016

Onto the last city of our Europe trip! We took the morning train from Florence and arrived after about an hour and a half. We were very excited to be in the historic city of Rome!

When we were on our train from the hotel to our first stop (the Trevi Fountain), we witnessed a local from Rome snatching a Korean’s bag right when the train doors were closing. The snatcher hurriedly ran and the Korean girl’s boyfriend forcibly opened the train doors and rain after the snatcher. It was a scary thing to witness on our first train ride in Rome so we got extra careful with our belongings after that.

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