Travel

HOTEL REVIEW: The Funny Lion

/ Christine Layumas / Leave a comment

I rarely write reviews about the hotels that we stayed in (maybe because they’re mostly just budget hotels lol) but The Funny Lion is definitely an exception! I felt that I needed to write about our experience here because we actually didn’t want to leave the hotel. lol

Hotel Grounds/Services

The check-in was a breeze. Their lobby was un-airconditioned and open, and it was just so refreshing to see such a sight. Nice hotels usually have airconditioned and high ceiling lobbies but The Funny Lion’s lobby was quite unique. I wasn’t able to take a photo of it because I only go there to connect to the wifi. lol (P.S. Their wifi is quite bad and there was no LTE signal inside our room.)

The hotel has two buildings, and this one is facing the pool. Our room was on the lower left side of the building in the photo below so it was really cool to have the pool just outside our room.

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Bacolod, Philippines

/ Christine Layumas / Leave a comment

May 2017

I played at the PFDA Ultimate Frisbee Nationals last May in Bacolod and an ultimate frisbee tournament always comes with a side trip. Right when we landed, we went straight to The Ruins. We rode a taxi to bring us to the Ruins and we paid Php 140 each for the taxi. There were 5 of us. The taxi driver just waited for us for an hour and dropped us off at our hotel after.
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Yehliu Geopark, Taiwan

/ Christine Layumas / Leave a comment

March 11, 2017

On our second day in Taiwan, we visited the Yehliu Geopark! I think this was one of the highlights of our entire trip. I’m not entirely sure how this natural beauty came to be but it’s just amazing to know that they were made out of natural causes.

We rode the bus to the Taipei Main Station from our airbnb apt and got on the Kee Keong Bus No. 1815. The stop for this one is located outside of the station, near the east gate. Once you enter the bus, you will receive a purple card from the driver. Payment will be made once you arrive at your destination. The bus ride costs NT 96 and the ride took about an hour.

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Taipei, Taiwan – Day 1

/ Christine Layumas / 1 Comment

It has already been months since the last time my boyfriend and I went on a trip abroad. He had two separate knee surgeries done after our trip to Europe so he also had to recover and undergo rehab after that. This was why we stopped traveling for awhile.

Finally in February this year, he agreed to go on a short trip to Taiwan. There are already direct flights to Taipei from Cebu and the tickets were really cheap so we went for it! We arrived in the morning of March 10th, and we immediately checked in at our airbnb apartment in the  Ximending area. We went out to eat lunch and saw this really cool wall full of graffiti. We had to take model-like photos because they looked really nice! ;b

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Vancouver, BC, Canada

/ Christine Layumas / Leave a comment

January 11-14, 2017

A day after I got back in LA from my Seattle-Victoria trip with my sister, I hopped on another plane to Vancouver, Canada! I know you’re all confused why I didn’t just ride a bus from Victoria to Vancouver. It’s because I already planned this trip way before my sister and I finalized our Seattle-Victoria trip and I already had roundtrip tickets. lol I didn’t wanna waste my tickets so I just had to fly to LA and fly out again the next day. lol

Day 1

I flew with Westjet Airlines for the first time. I had a relaxing flight because I had all the seats in my row to myself.

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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

/ Christine Layumas / Leave a comment

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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