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Getting a Police Clearance in Makati City
I recently obtained a police clearance in Makati City and I will be sharing in this post the steps I had to go through for the application. First, it’s important to know the location of Makati Central Police HQ. I read that this is the place to go to when applying for Police Clearance in Makati. The police station is: Located at the corner of Ayala Avenue and Yakal Street Right after Makati Fire Station Across The Alphaland Makati Place You’ll have to leave an identification (ID) card when you enter the police station’s gate along Ayala Avenue in exchange for a visitor’s pass. Go to the leftmost part of the station where police clearance…
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Temporarily Disconnecting a Globe Telecom Postpaid Line
Everytime that I travel abroad, I stay connected by getting a local sim from the country I’m visiting since it’s more economical than using (very expensive) roaming services. My last international trip was to Israel and it was for almost 6 weeks. Prior to departure, I tried to see if I could temporary disconnect my postpaid line given that I could save a month on bill. I found a step-by-step guide in Globe Telecom’s website about temporary line disconnection. The guide is a bit outdated since Globe already changed their account interface; but, the general idea is there. I’m providing below an updated guide with Globe’s current interface. Step 1.…
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Tree Planting in the Philippines
Last July, I learned from an article that there’s an existing law which requires each able-bodied Filipino to plant one tree every year starting at age 12. It’s the first time I’ve heard of it and that means I owe the country a lot of trees! After reading it, I googled about tree planting activities that I may be able to participate in and saw two possible options – Haribon Foundation and Masungi Georeserve. Haribon Foundation Tree planting activities are held between June and November of each year because planting during the rainy season increases the newly-planted seedlings’ survival rate. Adoption of at least one (1) seedling will…
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Three Weeks in the Philippines: 4 Nights in El Nido
After enjoying the beauty of Coron, our next stop was El Nido. In this post, I’ll talk about our trip to El Nido plus a few things we didn’t do but might help you in planning your own trip. I will also include some photos from my trip with Igal this 2018 plus some photos from my trip with friends last 2015. Getting to El Nido We came from Coron and went to El Nido using a fastcraft ferry. I’ve talked about ferry options between Coron and El Nido in my Coron post. Here’s a link to the Coron piece if you’d like to read about it. If you’re…
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Hiking Mount Ugo
It all started with this kind of conversation one day last year Me: You’re going on a hike? Friend: Yeah. Wanna join? Me: Will I be able to do it? Friend: Yeah. Me: Okay. And that’s how I got myself into a two-day hike of Mount Ugo. It was my first hike and people in our group were surprised to learn that I was doing this one as my first. Apparently, my friend has a reputation of taking first timers to major hikes 😂 We started the traverse from Kayapa, Nueva Vizcaya and finished at Brgy. Tinongdan, Itogon, Benguet. Here is the general timeline of our weekend hike:…
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Three Weeks in the Philippines: 5 Nights in Coron
Our island escapade started in Coron (Busuanga), Palawan. Igal wanted to dive in the Philippines and he picked Coron as the main dive site because the wrecks piqued his interest. Below are details about and photos from our recent trip to Coron. I’ve asked Igal to provide inputs regarding his advanced open water dives. I also mentioned a few bits from my previous trip to Coron six years ago 🙂 Flights from Manila to Coron (Busuanga) There are four airlines that fly from Manila to Coron (Busuanga) Air Asia Cebu Pacific Air Philippine Airlines Skyjet Airlines The flight takes a little more than an hour. I booked our flight…
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Three-Week Vacation in the Philippines
Igal and I just finished our almost 3-week trip around the Philippines. We’ve been planning it since December last year. Number 1 on Igal’s things-to-do list was diving. I let him decide on where he wanted to do the dive and he chose Coron. I then started working on other places we could visit from Coron. We have finalized our target destinations by January and and we’ve decided on exploring the following places: Masungi Georeserve Coron (Busuanga) Palawan El Nido Palawan Puerto Princesa Palawan Siargao Island Here’s how we went around: From To Transport Duration Makati Masungi Georeserve Car 2 hours Manila Coron (Busuanga) Airplane 70 mins Coron (Busuanga) El…
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2017 Year-End Thoughts
As the year comes near to its end, I look back to everything that happened in 2017 and the best memory is my trip to Central Europe and Israel. This reminded me of how it first came as an idea. Two years ago, I started thinking of travelling to Europe. No concrete plans, no target dates. All I had in mind back then was “one day, I’m going to do it”. I started reading about schengen visa application, reading about train travel in Europe, checking-out hostels, reading blog posts, estimating the budget, and checking fares for flights going to Europe. I learned that there’s a chance to book a…
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25 Days in Central Europe: Hows and Whys
You can find here questions we received from friends regarding our trip to central Europe.
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Philippine Credit Cards and Foreign Transactions
Not all cards were created equal. Do you sometimes make transactions using your credit card that is charged in a foreign currency? Do you have more than one credit card? Have you compared the difference in rates on foreign transaction fee for each bank? I don’t usually shop online, and there were only a few times that I used my credit card to purchase an item that is in foreign currency (whether online or on a trip abroad). I was planning a trip last year when I read a travel tip of using a credit card which charges the smallest foreign transaction fee possible. I’ve been traveling abroad for a…
my life. my travels. my thoughts.
