Category Archives: Destinations

3 Beautiful Things Destinations

Three beautiful things, Boracay edition

October 22, 2011 – 8:55 pm

So I went off to Boracay with the husband over the weekend and literally got the Boracay *fever*. We only had 3 days there and we packed it with so much activities that the fatigue got the best of me. Even worse, our flight back to Manila got delayed for 6 hours, and I came home with a high fever and a really bad cough. I haven’t fully recovered just yet. The last stretch of the trip was horrible, but the rest of the time was just made of awesome.

1. Endless, endless waters and skies. I could lie on my back all day just staring where the water meets the sky. You get that shrinking feeling inside, like the universe suddenly zooming out on you and you feel like a mere speck in this vast space, which you are, and for one moment there you feel insignificant. The next moment someone holds your hand and you zoom back to the shore where you lie, and you know that to that person holding your hand, you are important. And then you’re reminded that the Creator of all these beautiful things around you loves you even more, and He’s mindful of you in a very unique and special way. And joy just starts to well up inside of you and sigh, that just made me tear up writing that paragraph.

2. David and I enjoyed eating and walking in Boracay. Actually, even more than island-hopping, swimming and snorkling! In one of our walks, we found this isaw stand somewhere in Station 1, and boy, was it the best-tasting isaw we ever had! (Isaw is large intestines on a stick.) Dare I say, even better than Mang Larry’s Isaw in UP Diliman! I think this was the highlight of David’s trip.

3. So I came home sick, and I had to take another day off work, but David is doing quite an awesome job taking care of me. A line from the traditional wedding vows runs through my head, “for better and for worse, in sickness and in health.” This past week, I learn, is what it means.

OAN, the 30-Day Challenge will resume shortly.

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Destinations Family & Friends Photo Dump

Rockefeller Christmas Tree at Midnight

December 15, 2010 – 9:43 am

Photo dump, date backtracked. A few nights after the Rockefeller Christmas Tree was lit up, and on one of the coldest night at the time (30F!), David and I, with his whole family, had a late night road trip to the city to see one of the most visited and photographed Christmas tree in Manhattan.

I’ll definitely miss nights like this.

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Destinations Love Photo Dump

Bikeathon at Central Park

November 29, 2010 – 3:28 am

It’s my third week here in NY already, I wish there’s a way I could make time slow down a bit! David and I have been to just a few tourist places so far; as much as we want to spend more time outdoors during the day, he has to be at work and so do I, so we only get to date out in the evenings and over the weekends. But that’s okay, I didn’t come here to tour anyway, besides, I’ll have more time to get to know New York next time.

The leaves have started falling off, the temperature has dropped close to 30F in the past couple of days. Everyone’s been layering up, I myself have spent on a couple of mufflers, coats and gloves beyond my budget. (Thank God for Black Friday though, I managed to score some discounted stuff at an outlet store over the weekend, yay!) But how can I complain? New York is just as I remember it was–mysterious in so many ways, and there’s always ALWAYS something to do. Staten Island, on the other hand, is everything I never expected it to be (in a good way)–a lot more laid back than Manhattan, with a transport system that’s good enough to take you wherever you need to be.

On my second Saturday here, David took me biking at Central Park; as for my most favorite New York moments, this one has definitely climbed the charts (sorry for the tacky Serendipity reference), a perfect contrast to my ordinary Central Park experience in 2008.

If you’re my Facebook friend I’m pretty sure you’ve come across this album already, but just for purpose of catching up with my blogger duties, here are some of the photos from that Central Park trip. :)

We rented out these bikes at $14 per hour from CP Bike Tours and Rentals, impulsively if I may add, at West 58th street near the corner of 7th avenue. I wasn’t sure I still knew how to bike, I couldn’t remember the last time I rode one of those and was a bit apprehensive at first, but I took the challenge and I’m just sooo glad I did! :)

I can’t get over the photographs David took from that day. He was actually taking these shots! With his heavy Nikon D90! And with one hand! From his moving bike!! How awesome is my fiance, huh? <3

We stopped by the Bethesda Fountain to take photos.

..and by this lake, just because I had a photo of that building in the background last time I was here and I thought it looked really pretty in picture.

And then we stopped over to take photos by the trees and the leaves.

I could swim in a sea of golden leaves all day!

We took turns taking photos.

My friends think David looks like he’s from some Korean telenovela. LOL.

And then we tried holding the huge DSLR in front of us to take our photos together.

Finally, we found this in one of the benches. I don’t think I’ve ever found a more romantic place than New York. <3

I’ve always wanted to do an Elizabeth Gilbert, you know, go some place where I can marvel at something. And well, here I am. I’ve been marveling at everything since I landed, and there’s always something new to look forward to each day. <3

I can never enumerate in my hands all the things God has provided us with that made this trip possible, and everything we’ve gone through to get us to this day. I’m in constant awe at how good God has been to us, a lifetime thanking Him will never be enough.

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Destinations Love Photo Dump

Don’t you just love New York in the fall?

November 18, 2010 – 4:38 am

(I just had to use that line. Again.)

This is my version of Street View: the 5-minute walk from where I’m staying in Staten Island to the nearby public library, one of my hang out spots here. (You know me, where there’s wifi, that’s where I’ll be.) There’s just so much beauty wherever direction I point the camera to, I had to remind myself to breathe and stop acting like a giddy tourist.

Somewhere in this neighborhood is where I stay.

My current office address, LOL.

People waiting for the library to open. Hello, colleagues.

Waiting by the library steps.

David’s D90 yay! :)

Hello from Staten Island :)

OTD: Scarf and boots – Babo; Jeggings – Bench; Cardi – Nui Clothing; Shirt dress – Thrifted

Lovely, isn’t it? :) You wish Google’s Street View stills were taken on a beautiful Autumn day!

OAN, last night I had a date with the boyfie fiance. We took the ferry to the city, had dinner at Oh! Taisho somewhere downtown, took the wrong train and got lost in the subway, and walked around the business district while the rain was pouring out. It’s Day 4 of being surrounded by New Yorkers, seeing dried yellow and orange leaves, keeping a metrocard in my pocket all the time, and having to be under layers of clothing.

Most of all, I still can’t get over the fact that I get to spend real time with my boyfriend during lunch breaks and after work hours in a fabulous city such as this, after months/years of being so far away from each other. <3

Breathe, Riz, you’ll get used to it. I’m giving you another week.

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Destinations Faith Talk

Thoughts about packing, pocket-sized mothers, and stuff that are both exciting and scary

November 2, 2010 – 1:21 am

It’s hard to keep up with my life sometimes. I relocated from one apartment to another in the past 5 years faster than I could empty out boxes from my previous move, I would repack my bags even before I’ve fully adjusted to a new place, and I would say good bye to neighbors and guards even before I’ve memorized their names.

Don’t get me wrong. I love the thrill that comes with starting over, checking out real estates, holding a plane ticket in my hand, and being in places outside the comforts of my zone. It’s just that.. I’ve never really been anywhere that far. No matter how much I loved all my solo adventures, I’ve always found comfort in the fact that my mother is just in the next city, or that my travels don’t usually extend longer than just a couple of days.

And can I just say, I hate hate hate packing more than anything in the world! Also, having to say good bye to people I love. I wish there’s a way I could skip those parts. I wish I could just magically transport everything in my life and take them with me wherever I go. I wish mothers were like pocket-sized mirrors so I could take mine from out of my pocket whenever I start feeling lost, alone, and in need of directions. I wish there’s a way I could put all my loved ones in one place so I won’t have to pack, say good bye, adjust and readjust all the time. I wish, I wish, I wish.

In a couple of days I would start stuffing my suitcases again (when I just settled back home, ahh, the story of my life!). And while this is just a trip and not really a permanent change of address (at least not yet), my mind reels with all the preparations and adjustments and homesickness and emotional attachments that are going to strike me from all directions.

It’s tiring, all this moving around, and I’ve contemplated whether or not this is the kind of life that I wanted one too many times. (Just in case you’re curious, all the contemplations usually end with a sigh and a white flag raised high and mighty, knowing I’d choose to live the same way even if I have to go through life over again.)

On the upside, I’ve somehow acquired skills that let me cope more easily whenever time calls forth big and small changes in my life. I’ve learned to acknowledge that all these years of temporarily changing addresses, and being in situations where I have to figure things out on my own, are God’s way of making me strong and preparing me for more permanent things.

You have no idea how much that excites me and scares me at the same time.

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Destinations Faith Talk

It’s always good to look back

October 25, 2010 – 5:52 pm

Post script. Another reason why I will never regret blogging with my heart all these years. Here’s a snippet from a blog I posted just before I turned 22 years old, May 2005:

Often, I find myself holding my passport in my hands, smiling as I stare at my ID picture which is beaming right back at me, and thanking God for those days my prayers happened right before my eyes. I browse through the empty pages, believing that some time in the next five years, I’m going to have an Australian visa stamped right on its pages. And after a few minutes of enjoying the feel of its synthetic leather cover and its smooth pages on my hands, I close the book and put it in an empty box that I know will soon be filled with memories of more dreams and answered prayers. ;)

God took me this far. And I believe He’s taking me farther as He wills.

Barely three years later, I got an Australian stamp on my passport, and had one of the most life-changing trips in my life.

Not only has blogging allowed me to breathe a little easier in my happiest and most difficult of times, it has also served as my time machine, my portal to the past anytime I feel like wanting to get in touch with my younger self. Milestone after milestone, preserved on this little space in the web I can always access everytime I need to be reminded how God answered prayers in this life of mine.

And oh my wow. Has it really been 5 years since? Sometimes I have to remind myself that I’m 27 years old!

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Destinations Life as I Know It

One last stop

August 26, 2010 – 12:54 pm

I know I said my next blog would be when I’ve already settled in, but you know how it’s like when it’s the last day of something, you can’t help but take a lot of photos and/or try to translate what’s going on inside your head to words and sentences because somehow, you want to remember this one last moment?

Sometimes I wonder why I subjected myself to this self-inflicted stress of moving from one place to another in the past 5 years. 7 apartments in 5 years, 8 if I’m going to count this homecoming.

LOL. And I’ve documented 5 out of 8 of them too!

So yep, it’s the 8th time I’m putting my stuff inside moving boxes, and every time I do, this little voice inside my head would go, “One last stop, Riz, just one last.”

I’m done packing, and I’m savoring this last night.

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