A travel & adventure blog by Kara Santos
Maginhawa Street in Quezon City has a LOT of restaurants to pick from. You could spend a day food-tripping here with different themes. You can find everything from budget-friendly eats catering to students, garden restos ideal for dates, vegan fare, Southeast Asian street food, classic Filipino restaurants, and more.
One of the highlights of our month-long trip to Europe last year was taking it slow and getting to bike around Amsterdam, the cycling capital of the world. The capital and largest city of the Netherlands is well-known for its vibrant biking culture. Cycling isn’t just merely a tool for transportation, exercise, or leisure. It’s a way of life.
Traveling to Europe has always been on our travel bucket list. We originally hoped to go on a European tour in May 2020 for our 10th wedding anniversary, but we all know what happened that year. In the past few years, I’ve realized that life is short and we should take the time to travel and enjoy life while we can. Fast forward four years later, and the dream came true when we finally went on our first-ever trip to Europe to 10 countries for almost a month in June 2024.
UPDATE: As of January 2025, the Philippines has 82 provinces within 18 administrative regions. In June 2024, Negros Island Region (NIR) was re-established with Siquijor transferred from Region VII. In September 2022, the province of Maguindanao was split into two. This travel guide was originally completed and written in 2019 before the split and the pandemic, but has been updated to reflect the new province and newer photos from more recent revisits.
The Philippines is made up of 82 provinces, spread out under three major island groups: Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanano. Currently, there are 38 provinces in Luzon, 16 in Visayas, and 28 in Mindanao. The provinces are grouped under 18 different regions based on their geographical, cultural, and ethnological characteristics.
Continue reading “Travel Guide: 82 Provinces of the Philippines”Like most Filipino travelers, I’ve always wanted to experience winter. While our tropical country is blessed with beautiful beaches and islands, the fact that we don’t ever get to experience snow firsthand makes it extremely captivating. Traveling to a winter destination is just one of those things most of us have on our travel bucket-lists. Maybe it’s all the Hollywood movies and fairy tales we’re exposed to during Christmastime, but winter just looks like such a magical experience. My trip to Sapporo, the capital and largest city of Hokkaido, Japan’s northernmost island was my first taste of winter.
The Pasig River Ferry Service (PRFS) is currently the only water-based transportation in Metro Manila that plies the length of the Pasig River and parts of the Marikina River. As of January 2025, the alternative transport option remains FREE to ride for all passengers. The ferry, similar to a water bus, cruises along Pasig River from Pinagbuhatan in Pasig City to Escolta in Manila City.
If you’re looking for a different mode of transport for urban exploration, this commuter ferry has stations in Pasig, Mandaluyong, Makati, and Manila. While work needs to be done along the riverbanks in many areas, the ferry offers a glimpse of local life and offers a view of notable landmarks from a tourist’s perspective.
Continue reading “GUIDE: 2025 Pasig River Ferry Service route map, schedules, timetable & landmarks”NOTE: Originally written on October 2023. Last updated on January 2025.
The mere mention of the City of Pines immediately brings to mind images of hot chocolate, brewed coffee, ube jam, strawberry taho, and a lot of other iconic eats. Baguio City is an amazing destination for foodies, with a sheer variety of artistic homegrown restaurants to choose from serving all types of cuisine. In the past few years, Baguio has become a destination for beer lovers as well.
What’s new in Maginhawa? This foodie street in Teacher’s Village, Quezon City is well-known as an Arts and Food Hub, with small start-ups, family-run establishments, hole-in-the-wall restaurants, and unique concepts that have evolved over the years. Some favorite establishments closed amid the pandemic, while loads of new cafes and restos have popped up.
After a couple of days in Austria, we passed through Slovakia (the fourth country on our Europe trip), on the way to Czechia. Slovakia is a small landlocked country known for its stunning castles, folkloric traditions, and – surprisingly – cars!
Fun fact: Slovakia is the world’s largest producer of cars per capita with major automotive companies like Volkswagen, PSA (Peugeot and Citroën) and Jaguar operating in the country. We didn’t spot any of those cars though, as the main historic center is pedestrianized, which made walking around very pleasant.
Renowned for its natural landscapes, music, literature and art, Austria is a wonderful destination to visit in Europe. Austria was the third country we visited on our European tour earlier this year. After traveling around Rome and Venice in Italy, we crossed to Austria in Central Europe, which lies in the Eastern Alps. Most of us are familiar with some aspects of Austrian culture having grown up watching the classic 1965 film The Sound of Music starring Julie Andrews. The real von Trapp family once lived in Salzburg and the movie was filmed mainly in and around the city.
If you use public transportation in Metro Manila, you probably already own a beep card. These stored value cards can be used to pay fare in Metro Manila’s 3 elevated railways – the LRT, LRT-2, MRT-3, point-to-point (P2P) buses, modern PUVs and Cebu ferries.
Going cashless saves you the hassle of lining up every time to get a ticket and saves you a bit on fare compared to using single-journey tickets. These cards can also be used to pay for transactions in some convenience stores and LRT-1 stalls.
Continue reading “Where to buy limited edition Beep cards with Philippine designs”Intramuros is one of the top tourist destinations in Manila for good reason. The Old Walled City is the premiere destination for any first-time tourists in transit to Manila and the go-to destination for entertaining balikbayans who might be home for the holidays. There have been a lot of improvements to the area in recent months like the Pasig River Esplanade, new museums like Centro de Turismo Intramuros and new cafes in Intramuros, which might interest the general public.
With the traffic and limited parking in the area, driving a private vehicle and finding a place to park here can feel like a chore. If you plan to revisit Intramuros but are unsure of how to get there and around, here’s a guide to help you out.
Continue reading “How to get to and around Intramuros, Manila”Last summer, my husband Art and I went on an amazing month-long trip to 10 European countries, including bucket-list destinations Italy, Switzerland, Czech Republic and Amsterdam. Aside from all the pre-trip jitters and planning that had to be made, one of the things I was concerned about was how to handle our finances for the trip.
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