The Anatomy Of A Road Trip

The evening of our office audit, I left Zamboanga as the vehicle sped towards Dapitan. With my cousin B taking up the driver’s wheel, C by my side and friends, I experienced a twenty-hour trip from one island to the next, and making it through a mountain range finally arriving in Bacolod.

In general I was just really grateful to experience Bacolod and see what it’s like to ply the route that my cousin frequently takes and got to note the stories of the sugarcane plantations that can be seen at the side of the road. It has a sinister tone to it but I’d like to write a short story about it someday.

 As for what makes a memorable road trip in my opinion, here’s the breakdown of one for the books. 

We took B's Nissan Terra for a drive

A comfortable and spacious vehicle

It was a perfect time to go for a test drive. My cousin B went on this route many times and with different vehicles, but I think it’s the first time for the Nissan Terra. It was absolutely a breeze to be cruising along the beauty of the island of Negros and with a spacious and smooth drive like the Terra, there was a lot of space for our bags and for six people all in all. The back had foldable seats for reclining to make space for our luggage, because C and I both agreed ahead of time to bring luggage, and I always bring an extra backpack, then our friends also brought their respective duffel bags.

To illustrate, our route was to leave from Zamboanga by 8:00 in the evening then arrive by 3:00 AM in Dapitan to catch the boat that will cross all the way to Dumaguete, arriving at around 8:00 AM for breakfast and then resume, passing by Mabinay, Bago City and then arrive in Bacolod by 5:00 PM. Do take note that there are security checks before boarding the barge and that passengers are required to submit their baggage through x-rays and also wait at the terminal before boarding.

With a continuous playlist of acoustic tracks, we made it, with occasional stops for food, especially for breakfast and lunch of course. 

Enjoying the scenery on the way: Church at the Municipality of Hinigaran

A capable driver and a spare driver

We were quite confident with our company in case B couldn’t continue driving because the trip alone was about 20 hours long. But at least we had two more spare drivers who were experienced on highway drives and long-haul trips. C knows the route to Dapitan by heart and R also knew Negros because of countless times visiting. Thankfully nothing happened that required us to switch drivers during our journey on the road.

Another plus with this arrangement is that our designated, capable driver also had a few stories to share about the sugarcane plantations (read: blood sacrifice for a bountiful harvest) but that’s just some eerie bedtime story, (or so at least I think).

Snacks and water

Nobody gets hungry in Negros especially if there are a lot of street side vendors selling fruits and all sorts of snacks on the way. Of course, I brought water and snacks on hand to endure the trip. Dried fruit and mixed trail with nuts sometimes does the job.

Necessary pitstops

Here’s where breakfast, lunch and dinner come in, as well as bathroom breaks. Luckily we had no issues with any of these. Dumaguete alone has a handful of places offering affordable meals and to freshen up before resuming the trip.

On the way to Bacolod as we were nearing, we had a taste of the famous KBL, a spicy stew that’s best paired with white rice. It’s also known as Kansi, Baboy at Langka, and is a good comfort food during rainy days. 

A destination that makes it all worthwhile

There’s supposed to be a storm coming in, but we made it all in perfect timing. I received a call from my father shortly after we arrived in Bacolod where we were staying in P’s home, asking where we were because my parents were worried about the storm coming in, which would mean that we were going to be stranded if we didn’t get to cross Dapitan to Dumaguete.

However, we made it in good time and it was a good experience for us to be able to make that trip and to end 2018 in  P’s hometown. The plan was to immerse ourselves in Bacolod as we took a break from work and greeted 2019 energized and full of hope.

The next day would be another day in Sugarlandia with plans to visit its attractions. It was one of the long but rewarding road trips that will be catalogued in my memory and taught me that the best that a road trip can be is spontaneous and made with good company.

Disclaimer: This post is in no way sponsored by Nissan Philippines, Inc. or its affiliates. All inputs are based on my experiences during the travel described. 

Destination Diary: Sta. Cruz Island

Being Zamboangueno, I can’t help feeling a bit proud to say that we live next to one of National Geographic’s 21 Best Beaches in the World.

Of all the beaches in the Philippines as well as the planet, our very own Sta. Cruz Island made it to the shortlist of the Top 21. It landed a sweet spot in the 15^th, not bad for being there with the other gorgeous beaches from England, Seychelles, Cambodia and even North Carolina.

Because of the crushed red corals mixed in with the fine, powder white sand, the beach from afar reflects a pink tint and is widely dramatic come sunset. It’s only one of a handful pink, sand beaches in the country, and for someone living in Zamboanga, I can’t express how lucky we were to be invited to spend the night there summer of this year. I invited Michelle to come along and on such short notice, she agreed.

Overnight Stay in the Village

We’ve always talked about coming over for a while now. I’ve visited before, but my day trips were always limited to the swimming area. Spending the night meant seeing the village and cruising through the lagoon. On a long weekend, we finally met up with our former boss who is enjoying retirement life and then hopped on a short boat ride and headed straight to the village.

One advantage is that our former division chief has a home in the village, which she generously allowed us to stay in. together with her family and friends from work, we occupied their house and had a hearty lunch right in front of the beautiful shores of the island.

After lunch, we went on a visit to the lagoon where we rode on yellow boats and experienced leisurely rowing around, looking at lazy jellyfish, standing on sandbars and spotting blue starfish, bats and sea grapes which I reminiscingly called “small grapes” when I was younger. Locally, they are known as latu.

No starfish were harmed in the capture of this photo

Sandbar in the lagoon on a low tide

Sea grapes from the lagoon are a rich source of iodine

After our lagoon cruise, we went on a stroll to the only village school for a short while amidst the white sand all over the island. The locals were surprised to see a group of “mainlanders” walking about, but we were told that most of the villagers are related, so that makes them one big family in a way.

Michelle's New Career

 

After dinner that night, we were sitting on the shore, looking at the city with its lights. We could hear the sounds from Paseo del Mar and the gentle breeze from the ocean was slightly humid. Some of our companions brought a tent and camped outside right there on the shore, while we occupied the floor of the house’s living room.

View of Zamboanga City from Sta. Cruz's Shores 

While on the island, we got to experience the unplugged life, although there was cellular signal for communication, we got to see that most villagers relied on solar powered lamps and drinking water was a scarcity. With the help of motorboats, almost anything from the city can be delivered to the villagers at any time of the day.

The Swimming Area

The next morning, we headed on to the swimming area after breakfast, which was swarming with tourists and visitors because it was summer. Here’s where we played the board game that I brought, Monopoly Ultimate Baking, where I eventually lost to my friends.

Accessories for sale are somewhat a cottage industry on the island

Swimming Area features the I Love Zamboanga standee

Monopoly Ultimate Banking

After our quick and simple lunch, we paid a quick visit to the sandbar (which only shows up during low tide) and then finally docked back in the boulevard as we concluded our overnight stay.

Clarifications

To answer a few questions, the swimming area is the only portion where tourists are allowed to spend the day and is managed by the City Tourism Office. Only a limited number of visitors is allowed to regulate the ecosystem of the island.

We were invited by the family already living on the island for an overnight stay so arrangements were made months before we departed for the island.

To be honest, I consider myself lucky to have this story to share, because not a lot of visitors get to spend the night on the island unless they were born there or have stayed as a local all their life. But what makes this experience special is that it’s spent with good friends on one of National Geographic’s 21 Best Beaches in the World.  

ZC Had Its Very First Planner Meet…

And only five people showed up, not including our escorts LOL.  

         

So in our group messenger alone, we all decided and picked on the venue to meet in. We settled on Third Cup Café in LM Hotel, Tetuan. We also brought small gifts to share with our new friends.

It was an afternoon of getting to know and also working on our journal pages, planners and simply getting messy.

As for food, we ordered snacks like cheesecake, nachos overload and coffee to munch while waiting for the glues and glitters to dry on our creative projects.

We spent hours and hours talking and crafting and before heading on home, piled all our planners and notebooks to take a photo of our obligatory (?) planner tower.

Even if we know that crafting can be a bit messy, we did clean up after so that the café can allow us to come back when we shall decide to meet again in the future.

I came home with gifts from new friends and I also hope they enjoyed the ones that I brought too. It was a good experience and I hope to be a part of the next one, hopefully with more members too. 

It’s Planner Season….

And that means that I’m already in the market for next year’s planner.

Ever since I’ve entered the corporate world, I’ve listed all my activities and schedules in a planner because I can’t afford to miss a deadline. Time management is the key to surviving. All the more, I need to be better at it because I’m also in school.

I use a planner for work, school and sometimes blog activities and I’ve learned a thing or two about balancing all my activities.

It’s sort of become my standard procedure to look at planners that work for me at the end of the year and to scout and save up for the ones that I want to buy. It’s sort of my year-round companion so it’s worth the purchase. For this year, I went with the Best Things Are Yet To Come Mini Happy Planner. Because I also used it for brain dump and as a budget planner (occasionally a travel planner), I also write my thoughts on filler paper that I ordered online from Saffy Tenten. Because it became bulky, I also got the rose gold expander discs and that served me well throughout the year.

And as 2019 comes closer, I’m slowly going through my Mini Happy Planner and I’m also finishing its pages. Later on, it will sit on my shelf and join the other planners that have kept me company in the years prior.

It also means that I’m hunting for next year’s planner as early as now.

I’ve narrowed down the choices to two: the DYL Planner which I think will be helpful for school, and the MAMBI Classic which will be useful for work and other commitments, especially travel plans and budget. Other planners made it to the shortlist, but I’ll discuss the details later on.

Photo from Design Your Life Planner 2019

DYL Planner for School (Php 650)

I thought that I might give the DYL Planner a chance for next year. I was drawn into it because of the fun design, and because it has travel planner pages. Not only that, there are a bunch of helpful sections there as well, like finances and goals. As an added bonus, there’s a bunch of new accessories to match it with too. 

Accessories to match it with:

sticker book (Php 450)

coffee dessert clear stamps (Php 725)

gold foil leaves wide washi (Php 190)

vaporwave sticker flakes (Php 120) 

Classic MAMBI Planner for Work

I’ve used the Mini Happy Planner and I thought of giving the Classic size a try because of the bigger writing spaces and because I write a lot. I have this habit of dumping all my thoughts all at once in a given day, and because with what I do, details matter all the time.

I’m torn between the Mermaidesque and New Adventure in Classic size because I tend to gravitate towards mermaid designs and of course, anything that is travel inspired will definitely get my attention and keep me fantasizing for the next destination to visit.

Photo from Michaels Stores 

Mermaidesque

The Mermaidesque design is all about foiled details on a lovely color scheme of blue, purple and pink. I’m not sure though it the vertical layout will work for me as I’m used to the horizontal layout. So I went and searched some more in Michaels and found the pretty design in blues and violets. 

Photo from Michaels Stores

New Adventure

This design is for those bitten by the travel bug and I’ve thought of settling on this design to make use of all the travel-inspired stickers that I’ve received this year, while planning for the next escape. I thought of filling it up with filler paper for all those diary entries and then some project pages as well. The tricky part is checking and comparing rates and how to get the best deals from sellers here. 

Accessories to match it with:

Puncher (Php 920)

Sticker books (Php 850)

Happy Notes Fill Paper (Php 320)

Dot Grid Fill Paper (Php 320) 

Photo from Sheila Mae Ruiz on Facebook 

Starbucks 2019 Japan Planner

The 2019 Starbucks Japan version also caught my eye, because you know me, if anything has anything to do with mermaid, I’m down. I see that it can be a good school planner, besides school for me is all about preparing outputs and reports for class discussions and complying with requirements, so I don’t need that much extra pages for a school planner. However, I wouldn’t want to spend for drinks and collect stickers just to claim a planner because there’s no Starbucks branch in Zamboanga City and I’m lactose intolerant (LOL #sorrynotsorry) hahaha. Also, I know that there are people who hoard planners and price them insanely high as New Year comes closer. So I won’t be caught in the rush though.

So there, yeah. I’m going to save for my choice planners and then make the plunge before the year ends and so that I can set it up before officially welcoming 2019.

How about you? What are your planner picks for 2019? 

Review: Staedtler Triplus Fineliner 10’s

Who would have thought that I’d be writing about these babies years after I’ve had them?

To be honest, I reserved this set only for the special art projects. I knew that these were kind of hard to replace because I got them through special order only, I think back in 2012-13 (?).

With enough use, I can share my thoughts about them with you:

Pros

• Fine tips for small writing spaces
• Triangular body shape makes control easy
• Ink flows continuously!
• That being said, colors are pigmented and this is quite impressive too
• Case is multi-functional, it can stand on its own and give easy access to the pen colors you wish to use
• Dry Safe feature means the pens can be left uncapped for a number of days without drying up (but I haven’t done so yet)
• Slim and convenient, can be brought anywhere for those doodling activities

Cons 

• 10 colors only, can be limiting
• Not readily available here
• A bit pricey for me ($12.75)

I like that they can be packed in travel with no sweat, plus ten slim colors for writing on traveler’s notebooks can do wonders. Even if I’ve had this set for years, I can still use them up to many more because of their long-lasting ink and usability. I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of these.

What are your favorite pen liners? Do you own a similar set? Share your thoughts in the comment box so that we can start a discussion, and I’ll post a series about my traveler’s notebooks soon.