Posts Tagged ‘vacations’

How to spend the Holy Week on a shoestring budget


2009
04.06

I understand that Holy Week is the quietest time of the year as far as Manila residents are concerned. It’s a time to reflect, repent and pray, and redirect your life back to the original narrow path. However, if you’re like me with little to zero attention span and as restless as a snake, I have nice little suggestions to keep you moving without spewing cash.

1. Watch The Passion – Keep your porn collection (or maybe burn them for good) and watch The Passion of the Christ. It renews your faith and understand your purpose. Never mind those anti-Semitic sentiments. Mel Gibson could take care of it.

2. Fast – This is the good time to fast and pray. Aside from spiritual blessing, it’s also good for your waistline.

3. Read and write – If you’re into journals and books, revive these hobbies. Both can be therapeutic to the tired soul.

4. Sleep – Time to catch some if you’ve recently lost them.

5. Attend a retreat – Churches nearby are organizing retreats this Holy Week. Maybe you should try attending one nearer you. You get to meet new friends, understand yourself and other people better and keeps your purpose in life clearer.

6. Clean your closet – There might be skeletons already.

7. Surf the internet – There are over a thousand ideas that could help fix your business, manage your self and discover new interests. You could even make money, who knows?

You are most likely to spend less than a thousand bucks just by trying to endure a week of silence. It’s best this way than splurge whatever little you’ve got on a beach trip, buying pool supplies, hang out in expensive vacation houses and drown yourself in liquor until the wee hours in the morning.

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Cebu guitars


2008
10.19
Cebu guitars

Cebu guitars

We spotted a souvenir shop and a guitar store near Mactan Shrine after a heavy sutukil lunch. The souvenir shops in the area do not offer that much except for cute wooden key chains I bought at P15 each and Cebu shirts at P70. Locals peddled their dried mangoes and otap to tourists. But these varieties can also be found at any SM Mall or fast food joint where some kids approach dining customers with a letter from vague organizations and sell dried mangoes at absurd prices.

Somehow these pasalubong top guns have lost their magic leaving the Cebu guitar the sole pride of the island.

Tuning up a mahogany guitar

Tuning up a mahogany guitar

We passed by a guitar store and the colorful displays attracted us inside. Manong, the storekeeper who has been in the industry long before the invasion of remote control helicopters, played a couple of tunes on at least three units. His highly recommended piece was the mahogany guitar. To demonstrate the strength of mahogany guitars, he hit the cemented floor with one. Crazy, ‘no? But that demo certainly proved the point. The strength of Cebu guitars lies in quality materials and workmanship. Mayan finally decided to buy herself a small but nice mahogany guitar for only P1,000. Someday it might just come in handy.

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Choose your own adventure


2008
10.07

Somehow, that little child in us longs to escape reality and be caught in a magical world once more. While our choices of fantasy getaways may vary from books to PSPs, theme parks remain a top pick everyone looks forward to enjoy whether they are young or old.

Right at the heart of Missouri is a popular theme park that has attracted thousands of revelers and holidaymakers from all over the world. Branson, Missouri has been home to world-famous performances of the Oak Ridge Boys and Mickey Gilley and the stars of Grand Jubilee and The Baldknobbers. Somewhere in the spacious wonderland are dozens of entertainment offers to discover and wide selections of exciting theme park rides, museums, movie theatres, golf courses, parks and shopping malls.

Popular vacation packages are available for couples who want to spend the holiday all by themselves and huge family groups planning to bond together. Tickets to over 70 shows and attraction plus lodging and accommodations are included in the packages amounting to as low as $457. Branson Getaways also allows you to design your own adventure to suit your schedule and budget.

For reservations, contact Branson Getaways at telephone numbers 800-335-8411 (US), 800-593-4148 (Canada) and 417-336-6111 (International).

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