Do you remember the time when you were asked to sit still or stand in the corner because you’ve been a handful all day? When we were kids, we don’t understand why our parents would give us time-outs when all we could think about is to run all over the place, jump, scatter toys, draw, ask questions, laugh boisterously… endless.

At 33, I feel that way. It feels like God is asking me to stay still when all I could think about is move. I want to take up programming, learn something new, finish work and do more, visit our satellite office, go to places, travel more, gym, facial… endless.

What’s stopping me is for one Lia doesn’t have yaya. I have to baby sit all day. In between I would fetch the kids from school, do errands, help kids with homework and prepare food. It wouldn’t be too hard if I don’t have work to do. Another thing, since we just came from a vacation, it’s not feasible to just plan for another travel even if I want to. But you see, travel for me is addicting. Not shopping but travel. If money is not an issue, I would love to go to Singapore-Thailand-Malaysia and Australia this year. Then next year we’ll be back to Europe to perhaps visit London again (Zach and Lia’s first time) or another Euro trip to Amsterdam, Spain and Greece. Dream… dream… dream.

As of now, not that I’m naughty, I decided to be a good child and follow what God wants me to do… stay still, relax, think, wait and enjoy the company of my family full time.

I’ve always wanted to drive. I don’t like the idea of me at the back of the car with a driver on the wheels because I want to be the one driving. So imagine how excited I was when finally I enrolled myself to a driving school 3 years ago, even if I was pregnant with Lia. Learning to drive manual wasn’t easy. It came to a point when I was about to accept the fact that my driving will be limited to short distances. But because Gary was becoming too busy to drive for me and my need to go to places was increasing, not to mention the need to bring/fetch the kids to/from school, I made an extra effort to really learn how to be a good driver. And (I think) I became one.

Driving an automatic was a piece of cake. Unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to last long. Now I drive a manual (SUV) again.

I find freedom in driving. I prefer city driving, though, than long drive perhaps because of the trauma I had from the accident. The idea of driving to bring my loved ones to where they ought to go (even Gary for meetings) and fetch them excites me.

Maybe its the joy of being the one in control of the wheels while singing my favorite song on the radio that makes all the effort seems effortless.

As the line from Eraserhead’s famous song Overdrive goes… ‘magda-drive ako hanggang… buwan!’

Not even in my wildest dream did I thought of getting near the Swiss Alps, more so have sunset dinner at the highest hotel of the said mountain, the 3100 KULMHOTEL GORNERGRAT. I have to say it’s an experience one should never miss in his or her lifetime, given the chance. To get there, from Zermatt you have to ride the Gornergrat Bahn train which runs on a winding path from Zermatt to the Gornergrat mountain summit at 3089 meters. During the ascent, you will be amazed by the magnificent view of snow covered mountain peaks, impressive bridges, tunnels and scary cliff. When you get there, you’ll enjoy the snow-covered viewing deck which provides a panoramic view of Monte Rosa massif, the Liskamm, the Breithorn and the majestic Matterhorn. The dinner on the other hand offers a 3-course meal of which Chinese fondue with various sauces (similar to shabu-shabu), fruits, chips and rice complete the main course. Words can’t describe the experience so better see for yourself.

I cannot say I’ve captured Italy as a whole because each of its cities is rich in its own history, culture, cuisine, and beauty and I’ve only been to three namely Milan, Venice and Rome. But at least the experience gave me something to smile about when I hear the word Italy.

1. Thin crust pizza
Forget about stuffed crust and pan pizzas because they will serve you plain looking but really tasty thin crust pizzas. If we usually order pizza for a group of 4-5 to consume, they usually have the whole pizza for one, that’s how thin it is. To share, there’s this Florida pizza in Rome that is cheap but really tastes good. They say it’s rich because it’s on the oily side and most Italians don’t like that much because they’re health conscious but for tourists it’s two-thumbs up.

2. Interesting and breath-taking churches (also as burial site)
Just in Rome, number of Basilicas can be found. Of course St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City is number one where St. Peter’s tomb is found. Basilica of St. John Lateran, Santa Maria Maggiore and St. Paul completes the four Major Basilicas of Rome. There’s St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice. I’ve also seen Basilica di S. Ambrogio and Duomo in Milan.

3. Fountains, museums, structures and other ancient wonders
Sistine Chapel, Fontana di Trevi, Colloseum, Pantheon, Roman Empire, Castles, Palazzo Ducale and so so much more that either I couldn’t name or I wasn’t able to see.

4. Cobblestone-covered street. It makes me feel I’m in the early days where you see horses instead of cars, trams and buses.

5. Gelato. A small cup costs around 3 euros, expensive right? But I must say it really tastes good. It’s not too sweet and has a different creaminess in it, not to mention flavors you’ve never tried before in an ice cream.

6. Italian ham (Prosciutto) and cheese.

7. Public transport is everywhere. There’s metropolitane (underground systems), trains for intercity transfers, trams, buses, vaporetto (waterbus in Venice). All you need is a map (which is usually free but sold in other cities like Venice and Rome) and patience to understand which goes where.

8. Drinking fountains. Cool natural spring water flows endlessly from drinking fountains on nearly every Roman street corner. Bring a water jug and your water is free in Rome.

9. Coffee experience. Definitely no starbucks or any coffee shop that offer mug-sized coffee. I am not really a fan of their coffee because what they serve you is really strong half-filled small cup of coffee (like an espresso shot). It’s the feeling of drinking a coffee in one of the calles (narrow street) in Italy that’s priceless.

10. Gondola ride. I wouldn’t leave Italy without experiencing this. It has been my dream since childhood. And I must say that you really can’t have the feel of Venice without riding a gondola. It’s a bit expensive I must say (80-100 euros for 6 people with 40 minutes duration, amount depending on the time of the day) but it’s a once in a lifetime experience so forget about the money just this time.

I know I still missed a lot of great cities in Italy like Tuscany, Florence, Naples, Bologna and so much more. Maybe next time. I hope.

After getting a UK visa last year, we decided to try our luck with Schengen visa this year. Thanks to internet, we were able to prepare all the documents needed plus plus. Plus plus because we submitted some documents that turned out to be ‘useless’ in the application. The ‘interviewer’ at the France embassy gave back our land titles, business documents (other than the SEC certification, business permit and filed income tax) and credit card billings. This is because we were not able to find a site that guided us 100% with the application, so I thought of enumerating all the things that really matter for families with business wanting to get a schengen visa;

1. Application form with two (2) recent colored passport size photographs.
2. Letter to the Embassy expressing your desire to go to one (or more) countries included in the Schengen area.
3. Valid passport with at least 6 months validity. Photocopy the front page and all the visas acquired. Bring the old passport/s, if any.
4. Confirmed hotel bookings. In my case, I secured booking from booking.com because they offer free cancellation on most of the hotels that they feature.
5. Plane Itinerary. It doesn’t have to be booked yet. You can ask for a trusted travel agency to provide you one.
5. Detailed Itinerary. This includes the hotel and means of transportation from the time you leave your point of origin until you come back.
6. NSO certified birth certificates and marriage contract.
7. Travel Insurance good for the whole travel period plus additional 15 days with minimum medical coverage of 30,000 euros.
8. Source of funds and means of supporting the whole family throughout the travel. (In our case we don’t have relatives there or anyone to accomodate us)
8.1 Personal account – bank certificates (secured from the bank) and 3-month bank transactions (photocopy of passbook will do)
8.2 Company account – bank certificates and 3-month bank transactions
8.3 Last year’s tax return (in our case we submitted tax return of our business)
8.4 SEC certification if your business is a corporation
8.5 Business Permit
9. Proof of return for the children; enrolment form, excuse letter, report card
10. Payment: 60 euros for adult, 35 for children. Children below 6 are free of charge. You can pay in peso but you should bring exact amount.

France embassy will only get photocopies of your documents. (But just bring along all the original just in case they would ask for it). Be sure to have the numbers 1-7 for all the members of the family because each should submit his/her own application. As for the number 8, parents usually have them on file. Obviously, children attending school should have number 9.

I thought that we will just literally submit documents but there is an informal interview asking for the places we plan to visit, if we have travelled outside Asia, what our business is all about and so on.

Call France embassy to get an appointment. In our case we were given one month after our call. Lesson learned, don’t wait for your documents to be complete before making a call. We ended up postponing out vacation one month after.

After submission of documents/interview, you have to wait for at least 10 days for them to review your documents. They will give you a date as to when you have to go back to get your visa or otherwise. In our case, we were so blessed to be granted with tourist visa good for 45 days with 30 day duration.

Hundred Islands in Alaminos Pangasinan is definitely a place for those who love to swim, dive, do snorkeling and/or island hopping. For only Php 1,100, you can rent a large boat (good for 11-14 persons) and visit their three well-known islands namely; Quezon, Children’s and Governor. After which, you can choose from the three islands where you plan to stay for the rest of the day. On the other hand, you can pay Php2000 (try to ask for a better deal) if you want to see all the islands with beach area. Entrance fee is only Php20 pesos and kids of 5 years and below are free.

If you have kids with you, it is adviceable to bring enough food, water and what have you because each island has limited (if not none) supplies to offer. Aside from that, you have to really be early because cottages are on a first come first served basis. Obviously, as the name suggests, Children’s island is the best place to stay because the water on the beach area is shallow and pool-like where boundaries are known.

If you travel alone or with adult companions, you can just bring back-pack with enough food and change clothes and enjoy swimming and island hopping. I suggest you choose an island even without cottages and enjoy the peace of having the island on your own.

Change of plans.

We decided not to include London because I don’t want to go through the hassle of applying for 2 different visas.

After weeks of waiting for the Audited Financial Statement which is a requirement for filing annual income tax, of which income tax is a requirement for Schengen visa application, we finally asked for a visa appointment and May 11 was given to us.

Meaning, after May 11 we have to allot at least 10 days for the visa result to come-out. Thus, we need to re-sched our travel from May to June. (Which came out as a blessing because we need to set-up the satellite office in Pangasinan before we can have our month-long vacation.)

Itinerary now includes Paris(France) – Brussels(Belgium) – Zurich(Switzerland) – Frankfurt(Germany) – Milan(Italy) – Venice – Rome.

I love booking.com for those ‘free cancellation’ bookings they offer.

We’ll enter France and exit in Rome.

I pray for our visas to be approved.

I pray that my dream of riding a gondola in venice will finally come true.

When you reach the age of 30, whether you like it or not, you have to take extra effort in taking care of your skin. In my case, I don’t like it because I am so lazy doing all those daily beauty routine. I am just lucky to have good genes that requires me minimal maintenance just so I can keep my face and body clean and fresh. But it came to a point when I realized I needed a moisturizer with UV protection, same with body lotion. Glad that I found out about The Body Shop’s Vit C collection. I have always loved Body Shop products… from lip balm, moisturizer and face powder to body wash and scrub, I’ve trusted their product for years. In this case with Vit C, I have started using their facial moisturizer with UV protection, facial cleansing polish, microdermabrasion (exfoliation) and radiance capsule (sort of a night cream). They’re a big leap already from my usual daily routine but as I’ve said… I’m not getting any younger.

When my eldest son, Marcus, started schooling, I did not ask for him to be an honor student because I just wanted him to enjoy the whole learning experience. I know he belongs to the above average group (even superior), based on his teachers’ assessment, test results and my own observation, but again I don’t want to put pressure on him. But then I realized that even if you don’t expect your kids to excel, its quite frustrating to see them ‘as if’ waste their talent and refuse to take advantage of it. Marcus gets high grades only on subjects he likes and very low on those he thinks ‘unimportant.’ Worse, he has no motivation at all to study.

Zach, on the other hand, is a born achiever. Like Marcus, I never pushed him to be the cream of the crop but he chose to be one. Best about it, he seems not to exert effort at all. Being an honor student for him is ‘as if’ a normal thing. He nags me to do homework and he loves to read. Funny because at times he won’t believe what I ask him to do unless he reads it from the diary himself.

Modesty aside, I have intelligent kids. Even Lia, I can see potential in her. She’s interested with numbers and letters already. She can pick up words and ideas easily. It’s my kids’ attitude, interests and motivation that differ. Sometimes I think maybe not being there all the time for Marcus during his growing up years (because I was still working then) could have been a factor, but I cannot really blame myself because we needed additional source of income at that time. Well, at least I gave up work before its too late. My only dream for my kids is that they become the best that they can be and I’ll do my best to ensure that.

I have talked about how I used to own credit card, I mean credit cards, to my disadvantage. Now, the wheel has turned and I believe I’m benefiting from them. As much as I would want to have only one, I cannot deny the fact that having several credit cards (I have HSBC, Citibank and Metrobank) can have its advantages. For one it expands my credit limit. Second, it’s so convenient to pay using cc than having to bring cash all the time or withdraw from ATM especially when you’re out of the country. Credit card is also convenient for online purchases and transactions. Third, I enjoy few days or even weeks of not having to use my cash because payment is still on the next due date. Fourth, I get to enjoy the perks that each of those companies provide. Like for instance HSBC, I love their free tall starbucks drink in exchange for receipts amounting to at least 2k. I was also able to avail their free Ayala GC worth 500 pesos. As for citibank, they provide rebates for purchases you make. So the more you purchase using their card, the more rebates you get. Also, we enjoy free movies in exchange for their receipts. For Metrobank on the other hand, I actually asked them to close my account since I don’t really need it. But they offered me lifetime free annual fee so I need not argue more.

Of course I have to be disciplined with all my purchases. I make sure I pay in full and on time so that I won’t pay any interest. I also use the points I earned to wave the annual fee for HSBC and Citibank. So far this is working positively for me… not unless there’s something I am not aware of.