Christmas 2010 in Dubai, UAE

soooo.. my family and I decided to spend Christmas 2010 in Dubai. love love love everything in Dubai, except the fact that everything is so expensive. it is like every attraction you would want to visit costs AED 100 per person! i guess that wouldn’t matter so much if you were visiting the city alone or with friends. but if you’re visiting with the family, it’s kind of hard not to buy tickets for everybody.

we decided to stay in a hotel called Cassells AlBarsha. it’s about 5 to 10 minutes walk from Mall of Emirates, although we never tried to walk to get to Mall of Emirates. Instead, we decided to use the Metro. Sharaf DG Metro Station is right in front of the hotel, just a block away. the hotel is really affordable, decent and clean. the total amount we paid for 4 days and 3 nights was about AED 3000+, it comes with FREE breakfast and really fast wifi. we were lucky because we got interconnecting rooms. they have a pool and gym at the penthouse, and a business center at the lobby. they offer tours as well. we tried the desert safari tour, and it is definitely the highlight of our trip! anyone who wants to visit Dubai, should try this tour.

i took pictures of the hotel room during our first night, unfortunately, they were accidentally deleted.

Tags: albarsha, albarsha hotel, cassells albarsha, christmas in dubai, dubai, sharaf dg metro station, uae

sony hx1

got sony hx1 as a birthday gift from my parents! yey!

will post pics once i get really great shots.

Vacation 2009 – Manila Ocean Park

Before our vacation to the Philippines, we had planned to visit a lot of places, namely: Baguio, Subic, Caramoan Islands, etc. But we only got to visit Manila Ocean Park, Tagaytay, and we spent most of our time at malls or home. Nevertheless, we still had a great time.

Here are some pictures we took during our Manila Ocean Park escapade:

another christmas present!

got another christmas present! it’s from my relatives in Jeddah.

Every Christmas my Aunt would buy clothes or bags from llbean.com and have them shipped to Jeddah, she will then ship the items to us during Christmas.

So far, I have loved every thing that she has sent me.

Last year, she sent me a pink shirt, white shorts and jeans. I only got to wear the pink shirt though, the white shorts was too big (although, i really really love it), the jeans is too long and too big.

This year, she sent me a sweater! and I love love love it so much. It’s a pretty good alternative for the chunky sweater I wanted though.

LL Bean Sweater

early christmas present 2009

got an early christmas present from my boss yesterday. i already knew he was gonna give me something for christmas, but i thought he’d give it after 25th.

he got me philips ipod speakers with bluetooth and silver ipod nano (5th generation).

i really loved the speakers. my dad bought me one from Dubai before our vacation in the Philippines, i loved that too and the fact that it was portable. very convenient and we’d bring it every time we go out. I loved everything about the Philips speaker as well, it’s so up to date that it even has Bluetooth. It has a CD player, Aux (so you can play music from your cellphone and PC), a Tuner, an iPod dock and it even has a remote. The only thing I didn’t like about it is that it’s not portable.

See, I originally asked for an iPod speaker, because I wanna bring it everytime we go on trips, especially during the long car rides.. but that’s not gonna happen, because the thing needs electricity.

As for the iPod Nano, it’s everything that they advertised it to be. I loved the video camera and that it’s not totally dependent on the headphones. You can now listen to music without the headset, which is totally cool. the weird thing about it is that I didn’t like that it’s too small and light. I guess im just too used to my old iPod Video. It’s a bit heavier and bigger. But in a way, it felt like it fits my hand perfectly. So cheesy, but true. For some reason, I can not let go of my very first iPod, probably because my Aunt gave it to me for my college graduation and I had to wait for it for like a year till Graduation was over.

Free Boracay Vacation

I’ve been planning to visit Boracay for a long, long time. I’ve been hearing really good feedbacks about the place. Unfortunately, until now I haven’t had the chance to visit one of the best vacation spots in the Philippines. Although, my family and I are planning to go there on our next trip back home.

So, as I was searching for Boracay packages, I stumbled upon this site.

Win a Free Boracay Vacation Package by WOW Philippines Travel Agency
WOW Philippines Travel Agency, Inc. is celebrating it’s 5th year in business during July of 2010, and we would like you to have a chance to celebrate with us, so we have decided to give-away a FREE Boracay Package complete with 5 Star accommodations at the luxurious Le Soleil de Boracay Hotel on Boracay Island. The lucky winner will win the following Boracay vacation package.
Vacation Package Inclusions:
- 5 Days / 4 Nights Luxury 5 Star Accommodations at the Le Soleil de Boracay Hotel
- Flights to Boracay from Manila to Caticlan Airport on Philippine Airlines
- Island Transfers – Door-to-Door from Manila to the resort and back to Manila Domestic Airport
- Three (3) Meals each day, Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
- Boracay Activities – Horseback Riding, Island Hopping, Glass Bottom Boat
- PLUS – 5,000 peso Spending Cash
Read More Information: http://www.boracay-packages.com

Click on the link above for a chance to win a FREE BORACAY VACATION.

-xoxo-

Tags: boracay, boracay packages, free, philippines, vacation package

a plane ride

i decided to create a new blog. this blog will mostly be about travel i guess. i plan to post pictures of the places i’ve been to (not that much, really). but i want to remember every single thing about it. so here goes.

last july 21, 2009 we went back home to Philippines after 2 years in Saudi Arabia. Our flight was 8 pm, and we had a connecting flight in Bahrain. While waiting for the plane to board, I realized that my plane seat was different. I was holding my own passport and boarding pass, my dad was holding the rest of the passports and boarding passes. A man stopped them while boarding and wrote something on their boarding passes. Anyway, I went ahead and sat in my seat. I was waiting for my parents to arrive, I keep turning my head to see if I missed them or something. Then my seatmates start to arrive.. and one guy had the same seat number as me! I called my parents, asked them where they are and said that they were upgraded to Business Class!!! While im seated in Economy, and the men who are seated beside me are Seamen. They were really nice, but I was so upset. I felt like I should be with them. My parents tried to switch seats with me, but i thought, Im a big girl, I can handle it. But it felt like im on the verge of crying. Anyway, the man who had the same seat number as me, had a seat at the very back of the plane.

The plane took off and im still in Economy Class. I felt hopeless. Then a steward approached me and asked for my name. So I told him and he asked me to follow him. And there I was, Business Class. I was so darn happy and so were my family.

It was our first time to ride Business Class. Slept really good,  it was like I can’t go back to Economy Class. LOL.

We took pictures a few hours before landing. We even took pictures of the view.

-xoxo-

Tags: bahrain, dammam, gulf air, manila, philippines, plane