~uGoGirl~

Louise, an architecture student and one of my friend’s sisters, recently visited Barcelona, Spain with some of her batch mates for an educational tour. It’s inevitable that they ended up there, really, because Barcelona is noted for its great architectural richness. They of course checked in a Barcelona hotel with easy access to all major attractions of the city like the Ramblas, Plaza Catalunya and the Gothic quarter.

According to my friend, Angelica, the sister of Louise, they took several pictures during their trip especially during their stroll along the broad avenues and monumental fountains. Knowing how much I love beautiful places, Angelica promised to show me the pictures as soon as they’re printed. I’ve been planning to go there as well, but I’m in a cash shortage. So I was really ecstatic to find out that those financially challenged people can opt to avail of cheaper accommodation in Barcelona like university residences and youth hostels. Maybe I’ll give it a try…

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Its two months before Christmas!

My colleagues and I started planning for our entire Christmas Breaks yesterday while having coffee after work. Since we are all saving up for Christmas presents and gadgets like new laptop or phone, we decided to just avail of Cheap Holidays Abroad. It was fine with me because searching and availing of bargain holidays are my specialty.

They all wanted to go to a beach, so I suggested going to Goa, a tranquil beach paradise situated on the west coast of India. I did further research and found out about the Goa Holidays package from Holidays Over The Net which includes indulging in bacchanalian delight and a wide range of aquatic sports, aside from the opportunity to relax at the glorious never ending shore line, beaches with sparkling sand of Goa. They would definitely love this combination of activities.

We’ll still have a poll about it next week though before we finalize anything.

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To celebrate Anne’s successful thesis defense today, my mom gave her two tickets to Madrid, a great city of monuments, to have more insights about the Spanish art. Her thesis is basically about the relativism in the art of a particular country.

Excited about the trip, Anne already created a list of destinations and of course, started booking in one of the hotels in Madrid which she selected based from some hotel updates. Her main target places are the “Golden Triangle” which consists of The Prado (considered as the most famous Madrid art gallery which houses an extensive collection of works from the 12th - 19th centuries), the Reina Sofia (hosts contemporary artworks and a lot of Picasso pieces including Guernica), and Thyssen-Bornemisza (contains paintings ranging from Durero, Titian, Goya, Degas, Renoir, to Kandinsky or Rothko, that are hailed as the best private collection of 13th to 20th century art).

She asked me to join her there especially since she knows I’m willing to split the Madrid lodging fee with her. Unfortunately, I have important scheduled meetings during her trip. I asked her to just take several pictures and buy some souvenirs for me.

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This Friday, on my Aunt’s farewell party, my cousin, who is a chocolate addict, immediately dragged me to the computer as soon as I arrived at their house, and excitedly showed me this very astonishing article at http://kathika.com entitled, Dozens of Attractions at Hersheypark, Pennsylvania. My family and I are big chocolates fan, especially the Hershey Dark Chocolate Bar and Kisses. We were all in awe on my cousin’s discovery. All this time, we were not aware about an existing chocolate park.

Anyhow, upon reading the article’s title, I was expecting the park to be bombarded with chocolates. That is, my usual fantasy of chocolate fountain, chocolate-coated houses, and the like. Something like the one in the Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory movie.

I was a bit disappointed though as I read through the article. The Hersheypark was not like something from the Willy Wonka movie. It is actually an amusement park with 60 rides, that is currently celebrating its 100th anniversary. Still, there is the Hershey’s Chocolate World which sets it apart from the usual park. According to the article:

You can take the Great American Chocolate Tour to learn how Hershey’s bars are produced (and maybe get to taste one or two along the way), try your hand at operating the Hershey’s Kisses packaging line and even create your own personalized Hershey’s chocolate bar wrapper.

Cool, eh? ^_^ Hersheypark is definitely worth visiting. In case you are interested in spending more than one day in “the sweetest place on earth”, you will be amazed to find out that they have on site accommodation, with yummy labels too, I might add. They are the Hershey Lodge, the Hotel Hershey, and the Hershey Highmeadow Campground. Do take note that, according to the article at kathika.com, the Hersheypark is closed on January, February and March.

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My college friends and I are planning to do an out of town trip this coming November to celebrate the return of Ef, a San Diego accountant and one of our batch mates. Since I’m very thorough in organizing, they made me in charge of finding a good accommodation. Of course, my first stop was the internet.

I was surprised when I landed on HotelsCombined.com. It’s like a Hotel search engine that searches multiple hotel reservation websites simultaneously. HotelsCombined.com’s a timesaver, really, since it provides an instant comparison of hotel details such as rates, taxes and availability on one simple web page. With that information, you can find the lowest rate instantly.

Next time I’m tasked to find a cheap hotel reservation, I’ll definitely visit that site again.

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Anne is planning to go to New York with my Aunt Gie this May. One of her problems was transporting PeeWee, her pet dog, to New York.

I helped her by doing some research on pet care while travelling. Here are some guidelines I read from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals’ (ASPCA) Safe Air Travel Tips:

• Commit yourself to transporting your pet/s on commercial airlines
• ASPCA recommends that you not fly your pet unless your animal is small enough to fit under your seat and you can bring him or her in the cabin.
• Ensure that your pet’s overall health condition is good and updated by getting a health certificate from your veterinarian dated within 10 days of departure.
• Aside from a collar, make sure your pet is wearing an identification tag, complete with destination information in case your pet escapes.
• To avoid leaving your pet on the tarmac during extreme weather conditions or being mishandled by baggage personnel, book a direct flight whenever possible.
• Make sure to place your pet on a USDA-approved shipping crate that is large enough for your pet to stand, sit and turn around in comfortably.
• Label the crate with “Live Animal” on all sides and put arrows to prominently indicate the upright position of the crate. Similar to travelling bags, write the name, address and telephone number of your pet’s destination point.
• Affix a current photograph of your pet to the top of the crate for identification purposes. This could be a lifesaver should your pet escape from the carrier. Make sure to also carry a photograph of your pet.
• If the plane is delayed, or if you have any concerns about the welfare of your pet, insist that airline personnel check the animal whenever feasible.

There you go. I also suggest you get a pet insurance just in case. Make sure you get the type of insurance that also covers the death of the dog due to accidents. Hope this helps.

Happy travelling with your pets!

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My mom and dad are currently using a second hand maroon Mitsubishi Lancer. When their pension resumes in 2008, they said they’ll be handing the car to me. It’s a 1998 automatic model, and other than the fact that it needs some paint job and the tires ought to be replaced, the car’s in good condition. It may not be as fancy as the used cars in San Diego, but hey, it gets me to my destination. So, why not? ^_^

I’ve been planning several road trips, but as of the moment, I am not allowed to drive it farther than the nearest city; unless my dad tags along of course. I wish tomorrow’s already 2008 so I can start inviting my friends on road trips.

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My sister Anne invited over a few friends for a slumber-drinking gathering. In the course of our conversation, I found out that one of her friends, LJ, is a tattoo artist and is a member of a prestigious tattoo artists’ organization.

I’m not really fond of tattoos, but when I found out that you can customized tatoos designs, my curiosity was heightened. Then LJ uttered the magic words – glow in the dark tattoos. He said that he didn’t know it was possible until he went into a tattoo exhibit and during the event one guy removed his upper clothes and people didn’t see any tattoo on his skin. They thought it was just sheer hoax. Then someone turned off the lights and the audience jaws dropped. There were glow in the dark tattoos all over his body.

I want a glow in the dark tattoo!!! Unfortunately, my friend said that it is quite expensive, very few artists are capable of doing that, they wish to remain anonymous, and does not want to share their techniques to other artists. *Sigh* Should you know where I could get a glow in the dark tattoo, please drop a line. Gracias!

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Sara Sidle: Is there truly no place left in Las Vegas without slot machines? (CSI Las Vegas)

Yep. That’s Las Vegas for you - an internationally known entertainment and gambling destination. In fact, according to Wikipedia, Las Vegas is “The center of gambling in the United States and the world” and is also commonly known as “The Entertainment Capital of the World”.

You can even find casinos in most hotels in Las Vegas such as Binion’s Gambling Hall and Hotel, Plaza Hotel & Casino, and MGM Grand Hotel and Casino. So for gaming fanatics, what better way to spend your vacation than to book in one of Las Vegas Hotels and try your luck with the hotel amenities like your dream slot machines? With the tons of gaming avenues in that place, I have to agree with Nick Stokes in CSI Las Vegas, “They should do a commercial for the city – ‘Las Vegas: where even the beaver can strike it rich.’”

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I love food and two of my favorites are pizza and pasta. Consequently, I am also a fan of Italian restaurants.

My friend Dof, who lives in San Diego, knows how fond I am of pizza and pasta. Dof boasted that he tasted the best Italian pizza and pasta in Trattoria Acqua, one of the restaurants in La Jolla. They actually have a website and I found out that it is included in the “Top 10 Italian Dining destinations in America” by USA Today magazine, and received the “Italian Gold Award” by Southern California’s Restaurant Writers Association consistently from 2001-2006. Definitely a must not miss Italian restaurant.

Since I live far, he promised me that if I do visit them, he’ll buy me dinner at that restaurant. For now, I am content in just sharing my friend’s new discovery to my blog readers. In case you’re near there and would like to have a taste of authentic home style Italian food in a Mediterranean setting, Trattoria Acqua is located at 1298 Prospect Street in La Jolla, California.

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