uGoGirlFriday

Named in honor of Sir Thomas Brisbane, who was Governor of New South Wales from 1821-1825, Brisbane is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland. It is around 1 hour north of Sydney, and 2 hours from Melbourne by plane.

Some of the must-see places for visitors before leaving Brisbane are the South Bank Parklands, the Roma Street Parkland, the Brisbane City Botanic Gardens, and the Mount Coot-tha state forest (which includes a lookout over the city that offers a view of the curves of the river, the lines of the freeway, and the skyline of the CBD). Oh, and don’t forget to drop by the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary so you get to experience holding a koala and feeding a kangaroo – the two popular animals in Australia.

For those planning to visit Brisbane, the first step is to make sure to find a good Accommodation in Brisbane. Depending on your need, you could book in one of the Hotels in Brisbane that are in prime elevated location, or you could avail of a Brisbane Accommodation that is just a walk away to some of the major city cites of Brisbane and South Bank. The next step of course, is to make sure to visit all the must-see places in Brisbane. Happy Traveling!

read comments (0)

Being a major tourist destination and situated on a breathtaking harbour, Sydney is Australia’s most attractive and exciting cities. For those planning to visit Sydney, I suggest you time it with one of the many different renowned festivals it hosts to be able to make the most out of your vacation, at the same time have a firsthand experience on the Sydney culture.

Some of the famous festivals in the city is the Sydney Festival (Australia’’s largest festival) and the Big Day Out (a travelling rock music festival) in January; the Sydney Royal Easter Show (largest annual 14-day event in Australia held at Sydney Olympic Park wherein competitors showcase their animals, talents and produce) in March 20 to April 2, 2008; the Australian Fashion Week on April or May; and of course, Sydney’s New Years Eve which draws more than one million people from all over the world each year.

As with anything, it is always better to plan ahead. So start booking your trips before Sydney gets crowded during the festivities. Browsing over websites like HotelClub.net, you’ll find cheap hotels in Sydney that are in prime locations. Before finalizing your plans, check out HotelClub.net’s new Travel Forum which tackles Sydney from its various types of accommodations like Sydney hotels to its renowned restaurants, nightlife and attractions, and much more. Their Sydney Forum will help you pinpoint the places not to be missed.

read comments (0)

Known as the “Magic City”, Miami is located in Southeast Florida. Ranked as U.S.’s #1 Healthiest City by Natural Health Magazine in 2002, Miami caters to action-oriented visitors from around the world with some of the world’’s top golf, tennis and sporting facilities.

Not only that, pristine waters and sun-kissed skies greet you at every turn as you enjoy Miami deep sea fishing or a luxurious dinner cruise on glass-bottom boats or a sailboat charter off the Florida coast. Sounds enticing? Imagine if you reside in one of the Miami luxury Condominiums that are located just minutes away from downtown, South Beach, arts & culture, the airport and so much more!

With a unique River of Grass and the city being the only place in the U.S. with two national parks – Everglades National Park and Biscayne National Park* – who wouldn’t want to live in Miami, Florida?

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

* Everglades National Park is an untamed ecosystem, while Biscayne National Park is the only living tropical reef within the continental U.S.

read comments (0)

I love Sex and the City. It’s about four chic female New Yorkers who gossip about their sex-lives (or lack thereof) and find new ways to deal with being a woman in the 90′’s. Though I’ve missed a few episodes, I made sure I’ve watched all the best ones. What I love best about this TV-Series is the way it featured New York. In fact, it made New York so alluring that I simply just have to personally check out the 50 most memorable locations visited by Carrie and her friends. Since I’ve never been there, I decided to browse the net for a sightseeing tour. I like the packages being offered in New York City Tours. Especially since they do not only provide tours in motorcoaches and new double-decker buses, they also offer NY harbor cruises and helicopter rides around Manhattan. Imagine that!

To cap it off, they actually have a “Sex & The City Hot Spots” Tour! I almost fainted when I saw this.

The tour, which only costs 38 USD, includes over 40 locations. Also, you get to sit on Carrie’s apartment stoop, shop at The Pleasure Chest, go on location to the gallery in SoHo where Charlotte worked, and probably even visit Prada and Manolo Blahnik! Hmmm… I wonder if the tour also includes places like Madison Square, Staten Island Ferry, Boathouse Central Park, Fountain at Columbus Circle, Chelsea Piers, Church of the Holy Trinity and Nell’s? I’ll give them a ring later. Oh, in case you’re interested, online customers receive $5 off per ticket. 0;)

read comments (0)

Taking advantage of the remnants of summer days, my friends – Joedel, Dulce, Jef – and I decided to go to an impromptu overnight in Bolinao, Pangasinan, Philippines last June 9. It was really a dubious last minute decision because we were supposed to go on a road trip to Subic. But due to a series of unfortunate events (e.g. the car we’re supposed to bring wasn’t in A1 condition, the hotel we’re supposed to stay in Subic was overpriced, etc.) Joedel and I resorted to browsing the net for decent beach resorts. We ended up hesitantly choosing Punta Riviera Resort in Bolinao, Pangasinan. All four of us have never been to Bolinao. And it took us one non-air conditioned bus from Tarlac to Alaminos, a mini non-air conditioned bumpy bus ride from Alaminos to Bolinao, and a long tricycle ride from Bolinao bus station (totaling to around 5 hours) just to reach our final destination - Punta Riviera. The car not being in A1 condition was a blessing, really. It would have cost us a lot of stress and miscalculated turns, and made us cough up a lot of gasoline money to go there. Upon arrival at the resort, our jaws went hanging open in awe. It was paradise.

What made it even more enchanting is that we were the only customers at that time (It was a Friday and we were on leave so as to avoid the three-day weekend crowd – Monday was declared a holiday). It’s as if there was this mystical Hand that had the entire resort reserved just for us. We were treated like royalty.

We had all the staff at our beck and call – literally.

We checked in at Cabana 10, had lunch, rested for a bit, and then dived into the wondrous dam-like structured pool. Yep, we preferred the pool to the beach. For some reason, the beach was not that captivating. Nevertheless, the pool and the resort’s serenely carefree ambiance more than made up for it. We planned to go island-hopping. After all, the Hundred Islands IS in Pangasinan. But because it will take too much time to go to the port and we only had several hours to spend on the resort, we decided to take a different tour package – the cave and lighthouse tour. We went to the Enchanted Cave, Wonderful Cave, Cindy’s Cave, Cape Bolinao Lighthouse (built by US, 1903), and Boracay of the North Patar White Sands Beach.Similar to Punta Riviera, we had each tourist spot all to ourselves. We took several pictures in each of the four latter destinations and savored the picturesque view of our last destination – a glorious sunset in Boracay of the North Patar White Sands Beach. The sand-grain was really white and it felt gratifying to walk barefoot on it. After several poses – from candid to seductive, we reluctantly headed back to the resort. We rested for a while, had dinner, then languorously swam in the pool while sharing nonchalant stories and enjoying the evening beach view. We had a round of drinks before exhaustion fully took over and made us retreat to our cabana. Next stop… Subic! ^_^

read comments (0)