Mileage Run To Easter Island

"What's going on in Easter Island?", asked a cheerful American Airlines agent as I checked-in for my afternoon flight at New York's JFK airport. "You're the fifth passenger going there I've seen today".

Now I've got some explaining to do.

Carnival Valor

For a non-cruiser like me, embarking on my first cruise is truly a travel milestone. Just the idea of sailing on what's basically a pimped-up floating hotel, unpacking once and yet seeing different places is totally new for me.

In our case, we had Carnival Valor as home for one whole week. Make that 8 days and 7 nights of pampering. Now I know why loads of North Americans (US and Canadians) prefer this kind of trip.

Sailed!

Carnival ship leaving Nassau, Bahamas (2005)

Never thought it'd happen sooner than I anticipated. For so long, friends and even colleagues at work have been bugging me to cruise with them. My usual response was "I'll do it when I'm retired". Which of course is still very far in the horizon. My kind of trip always involve sleeping on terra firma and trying to do something. Embarking on a cruise is definitely new game for me.

Just Arrived

What a week! For 9 days, I was hopscotching between countries and cities and airports. No, I didn't join the Amazing Race. I was simply on a race with myself. For ages, I've been dreaming of doing a round-the-world trip. But since I don't have the time and money for a long journey (like 1-2 years), I was happy enough to do a mini-version. One that still allowed me to circumnavigate the globe.

Flying Free...sort of

Over the years, I've learned how to maximize earning frequent flier miles. Conventional wisdom dictates accruing miles by flying. But not only that. There are hotel stays, car rentals, vacations, cruises, e-shopping, dining - airline partners with which anyone can earn more miles. In the US, what makes earning miles  really more exciting - without even stepping inside an airplane - are the huge credit card bonuses.

Off To Alaska...Hopefully

Allow me to interrupt my "Japan series" so I can write something about this trip that may or may not push through tomorrow. This all depends on 'Hurricane Irene', expected to hit New York City this weekend. As I write this, on a Friday evening just after work, my Anchorage-bound flight on Continental Airlines has not yet been canceled. Online check-in is still "live". My fingers are crossed that tomorrow, when I hop over to New Jersey on a quick train ride to Newark Airport (my first time there), my plane is waiting and I'll be on my way to the immense last frontier of the United States of America we call Alaska.

Window Seat

Grand Canyon

Every time I book a flight, my default seating preference is always by the window. It may not be everyone's favorite spot on a plane, especially those with 3-seats abreast (double "excuse me" to the loo and back!). Despite that setback, the window seat  gives me a more "private" feel, with no meal carts or butts hitting my shoulders.  But what makes this truly more appealing is what I see through this oblong window, increasing anticipation for that much closer look below later on. It could be a distant view of a mountain, a river, a city or thanks to an American Airlines pilot who announced a flyover - a great preview of the Grand Canyon.

Rizal: The Original Nomadic Pinoy

This man needs no introduction. His life, his ideals, his accomplishments, even his death, they're all something that's been ingrained in the minds of Filipinos. He's a national hero and the ultimate Pinoy 'Renaissance man'. But as a travel blogger, what got me really envious of him is that José Rizal is not only a well-traveled man, he saw the world in those days when airplanes and cars and the Internet were still a pigment of someone's imagination. Not to mention, he was fluent in many languages, a talent I could only I wish I have.

Checked-In!

Yesterday, I was already checked-in for my Cathay Pacific flight using a system that's been around for some time - mobile check-in. I thought of using this before on an American Airlines flight but really has never done it until my curiosity got the better of me. It's actually easy and very convenient - I even managed to change my seat a few rows up front! This I believe is one way for airlines to really streamline the process of flying.

Getting Cash From Unwanted Stash

To supplement my chronic travel itch, I do look for ways to earn extra income. Travel, especially one that involves flying overseas, can be quite expensive. But unless I win the lottery, it looks like I'll be stuck with doing overtime work which sadly is killing my social life. 

Visa-Free Countries For Pinoys

Overseas travel for Pinoys, especially to Western countries, can be quite an exercise in embassy trips even before the journey has begun. Been there, done that - getting  fingerprinted, photographed and interviewed - all in the name of that much-sought-after visa. But thankfully, there are countries whose doors are wide open for Pinoys to enter.

Where Do You Want To Go?

Getting ideas for that next destination couldn't be easier after attending the annual New York Times Travel Show. One of the biggest - if not the biggest - trade & exhibit powwows in the world, this is where for one weekend, travel-savvy New Yorkers are actually not traveling so they can attend the show. With practically all corners of the world covered, consumers and exhibitors meet and talk under the cavernous roof of the Javits Center to seek the hottest destinations money can buy and learn something even before they fly.

Love Affair With Cameras

That's me: shooting with the Nikon FM10 in White Island, Camiguin

For a long time now, I've had several relationships with this thing travel bloggers I know couldn't live without - cameras. It's an indispensable tool which help bring those remote destinations alive in glorious, vivid colors. Many times, the pictures alone taken by those with great talent already speak volumes for themselves. As a photo enthusiast, all I can say is, I'm still learning.

Leaving On A Jet Plane

My laptop has enough juice before I board the plane so I thought I might as well kill the time and take advantage of free WiFi at Terminal 8 in JFK to check e-mails and do this quick blog entry. From time to time, my eyes wander into the monitor board just in front of me to see if boarding has commenced. You know how it is when there's something interesting in the Web, you begin to lose track of time. But then, I really don't want to be left behind by the plane. Remember that woman who missed her flight in Hong Kong last year? Her infamous histrionics is something I don't fancy copying:

Mabuhay Ang Pilipinas!

Today is the 112th Philippine Independence Day but the Filipino community in the greater New York area already commemorated the event last Sunday with a patriotic parade and a street fair. Just like previous years, there was a huge attendance of Pinoys that it felt so much like we were in the middle of Ayala Avenue in Makati and not Madison Avenue in Manhattan. Conspicuously absent - probably because it's not election time anymore - were politicians from New York and Manila. Which really is better as we were able to focus on more worthy participants - teachers, nurses, engineers, police officers, even kids from local schools who all have Pinoy blood running in their veins. This truly was a proud moment to remember our roots, even if we're thousands of miles away from it.

Ovo

My three and a half year-old niece Cheska clung closely to her mom as we sat in pitch darkness inside this enormous tent. "I'm scared", was all she could mutter. In her young mind perhaps, she was thinking about creepy, crawly creatures that will suddenly come out once the lights were turned on. This after all was a show about insects, or as Cirque du Soleil puts it - "an immersion into the teeming and energetic world of insects". When the lights did turn on and the larger-than-life characters came onstage, she was smiling and clapping, sitting contentedly on her booster seat next to her mom. Welcome to the world of Ovo.

Pain In The Ash

This is how I look when I'm not happy
(on the slopes of Mt. Apo, an active volcano)

A week since that volcano in Iceland stopped many travelers in their tracks, things are moving slowly on the path to normalcy. Planes are flying again but then, there's a long, long, backlog of passengers waiting on those flights. My own travel plans to Eastern Europe have been derailed with no definite dates as to when I can fly. Why? It's the issue of capacity control. My ticket booked on Finnair is non-revenue, having earned them through my Cathay Pacific frequent flier miles. When things go wrong and planes are grounded, priority is always given to passengers who paid for their tickets to fly on the next available flight. Customers who merely redeemed them, sad to say, are at the back of the passenger manifest. This includes me.

Canceled!

at my apartment

My bags were packed but the plane won't fly. The reason? Some stupid volcano in Iceland with a very tongue-twisting name was spewing ash to the skies which messed up air travel worldwide. Yesterday afternoon, I was at the JFK hoping to catch Finnair flight AY 006 bound for Helsinki. This was a trip that would have taken me to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. Things were still promising in the morning when I followed the news at CNN and online. When I called the airline to reconfirm the flight around noon, the agent said the flight, which was scheduled to depart originally at 5:40 PM, was rescheduled to 6:30 PM. A check at the airline's website confirmed that the plane originating from Finland was actually en route to New York. So I took that as a sign that maybe, just maybe, we'll be able to fly.

Dream Destinations

It was another weekend of travel, one that's conveniently done under one roof. Or as the goodie bags say: travel the world in a New York minute. I'm talking about the New York Times Travel Show held last Saturday and Sunday at the Jacob Javits Center. Obviously, I'm drawn to travel shows just as much as I love traveling. I've been going to these shows for several years already. And every time I go, my heart rolls into tachycardia (or a fast heartbeat). This is the time when major players in the travel industry gather again and this for me means looking at prospective destinations - old and new - and getting inspired to go there.

Yotel at Schipol

On my way to Yotel at top level of Lounge 2:
Every airport should have one!

With four more hours to spare before my next KLM flight, I decided on bit of a splurge. No, not to shop even though Schipol - consistently ranked as one of Europe's best airports - is a mecca for shopping. After a rather sleepless overnight flight from New York and doing some sightseeing in Amsterdam, all I wanted was to sleep . . . and lay flat doing it. Unfortunately, there's nowhere I could do it inside an airport unless I sleep on the floor. There is a Mercure hotel right inside Schipol but that's not in my budget.