Posted on

A Pre-Christmas Holiday in Sunny Boracay, Philippines

We escaped the winter cold this year for a family vacation at Shangri-La’s Boracay Resort and Spa. The weather was perfect, warm but not scorching, and the hospitality topnotch.

From the local airport (Godofredo P. Ramos Airport in Caticlan), it’s a short shuttle ride to Shangri-La’s Boracay Resort and Spa’s private port, and after that about a 20-minute speedboat ride to the resort. Musicians greet you on arrival at the hotel dock.

Warm welcome

We booked a deluxe seaview room and woke up to lush greenery and calm seas.

Room with a view
Water feature

The resort’s main pool area is huge and is actually made up of three separate pools.

Main pool area
Infinity pool overlooking Banyugan Beach

At the resort’s two beaches, nothing but white sand and clear blue waters.


Punta Bunga Beach

Both the beach and the pool offer spectacular sunset views.

Sunset at the beach
Cotton candy skies

We got to try three of the resort’s four restaurants, Vintana Asian Café, Cielo Poolside Restaurant & Bar, and and Sirena Seafood Restaurant & Clifftop Bar. Food was mostly delicious, albeit with some misses here and there.

Breakfast at Vintana Asian Café

While you could easily spend your whole vacation at the resort, a shuttle is available to Boracay’s famous White Beach, with its hotels, restaurants, and shops.

White Beach
Stopped for lunch at the Discovery Shores Boracay on White Beach.

Vacation ends with another speedboat ride, with the same group of musicians who welcomed you in now wishing you a safe journey home.

Travel Notes

  • There’s so much to do at the Shangri-La’s Boracay Resort and Spa. We missed out on snorkeling, kayaking, water sports, tennis, and a massage at CHI The Spa because we were either busy lounging by the pool or getting some sun on the beach!

Posted on

A Beginner’s Five Days in Paris and Amsterdam: Part 2

On the second leg of our mini European adventure, we traveled to Amsterdam via Thalys high speed train. We booked the 11:16 am trip from Paris-Nord and arrived at Amsterdam Centraal at about 2:45 pm.

Day 4

We stayed at the Radisson Blu in the city center. Check out the view from our street corner!

Amsterdam’s canals are a UNESCO World Heritage Site

We took a 45-minute Uber ride out of the city to the Keukenhof tulip gardens. The gardens are only open about eight weeks a year in the late spring.

Endless fields of tulips

Back to Amsterdam for a late dinner at Michelin-starred Bolenius.

Sorbet and Amsterdam-inspired mini desserts at Bolenius

Day 5

Off to Zaanse Schans for wooden shoes and windmills! The village is about a 25-minute Uber ride from Amsterdam. Touristy, yes, but worth it.

Shops and windmills

Shoemaking

Zaanse Schans features several working windmills, one of which is De Kat, which produces paints. We ducked in for a quick tour for €5.

De Kat windmill and its cozy interiors

Headed back to Amsterdam and squeezed in a visit to the the Rijksmuseum.

Art and street music at the Rijksmusem.

We took the 7:15 pm Thalys train to Paris for our flight home the next day.

Travel Notes

  • We missed out on a canal tour and on visiting the Anne Frank House, technically doable in our 2 days if we had (a) took an earlier train to Amsterdam on day 4 or (b) gotten up earlier on day 5.
  • The city is beautiful but crowded. Be mindful of the pedestrian and bicycle lanes!

Posted on

A Beginner’s Five Days in Paris and Amsterdam: Part 1

There’s something magical about traveling someplace for the first time, even if most of your exploring means checking off the must-see spots on the well-worn tourist path.

Day 1

Our flight arrived at Paris-Charles de Gaulle bright and early, at just before 7am. We grabbed a taxi to our hotel to freshen up, then spent the rest of the day exploring the city.

A boulangerie, patisserie or café on every corner

The Eiffel Tower by day

The Galeries Lafayette (a fancy shopping mall)

We ended the evening with a dinner cruise on the Seine. One of our taxi drivers recommended Capitaine Fracasse. Food was average, views were priceless.

View of the Eiffel Tower from the Seine

Day 2

Spent the morning exploring the Louvre and the adjacent Tuileries Gardens. Easily could’ve spent the whole day here, but we had later that afternoon booked to visit family and friends in the area.

The Louvre

Louvre Highlights, L-R: Cupid and Psyche, Winged Victory, Venus de Milo

Louvre Highlights, L-R: Mona Lisa, Liberty Leading the People

Tuileries Gardens

After finishing up at the Louvre, we took a stroll along the banks of the Seine to Sainte-Chapelle and Notre-Dame.

L-R: A Seine river cruise, the Pont des Arts bridge

L-R: Inside the Sainte-Chapelle, Notre-dame de Paris

Day 3

Started the day with a quick stop at the Musée de l’Orangerie to view Monet’s Water Lilies. The set of eight paintings are displayed across the two main oval-shaped rooms of the museum. It felt so serene, even on a free admission first Sunday.

Water Lilies: Green Reflections

The Palace of Versailles is about a 40-minute Uber ride from Paris. We spent the afternoon exploring the palace and gardens.

T,L,R: Palace and gardens, Hall of Mirrors, Water Theater Grove

Travel Notes

  • I’m all for slow travel, but I have only so much time off a year! We fit most of the places on our Paris must-see list in three days.
  • We visited in early April, weather was a little chilly but otherwise beautiful.
  • We needed a couple of hours to refresh after our early morning arrival, and a room reservation on Dayuse.com provided the perfect solution.
  • We booked our actual hotel, the Pullman Paris Tour Eiffel, through Expedia. A room with the Eiffel Tower view is worth the upgrade!
  • Paris is a paradise for art and history lovers; because of our tight vacation schedule, we limited our itinerary to the Louvre and one smaller museum, the Musée de l’Orangerie, in addition to the Palace of Versailles. Book museum tickets online ahead of time! If you have a few more days in Paris, consider the Paris Museum Pass for savings and skip the line access.
  • There was definitely not have enough time to see all the collections at each museum. We decided to check out a few of the museums’ highlights, which we picked out from their websites out before our visit.
  • We skipped out on our plans for a fancy Michelin-starred dinner. We ate out at the neighborhood cafés, and the food was delectable.

Posted on

A Relaxing Long Weekend in Miami Beach

There’s lots to do in Miami, but I mainly go for the beaches. By the time late January rolls around, I find myself thinking that I’ve had enough of winter. A few good rays of sun are just the right antidote to my increasing sullenness.

We fell in love with Miami Beach on our first trip last winter. We stayed at the Loews Miami Beach Hotel in South Beach, a spacious, modern hotel with clean lines and a huge swimming pool. Alas, prices skyrocketed during our travel dates and we ended up searching for another hotel.

Stay

We ended up staying at the Palms Hotel and Spa. The hotel is located in Mid Beach, a relatively quieter section of Miami Beach not far removed from the action of South Beach. Our stay was quite pleasant, if it didn’t quite measure up to last year’s experience at the Loews. For about $15 extra per night, we booked an oceanfront room and got to wake up to this priceless view (see photo above).

The hotel had a tropical theme, which I eventually got used to even though I thought it tacky at first. The staff were welcomed us with smiles. The grounds were landscaped with lush greenery, perfect for weary travelers who need to unwind. The pool was small but got plus points for being heated. Food was pricey as expected, although I did enjoy the house-made muesli and Korean beef tacos. My husband loved the coconut water from the poolside tiki bar and drank at least two per day.

At the Palms Spa Aveda, my masseuse used an essential oil blend of rosemary and sage that all but lulled me to sleep. They had a steam room and relaxation area where I spent some extra me time!

Stroll

The weather was not as cooperative as last year’s visit and we got a good bit of rain in the mornings. When the sun eventually showed, we’d take walks by the beach. I skipped out on swimming this year as we saw lots of jellyfish on the shore!

In the evening we walked past Miami Beach’s art deco hotels and shops to Lincoln Road, a commercial strip packed with tourists (like us). My husband perused the apparel shops while I enjoyed the free music performances and art galleries.

Savor

Food was OK, nothing amazing but kept us running. We had snapper at Oh! Mexico in Española Way, dumplings at Hakkasan at the Fontainebleaue Hotel, and veal chops and cream puffs at Le Zoo at the Bal Harbour Shops.

Spotlight

My absolute favorite part of the trip was relaxing by the pool, listening to the wind rustle through the palms and to the waves crashing onto shore. I’ve had my dose of sunshine for now, but will definitely be back another winter!