Adventure Accounting

Indonesia: Planning, Preparation, Budget and Itinerary At the close of 2013, I had four definite trips for 2014: South Korea (winter edition) , Batanes , Romblon and China. My major target for 2014 is Egypt. However, I realized I wasn't too brave to conquer Egypt given the unstable political situation there. Plus, I'm a female solo traveler. I can be brave but I have limits. So there's no Egypt 2014. :( To compensate for this, I booked a Manila-Jakarta flight during the January Piso-fare sale of Cebupacific. I booked the return flight from Jakarta to Manila on another Piso-fare sale which was also in January. Jakarta is not my main destination: It is Borobudur in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. I was led to Borobudur by the Discovery documentary Ancient Aliens - I borrowed a copy from my wushu classmate and I was intrigued by these theories about Aliens. I cannot explore the Pyramids of Egypt yet, so it is gonna be Borobudur. I added Mount Bromo to my itinerary alt...

It was a very early morning flight going to Batanes. I've read that rides can get bumpy. Fortunately, my flight to Batanes was pretty smooth, minimal bumps. The place was bigger that I expected.  Stone-building airport. Cool. Accommodations: I stayed Palangud House, which is also managed Ate Fe of the famous Marfel’s Lodge. Palangud House was cheaper at Php 350/night for a single-bed room, common bathroom. It has its own honesty shop, where you can buy food (instant noodles, coffee, junk food). Prices of this in-house honesty shop is actually quite reasonable. Humble rooms Pretty basic type of accommodation. Ate Fe charges minimal fee if you cook something complicated like rice or viand. Since I just heated water and fried eggs, she didn’t charge me at all. Water is available during certain hours of the day so there are drums of water for storage.  I also left most of my stuff when I spent a night in Sabtang island. I...

I cannot find the photos I took on my way to Lisbon airport and my whole flight back. Bummer. Probably, I mistakenly cleared the memory card thinking I saved the photos but I didn’t. Booooo.  So here it goes with less photos.   I bought two souvenir shirts from the shop below Good Morning Hostel Lisbon. The guy here calls me out whenever I leave or arrive: “Hey there Philippines!”. I bought two shirts from him for €19 for my parents.  I had a bunch of euro coins left so I splurged €6,90 in Haagen Dazs for an apple pie ice cream before heading to the airport.  The bus going to the airport costs €3,50, the stop is right in front of my hostel, so it was very convenient. I wasted more euros for pasalubong at the airport. I was closely monitoring my spending throughout the trip and I was still way below my planned budget. I never fully utilized the food allowance. I am blogging almost two years after the trip itself. I already forgot some o...