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Here is a short video clip I posted on my YouTube channel regarding my visit to the “Big Apple”. Sadly, some of my original videos were corrupted. Thank God, my good friend Reginald Villanueva has given me permission to use his clips from his Instagram account, which I added to the video I created for my YouTube channel. You may as well visit his Instagram account @ https://www.instagram.com/regvillanueva/. He is a frequent traveler. For sure you will be amazed of the places he has visited. I have created a few blogs about my wonderful visit to some of the famous cities of the United States of America. You will…
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In love with Switzerland – A day in Geneva
Geneva is the second most populous city after Zurich and the French-speaking part of Switzerland. It is a global city, a financial centre, and a worldwide centre for diplomacy due to the presence of many international organisations headquartered including Europe’s United Nations and the Red Cross. CERN in Geneva is the birthplace of world wide web (www) as we know it today. It was invented by an English engineer and computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee in 1989. I only had one day scheduled to explore Geneva, which, unfortunately, really did not do it justice considering its magnitude in history and the many interesting things to see and do. Still, I’m so…
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Ahoy Czechia!
I stayed in the Ibis Hotel during the first few nights in Prague but decided to extend my stay, hoping to do an extra day trip to a town called Karlovy Vary. I was interested to see the place featured in the movie Last Holiday where the actress Queen Latifah’s character Georgia decided to spend her remaining days on Earth. This was after being mistakenly diagnosed with having a rare brain condition and only having a few weeks left to live. She decided to spend her last funds on a luxury holiday in the Grandhotel Pupp to meet her favourite famous celebrity chef Didier. However, unlike Georgia, my ending was…
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Moscow, Russia
Moscow is the capital and the largest city of the Russian Federation. It is the seat of the government, as well as the political, scientific, historical, architectural, and business centre of the country. It displays the country’s contrasts at their most extreme. Its distinguishable symbols of great and terrible past, as well as ancient and modern architecture, are visible side by side. Today, imposing Soviet buildings, the Seven Sisters, or Stalinist skyscrapers representing Stalin’s empire and other impressive architectures spread all over in this intimidating city. You may love or hate Moscow. You may probably be visiting monumental and palatial areas at one point. Then all of a sudden, you…
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Veni, Vidi, Venice!
The Merchant of Venice, The Tourist, The Italian Job and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, these are just some of the movies filmed in Venice. I was so excited to finally visit Venice from my few days’ stay in Florence following the footsteps of Robert Langdon in Dan Brown’s novel, Inferno. Luckily, I arrived in the morning at Santa Lucia Station which is just five minute walk to my hotel. After having my breakfast at a coffee shop next door, I hastily went to Piazza San Marco or St Mark’s Square, as if I was thrilled to witness a Carnival in Venice. Venice is the birthplace of the famous…
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A TASTE OF THE BIG APPLE – NEW YORK
“Start spreading the news I am leaving today I want to be a part of it. New York, New York…” This timeless song “New York, New York” by Frank Sinatra kept ringing in my head while on the train from my chosen hostel in Central Park area. It was the beginning of my American exploration that started in New York. The very first thing I did was to go to Times Square which is the heart of the city to collect The New York Pass that I purchased days before my flight from Dubai. I decided to collect it at the Big Bus Information Desk at Madame Tussauds and had…
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An Insightful Travel Experience – Nepal
Before I started my own travels, I had been reading the articles found on https://www.hillmanwonders.com. I was fascinated by the insights Howard Hillman put into words about his passion for travelling and at the same time creating interesting and helpful tips for other would-be travellers. I wish I could travel as much as he accomplished and could document not only the famous places but also the weird and wonderful sites that I would encounter on my journeys. His website became my benchmark that I would gladly cross out the relevant places as soon as I was back from travelling. Given the ways and means, I would definitely visit all of…
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My Own Piece of Hollywood Glamour
It was one of my dreams that if and when given a chance to travel to America, I would definitely visit California. There must be something to this state that the majority of my Kabayans choose to stay in and call it their home. Apparently, as of 2018, there are more than a million Filipinos living in California alone. California is a huge State with so many well-known attractions which made it difficult to decide where to go especially for someone who had limited time and resources to travel. Enticed by the glitz and glamour of Hollywood movies, I chose to visit a city in Southern California that is called…
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The Louvre Abu Dhabi
Eid Mubarak to all my Muslim friends and to all Muslims around the world. Eid al-Adha, is an Islamic holiday celebrated worldwide every year. Eid al-Adha is also called the “Festival of the Sacrifice”, commemorating the willingness of Ibrahim (Abraham) to sacrifice his own son (Ishmael) as an act of obedience to what God has commanded to him to carry out as an offering. As the story is told, God stopped Abraham and provided a lamb to be sacrificed instead. A sacrifice of a lamp is a ritual that is commemorated every year with one third being given to the poor, one third to relatives and the other third is kept…
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My Book’s First Review
I would like to, once again, say special thanks to Jan Schwetzingen who posted his insightful review about my book entitled INSPIRED TO TRAVEL, TRAVEL TO INSPIRE – A TRAVEL MEMOIR. He is the first person to completely read my book and post his review after it was published on Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.com websites. To all those others who have kindly got a copy of my book, I would also love to receive your honest comments about it. For your information, I share with you below Jan’s appraisal: “My review on Amazon: This is not your ordinary travel guide. What you will find in your hands is an essay…
