The Travel Peoples

Out of curiosity, we decided to check the local market prices of fruits and vegetables and compare them with those from the Philippines.  Watch this video of what we found out. Some notes: 1. The fruits and vegetables we bought are good for one week and for two to three people. 2. The market stalls do not issue paper receipts, like many food stalls in the Philippine markets. Hence there is no price breakdown for each item, only the total amount indicated in the mobile banking app. 3. This is not a fully comprehensive calculation as stated in the second note above. However, it gives an idea about the actual pricing of commodities in the Dutch marketplaces. 4. This is an informative video that does not intend to provoke political reactions to the content.

  Preparing for take-off... As I wrote previously, here is the second part of my blog.  We returned to the Philippines for a five-day visit in late November 2022 to renew our driver's licenses. The process took two hours. We did it at the Land Transportation Office in Muntinlupa City. The processing began at 9 AM. Everything was the same, except that this time, the license is valid for 10 years (formerly five years). Yeyyy!  We followed the activities in our itinerary. Basically: Meet my side of the family, meet our close friends, and meet my husband's side. Thank God. We were able to accomplish those. Although I was hoping that we could stay longer to visit former churchmates, other friends, and relatives, especially my father's side. Besides, it was my husband's first time since 2018 to revisit home. Not to mention the grueling documentation so that he could travel.  All in all, it was a productive and pleasant short trip. We had things to do daily and ticked them ...

All by myself. Waiting to board to go back to the motherland.  At last! After almost four long years, and while the pandemic was raging, I was able to visit the Philippines again. Although it was very short, it was a productive visit. I finished the banking errands I intended to do.  Of course, it was also a time to see my family again, albeit for three-and-a-half days. Better than nothing, right? I made a short video of that brief sojourn . I never knew I would miss Jollibee. Even though I'm a healthy eater, my first breakfast was at Jollibee with mom. Then for dinner, we ordered takeout from Aristocrat. I missed torta de los Reyes, their flagship wafer cake. Yum! One thing I noticed, many stores shut down because of the pandemic. Those were the places we frequented when we lived in Makati City, particularly in the Bel-Air/Jupiter St./N. Garcia areas. As I was walking along Jupiter St. to head to SM Jazz, my favorite hangout spot before, to meet a friend, I felt a tinge of sa...