Incredible Spanish Cities 

Guest Post by Catherine M.

Gorgeous Greece: Kefalonia

Guest Post by Catherine M.

There is so much to love about Kefalonia. It might be known for its starring role in the famous novel and follow-up film, Captain Corelli's Mandolin, but those in the know come here for many other reasons.

A holiday to Kefalonia is all about soaking up the island's natural beauty and taking in the wonderful laid-back appeal of this wonderful Greek location. It's blessed with beautiful bays and tiny secluded coves that are fringed with steep rocky cliffs and pine-clad hillsides. Dense woodlands pepper the island and small charming villages grace the countryside, sprinkling the patchwork landscapes with whitewashed houses and quaint stone dwellings.

Of course, stretching out on Myrtos Beach is top of the list for many visitors but there are plenty more things to see and do besides taking in the magnificent coastal scenery. Pull on your hiking boots and head to Mt. Aenos National Park for stunning views from the peak's lofty heights, or discover the superb underground lake at Melissani, where you can explore bizarre subterranean caves and twisting tunnels.

For spectacular sights above ground, check out the Venetian castle at the beautiful village of Assos, a tranquil little spot that certainly scores highly in the beauty stakes.

As for places to stay, you're spoilt for choice. The best-known resort is Lassi, a popular spot with a cracking beach boasting glorious golden sands and pristine shores, complete with beach-side bars and plenty of activities both on and off the water. Skala is another popular spot with plenty going on, while Fiskardo is a quiet retreat with dramatic cliffs and hidden coves. If you fancy something along the lines of a laid-back village, try Lourdas - it's a lovely little place with a low-key lifestyle, perfect for romantic retreats or a quiet getaway with the family.

In other worlds, holidays in Kefalonia are bliss.

When traveling, you know you want to make the most out of your trip. This means, you get to experience something that is out of the usual standardised tours. 

You want local expertise when you fix your tour with an agency. 

You want freedom alongside guidance. 

Imagine Rose from Titanic, being all proper and poise while sitting quietly at a dining room on board the famous ship, then suddenly, Jack takes her out and gives her the most exciting experience of her life...

Then add more adrenaline to that.

That is what you get when you hop on board P&OEdge! 

SOURCE: Screencapture from a video by P&OCruises

P&OEdge is the world's largest adventure park at sea, giving the adventure-seeking child in you the opportunity to play around the different parts of the ship. Some of the activities on board include:

This exciting playground will be around on Pacific Pearl & Pacific Dawn in 2014.

Check out this hair-raising (in a good and exciting way) video:

Personally, I am definitely excited. I love cruises, and what I usually do on board would be to eat, check out the view, take photos, relax, then sleep. That's about it. But this great opportunity is definitely going to pump everyone out with its endless adrenaline-filled activities on board.

There will always be something to do, whether you love extreme activities, or you just want minimal activities. This is one cruise that will keep you fit and filled with energy.

SOURCE: Screencapture from a video by P&OCruises

Outdoor activities will definitely never be the same again, especially when you have the stunning view of the sea. Feeling the ocean breeze while swinging, running, jumping, and climbing around is giving a complementary relaxation to the very active atmosphere. This is the feeling that I am looking forward to experience. 

I can't wait!!!

This is a sponsored post, but opinions are my own.

There are other Australian destinations too such as Hunter Valley, Melbourne, Perth, and Adelaide. The starting price range is around $250-$700++ depending on the chosen destination.

Now, for International Holidays, I feel like going back to Europe, as I was really young back then when I first visited. Flight Centre is currently offering packages for Paris, Rome, and London, with a starting price of $1925. For Asian destinations, they have Bali, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Phuket, and Vietnam offers, which start at $1135. New Zealand is one of my planned destinations in the future and they are offering great packages with activities like skiing in mind. The price starts at $1319 which also includes accommodations.

Let's now talk about tours. They offer tours in Australia, Europe, Bali, Phuket, Fiji, Vietnam, and the Americas. You can also choose your tour depending on the activities and interests you want such as ADVENTURE, BUS, CULTURAL, LUXURY, ROMANCE & HONEYMOON, FOOD & WINE, and WILDLIFE. I heard that their ROMANCE and HONEYMOON tours are getting great reviews, so feel free to check these out as well.

Cruises are also very famous nowadays. I've been on a cruise before, and for me, this is a really good way of being on a relaxation mode. Since I have been talking about Queensland since the beginning of this post, they have a Queensland 11-Night Cruise - Celebrity Solstice with prices starting at $1779. Internationally, they have a Pacific Coastal Cruise from Vancouver to Seattle with prices starting at $139. These are only some of their offers. They have other cruise packages which you are free to browse on their website.

As you can see, they have a wide range of offers. They also arrange cheap flights which you can check on their website. I am planning on  trying out this agency for my future travels, and I will let you know how it goes. I seriously cannot wait to travel again!!! 

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To give justice to the original purpose of my blog (which was to post unique and interesting personal travel stories), I shall share one of those starting now.

In 2004, we went on a Pilgrimage Tour which included Amsterdam, France, Portugal, Spain, and Italy. This was for my mom, because she just survived breast cancer.

One of the places we visited was Lourdes, France. This was a special place for us. First of all, my birthday is on Lourdes Day-- February 11. Secondly, my second name (which I shall not disclose here haha :P ) has something to do with this place. Thirdly, dad has been to that place when I was 2 years old, and promised to go back there with the whole family. Lastly, mom once had a dream wherein she was in Lourdes, France. So basically, that place was the highlight. We also wanted to go there because we would like mom to experience the well-known Holy Bath.

I enjoyed it. It uplifted me, and I felt serenity. 

To be able to experience the Holy Bath, you have to wake up early in the morning and go to the Grotto to offer prayers and praises. Afterwards, you have to line up, and believe me, you really have to go early. The line can get really long. We were there at 5AM. The photo below shows me in my early morning face. I was 15. Yay! You get to see a teenager photo of me. :P

Me in Lourdes, France - 2004 Swollen early morning face, and yes, rebonded hair. I am naturally curly,  just in case I get the question again.

Basically, people go there to be healed whether it is due to physical, emotional, mental, or spiritual purposes. Where does my story start? Sadly, it all starts right when I arrived at the Grotto at 5AM. It was really dark, except for the candles at the site (check photo above). Just upon arrival, I accidentally stepped backward with my sneakers and I heard a loud cry. It was a painful cry. It came from an old lady, who was being assisted by someone. She was wearing slippers. She was having a hard time walking, and now she was crying in pain because I accidentally stepped on her. My automatic response was hug her and say sorry. I tried saying "sorry" in all the languages I know, because she wasn't speaking in English. Just imagine me hugging her and saying sorry for how many times. I really felt guilty, and told her I had to go (because the group I was in was about to leave) and that I was really sorry. She did not look at me and continued saying something I could not understand. However, she did nod, and I do hope it was a way of saying "It's alright."

I know it was an accident, but it got me so bad that I can still remember everything now because of the fact that she went there to get healed for a sickness she may have, then suddenly, an overweight 15-year-old girl accidentally stepped on her fragile and almost bare foot. Hayayay... I included her in my prayers that day, and until now, I still remember her. 

On the other hand, please be careful. Always.

And if you ever get a chance, it is good to visit Lourdes. Setting the differences in religion aside, people of different religions still visit this place, and this amazes me. Peace and blessings to everyone!

Shoutout to Jepoy who is in France right now.

I have been riding on airplanes since I was a baby. The reason for this is because my mom used to live somewhere in Visayas and we usually visit her province 2x/year. Despite the early exposure to airplane rides, I still grew up to be a nauseatic plane passenger. There were a lot of times that I failed to control my nausea which was followed by a successful expelling of my stomach filling. The most annoying thing during such process is when I could not expel it properly.

1999: Our flight to Macau was still at 11AM so I was confident that I wasn't going to vomit this time. You see, I have noticed that I only get nauseous when the flight's really early wherein the sun is still hiding and psychologically, it's making me sad and nauseous. Anyway, I ate my breakfast at 7AM which was composed of LONGGANISA and GARLIC RICE. I made sure to feed my stomach because I knew it was one of the reasons why I get the "byahilo" thing. Back to the story! I was waiting for the check-in counter to open when I suddenly felt nauseous. I tried to disregard it because I was confident that a vomiting performance was not scheduled for a show today. I tried to be optimistic but I continued to feel the warm, acidic, and longganisic fluid fluctuating up and down my esophagus. Due to this, I told my dad that I needed to release the rebellious vomitus. We ran to the nearest CR and it was a bad decision. I was able to see the sign of the usual "MEN's/WOMEN's CR" on the wall.


I entered the room. 

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAT!? 

I thought THAT was already the room. Instead of the expected vomit-saver kingdom, there was this long hallway and I really mean LONG LONG LONG hallway. It was as long as the hall you need to go through before reaching the plane itself from the airport. The MEN's room was straight ahead and the WOMEN's room could be reached with a turn and it was still a long way. Due to the long travel, Dad and I ran while vomitus was already coming out of my mouth.

'Anyone who was trying to stalk me that time could simply follow my "vomit trail"... At the end of the trail, I'll say "Tadaaaahhhh!*Barfbarfbarf*" '

As we were running, I looked back and saw how long my vomit trail was. I could see the janitor trying to trace his mop along the trail to help in cleaning the evidence of my --presence? I continued to feel the need to vomit more and when I finally reached the WOMEN's room, there was only one cubicle free and a woman was entering it. Good thing she saw me. Everyone in the room was looking at me (probably smelled the acidic longganisa) and despite the staring eyes, they still helped me out. They made me enter the available cubicle and there, I bade goodbye to my wasted breakfast. I did not want to go out yet because I knew they'll be looking at me so I waited for the women who were able to see me to leave. When they were gone, I went out and rinsed my mouth followed by a simple washing of my vomit-stained jacket. When dad and I went back to go to the check-in counter, my vomit trail was gone.I have a lot of other vomit stories but I'll probably share it next time. Now that I'm older, I don't get nauseous during trips anymore (except for last year's trip wherein I listened to WOMANIZER. Read my "BTW" below). If I do and vomitus gets successfully expelled, I'll be proud to share it right away with you.

BTW! Do not try to listen to Britney's WOMANIZER while you're on a trip with zigzag roads. It'll make you vomit--seriously. I did. There are various  sounds going on in that song that when you listen to it while you're nauseous, you end up getting more nauseous.