Ruby Loves Adventure

Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Early today I was chatting with my friend about goals. She said she finally quit her job and is trying to look for another one at a multinational company. Staying 10 years at a local company, she realized she had enough, and looked for something better. Same friend told me her goals: she wanted to go abroad. It took her approximately 3 years before she made the leap.. and I'm glad she did. 

So, why are goals essential to your success?

Let me back up a bit here... and tell you some goals that I wanted to achieve:  

1. 1998: I wanted to go to London: Blame Boyzone, but yes, I wanted to see them live
•  2008:  I finally got to London, for free on a business trip. (Yes, business class all the way). You can see a very, very old post here. 
• Lesson learned: You will always find a way to make your goal into a reality, regardless of how much time it takes.
2. 2001: I wanted to move abroad. The Philippines got too corrupt, annoying, and the president was an imbecile. It really got annoying come 2012, when I definitely decided to move, by hook or by crook. 
• 2013: I moved to the USA. My original plan was to move to London but sadly, it didn't work out. Had another offer in Birmingham but since the USA came first, I decided to go with it. 
• Lesson learned: Sometimes what you want may not always be what you get. And sometimes what you get may turn out to be even better than what you wanted in the first place.

Those are just some of the goals I made happen for myself. There's a few more that I can mention: travel more (started backpacking around the UK in 2011, and Asia from 2012-2013)

Cambugahay Falls, Siquijor

How did I make it happen? Does this mean I'm successful?

First off, success is subjective. You can define your success in your own way.

Your goals are essential to your success because:  

1. It gives you focus - they say when you write down a goal, the more you get to make it happen. And that's true. I kept on writing down what I wanted to do, I told people who would dare listen what I wanted. I wanted to be the person who made things happen, and not just someone who says something and does nothing. A goal keeps you focused on what you want to happen, and then you move on to step 2


2.  You get creative - When you have a goal, especially a challenging one, you get more creative about how you would reach it. You start thinking outside the box and you're getting frustrated. Getting frustrated is amazing. It gives you something to obsess about: How do I do this? What do I do? What resources can I tap on? And that, my friends, is the start of step 3


3.  You make things happen - These goals tend to multiply: you get more and more of it. When you have a new goal, write it down, and set a date to review it. In my case, I write down goals whenever, but short term goals (ie within one month), I check the last day of every month. These are written down at least the month before. It feels so good to tick off things from my list and making things happen. The bigger goals, like moving from one country to another (not so easy, especially if you live in the Philippines), can go in a longer term goal and be on a separate notebook. 

It is so much fun to look back and realize hey, I made this dream (goal) happen!

Hopefully this has inspired you to make a goal. As of writing, here are a list of our goals to help inspire you:

1. Be financially independent (FI) - I became convinced I want to retire early after reading "Your Money or Your Life" and "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" - I've always wanted my money to work for me instead of me working for money. In fact, I even convinced Peter to get in on the FI mindset! We're slowly making our way there, and we're taking the necessary steps to do it. 


2.  Get married on a budget - Weddings are expensive all over the world. And ever since we got engaged, I've been trying to think of ways to make our wedding very affordable. Our starting budget is $3,000 but it looks like it can balloon to $5,000. Keep posted. We're posting our progress here on this blog.


3.  Travel a lot (weekend, vacations), even with a full time job - 2015 has been good to us, travel wise. Here's hoping 2016 will be even better (note: planning trips to France & Slovakia in 2016, as well as mostly local travel).


4.  Monetize this blog as another income stream - Still a work in progress, but hopefully we can do it. Still trying to learn the ropes on this.


5. Get sponsored trips - We love to travel after all, and sponsored trips will be the icing on the cake!

Good luck on your endeavors! 

When I was still living in the Philippines, and way back in the late 2000s, I stumbled upon the Sole Sisters site and that blog was what my friends read when we went to Sagada. It's one of the biggest travel blogs online, and we got hooked to reading her adventures. Note: this was the time when I was still starting out on travel, and was still saving a lot and figuring out some finances to afford my subsequent trips.

Let's fast forward a few years later when Lois released her book, "Where Should I Go in Southeast Asia?" - Full of photos taken from her trip and drawings, it aims to give you an idea of where to go, stay, and how much to spend in the countries she discusses in her book. It also has a ranking of the countries of which ones are the best from her experiences and lots of links to read blog posts that complement what was written in the book. Another plus? You have direct links to hostels she stayed in, so you can book your dream SE Asia trip using the book.

The book is short, and is mostly designed to be like an art/coffee table book - downside is it's only available in an ebook format. But look at the bright side: should be great as an inspiration every time you turn on your computer! Not exactly written as a how-to guide, please don't expect details as you would get from a Lonely Planet (or other travel guide) book.

I miss Southeast Asia: wish I went to Laos and Myanmar, but there's always a next time. This book created a big urge for me to revisit some countries I had on my SE Asia list when I go back home as a stopover.

You may buy the book at this link - book is for sale for $12.99

Apologies for our absence - Peter and I have been busy trying to recover from our Philippines/New York trip and just recently, over the Easter holidays, we came back from Atlanta! Aside from that, I got really busy with other projects, such as planning my Financial Independence and side hustles! Oh, and I finally finished this blog after our Europe trip. Busy, busy!

Zoo Atlanta!

Why Atlanta?  Well, we had been discussing it for a while and we always wanted to visit this city because of its hustling & bustling activity. Plus, why not? It's only a 5 hour drive from Jacksonville.

Peter might be back to tell you more about our adventures, but so far here's a breakdown of our expenses. Everything in the breakdown is per person, split between two people (we're a couple)

• Gas: our main form of transportation is driving. For 3 days of sightseeing & from driving from Jax to Atlanta 
• $50.50 each 
• Sightseeing:
• $79 each for the Atlanta CityPass (to be reimbursed by Arrival+) 
• $11 each for the Atlanta Skyview (via Groupon)
• Total: $89
• Dining: 
• $ 80 - We had lunch at Golden Corral when we were driving to Atlanta, then ate at food trucks or cheaper food joints for dinner. 
• Others (Souvenirs, etc):
• $31.25 - That's a lot of money for souvenirs. It's mostly from me though. I got crazy at the World of Coke (its expensive but cute), and also had to get the quintessential magnets that I bring home to our souvenir pile. 
• Hotel: 
• $72 - For two nights (split with the boyfriend), at a Best Western near the airport. It was one of the cheapest we could get (was too cheap to use points to redeem for a short stay such as this). 
• Total spent: $323.75 ($244.75 once the Arrival+ points kick in)

The flight to Cancun, Mexico was to leave at 11:15 in the morning.  We were going to wake up early, and drive to the airport early, and be at the airport early.  The key word running through here is "early."  That was the plan.  Problem is, we live in Jacksonville, which is in North Florida.  The flight was departing from Miami, which is in South Florida.  300 miles (roughly 5 hours of driving) separates these two cities.

So as you can see, to be there early was a priority, and before we went to sleep the night before, we were determined to not be on time, but early.  We set a departure time of 4 a.m., but then we got bold and said, "Nay, we shall leave even earlier than that.  Set thy departure clock at 3:45 a.m."  We were feeling confident.

We set our wake-up clock at 2:45 a.m.  We actually woke up 2 minutes before that.  We were feeling good.  "See, we don't even need the stupid alarm, we can wake ourselves up whenever we want.  I can smell Cancun already!"  This is where things began to go awry.  We leisurely showered, had breakfast, had some tea, relaxed, and by the time that was over, it was 4:15.  Well...crap.

The driving map from Jax to Miami

We stumbled out of the apartment, set out on the road and the car clock showed 4:25.  We were still confident of getting there early.  "I'll just go a little faster", I said, like I can just shave off an hour as if I was Sebastian Vettel.

The ride was going smoothly, the road was empty, but we needed a bathroom break. 10 minutes.  We resumed the ride.  Another bathroom break.  10 minutes.  We still said we were going to make it in time, but instead of our voices being confident, there was a noticeable anxiety in saying we were going to make it, as if we knew that we were not going to make it, but saying it out loud would just ruin the whole ordeal.

I went a little faster, and was gaining some minutes back when I saw cop lights behind me.  Since I was going 78 in a 70 mph zone, I didn't think much of it and went to the middle lane so the cop could go past me and catch the bad guy somewhere up ahead in traffic.  The cop moved to my lane.  I slowed down.  The cop slowed down.  "What does this lady want?" I asked as I moved over to the right lane so the cop could catch the bad guy up ahead.  I looked into my rearview mirror and saw the cop pointing at me to pull over.  Well...crap.

We finally made it to Cancun

20 minutes later and $140 poorer (I failed to move over for an emergency vehicle, even though I slowed down), we were now in half-panic mode.  We had one more very brief bathroom break and parked the car at a Marriott hotel (we had a deal arranged with them).  Their hotel shuttle took us to the Miami Airport.  It was 10 a.m.  Our boarding was 10:40.  We sprinted to the curbside check-in.  The guy told us we had to go inside.  We dashed inside, all our bags swinging wildly, dodging bewildered travelers left and right.  We went to the check-in kiosk and it told us we had to go see an agent.  We ran to the agent.  The agent gave us a weird look, looked at our tickets and dryly said, "You missed your flight." Well...crap.

We eventually got lucky and rebooked our flight for no charge, but the lesson here is: Never be too confident.  Never take things for granted.  

And next time, drive to Miami the night before and stay at a hotel.  As much fun as it is to blaze across Florida to catch your flight, it's better to be safe than sorry.

Floating on a cenote

Floating on a cenote part 2 - 40 metres deep!

On the bus, going back to the hotel

Caribbean Sea in front of Westin Lagunamar

Me and the Caribbean Sea

Me, Peter & the Caribbean Sea

Me, Peter & the Caribbean Sea part 2

My service apartment when I first moved to the US

We had an interesting setup these past few days. You see, the boyfriend just got offered a job elsewhere, but there's a catch. These are the terms:
- a huge increase in his salary
- 10 less vacation days from his current job (which eventually got re-negotiated to 15 vacation days)
- most of our vacations planned for 2014 will be cancelled (the other company wanted him to start early)
- Longer hour days, probably

When faced with that situation, what would you choose? 



Most people want to get the additional money, the offer was indeed amazing, I have to say. But my point was:
1) Working in an American company can suck - they don't value as much vacation time as other companies (European companies are good, they offer a lot of time off). 10 working days for vacation every single year? Are you kidding me? My family lives on the other side of the world (the Philippines), and his extended family lives in Europe. 10 days off is not enough to visit both families! Granted, in the end they offered him 15 but see point 2)
2) Cancelling 4 vacations just sucks -- and is very disappointing. One month before the vacation and it's going to be cancelled!

In the end, he chose to stay in his current company. While the pay is lower, the flexibility is good. There is a work life balance, but the loss of the other opportunity looms like a cloud. I wanted to just let him go and do what he wants but he refused. I'm too much of an outlier and a non-conformist, but apparently that's a good thing? For most, what he chose was just unfathomable - WHY? But for me, well, if I were in his shoes, I'd go running for the hills. I would not compromise my travel time for work time. Never. Then again, it is his choice, not mine.

It hit me that the American companies just don't value vacation time. I never thought it would be real but it was.



If this happened at some other time, when the travel wasn't there, then maybe it would have been a different story. But for now, no. The excitement and all the planning has been intangible in value. The cancellation of everything? Sure, that can be offset with the money, but then again we don't really need a lot of money anyway, for me what matters most are experiences. I sure hope there will be other, better opportunities out there. I just don't want him to be disappointed in the long run.

As they say, as one door closes, a window opens. I just hope we see that window soon. 

It's 2015 already and wow, time quickly flies! First off, I just want to welcome you guys who happened to stumble upon my humble website - if you have the time, please comment below where you happened to find my site from (either from Million Mile Secrets, Two Monkeys Travel, or just plain Google)



This year, I plan to post more content on my sort of neglected blog, and focus more on travel and books (and a bit of beauty on the side, maybe) - and with this, let me put a few changes to the blog starting this year:


1) I have a new writer on the block - Yay! It's not just me blabbering on about my adventures because well, for the past (nearly) 15 months, I have been traveling with an amazing amazing guy named Peter. And yes, for anyone wondering, he is my boyfriend - nepotism at its finest. He'll help out with some of the trip reviews around here (because I am lazy like that). I met him at work and we've been together for quite some time now. That's him on the left, and we're posing with our World Cup Tickets on the day that we arrived in Rio (and watching that same match in the afternoon - cos you know, we're crazy like that).

2) I'm focusing more on weekend travels - Me and Peter work full time so we only have a few days per year to travel for long stretches. Read our Weekend Warrior Series to get a full breakdown of what we've been up to during the weekend & how much we've spent.

3) We're very much into travel hacking- Want to find out how me and Peter can travel a lot, ride in legacy carriers like AA, British Airways, United & the like without paying much for airfare and hotels? Read our 2015 Travel for Cheap List and that will detail where we're going, how much we're paying out of pocket, and how many points we used up.
I'm going to try to post a brief how-to on travel hacking, in case you were interested... oh, and how to get a Schengen visa.

4) We've started quests - After reading Chris Guillebeau's "The Happiness of Pursuit", Peter and I started on a few quests. Notably: go to all the 50 States of the US.I'm not sure how many Filipinos & Slovaks (Peter is a Slovak turned American) have done it, but we'll try!

I'm trying to do other bits and bobs on the site too so welcome and I really appreciate you taking the time to visit my site :)

Let's face it, most of the inspiring blogs out there tell you to go, quit your job and travel the world! Of course, reading all the inspiring tales and adventures that these people have been in would be enough for you to stand up and want to take the leap too. But in certain cases, you just can't, or it's not that you can't, it's just that you don't want to.

Bath, England

I am one of those people who don't want to quit my job to travel. Sure, there are other times where I entertained the thought - days when I'm having a really bad day at work, or I'm feeling really sick, or just want to stay at home and do nothing. But the truth is - I like having the stability. I like having a steady paycheck month on month and I don't really like the thought of toting everything that I own in two backpacks. Truth is, I love to travel, but I love going back home to a place that didn't change, one that gives me a certain normalcy, a place where I can just chill out and do nothing without thinking of paying for the cost of a hostel or a hotel room or trying to couchsurf with a random stranger. A place where I know the stores that I can buy normal stuff in and actually know a price to pay. A place where I can have you know, stuff. 

Sure, travel gives you a heightened sense of adventure - where you immerse yourself in a culture and hang out with all kinds of people that you haven't been before. But the thing is, everyone settles down every now and again. Maybe I am at a point in my life where I'm happy, but I don't know. At the back of my mind I know that I will stay in America or Europe, but it doesn't meant that I'll completely quit my full time job to traipse around the world, going from country to country. In fact, I love that being employed full time offered me a chance to become an expat on three separate occasions.  How's that for free travel for you?

Blenheim

In my case, my company paid for my relocation expenses - flying me business class to first world countries, taking care of the resident visas that I will need and any other things that I would need.
That experience opened me up to other countries that I would need visas for. I am a Filipino passport holder, and much as I hate to say it, I don't like the fact that I'll need a visa to travel for most of the countries that I would want to go.

Sure, I'd been to the South East Asia loop - Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia, Brunei, Indonesia, and even went as far to get a South Korean and Chinese visa without any issues at all. But the fact is, if I want to go to Europe without all the hassles, it was handed down to me by said employer, and I'm grateful for that. Sure, that visa has already expired but I can still use it to my advantage in the future.

Puerto Rico

I like the fact that I am now a US non-resident alien, which enables me to travel visa free to Mexico and some Caribbean countries and also provides me with a base to explore North, Central, South America, the Caribbean, and even Europe and Africa! I like the fact that being an alien resident gives me a chance to interact with colleagues from different walks of life, much like traveling or backpacking. I like the fact that I can travel hack freely in America - I've already gotten 4 free flights:  back home (US to Manila), to Europe, Mexico & Turks & Caicos (see this blog for more information). I love the fact that I can stay in high end hotels for a fraction of their costs, and not paying full price for anything except for food, rent & utilities.

Granted, I do hate the fact sometimes that I pay a lot for these luxuries, and the fact that I only have a few days of vacation each year, but it's something you can overcome with the following tips:

1) Make the most of weekends & holidays - I cannot reiterate this enough! The weekend is not for sleeping, people - it's about exploring. Two full days where no one bothers you with work emails or calls, isn't that heaven enough for you? Explore local places, book a flight for a fraction of the cost that's leaving Friday night and coming back Monday morning then go straight to work. You can sleep off your tiredness the rest of your weekday evenings. Rinse and repeat. It takes time to get used to this lifestyle but a habit can be formed after doing something long enough. I never thought I could do it, but I did, and got used to it. Some holidays actually fall on a Monday or a Friday so score! Three full days of exploring for you!

2) Plan your holidays accordingly - I could be both a last minute traveler and an anal one that has everything planned out years in advance. If you are travel hacking, yes, it is best that everything is booked months in advance because that's where the greatest deals are (ie award availability or insane fares from budget airline carriers). However, the same could not be said of hotels - where the closer to the date you are, the better you find a deal. It helps your boss that they know the dates you're going to be out for contingency planning. It has worked in my favour, hope it works for yours!

3) Planning is part of the fun -  I love checking various websites almost everyday and checking for availability and making sure there are a lot of checks on my checklist. I try to travel the cheapest way possible for the shortest amount of time without compromising my boyfriend's demands (ie to stay at a decent hotel or eat in expensive restaurants). Once you have scheduled your flights, it is easier for you to plot out where to stay, where to go, and what to do instead of just daydreaming at a map and wondering where to go and how to get there.

4) You won't have to worry much about the budget- This is one reason why I love being employed full time. I have a rough idea of how much is going in my bank account every month and I know what percentage of it I'll keep in savings, how much I'll invest, and how much additional money will be trickling in. This way, I won't be stopped if I want to go to higher ticket items, one that can't be easily travel hacked (ie Antarctica, Galapagos, Easter Island). I know I have some money to burn and that money is for spending! You can't take your money with you to the grave but experiences can.

5) I'll have time to recover after a big trip- I can sleep for hours on end during the weekday to help charge me up but my weekends can still be very busy, even when I'm not on the go. Thing is, people who are location independent work too, albeit on the road. The reason why they can afford it is they choose lower cost countries that allow them to pay less in rent. I for one want to stay in America - even though the costs are more expensive, the opportunity is there to get a LOT of free stuff if you know how. I don't really want to travel then stay for a long time in a lower cost place. I'll just do that in the Philippines where I have a home to come home to (but bah internet sucks in the Philippines)

Okay, enough of the long post, I hope you get my drift of why I chose a life of the cubicle prison, and just shows the other side of travel that's rarely portrayed by your favorite travelers.

Outside Fort Pulaski

April 18th (Day 1) - We left Jacksonville late. Arrived in Pooler, checked in the hotel then ate lunch (at Wendy's in front of the hotel). Drove downtown. Went to the Railroad Museum. The museum had a bunch of historic carts & a steam engine train!

Walked around River Street but got drenched. Ate at Huey's for dinner. Not so expensive, and it was good, comfort food. Found the Savannah Bee Company and did a bit of window shopping. Decided to go back to the hotel and dry off. Early night for us.

At Fort Pulaski with a volunteer

April 19th (Day 2)- Drove to Tybee Island. It is a separate island from Savannah, around a 30-45 minute drive. Also went to Fort Pulatski (the boyfriend loves his forts and would always make sure we stop at these historic site). It was free when we went (National Park Week's Opening weekend), but normally it's $5 per person.

In Tybee, we explored the Tybee Island Lighhouse & Museum. Paid a small amount to get to the top.
Ate at North Beach Bar & Grill and walked around the beach for a bit (it was a wee bit cold and balmy, after all) before heading trying to go to the pier. It was so traffic (there was an event on the other end of the island) that we decided to go back to Savannah.

On top of Tybee Island Lighthouse

April 20th (Day 3): Morning breakfast then checked out of the hotel. Headed to Bonaventure Cemetery.  So eerily beautiful - it was near a big body of water too. Got a map from the visitor center for a donation ($1) and walked around. It was so peaceful, plus with all the sculptures, it doesn't really feel like you're walking in a cemetery itself.

I am a weekend warrior. I love going out every single weekend and trying to make the most of it. This is something I was not able to do much when I was back home in Manila. This will be a monthly series wherein I will present how much I have spent and where I've been to. I will post it as soon as the first weekend is up, updating it every single week until the month is up. Good concept, eh?

This is to show everyone that travel can be cheap and your time can be spent wisely, even if you have a 9-5 job, like I do. You don't need to quit your job and travel the world. With a lot of balance and savings, you can enjoy your life and stability of earning a fixed amount every single month.

Activities below are just for 1 person - I travel with my boyfriend, mostly :)


SEPTEMBER 2014 WEEKEND WARRIOR BREAKDOWN

Amount	Activity (all for 1 person)	Location	Date
8.5	Disney Parking - Animal Kingdom	Orlando, FL	1-Sep
20	Dinner for two - Cracker Barrel	Orlando, FL	1-Sep
4	Root beer Float - Animal Kingdom	Orlando, FL	1-Sep
8.5	Universal Parking	Orlando, FL	6-Sep
11	Butterbeer Treats	Orlando, FL	6-Sep
13	Dinner at Cracker Barrel	Daytona, FL	6-Sep
6.25	Lunch at CiCis	Jacksonville, FL	7-Sep
10	Beer School - Budweiser Brewery	Jacksonville, FL	7-Sep
3	Entrance to Park	Jekyll Island, GA	13-Sep
3.825	Georgia Sea Turtle Center (Groupon)	Jekyll Island, GA	13-Sep
8.5	Jekyll Island Tram Tour (LivingSocial)	Jekyll Island, GA	13-Sep
10	Lunch at Jekyll Island	Jekyll Island, GA	13-Sep
29	Trapeze Lesson (Livingsocial)	Middleburg, FL	14-Sep

September 1, 2014, Monday (Labour Day Holiday)
Universal Studios, Orlando, FL

I am a weekend warrior. I love going out every single weekend and trying to make the most of it. This is something I was not able to do much when I was back home in Manila. This will be a monthly series wherein I will present how much I have spent and where I've been to. I will post it as soon as the first weekend is up, updating it every single week until the month is up. Good concept, eh?

This is to show everyone that travel can be cheap and your time can be spent wisely, even if you have a 9-5 job, like I do. You don't need to quit your job and travel the world. With a lot of balance, you can enjoy your life and stability of earning a fixed amount every single month.


AUGUST 2014 WEEKEND WARRIOR BREAKDOWN

August 2, Saturday
Skydive Palatka, Palatka, Florida - $125 Groupon for a tandem dive.
$85 - Photo & video Package.
One of the best things I've ever done is skydive. I would always, always recommend this to other people!
Those who are brave enough, that is.
Outlet Stores at St Augustine, Florida
Disney Store - $35 (2 plush toys, a shirt, and a mini figure) - what can I say, I love Disney?
VF Outlet - Also bought a hoodie and pajama set for $15
Bath & Body Works - Got my friend a gift (Can't disclose the amount here because he might see!)

August 3, Sunday
Stayed at the pool - did a few grocery shopping but that doesn't count as travel. Spent - travel-wise.

August 9, Saturday & August 10, Sunday
Did not spend much because I mostly stayed at home! Just read, hung out, etc. My boyfriend had to get his car fixed on August 9th so that was the reason why I was not able to go somewhere.

August 16, Saturday
South Florida Aquarium, Bradenton, Florida - $18 for 2 people Groupon deal.
This was sooo worth the money! I got to see Snooty and two of his manatee friends in action! That was really the highlight of my trip. The museum was quite informative too - and I loved the Spanish square.
Bought a souvenir shirt for $12 - not bad! Good thing I can fit in a kid's size shirt :)

August 17, Sunday 
Myakka State Park, Sarasota, Florida - $6 entrance for two people in a car.
$6 - a gift for my mum when I go back.

August 23, Saturday
Universal Studios, Florida - Own a year pass which cost us $170, bought in January 2014.
- Around $10 for 2 glasses of Butterbeer (mmm yummy)
- Lunch and dinner for $20 approx (per person) - ate at Moe's Grill and Panda Express
- $17 for Parking for the car
- $20 for an owl souvenir from Diagon Alley
- $38 gas
- $20 arcade games
A full day of fun in Universal Studios. Rode the Men in Black Ride, the Mummy (SO HOT), the Harry Potter train from Kings Cross Platform 9 3/4 to Hogsmeade, and Twister. Was in the queue at the Gringotts ride for an hour only to have the ride break down on us (NOT COOL!)
Nevertheless, i did enjoy the new Diagon Alley - if you're a big fan of the Potter series, this will eat up your hard earned cash. You can buy almost any souvenir that you can think of and spend lots of money on food and beverage within this part of the park. I did also like the Dragon that breathes out fire every 15 minutes though, and the attention to detail that the park did! Knockturn alley, and all the knick knacks at the shop. Production Design at it's finest! I'll definitely be back at least twice more to make the most of my year long pass. I haven't ridden in all the rides yet!
The boyfriend also got me a few Simpsons toys (Lisa) and he paid for the game I played (where I won Maggie and Santa's Little Helper). We make sure to visit the arcade every time to play. We both like the games and I like the toys - makes for a great souvenir.

August 24, Sunday
Paddleboarding - All Wet Sports
Down by the creek in Beach Boulevard, my boyfriend and I went stand up paddleboarding.
- $20 via Groupon
SUP is so much fun! I would definitely recommend it to anyone who would want to try something new.
Best if you can find a groupon to offset your costs a bit. Sometimes groupon gives additional percentage discounts so try to time your booking for that!

That week too, a package arrived - It was a GoPro Hero 3 - an advanced birthday gift from my boyfriend!(my birthday is in a few weeks and he wanted to give me the camera before we went on our Puerto Rico trip) I spent $14 to buy a head mount for the camera so we can use it at the Bio Bay tour.
We tried it in the pool and it's working lovely so far!

August 30, Saturday 
Hilton Head, South Carolina
Lunch - Golden Corral $9 per person
Gas - $20 per person
Sea Pines Resort -$6 per car ($3 per person)
Souvenirs - $9 (tshirt from Camp Hilton Head)
Water - $1.50 (was sooo thirsty, it was such a bloody hot day)
Went shopping at the outlet stores in Hilton Head but I'm not gonna say how much we spent ;)
Dinner - Bluffton: Captain Woody's Bar & Grill - $10
Hotel - Country Inn & Suites, Beaufort, SC: Free using points

August 31, Sunday
Beaufort & Hunting Island , South Carolina
Entrance to Hunting Island - $5 (per person)
Water - $1.50
Hunting Island Lighthouse Entrance - $2
Lunch - Plums Restaurant - $15

I made a pretty little excel file for it - below are just travel expenses (no souvenirs or water) for your reference & exact location:

Amount	Activity (all for 1 person)	Location	Date
125	Groupon - Skydive Palatka	Palatka, FL	2-Aug
85	Photo & Video Package - Skydive	Palatka, FL	2-Aug
9	South Florida Aquarium	Bradenton, FL	16-Aug
3	Myakka State Park Entrance fee	Sarasota, FL	17-Aug
5	Butterbeer	Orlando, FL	23-Aug
20	Lunch & Dinner (Moe's & Panda Express)	Orlando, FL	23-Aug
8.5	Parking - Universal Studios	Orlando, FL	23-Aug
10	Universal Studio Games	Orlando, FL	23-Aug
20	Gas Share	Orlando, FL	23-Aug
20	Groupon - All Wet Sports Groupon	Jacksonville, FL	24-Aug
9	Lunch - Golden Corral	Hilton Head, SC	30-Aug
20	Gas Share	Hilton Head, SC	30-Aug
3	Sea Pines Resort Share	Hilton Head, SC	30-Aug
5	Hunting Island Entrance Fee	Hunting Island, SC	31-Aug
2	Entrance to Hunting Island Lighthouse	Hunting Island, SC	31-Aug
15	Lunch - Plums Restaurant	Beaufort, SC	31-Aug
359.5	Total for August

Washington DC. Ahh, such a wonderful place to be in. It all started one day when I saw that there was a Memorial Day holiday coming up in May. Being one that makes the most of traveling during a holiday, weekend + extra days off, this is the perfect time to fly. 

The Philippine Embassy in DC. I didn't think I'd be giddy to see this but I was!

So a few months before May 23-26, 2014, we looked for tickets and chanced upon $200 roundtrip tickets from Jax to Reagan via US Airways. And of course we jumped on it (this was the time when the boyfriend and I were just starting out with the points & miles game so everything was really in cash)

Our hotel was a $100/night deal at a placed called the Normandy Hotel (I'll probably post a trip report about the hotel when I'm not lazy)

Since I am very, very particular about trip planning, one of the things I really wanted to do was go up the Washington Monument. It was closed for a few months because of some damage but luckily, it will be open a few days before we got there. Bingo!

It is highly advisable to reserve tickets to the Washington Monument in advance by going to Recreation.gov - the tickets are free but if you buy them in advance, you will have to pay a service charge. No worries for us - my boyfriend and I are lazy louts and would rather do something else with our time than queue up for two hours hoping to get tickets (but what if we don't?) - the service charge is very minimal - for the two of us we only paid like $5 and that includes shipping to my apartment. Score! (Of course, this only works if you live in the US. But fear not if you live outside the US, you can opt to pick up your tickets at the ticket counter on the day that you're supposed to go up). Booked our tickets for May 24th, 10:30 AM and we're all set!

The ticket is timed, so you'll have to be there at least 15-30 minutes before your timed ticket and sit down at one of the marble benches and wait for your turn to go inside.

Before you go in, the park ranger will group you in batches (me and my bf along with 8 other people) then you'll have to go through an airport style security check (bags will be X-Rayed), and no food  is allowed inside. You'll then wait outside the elevators which will take you up the monument.

Since we were the first two inside, I got a chance to get my photo taken with Mr Washington himself. OK, a statue, but that's close enough.

There are two windows in every side of the monument (8 in all) and overall has breathtaking views of the National Mall & surrounding areas (if you went there on a clear day - when we were there it was very clear and sunny. Perfect weather, really).

Do take the time to take photos and marvel in those windows. I myself am a history buff and do love taking on amazing views, we ended up staying much more in the place than we expected to! Check out our photos in the rest of the post below. Please do not take and use them elsewhere without my permission though. You can grab hold of me on the contact me page on the right side of the page if you would want to use them.

You should notice that there is a red light blinking up on the top of those two windows/viewing areas. Not sure what it's for though! I theorized it could be for airplanes - they do land quite close to the city center (via Reagan airport) but I could also be wrong!

Once you are done with the viewing area, you'll go down one level into a mini museum showcasing how the Monument was built, various trivia, etc - this is where you'll catch the elevator back down from the top.

Watch out while you're elevator though! There are many commemorative stones that were donated by various states, some of them more interesting than the others! I managed to take a photo of some of them but unfortunately I didn't get to upload them! Oh well.

That concludes the Washington Monument trip.
Depending if you're a big history buff or not, it will take around 2-3 hours to do everything (including waiting for your turn to go up the top, waiting for your turn at the windows, taking pictures and then going to the other windows)

Enjoy the photos in the blog - my camera is amazing isn't it?

It was a plus that we were there during Memorial Day weekend cos there was so many events going on!

MLK Memorial

WWII Memorial

The White House

Me at the Monument