Boarding Gate 101

I count Japan as one of my favorite travel destinations. There are lots of places to visit and discover - from modern and cosmopolitan cities like Tokyo and Osaka, to ones that are very rich in culture and heritage, like Kyoto, to small Alpine villages where you can do winter sports. Visa  Citizens from certain countries, including the Philippines, need a visa to enter Japan. The application (in case of the Philippines) is done through a travel agency. I picked Friendship Tours, which has a office in Dusit Hotel in Makati, to do the application for me. The fee is PhP 1200 for a single entry visa. I went to their office to submit the requirements, which include the passport, visa application, a photo, itinerary, birth certificate (the new (yellow) one), income tax return, proof of funds and bank deposits, and marriage certificate if application. You may need to submit additional documents if you have a sponsor in Japan. You may check the whole procedure here . For th...

I was reading an article on io9 about a breed of memorabilia collectors called the completist - the one who is always compelled to collect every single item to complete a collection, and who thinks that a collection is not worth collecting if they don't have every item in the set. I somehow related to the article because I am a collector of sorts, too. I collect 1:400 scale die-cast planes (which I blog here ), and I used to actively collect phone cards from different countries. The article also also got me into thinking that travelers may have some completist streaks too, and may tend to go to certain extremes in doing so. I also think that aside from being a completist, some travelers may also become a hoarder, or a grail quester. What are these three? A travel completist may begin with a bucket list, such as to visit all contiguous states in the continental US, or all the UNESCO World heritage sites. I've read that for some, traveling to all co...

Ever traveled to a place then forgot the name of that small shop that sells the best tasting cronuts you've ever had? Or have you ever wanted to retrace your steps in your travels, down to the smallest alleyways you passed along the way but couldn't? Here's a travel tool that enables you to do that - so well that it's cool and scary at the same time: the Google Location History. I use the service - which you need to enable on your mobile phone and Google account - to look back at my travels and generate some cool maps that retrace my steps during my trips. Google Maps, by itself, is an incredibly useful app already; I cannot count how many times I've used it when traveling to find my hostel, the nearest subway station, that cronut place. Having location history enable, made it cooler and more useful. Take a look at these examples: The top photo shows my movements around Singapore during my trip there in September, It basically showed my movements in t...

My travels in 2014, by the numbers: 6+1  countries I visited in 2014: United States, Mexico, Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, plus the Philippines 4 Number of states visited in the US: California, Missouri, Illinois, Washington 51 number of places/cities visited during the year (some more than once): San Francisco, Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, Sta. Monica, Venice Beach, Mexico City, Teotihuacan, Cancun, Chichen Itza, Valladolid, Oakland, St. Louis, Belleville, Nuvali, Calamba, Bacolod, Murcia, Himamaylan, Kabangkalan, Laiya, Clark, Zamboanga, Kabasalan, Tagbilaran, Panglao, Carmen, Kota Kinabalu, Runau, San Juan, St. Louis, Chesterfield, Springfield, Champaign, Kankakee, Chicago, Seattle, Tukwila, Taipei, Beitou, Shilin, Tokyo, Yokohama, Kyoto, Osaka, Matsumoto, Hakuba, Nagoya, Nagano, Chiba, Narita, Zamboanga 18 Number of airports I've flown in (or out) this 2014:  MNL , SFO, LAX, OAK, MEX, CUN, SIN , NRT , MSP , STL , DTW, BCD, ZAM , CRK (Omni Airfield), T...

Mexico is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world. The country's rich culture and history, tropical beaches and other natural attractions made it a magnet for travellers around the world. Here are some of the considerations to take when visiting the country. Visa Citizens from select countries,  listed  here ,  do not need a visa when entering Mexico for tourism purposes.  Citizens of the countries that are listed  here , however, need to get a visa from the nearest Mexican embassy before they can enter the country. These countries include, unfortunately, the Philippines. However, there is an exemption for this. If you have  a valid United States visa  (or traveling from the USA) and the purpose of your trip is tourism, business or transit, then you can enter Mexico through any port of entry with no visa necessary.  Travel documents to Mexico Filipinos with no US visa need to submit several documents when...

Hi guys! I will be embarking on a two week trip to California and Mexico starting tomorrow and I decided to do a sort of live blog my activities in the fortnight. As the usual live blogs go, the post on top are the most recent, indicated by a timestamp and also the location (update frequency would depend on WiFi access, but I'll try to write them and upload them as soon as I'm able). Hope you can accompany me in my trip by checking out my updates here. 6:00 pm PST, The Fisherman's Wharf I took the cable car all the way from Powell to the Fisherman's Wharf, and I visited a number of places there. There's the Musee Mecanique,  a museum for mechanical arcade games dating back to the 1800s, the submarine USS Pompanito, the Ghirardelli Square (yes, the chocolate brand, and the original store is here), and the San Francisco National Maritime Park, which displays real, historical boats along the pier. I also ate an early dinner here, crab cakes and clam ch...

My blog post for today is about a bit of history. This day (January 1) marks the 100th year since the first commercial flight took off from St. Petersburg, Florida. The wooden plane, powered by a 75-horsepower engine, later landed in Tampa less than an hour later, and as the saying goes, the rest is history. The role of commercial flight to travelers cannot be stated enough; it enabled us to reach parts of the world that were too distant and inaccessible before. As an avgeek  myself  (not a coincidence that my blog's name has something to do with airports),  one of the highlights of my travels as always, is the flying. I love airplanes and I love to fly. I like watching them land and take off while in the boarding gates, or even while peering through the windowseat.  I even collect models of them as a hobby . As a tribute to the century of commercial flight, here's a rundown of some of the aircraft that I have flown in over the years. Acc...