Gala Pinoy Redux

“It’s more fun in the Philippines.”

Wow. It has actually more wow than one of the previous taglines, Wow Philippines. We like it, well most Filipinos at least, but why does the new tagline of the Department of Tourism work?

Here are some of the my thoughts.

1. It’s simple. Fuckin’ grade A straightforward tagline. You get it immediately. The words are simple too. Well, granted you understand English. But it’s as simple as it gets without sounding dry.

2. You can interpret it in any way you can. Because the tagline’s simple, it can excite a prospective tourist’s imagination, especially the word ‘fun’. Each of us has our own idea of fun. Beaches? Climbing mountains? Seeing the Rice Terraces? Spanish/American colonial history? It doesn’t matter. When you visit the Philippines, expect to have fun. Which is a promise, which is the basic function of a tagline, which still needs to be fulfilled eventually. But more on that later.
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We all have our quirks, be it at how we do certain things, or how we travel. In my case, I don’t really feel like I’m traveling when I ride an airplane to a local destination. I feel like I cheated my way to my destination by choosing a fast, cozy, and pricey mode of transport. That’s why I still love riding provincial jeepneys and buses whenever I could. No airconditioning, just the breeze coming from the outside.

But that’s just me.

How about you, what are your travel quirks? Share them on the comment box below!

Let’s face it, traveling can be expensive especially if you do it often enough (and you’re not getting paid to do it). Because of that, chances are that you have come up with innovative ways to save money while on the road so you can travel more without necessarily spending more.

In my case, I always make it a point to get the cheapest fare possible without sacrificing my comfort. You will often be on the move anyway, so next to accommodations and food, I always make sure that I don’t pay too much for my transportation. When flying, I don’t check in my luggage. When riding local transport, I often ride with the locals. I negotiate prices when I need to.

How about you, what’s your favorite money-saving technique when traveling? Share yours on the box below!

I travel for a number of reasons. Sometimes, it’s for a practical reason like when I have to attend a friend’s event somewhere outside Metro Manila. But more often than not, it is to find myself in a different environment. After all, it eventually gets tiring staying at one place for an extended period of time. I just feel lucky that my schedule’s flexible enough so that I could travel when I want or need to.

Nothing deep there. Just itchy feet. Haha.

How about you? Why do you travel? I’d love to hear what you have to say. :)

First off, it is a common practice already for travelers not to put all their money and other important stuff all in one place. So just in case your bag gets lost, for example, you don’t lose everything you have with it.*

Lucky for me, the only time so far that I lost all my money was when I was in 1st year high school, and I was also lucky enough to be traveling with a friend and his mom. She paid for my fare during that trip, after which it was reimbursed by an uncle whose money was then reimbursed by my mother. Hey, this was before the SMS era, and cellphones were still a rich man’s toy, thus the complexity of it all.

Long story short, I apparently left my wallet at a relative’s house before I left for the trip. I’ve learned my lesson since. I hope.

But if I lost all my money during a trip (that includes cash, my ATM and debit card), I would have to call any friend or family member near me and send me money through places like Western Union (WU). Just made me realize that something as old as WU still has its place in a world dominated by credit cards. If that doesn’t work I probably would risk my ass and go busking. Now if they people don’t like my talent at all, I’ll ask them to throw money at me instead of the typical tomato, just to make things a little different.

Anyway, how about you, what would you do if you lost all your money during a trip? Crazy, creative ideas are totally welcome. :)

* – If you don’t have this kind of habit yet when traveling, then this is one good habit you must try to have.