> top 10 travel destinations

i love to travel and discover new places. i love to eat local food, and shop to my hearts content. i love bringing back small things to put in my house, so everytime i see it, it reminds me of my experience in that certain place. i also love to travel in a small group of friends, like maybe 5 at max, more than 5 becomes a bit to stressful for me.

so here is a list of places i want to go to in the next 2 years:

1. nyc, boston, washington DC
i have been wanting to go to NYC since 2009, but alas i have only booked my flight for the trip this october 2012. it's been delayed for 3 years, but its better late than never, right?! i am flying with mechie and selwyn.

2. australia.
i would love to spend a month in AUS and go around the country, like melbourne, gold coast, brisbane, canberra, and of course sydney. my friend, sarah is getting married in sydney next year - feb 2013, and i think it would be the perfect time to go. i am going with sid, helen and satya.

3. west coast, USA - like las vegas, los angeles and san francisco.
but to top the list, it would really be SFO. i heard that the city itself is beautiful. i cannot wait to come and visit. romina, one of my college friends is already based there, so it might be the perfect time to go.

4-6. a lot of european countries i want to see and on top of my list - spain, italy, portugal.
i'd like to spend a lot of time traveling around EU, especially italy and spain, i want to be able to visit certain cities and not just the capital. hopefully, i would have more time in my hands.

7-8. turkey and greece.
it has been my dream to visit this 2 countries together. my cousin mechie has actually been and she was telling me of how beautiful istanbul and capadoccia is.

9. nepal
nepal has enchanted me for quite some time already, but i never had the guts to go there still. i know paulo wants to go here too, and maybe next time i should travel with him.

10. dubai
i want to see dubai and some other cities in the UAE. i want to see the sand dunes, do some major shopping, etc. :)

> 10 little joys in my life

i decided to come up with a list of TOP 10 anything. and for the first edition, it will be the 10 little joys in my life. this are small gestures, cheap and cheerful things that makes me genuinely happy.

1. chocolate/ ice cream with peanuts/almonds/macadamia. anytime i feel like shit, stressed or bored, this will surely make my day a little bit better, a little bit brighter.

2. a good cup of latte / mocha. if i start morning with a good cup of coffee, almost always it turns out for the best.

3. greetings / shout out from my friends - especially with my move to China, most of my closest friends are in singapore and in manila, and they checking up on me, thru BBM, Whatsapp, MSN, Yahoo! keeps me sane and happy.

4. i love smelling good, thus i hate sweating and being under the heat of the sun. and thus, i make sure to rotate different perfumes / colognes that i have. latest one that i got was HERMES VOYAGE - smells so good. you also cannot go wrong with my other favorites such as TERRE D HERMES, BLEU DE CHANEL and CLINIQUE HAPPY.

5. a good foot massage is always good, but i need to try and be more relaxed. the only thing is if its a new masseuse, i always get stressed, since i dont like people touching me. i get stressed and akward.

6. a good review on work by my superiors, teammates and clients never fails to make my day better. guess its due to the fact that i am sacrificing a lot of things to be here, and the only thing i want to focus is to make sure i deliver quality and great work.

7. my ipod with music i love. i need this to be able to work and function especially when doing analysis - it gets me going.

8. movies, series - anything from american to korean doesn't fail to entertainment me, and serves as something to do when i don't feel like being around people.

9. talking to my family and making travel plans with them is a pure joy. i look forward to just the slightest idea of seeing them and making new experiences with them.

10. catching up with friends. i love one on one relationships, intimate ones, rather than the bar/drinking sort of thing. i love hanging out and having coffee with a few close friends. i enjoy talking about everything under the sun, without feeling pressured to talk, smile or whatnot. i like anything that's casual and simple.

next 10, are the next few travel destinations i would like to go to in the next 2 years... ;)

> first post in chinaland

i have stopped blogging, and was focused more on facebook - quick updates of life and what's been happening. anyway, i decided to write a post, the first time since i relocated to china, since 4 mos ago.

anyway, i found these, and would want to answer these questions, its supposedly for a new year kind of thing, but i find everything new (relocating), so its kind of a similar situation. ;)

What did you do in 2011-12 that you have never done before?
- i have never been to europe, last march 2011, i went.

What countries did you visit?
- i have visited france, netherlands, UK, germany, belgium, india, philippines, malaysia, indonesia, china, hong kong, macau, and quite a lot actually.. i remember last year, my schedule has been so crazy that i fly every month. (thanks to that for my miles)..

What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011?
- i would like to spend more time back home, spend more time in singapore with my friends, spend more time to travel and discover new places.

What dates from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? - it would have to be dad's 60th birthday, i flew back to manila to attend the dinner that happened on a friday, i arrived at the place at 9pm, due to the bad manila traffic (stuck for 3 hours, from airport to greenhills - yikes)
What was your biggest achievement/s of the year?
- career-wise is the promotion, and being able to enjoy the new role i had back in 2011. well, 2012 is a new role for me as well :)

- from a personal one, was helping my cousin mechie and selwyn with planning their big day - it was exhausting yet super fun.

What was your biggest failure?
- its not spending more time back home, but i got to see my family quite a lot.

What was the best thing you bought?
- i bought mom a prada bag for mothers day / birthday.. :)

What did you get really, really, really excited about?
- xmas, dad and moms birthday - i love planning surprises and family trip.. it makes me giddy.

What song/s will always remind you of 2011?
- has to be katy perry, watched her show at the beginning of 2012 and i had soo much fun!

Compared to this time last year, are you
– happier or sadder? Happier!
– thinner or fatter? Same-same...
– richer or poorer? Richer, I suppose...

What do you wish you’d done more of?
- cooked more, woke up earlier to get a good cup of latte, read..

What do you wish you’d done less of?
- less intake of coke light / coke zero!

How did you spend Christmas?
- with my family back in manila.

What was your favorite TV program?
- cougar town, how i met your mother, how to make it in america, 2 broke girls, happy ending.

What did you want and get?
- a new pair of shoes.

What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
- last jan, i turned 29, celebrated it back home and had another one in singapore :)

Who did you miss?
- my family.
- sometimes when i look at photos, i miss my friends that i haven't connected with.

Who was the best new person you met?
- some new friends in china - like my local teammates, some filipinos working here too, like jill, etc.

Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011.
- oh i wrote 10 things i learned when i turned 29 and i will stick with that.