Trip to South Africa and Sony Ericsson phones up for grabs in FIFA World Cup ™ video contest

It’s game on for FIFA World Cup™ fans as Sony Ericsson launches a video competition that promises exciting prizes including the new gesture gaming phone Kita and a trip for two to South Africa . Sony Ericsson is searching for a Filipino child to be a FIFA flag bearer in the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ in South Africa .

The winning child, together with his parent or guardian, can use his Sony Ericsson Kita to catch the excitement of this once-in-a-lifetime experience.

“The Sony Ericsson Kita will be an exciting and handy travel companion for our young FIFA flag bearer headed for Cape Town , South Africa . The handset will help him or her keep in touch, and keep us posted on this historic journey ahead. This will be the first time for the Philippines to participate in a FIFA World Cup event,” said Dennis Manzano, Sony Ericsson General Manager.

Sony Ericsson will award Kita handsets to the top five finalists of the Search for the FIFA World Cup™ Flag Bearer. The contest is open to Filipino children aged 10-16 years old. Simply create a 30-60 second video and creatively answer, “Why I deserve to win the Sony Ericsson Search for the FIFA World Cup™ flag bearer.” Upload the video to www.clickthecity/sonyericssonfifa. Children can have fun and present their reasons in play, song, dance and other creative ways to convince judges.

Five finalists will be chosen and beginning March 8, 2010, voting for the number one favorite flag bearer begins. Sony Ericsson will let the public decide who deserves the honor of being sent as the Philippines ’ first FIFA flag bearer to this premier international sporting event.

The Sony Ericsson Kita is the first motion and gesture gaming handset outside the Japanese market, and features everything for the young traveler to enjoy. It comes loaded with gesture games, so one can just move their body to play and win. Other great games, including motion and standard games, are ready to be accessed from a games carousel on the phone’s desktop. A/B buttons act as gaming shortcut keys.

Kita also comes with a 5-megapixel camera with auto focus, 4x digital zoom, face detection and geo-tagging. Take pictures and record videos of unforgettable FIFA World Cup™ moments. The camera has a send-to-web function for one to easily share images and video clips to family and friends. Music call lets a user share their music with one button press while talking.

Exclusively for the Asia Pacific market, the Kita also comes with exclusive content from the Sony Ericsson Entertainment Asia portal. Each phone can be loaded with entertainment features of the user’s choice such as blockbuster films from Sony Pictures, songs and music videos from Sony Music and game titles from the Gameloft content library.

Sony Ericsson is the Official Mobile Phone Handset of the 2010 FIFA World Cup™. Visit www.clickthecity/sonyericssonfifa to learn more about the Sony Ericsson Search for the FIFA World Cup™ Flag Bearer. Registered voters on the site will get a chance to win the exclusive Sony Ericsson Team Pilipinas shirts.

P788 seats for Cebu and Davao hub flights; P1,499 for Bangkok flights!

Fly to prime destinations like Palawan, Legaspi and Caticlan with our P788 ‘Go Lite’ seat sale for all Cebu and Davao hub flights starting now until January 21, 2010, for travel this February 1 to March 31, 2010.

This special P788 ‘Go Lite’ seat sale is for direct flights from Cebu to Bacolod, Butuan, Cagayan de Oro, Caticlan, Clark, Davao, Dipolog, Dumaguete, General Santos, Iloilo, Kalibo, Legazpi, Manila, Ozamiz, Puerto Princesa, Siargao, Surigao, Tacloban and Zamboanga.

Direct flights from Davao to Cagayan de Oro, Iloilo, Manila and Zamboanga are also up for grabs for only P788.

We’re offering great discounts to the Land of Smiles, with P1,499 Bangkok seats from both Clark and Manila. The seat sale period starts now until January 21, 2010, for travel this May 1 to July 31, 2010.

CEB flies to Bangkok every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday from Clark, and daily from Manila. We offer an unbeatable 30 kilos free baggage allowance promo for those with check-in luggage on Clark-Bangkok flights until June 30, 2010.

Fun Tours Bangkok package also go as low as P5,495 through the CEB website. This is inclusive of round-trip airfare, and 4 days-3 nights hotel accommodation with daily breakfast, and is subject to availability.

Those with check-in luggage will just add P100 upon booking.

Jumpstart the summer travel season with Cebu Pacific’s Php999 “Go Lite” seat sale starting today until January 15, 2010. Travel time is from February 1 to April 4, 2010.

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Super Ferry Sale starts on December 18 until December 24, 2009. Travel period is anytime from December 31 til February 28, 2010.

Manila to Visayas for P588++

Manila to Palawan for P588++

Manila to Minadanao for P888++

50 kilos is free of charge.

Fly to Japan and Korea with Cebu Pacific’s seat sale for as low as Php2,499. The seat sale starts now until November 8, 2009, for travel beginning January 15 to March 15, 2010.

You can avail of the Php2,499 ‘Go Lite’ seat sale fare to Manila-Incheon, Cebu-Incheon and Cebu-Busan flights, this is 35% lower than the lowest year-round fare of Php3,899. Those with check-in luggage will just add P100 upon booking.

Cebu Pacific Air flies daily from Manila and Cebu to Incheon, and twice weekly from Cebu to Busan.

Manila to Osaka bound passengers can avail of 52% discount off the lowest year-round fare of P5,499, with our seat sale fare of P2,599. We fly every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday to Osaka.

Jetstar’s 5th Birthday Sale. Fly to Singapore from PHP1850 on
Jetsaver light fares – CarryON baggage Only.

Jetsaver fares with 20kg checked baggage allowance can be booked for USD10 more. Fares may not be available for peak periods and public holidays.

More Info

” Its the best time to promote tourism nowadays, because of its natural competitive edge among the other countries “. Speaker  Prospero Nograles said this  to increase culture and arts tradition here in the Philippines. And with that,  the President will be signing a decree that promotes long term tourism policy here in the Philippines.

Cebu Pacific Promo Fare is once again here and the airline is doing round trip promo fares across Asia and the Philippines. The following prices are the current promos being offered by CebuPacific and valid in 2009:

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Yes, that’s right! Cebu Pacific Airlines is offeing 50,000 free tickets to anywhere in the Philippines baodr their planes.

Here’s an email alert Cebu Pacific sent us today:

Thanks to you, the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) reported Cebu Pacific as the No.1 domestic airline once again.

Because of this, we are giving out more than 50,000 seats ABSOLUTELY FREE.

This is only available online. And since you’ve signed-up with our Seat Sale Alerts – you get to be among the first to learn about our exciting seat sales!

Show your friends how much you appreciate them too by booking them a seat or by sending them this email so they get to join you on your next domestic vacation! Let’s pass on the good vibes.

Fly for absolutely PHP 0 (all-in) without any check-in bags (Go Lite) . If you do decide to bring check-in bags, just pay P200 (all-in).

The seat sale STARTS NOW until September 21, 2008 and is valid for travel from October 16 to December 17, 2008.

Manila to Mindanao – P899
Manila to Palawan    - P599
Manila to Visaya      - P599

Ticket Purchased by Aug. 29 - Sept. 11, 2008
Departure Date : Sept. 12 – Oct. 15, 2008
Call : 528-7000

The race is on for the quest of finding the new seven wonders of the world and the Philippines is gaining huge leaps and bounds with several Philippine resorts on the top of the list:

Tubbataha Reefs, Palawan, Philippines
Chocolate Hills, Bohol, Philippines
Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park
Mayon Vulcano, Albay, Philippines

You can still vote here: http://www.new7wonders.com/nature/en/about_the_campaign/

Campaign will be until year 2010 so please vote as often as you can!

Don’t miss this chance to explore the Philippines! Cebu Pacific is having a new promo will its domestic flights nationwide. It’s not the 1 Peso seat sale but it’s still a sale.

Fly Manila to Laoag, Legaspi, Naga, San Jose (Mindoro), Tuguegarao (Cagayan Valley) and Cebu to Bacolod, Butuan, Cagayan and Iloilo for only PhP699; Manila to Bacolod, Caticlan (Boracay), Cebu, Dumaguete, Iloilo, Kalibo, Puerto Princesa, Roxas, Tacloban, Tagbilaran, Cebu to Caticlan (Boracay), Clark, Davao, Puerto Princesa, Zamboanga and Davao to Iloilo and Zamboanga for only PhP988.

For only PhP1,499, fly Manila to Butuan, Cagayan, Cotabato, Davao, Dipolog, General Santos and Zamboanga from July 15 to October 15, 2008. This seat sale will run from June 27 to July 3, 2008 only!

by: Abraham Olandres

I didn’t really have concrete plans of going anywhere for the Holiday weekend. I was thinking of going home to Guimaras but the 4 day-long weekend wasn’t enough and worth it. Plane tickets are skyrocketing and the timing is just not good; besides, I couldn’t get any plane reservations.

And there was I, hoping to get a good rest and stay home to catch up with cleaning my pad and do some reading or maybe play Battle Realms up to sawa. Then, my office phone rang then an old friend asked me if I wanted to go to Vigan for the Holy Week. Vigan, I ask? Well, yeah, I nodded with gleaming eyes.

Next thing I knew, I was travelling with my friend and her high school barkada to Vigan City, Ilocos Sur. There were just the six of us so we brought a car for the trip. Well, I must admit, it is the longest trip I ever had – 13 hours on the road stretching over 390 kilometers of asphalt and cement-covered roads. Manila – Bulacan – Pampanga – Tarlac – Panggasinan – La Union – Vigan, Ilocos Sur: we left at 7 in the morning and arrived at the heart of the city just a few minutes past 8 in the evening.

The town was full of people, most of them were tourists roaming at the plazas, bazaars, and cafes and stalls beside the road. Dozens of horse-drawn calesas pass to and fro. What is this place, I asked myself. It really looks like colonial Spanish – everything from the brick roads and the adobe stones and capiz shells of the centuries old villas. I remarked – cool!

We scouted around for possible vacancies in nearby inns. Nothing, zilch, nada – not a single room available to comfort our aching body and tired eyes. The place was just full of visitors and foreigners from everywhere. We resorted to looking for some other place in the outskirts of the town proper but to no avail. Just our luck, an old relative of one of our companions was just in the nearby barrio but we still had to ask around to look for it.

It was around 10 in the evening when we had a good rest sharing a papag provided for us by a long lost relative of a friend. Alas, a good night sleep after the grueling hours of traveling over five provinces.

We woke up early the next day to get a good bath – well, a decent bath in the open deep-well was all I had but it was cool and refreshing. The rest of the day we spent roaming around the antiquated yet beautiful city of Vigan. Such marvel of Spanish colonial houses, villas, churches and the assortments – I just couldn’t believe my eyes! Pictures taken here and there, eating empanadas and chichacorn and buying all sorts of antique goods took most of our day but most of all I enjoyed the calesa ride!

We visited some of the notable spots around town – the Crisologo Museum, the old church and bell tower (shown in the movie, Ang Panday), the pot factory, Plaza Burgos, the Heritage Village (a seen in the movie Jose Rizal) and many more.

We’re supposed to proceed to Pagudpod the next day. It’s a 110-km or so ride from Vigan but we incidentally bumped into somebody we knew who just came from the place. They told us that Pagudpod was too crowded and they had to knock in the baranggay captain’s house to spend the night. Worried and disappointed that we’ll end up like them, we decided to stay in town and look for another beach nearby.

The beaches at San Esteban, an hour’s ride from Vigan, was the closest and nicest we could find. Nice white sand beach, scorching sun and salty wind greeted us in the early morning breeze. The place was full too; just our luck we arrived earlier that day. I also had the chance to get a crack on the portable videoke system installed right there on the sand! And the halo-halo was just as great for just 10 bucks a serving!

On our way back to town, we passed by a grotto placed on the beach front facing China Sea. It was windy and the trek to the statue was hard and slippery considering the strong gusts of wind and the moss-laden rocks that we had to traverse. Right on top of it, I marveled at the golden sunset as I watch it being swallowed by the sea.

The four days seemed to pass by so fast. We left Vigan city at mid noon of Sunday and arrived back to Manila past 2:30 in the early morning of Monday. It was a sweet and exciting escape!

by: Russet

With days getting longer and nights shorter, it is definitely the start of summer. And in a tropical paradise such as the Philippines, summer is surely the most awaited part of the year.

People view summer differently.

For students, it means getting out of school and a break from all those term papers, homeworks and teachers’ dirty looks! For the family, it’s a time for those out of town trips, beaches, swimming and more swimming.

For the barkada, it means getting ready for another nature-tripping or peer-bonding trips outside of the metropolis.

And for the more adventurous types, summer is a time for another mountain climb or river-rafting experience.

Indeed, summer connotes fun and having fun is best during summer.

I am no different when it comes to summer. I just want to enjoy those long days and out of town trips either with family or friends.

In fact, I had the opportunity to spend a week’s vacation elsewhere. After a week-long final examinations that really got all of my brain cells working, I simply wanted to have some early vacation to reward myself. Luckily though, my mom was kind enough to pay for my airfare. And so, without even waiting for my grades, off I flew to Singapore to have some time with my uncle’s family.

I was really excited to see my cousins, do some shopping and visit those lovely tourist spots I have long to see for myself.

As soon as stepped out of the airport, I was already into this endless chitchatting with two of my cousins and we were already planning on how am I going to maximize my stay there. They were already inviting me to have a dip in the pool the next morning as soon as we woke up.

Singapore is such a wonderful place to visit. It boasts of being the cleanest city in the world. Would you believe that they even water the streets in the afternoon to keep the surrounding clean. And beware coz you can’t buy or chew bubble gum in public.

It also has so many sites to visit and you will be amaze by the different architectural designs around. Tall buildings, museums, cultural centers and of course the lively-at-night Clark and Boat Quay.

But my visit to Singapore, to my surprise, was more than just having a weeklong break and enjoying the sights there. It made me reflect and think seriously of the life Singaporeans have and compare it to what we have in this country. Too serious? Lemme elaborate.

Singapore is a multi-racial country. You get to meet so many Chinese, Malays and Indians even while sitting on the MRT or the bus or by simply strolling around.

And yet, despite this seemingly different backgrounds, they mix well with each other. You see schoolchildren enjoying each others company, businessmen talking intently and people just being together and not being bothered by their dissimilar looks and ancestry. No discrimination, no hang-ups. They enjoy life and they allow others to. Simple yet sincere.

On my return to Manila, while I was still at the airport, I can’t help but feel bad when I saw people staring at this young lady who was wearing quite an outlandish type of clothes. She was wearing a black leather skirt (not so short though) and a knee long black boots to match a red cotton top. How come we could not just accept the fashion preference of others. Its their body after all.

I guess that is probably the reason why we are besieged with so many problems. Peace talks not working. Soldiers fighting. Children in the streets…

Basically, because we fail to accept our differences and refuse to compromise. We need to realize that we have our divergence and we must try to work on our similarities instead. It may be easier said than done, but at least try to. We can by starting with small things – those that we can do by ourselves. Live and let live… it’s a wonderful world after all!

My trip to Singapore made this summer even more memorable. And with summer just starting, I guess I will have more time to reflect. How about you?