happy steps

With its many lakes and waterfalls, the Pocono Mountains aka Poconos in northeastern Pennsylvania is a popular tourist and outdoor recreation destination. It’s also known for numerous summer camps such as Camp Kresge, ideally located in the picturesque Pocono Mountains. As a Poconos summer camp, Camp Kresge offers parent-child weekends and family camp weeks, the latter is a new program for 2008.
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One of Prague’s must-see attractions is the Old Town Square which tourists can find within walking distance from the Charles Bridge.

Going to the Old Town Square, tourists are greeted with buildings lined up at the sides and the Tyn Cathedral straight ahead.

The varied architectural styles of the buildings in the square make it an open-air museum featuring the Gothic styled Tyn Cathedral with its pointed spires, the Gothic façade of the House of the Stone Bell, the nearby St. Nicholas Church with its Baroque dome and other buildings.

The Old Town Hall with the Kriz House (pink building) adjacent to it.

The Astronomical Clock at the Old Town Hall’s tower provides brief entertainment to tourists with its “Walk of the Apostles” mini-show every hour.

Another view of the Town Hall Tower.

The House at the Bell (right) and the Goltz Kynsky Palace where the National Gallery is housed.

The Ministry of Economy building.

St. Nicholas Church

At the center of the square is the Jan Hus Memorial made of bronze by Czech sculptor Ladislav Saloun.

The Jan Hus memorial is a favorite place for tired tourists with its benches around where one can sit back and enjoy the great view of the surrounding buildings.

To be continued

Few more weeks to go and it will be Christmas! Are you counting the days excitedly until the big day? With the holidays almost here, I bet most people are starting to get busy with their holiday planning and making their lists for food, shopping and gifts. My sister and I have some ideas for our family reunion for the coming Christmas and New Year breaks, but we still need do some brainstorming to make it more fun. A simple yet meaningful get together with a short program perhaps. What about the food? With both my parents conscious about their diets, it’s just important to include healthy dishes in our menu such as fresh vegetable salad and fruits.
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One of the familiar buildings near Alexanderplatz is the Marienkirche or St. Mary’s Church. Since visitors are allowed to go inside, the curious me decided to take a peek.

There was an ongoing renovation that time, with some temporary steel framework set up at the left side and the right side pews arranged facing to the left. Nevertheless one can still appreciate some of the artistic parts of the church such as the ceiling vault, the pipe organ above the church entrance, and the detailed artwork in the pulpit.

Here are some of the church photos:

At the entrance door

The ceiling and the organ

The ceiling vault

The pulpit

The church organ up close

Marienkirche is one of the oldest churches in Berlin along with Nikolaikirche, with most of its structure made of brick and granite.

As I’m writing this, my sister is now traveling somewhere in the clouds, from Europe all the way to Asia with her little daughter C. I know it would be a challenge for her to bring a little girl who just turned a year older. We know how kids behave and they can be unpredictable especially at public places such as airports. So we advised my sister to tie little C with a leash to keep her from running away from her mommy. We also told her not to bring lots of stuff and just the trip essentials would be enough – diapers, wipes, food and extra clothing for little C and other personal stuff.
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This coming Christmas vacation is something I’ve been looking forward to. All of my bros and sis will be here, yey! As with all travels, it’s best to be prepared with the necessary documents months ahead before the trip. I think my big sis in Finland is the most prepared of them all. They even have a Boracay reservation awaiting them. But my cutie sis who’s the least prepared will be arriving anytime soon. Thanks to last minute flight deals and speedy passport processing.

How about the Thailand bunch? The other day, SIL requested me to call up the Thai Embassy in Manila to inquire about the following:
1. What are the requirements for Dependent Visa Type O under husband with Visa Type F?
2. How many days is the visa processing?
3. How much is the visa application fee?
After browsing over the net, we found out that there’s no official website for the Thai Embassy in the Philippines, we only got some contact numbers from the many information websites about embassies around the world. SIL already sent an email to two addresses but her emails bounced back. I tried calling these numbers - +63 2 8154219 to 20 – and got routed to a voice recorded message giving me options to press this and that number. After going through with trying the right number to press for my SIL’s inquiry, I got through local 102, which is the number for visa related concerns other than what’s on their options list. The staff who answered gave me these two websites:
http://immigration.go.th
http://consular.go.th
I thought these two sites would be helpful to my SIL’s inquiries, but I found out these are Thailand-based websites and even the fees are in Thai Baht. I clicked on almost all the links and found nothing helpful for my SIL’s inquiries. sigh. Even the second url given was not working. What we need is a Philippine based website of the Thai Embassy in Makati, what are the visa requirements, fees, office hours, downloadable forms and other important information.

Anyway, I’ll be calling up the staff again and get the requirements directly from him. I can just compare my browsing experience with the Philippine Czech Embassy website where everything is already provided and the site is very organized, including the visa application form to be filled up, the guidelines for filling up the form, and other necessary information.

Our first stop at the Berlin-Mitte disctrict was Alexanderplatz, a public square and a major transport center in Berlin where the Weltzeituhr (World Time Clock), the Fernsehturm (TV Tower), Park Inn Berlin and other buildings are located.

The World Time Clock and the Park Inn Berlin

The Fernsehturm (TV Tower) and the Bahnhof Alexanderplatz (Alexanderplatz station)

The TV Tower is a familiar structure of the Berlin-Mitte skyline and can be seen along the Unter Den Linden Boulevard and other neighboring areas.

The Rotes Rathaus (Red Town Hall)

Near Alexanderplatz, is the Rotes Rathaus (Red Town Hall) where the governing mayor holds office. This renaissance-styled red brick building built in the mid-18th century was heavily damaged during the World War II and subsequently reconstructed according to the original plans during the 1950s.

Few steps from the town hall is the Marienkirche (St. Mary’s Church) and the Neptunbrunnen (Neptune Fountain). I will be posting about Marienkirche and its interior in a separate post later.

The Marienkirche (St. Mary’s Church)

Neptunbrunnen (Neptune Fountain)

The huge circular Neptunbrunnen with a height of about 10 meters highlights Neptune at the center, the god of the sea according to Roman mythology (known as Poseidon in Greek mythology). Around him are four women representing Germany’s four main rivers.

Are we tired yet? Still so many points of interest lined up! Okay, off we go walking again…

Next stop: Museumsinsel (Museum Island) and Berliner Dom (Berlin Cathedral).

In the fast-paced world of today, most businesses have mobile employees to handle the sales of their products, be they pharmaceuticals and medicines or consumer goods, or electronics materials/equipments or gadgets, to mention a few. Travel expenses such as food, accommodation and transportation therefore are shouldered by the company. Especially in giving car allowance, these businesses need a program to handle efficiently these employees with cars, how to reimburse them, such that it is fair to both the employee and employer concerned. This is a reasonable concern for a traveling employee, so he can spend time on his work with peace of mind.
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After the mid-noon Mass at the St. Albert Magnus Church in Berlin, we headed off to the Charlottenburg Palace (Schloss Charlottenburg) since it’s within the same district of Charlottenburg. The Charlottenburg Palace, built in the 17th century, is Berlin’s largest palace. We brought with us lots of food (yup, we’re not just travel bugs but pacmans as well) in the car and had a picnic at one of the benches in the palace grounds.

At the Charlottenburg Palace gate

A closer view of the palace dome

A statue inside the palace grounds

For a fee, tourists can get inside the Old Palace where there are many rooms with intricate details of architectural styles; while behind the palace is a large garden. At the right wing is a souvenir shop where you can find Charlottenburg Palace keepsakes and Berlin souvenirs and other trip essentials such as Berlin travel guides and photography books. We decided not to go inside and explore more of the palace since we had other tourist attractions lined up in our day tour itinerary and it was already past noon.

Next stop: Alexanderplatz

Also known as The Big Apple, I hope someday to be going around the streets of New York City, sightseeing on a double-decker bus which has top-deck-only seats for the best view of the city’s tourist attractions. It would be fun to go on sightseeing tour packages which conduct visits to major places of interest and with activities such as harbor cruises, visit to museums, and even shopping trips. And while on tour, I might consider living in NYC and getting myself one of those New York sales jobs.
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Not only is Berlin known for its historical significance but it is also one of Europe’s top tourist destinations along with Paris, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Athens, Venice and other popular cities for travel bugs. Thus, a day tour in Berlin, being the capital of Germany and its largest city, was added to our travel itinerary in Europe considering that ours was a Schengen Visa and it was good to make the most of it by traveling to nearby Schengen states. And why wouldn’t we take time to visit Berlin when it is just about three hours travel from Prague?

Berlin is best enjoyed not just for a day though, but for those who haven’t got the luxury of time, a walking tour around the Berlin-Mitte (center) district would be sufficient since most of the main tourist attractions are concentrated here.

Below are some of the major points of interest to visit in the Berlin-Mitte district:
Alexanderplatz
Rotes Rathaus (Red Town Hall)
Marienkirche (St. Mary’s Church)
Neptunbrunnen (Neptune Fountain)
Museumsinsel (Museum Island)
Berliner Dom (Berlin Cathedral)
Unter Den Linden Boulevard
Zeughaus (Old Arsenal) which houses the German Historical Museum
Neue Wache (New Guard House) war memorial
Staatsoper (Berlin State Opera)
Sankt-Hedwigs-Kathedrale (St. Hedwig’s Cathedral)
Humboldt University
Bebelplatz
Brandenburger Tor (Brandenburg Gate), shown in the above photo
Reichstag building

Other points of interest we’ve visited outside the Berlin-Mitte district: Schloss Charlottenburg (Charlottenburg Palace) as our first stop located at the Charlottenburg district and Checkpoint Charlie (via subway) in the Friedrichstadt suburb.

Note: Photos and details of each point of interest to follow in separate posts.

Whether you’re on a business trip with colleagues or on a family vacation, having an airport shuttle ready to service you as soon as you get out of the airport arrivals area, is a great way to start off your day. Isn’t it nice to be pampered with comfortable and reliable transportation to get you to your destination?

With the many airport shuttle services around, here are some of the basics needed before deciding on one:
1. 24/7 customer assistance
2. reasonably priced (based on your comparison list)
3. clean interiors, comfortable seats, reliable and on time
4. operates daily
5. added convenience such as separate luggage compartments
6. 24/7 online reservation service
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Happysteps.net welcomes November with much hope and thankfulness. And as a member of the Entrecard community, I’m sending out a big thank you to my regular Entrecard visitors. For those who took time to always drop their cards and making it to the top 10, here’s some linky love as my way of thanking you.

cheapdanny (30)
BasBasBas.com (29)
Thailand Land of Smiles (28)
Random Ramblings (28)
Lofty Matters (27)
Symphony of Love (26)
rainydazeee (25)
Good Life Review (24)
Comedy Plus (24)
Darnuth Keep (24)

So, it’s a different list again from the previous August and September top droppers. This will be the last post highlighting my top droppers since I’ll be featuring them in an RSS widget on the sidebar from now on. Watch out for that! Happy EC dropping!

As a travel bug, I would often dream of travel to the other side of the world, across the Pacific Ocean, and you guess it – to the large American continent where I haven’t set foot yet.

One of my dream destinations is New York City, the most populous city in the US, and home of the United Nations headquarters. There are many NYC attractions for tourists such as the Statue of Liberty, the Rockefeller Center, the Brooklyn Bridge, and the Times Square to mention some few places of interest.
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It was just one of those lazy Saturdays when you crave for grilled food and a picnic out in the sun, away from the usual environment at home.

There was really no definite place to go, and so we ended up at Branik, just few minutes away from Praha 4 in Prague. We were greeted by a wide expanse of green with the Vltava River calmly flowing by the side. The place is an idyllic weekend spot for sunbathers, families and yes, pets.

Catching the sun’s rays while reading a book

Few meters farther are thick trees along a higher terrain with a path where some enjoy speeding with their bicycles or skates

Bridge over peaceful water

Sitting by the Vltava River while discussing politics, hehehe…

One important document needed for international travel is a travel medical insurance. This is strictly needed as one of the requirements in securing a Schengen visa when I applied at the Czech Embassy in Manila before my trip to Prague. I even noticed that one of the applicants’ papers were returned since he lacked the proper insurance documents. The Czech Embassy has a list of certified insurance companies to provide guidance for the applicants.
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This is the third in a series of posts featuring photos of benches I’ve collected during my travels. Previously featured: Rauma (Finland) and Prague

After attending the noontime Sunday Mass at St. Albert the Great Church, off we went with our day tour of Berlin. I will be posting more photos about the city’s many historic landmarks and buildings, but for now here are some of the benches I’ve photographed to add to my collection. Enjoy!

Benches along the souvenir shop street… perfect place for tourists to rest for awhile after their shopping spree.

A series of concrete square benches at the rear of the Reichstag building.

More benches at the city park…

At the Charlottenburg Palace grounds. See that bench where the guy was seated? That’s where we had our lunch. =)

Financial planning for a scheduled trip saves travel bugs from future worries and headaches. Most of us would always set a trip budget and do everything we can to save on travel expenses while keeping an eye on the best flight and hotel deals. Unless you have a lot of financial resources to splurge on a holiday, every planned trip would always require some budgeting. This is where financial planning comes in and with the high-tech gadgets available nowadays, using the latest financial software makes budgeting easier.
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Most of the airline companies are now catching up with global awareness and incorporating some environmental safety measures and practices in their systems. Some companies even encourage their clients to “go green” and provide educational articles to enlighten them including options for clients to purchase green products to offset their carbon emissions brought about by travel.
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Here’s another ongoing promo for travel bugs by Globe Telecom as it joins SM Department Store’s 50th anniversary. Globe subscribers (mobile, landline and internet) paying their bills at any SM Bills Payment counter get a chance to win a trip for two to Macau.

Here are some of the trip details:
- good for 2 persons
- round-trip airfare on Philippine Airlines (PAL) economy class
- 3 days and 2 nights twin sharing hotel accommodation at Grand Emperor Hotel
- daily hotel breakfast
- half-day Macau city tour

One winner will be chosen every month starting July until December at designated raffle dates from September 2008 to January 2009. The prize is transferable and convertible to cash, with the prize tax to be shouldered by Globe Telecom.

Being a Globe broadband subscriber, we’ve always been paying our bills at SM since we usually go there for shopping anyway. It’s more convenient for us than paying at the Globe office at Lacson Street where the queue is usually longer. We’ve already paid two Globe bills via the SM payment counters, I really hope we would be one of the Macau promo winners.

Photo credits: Wikipedia.org

I enjoyed my recent vacation, it was fun visiting my two sisters in Finland and Prague and especially playing with their cute and active kids. The only downside to my vacation was the weight I gained during my stay there. Thanks to my sisters who never ran out of ice cream, chocolates and other calorific foods in their refrigerators. Add to that was the food tripping and dining, tasting of local food and delicacies which made me think I had to enjoy them a lot while still there.

The day I arrived in Manila, the guard at the condo was glad to see me but I wasn’t happy with what he told me, “Ma’am tumaba ka!” (You’ve gained weight!). Ouch… then another friend of Mom commented the same thing. Another Ouch! And here at home my Aunt and another relative told me I needed to lose weight.
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Wanna shop for paintings, décors, jewelry, t-shirts, lanterns, bags, buttons and all sorts of art, handicrafts and books in Berlin? Check out the Art market (Kunstmarkt) at the Museum Island (Museumsinsel) beside the bridge every Saturday (11:00 AM - 3:00 PM) and Sunday (10:00 AM - 2:00 PM) where you can find some Berlin souvenirs to take home with you.

Here are some photos of what’s on sale at the street market where busy tourists crowd around the many items displayed.

Autumn is here again and what better way to experience this magical transformation of nature than a weekend getaway in the outdoors. It would be nice to visit state parks and forests, gardens, environmental centers, arboretums, and other natural landscapes to enjoy the colors of fall before the winter season comes. In New Jersey, travel bugs have many options - the Greenwood Gardens at Essex, Glen Rock Arboretum, Camden Children’s Garden or the Butterfly Garden at Cape May Bird Observatory plus their many state parks, forests and recreation areas.
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For travel bugs and tourists who plan to travel to some destinations (Honolulu, Guam, Bangkok, Los Angeles or Sydney) to and from Manila, check out some promo packages from Philippine Airlines (PAL). Here are some low fare flights available at their online booking facility which features their calendar pricing, showing the fares within a seven-day range for the travelers to choose from based on 3 days before and after their inputted travel date.

Bangkok to Manila

For only THB4660 plus taxes and applicable surcharges for 2 days minimum stay up to 8 days maximum stay, travel period until December 14, 2008, no mileage accrual and ticket is non-refundable. For THB 5000 plus taxes and applicable surcharges, the same condition applies plus rebooking is allowed at a charge of THB1,000.

Hong Kong to Manila

For only HKD1,000 plus taxes and applicable surcharges for 2 days minimum stay up to 8 days maximum stay, travel period until December 14, 2008, no mileage accrual, non-refundable ticket, no ticket validity extension and rebooking fee allowed at USD50.

Manila to Honolulu

For only USD318 plus taxes and applicable surcharges for 3 days minimum stay up to 3 months maximum stay, travel period until December 15, no ticket validity extension, no mileage accrual. Other restrictions can be read here.

Manila to Guam

For only USD365 plus taxes and applicable surcharges for 4 days minimum stay up to 45 days maximum stay with no ticket validity extension.

Manila to Hong Kong

For only USD138 plus taxes and applicable surcharges 2 days minimum stay up to 8 days maximum stay, travel period until December 14, 2008, no mileage accrual, and ticket is non-refundable.

Special web fares

More special web fares from PAL such as Manila to Honolulu, Manila to Los Angeles or San Francisco, Manila to Singapore, Jakarta to Manila, Los Angeles or San Francisco to Manila and more are available here.

Note that promo packages have a lot of restrictions (non-refundable ticket, travel period, etc.) so be informed of all the details and plan it out well before doing your purchase. You might also want to check out Cebu Pacific and compare ongoing promo packages for both airlines.

Photo credits: Julius Silver (www.foto-julius.at)

One way for travel bugs to get a taste of a place’s art and culture is to watch the local concerts and musical events in town. I was not able to do so during my Prague vacation, but at least we were treated to a beautiful concert by the choir at the Strahovsky Monastery when we attended their 10am Sunday Mass. Well I still have some brochures here about upcoming concerts and shows in Prague, they’re just my souvenirs for now…maybe next time I’ll treat myself to a real Prague show.
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On our way to the Brandenburg Gate we passed by the Berlin Store souvenir shop to buy some pasalubongs.

There were just a lot of choices, if only you could bring them all home with you – bags, shirts, refrigerator magnets, pins, baseball caps and so much more. It would usually take us a lot of time when inside souvenir shops but we had to do our shopping real fast since we still had so many places to visit. After walking few meters from the shop, this is what we found…

A yellow Berlin bear with its arms raised up to welcome tourists!

The bear is the symbol of Berlin, and it is even the central figure in the city’s coat of arms.

Tsk, too bad we were not able to buy one of these miniature bears for souvenir when we were still at the shop.

If ever you’ll be dropping by Berlin, please say hi to the colorful Berlin bears for me!

p.s. I found more Berlin bears here. Enjoy!

One can never get enough of Europe. It’s just few months after our family vacation in this dreamy continent and Mom was already talking about going there again. LOL. I can just dream about it for now though, like her I am also wishing of visiting more European cities, famous ones such as London, Rome, Paris, Madrid, Lisbon, Amsterdam and Florence.

Madrid

As the capital of Spain, this city is a blend of medieval and contemporary architecture. Its rich history of royalty and Christianity offers many interesting buildings, cathedrals and museums for tourists to visit. I’m fond of visiting museums, so the Museo del Prado would be on my must-visit list in Madrid. This museum highlights a lot of art masterpieces from the geniuses of Goya, Rubens, Botticelli, Caravaggio and other Spanish and European artists. For those who would like to party, Madrid has a thriving nightlife to enjoy with friends. Other tourist attractions are the Palacio Real or the Royal Palace, Plaza Mayor, El Retiro and lots more. There are many Hotels Madrid Norte and other accommodations for visitors to choose from.

Lisbon

Another European city to dream about is Lisbon, the capital of Portugal. The Gulbenkian Museum is definitely on my list since it highlights works by well-known masters such as Rembrandt, Renoir, Monet (my favorite), and more. The St. George’s Castle or Castelo de Sao Jorge would be a nice place to hang out, it offers a picturesque view of the city and river since it is situated on a hill. The neighborhood of Belem is where famous historical monuments are such as the Torre de Belém or the Belem Tower, the Jerónimos Monastery, the Belém Cultural Center and other attractions. Travel bugs can book early for hotels in Lisbon to get the best deal for an accommodation.

Florence

I missed this place when I went to Italy before, thus I’m still dreaming about visiting it someday. Who wouldn’t wish about stepping on a place where Renaissance was born, where famous artists such as Michelangelo, Leonardo and other Renaissance masters originated. Florence is a province picturesquely set in mountains and hills. Tourist attractions include the beautiful Duomo di Firenze with its huge Rennaissance dome, Giotto’s Tower, Palazzo Vecchio and many more historical buildings and monuments, churches, museums and palaces. A beautiful place such as this is an attraction for couples and they have many choices of romantic hotels in Florence to choose from.

Amsterdam

This city has one of Europe’s busiest airline hubs, the Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. For instance, from Manila, this was our first entry point in the Schengen territory before we transferred to Prague. Too bad, my stay was just limited within the airport lounge and I was wishing I was staying in one of those Amsterdam hotels or even had few hours outside to go around Amsterdam, being the capital of The Netherlands. The city centre has a concentric canal ring, and consisting of 90 islands and 400 bridges linking them. Tourist attractions include museums featuring modern architecture, Anne Frank House, the Van Gogh Museum and more. Amsterdam is famous for its windmills which can be viewed at Molen van Sloten and De Gooyer.

These are just some of the European cities I wish to visit someday. And since the year-end holidays are almost here, it’s best to plan your trip months ahead. Check out available worldwide hotel bookings and flight reservations in the web. Getting a good travel deal means more savings which you could use for extra trip expenses such as souvenir shopping or dining out.

Photo credits: Wikitravel

This is the second in a series of posts featuring photos of benches I’ve encountered during my travels. Previously featured: Prague

Old Rauma is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Western Finland. You can read more about this town in my previous post “The charm of Old Rauma”. Here are some bench photos I took during our tour.

This one is a favorite. The white bench just stands out from the colorful background of flowers and cobblestones while the sky looks a bit cloudy. This photo was taken in front of the Rauma Museum at high noon.

Another white bench. Photo taken at the rear of the Rauma Museum, where the garden exhibit was presented.

Benches scattered outside what looks like a shopping mall (or movie house?).

A lone bench at the ruins of the Holy Trinity Church (Pyhän kolminaisuuden kirkko) built in 1400 but was later destroyed by fire in 1640.

“Where are the burgers?” Dad and cutie sis waiting for food on a wooden bench with the burger joint nearby. Behind them is an ongoing road construction.

When we travel, our health should be in good condition. I’ve known of somebody who succumbed to death in another country due to a sudden cardiac arrest. That’s why it is a must that before one travels, he should undergo a complete medical checkup. Dad had his complete medical executive checkup before we left for Europe.
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Recently, big sis and I have been chatting about the coming holidays and their family’s trip itinerary in the Philippines. They’ll be spending few days at Boracay, a tropical paradise situated at the tip of the Panay Island and world-famous for its white sand and clear blue waters.

They already reserved a room at the Boracay Beach Club located beside the White Beach at Station 1. Browsing through their website, I am sure it will be a nice hotel for them.

Photo credits: Boracay Beach Club