Tambuli Seaside Resort and Spa in Mactan, Cebu – A Blissful Birthday Retreat

January 24, 2024February 1, 2024Leave a comment

Hey there, lovely readers! Welcome back to momtraneur.com, your go-to source for family-friendly travel adventures and lifestyle tips. Today, I’m thrilled to share our recent escapade at Tambuli Seaside Resort and Spa in Mactan, Cebu, where we celebrated my husband’s 45th birthday in style. This is just Day 1. I took tons of photos and videos so I had to divide my vlog into two parts to make sure I don’t miss sharing with you our wonderful stay! You can head to my vlog now and watch our Tambuli Day 1 stay:

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How to Plan for a Beach Wedding (Our Dream Beach Wedding)

July 4, 2023August 22, 20238 Comments

It’s been two months since we did our dream beach wedding! It happened on May 5, 2023 at 5PM, dusk, my fave time of day. Happy 2nd Beach Wedding Monthsary to us! My blog is on US Time Zone but it’s July 5 now in the Philippines. I’m starting a beach wedding series and this would be my first blog post about it. If this is your first time to get to know me, you can go back to my previous post about our pre-wedding film which would also connect you to a series of my wedding engagement posts. I’m sort of an OC kind of person and I just want the documentation of my memories organized. This is in case I get Alzheimer’s in the future (I hope not!) and honestly, just doing it this way makes me so happy. It’s like I get to relive each moment as words pour out of me… Teehee. So, let’s start…

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Apple Tree Hotel and Resort, Cagayan de Oro City: Tuz’s 5th Birthday Hoopla

December 8, 2020December 8, 20201 Comment

Ever since Tuz was born, we’ve always celebrated it by traveling to the beach or a nice hotel resort, just us three. I do plan to make a blog post and/or vlog of his past birthday celebrations so watch out for those soon…

Just a little flashback on his past nativity celebrations:

1st birthday at Acuarverde and Laiya Beach Resorts in Batangas

2nd birthday at Ultrawinds Mountain Resort in Baungon near Cagayan de Oro

3rd birthday in Siargao where we spent 9 blissful days on this lovely island I also call my second home! (If you’re from CDO, you can read this blog post: HOW TO GET TO SIARGAO FROM CAGAYAN DE ORO VIA BUS AND BOAT RIDES)

4th birthday at the newly constructed C-Resort in Libertad, Misamis Oriental

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Boracay – Things to Do, Where to Eat, How Much to Spend PART 2/5

July 18, 2019July 20, 20196 Comments

It has been a loooong but nonetheless exciting day leading up to this post. This was supposed to be published yesterday but because of the demands of my client work, I had to work for 18 hours straight (with small meal breaks in between, and yes, I haven’t taken a bath in two days now) to finish all of my deadlines. Mahal had to take Tuz with him as he did his errands for his upcoming DTI business presentation, revalida and graduation (which is today) so I can focus on my tasks. By the time I was done working (I worked from 5am to 12 midnight), Mahal requested to use my computer to finish his business presentation in Keynote. His own Macbook Pro got busted by Tuz last year and we haven’t had the budget to have it repaired yet. It will cost him half the price of a new Macbook so he might just as well buy a brand new, none-Apple one. My old Acer and Asus laptops lasted me 4-5 years before. His Macbook Pro only lasted him a year, thanks to our toddler who kept on banging it, it finally gave up. Lolz!

Anyway, enough chitchat.

This is Part 2 of my 5-Part Boracay – Things to Do, Where to Eat, How Much to Spend blog post.

Do read Part 1 first to give you a more wholistic picture of our travel experiences in Boracay. It details the first to third day of our 16-day Boracay getaway. Here’s the link:

BORACAY – THINGS TO DO, WHERE TO EAT, HOW MUCH TO SPEND PART 1/5

Okay, now that that’s out of the way, let’s continue with Days 4-6. Oh, and please be warned, there will be a ton of photos! I’ve already curated these ones here so just imagine the hundreds of photos I had to go through to finally choose the ones I’m publishing here. That’s coz one of my life’s goals is to keep documenting our life together through pictures and videos. This reminds me to also update my Youtube channel soon. ^_^

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Boracay – Things to Do, Where to Eat, How Much to Spend PART 1/5

July 16, 2019July 19, 20191 Comment

I don’t believe in work-life balance. For me, there is no such thing as this is work on one side, then there’s my life on the other side. Most of us work 8-10 hours a day, sometimes even more for those who are a workaholic like me or those who simply love their jobs and businesses. So, does that mean that we have no life? No way! Instead, I resonate more with the term “work-life blend”. I choose to live my life where everything I do is according to my own design. I love to work, I love to be with my family and we love to travel every chance we get. My work is my life and so is my family and everything we do together. That’s the work-life blend for me.

Anyway, I just have to say that out loud to give you a proper perspective on a digital nomad’s life like mine because, on this post, you will see what I actually do during so-called “vacations” and family trips.

You can read first my Boracay-related posts before you go ahead with this one. It will give you a more perfect picture of how I am able to visit Boracay almost every year for days and weeks at a time (which I’ve been doing since 2004).

BONUEVA HOME GUESTHOUSE – BORACAY CHEAP ROOM

BORACAY 2019 – WHAT’S NEW? HERE ARE THE DOS’ AND DON’TS, UPDATED LIST OF AUTHORIZED AND ACCREDITED HOTELS, GOVERNMENT FEES, AND MORE!

EXPERIENCE THE NEW BORACAY – A VLOG – CHECK IT OUT!

Okay, now that that’s out of the way, let’s get on with my post. This is going to be exciting! Coz every time I write about my travel experiences (or any experience for that matter), I feel like I am reliving those days. Teehee. This is also going to be a long post! So prepare some popcorn! Lol! I’ll divide this long post into 5 shorter ones, 3 days each. I’ve been doing this Part 1 post for 5 hours now because I had to sift through a ton of photos, resize them, put watermarks and upload them, that it’s going to take forever if I finish this all today!

Let’s go!

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How to Travel with a 3-Year-Old Kid (A 2018 Travel Recap)

March 1, 2019July 10, 20196 Comments

It’s March 1 already? How time really flies when you’re oh so busy and enjoying life’s ups and downs! I can’t believe that summer is here (despite the cool weather we’ve been having, which I’m grateful for, less use of air conditioning at home, lol) and it’s again time to head to the beach and travel some more! Actually, we’ve been heading to the beach since the start of the year (you can read a bit of background here): but of course, it’s a lot more fun when done during summer. Weather’s about to get hot (hopefully!) and perfect for the beach; Vacation from school is coming up for many students; and the Holy Week (April 14-21) seems to be just around the corner which means more holiday break for Filipino working parents. Whether you spend it at home, or visit churches, or explore places you’ve always dreamed of, summer is really the peak of travel activities in the Philippines and for some, it starts today. As I look back at the places we’ve traveled to in 2018, you might also get some ideas on where to go next.

Writing about how to travel with a baby / how to travel with a toddler has now become my tradition since I started this Momtraneur blog. It makes me look back with fondness at the previous year’s travel adventures we’ve had as a family and it makes me all the more excited to explore some more places we’ve never been to before or go back to our favorite destinations because they’ve simply become our second and third homes. It’s also a reminder for me to blog about those places we visited so expect more travel posts from me soon. I’m serious this time. This is also the 3rd gratitude post I was talking about in my Jan. 6 blog post – A LOOK BACK AT 2018… GRATEFUL FOR THE YEAR THAT WAS.

Moreover, it’s been different every year since our son, Tuz, was born. Traveling with a 0-1-year-old baby has been a little different from traveling with a 1-2-year-old baby, more so now that he’s three years old! Tuz has always been a hyperactive child and he just gets more and more hyperactive every single year! God help us! (Lol)

So without further ado, here’s how you can travel peacefully and happily with a three year-old-kid in tow: Continue reading →

Dakak Beach Resort Day Tour Review – How to Get There and How Much

October 19, 2018July 21, 2019Leave a comment

Have you been to Dakak?

I’ve heard of Dakak since I was young. My mom would mention it from time to time saying that it’s one of the best resorts in the southern part of the Philippines owned by the former Zamboanga del Norte representative and businessman Romeo Jalosjos . My mom was born in Surigao and our ancestors have lands all over Mindanao so Dakak was pretty much popular in our family back then.

So when I became an adult, it became one of those places in my to-visit list. Continue reading →

Acuaverde Beach Resort in Laiya, Batangas – A Review + Tuz’s First Birthday Celebration

November 18, 2017January 10, 201813 Comments

It’s Tuz’s 2nd birthday yesterday late evening, Nov. 17, at exactly 11:47 PM. I can still remember all the pain I went through when I was induced starting at 7AM 2 years ago, only to get an emergency C-section late that evening. Was it worth it? Definitely! Despite the fact that Tuz is now in the terrible twos stage and all my patience is running dry, having a child of my own with my very best friend in the whole universe is still the best thing that ever happened to me and I thank God each second of my life for it. ❤

We have nothing planned on the day of his birthday (yesterday) because the mountain resort we wanted to check in at here in Cagayan de Oro (Ultra Winds Mountain Resort ) was fully booked yesterday and the reservation we got was for today (Saturday 2 PM) until tomorrow (Sunday 12 NN). In the meantime, I’m going to blog about our only son’s very first birthday which we celebrated last year by staying for a night in Acuaverde Resort in Laiya, Batangas.

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Siargao Cheap Accommodation – Ocean 101 Cloud 9 Beach Resort

October 13, 2016October 23, 201811 Comments

Siargao is one of my most favorite islands in the Philippines! There are so many things to do here, so many places to visit, so many natural wonders to explore and even at night, there are so many parties to go to (yep, I really couldn’t believe that Siargaonons are such party animals). All of these things I will share with you one by one as I blog about all of my visits to the famous surfing capital of the Philippines.

Siargao According to Wikipedia

Siargao is a tear-drop shaped island in the Philippine Sea situated 800 kilometers southeast of Manila in the province of Surigao del Norte. It has a land area of approximately 437 square kilometres (169 sq mi). The east coast is relatively straight with one deep inlet, Port Pilar. The coastline is marked by a succession of reefs, small points and white, sandy beaches. The neighboring islands and islets have similar landforms.

The island is composed of municipalities of Burgos, Dapa, Del Carmen, General Luna, San Benito, Pilar, San Isidro, Santa Monica and Socorro.

And all these municipalities, I’ve already visited! Weeee!

But first things first — where to find cheap accommodation in Siargao? Continue reading →