Singapore 2012

This would be my second time in Singapore, I enjoyed my visit here last year, my very first solo travel for 9 days! It was a great experience indeed! Singapore is one of the safest country I've been to and of course there's a lot of reasons to go back here! One of my main reason is the Universal Studios Singapore, heard a lot of good reviews about Transformers The Ride, I wouldn't wanna miss this thing! The fact that I'm with my favorite travel buddy "TINA" (my sister!) Time to relax and take this opportunity to enjoy!

Preparing for this travel is kinda easy for me, lemme say that Singapore is not that complicated place, infact I find it very easy to roam in this country. So here goes my preparations for this Singapore 2012!

TICKETS
We had a confirmed booking last January 2012, lucky to score a PISO fare from Cebu Pacific. Our tickets cost P 2,532.21 (each - round trip) Manila to Singapore, no check in baggage.

ACCOMMODATION
Last year I stayed at Hostel Amigos which is very near to Lavender station, but unfortunately this hostel was already closed. As much as I wanted to stay here again, we couldn't so I did some research on finding a cheap yet nice place to stay in. My main concern in looking for accommodation is the location (and the rest follows). I came across to this hostel/guesthouse "SLEEPY SAMS", looking at TRIPADVISOR reviews which is kinda mixed of good and bad reviews. What made me decide to have a reservation here is the location wise which is very near to BUGIS station, Bugis Junction and other stuffs. Did I say it's also cheap for only 20SGD per night for a female dorm room. We won't probably stay much of our time in dorm, so it doesn't really bothers me if we shared a room with others as long as we will save some penny ^_^

Making a reservation at their site, they will ask for some credit card information for reference but no fees to be collected, full payment upon arrival. Just in case you want to cancel your reservation, be sure to have it cancel the day before your arrival so that you won't be charge any fees. You will receive an email from them  for confirmation of your reservation.

MONEY MATTERS
For nth time :))))) Czarina Forex for money exchange. Three days before our flight I did exchange my PESO to SGD, exchange rate is 34.11ph to 1 SGD.



ITINERARY
September 17 - 21

Sept 17
Arriving at Budget Terminal 4:55pm
Dinner at Bugis

Sept 18 - Day 1
Universal Studios Singapore

Sept 19 - Day 2
City Tour (Esplanade, Merlion, MBS, One Fullerton, The Flyer, Helix Bridge, Art Science Museum)
Garden By the Bay
Harry Potter The Exhibit
Suntec City Mall
Fountaion of Wealth

Sept 20 - Day 3
Orchard
Chinatown
Little India
Mustafa

Sept 21 - Last day
Leaving Singapore at 10:35am

ESTIMATED BUDGET

Travel tax	1620
terminal fee	550
Sleepy Sams	2800
Universal Studios	2100
Harry Potter	840
Food & transpo	2000
Total	9910

Now we are ready for this Singapore trip! ^_^ Fighting!!!!

Applying for Tourist Visa for South Korea

This is my second time applying for tourist visa,  I've been to South Korea last February 2012 and applied my tourist visa last December 2011. So yes I'm already applying my tourist visa for November travel, too early?? not really 'coz you can use it within 3 months!

It's so easy to apply as long as you have the complete requirements. Since this is my second time applying for visa, I just prepared the same requirements.

Here's my profile:

APPLICATION FORM - I put "VACATION" for the purpose of entry, "1 week" for my potential length of stay, "UNDECIDED" for address and phone in Korea. I put N/A for some spaces which did not applied to me and I attached a 1 pc passport size picture.

My travel history -  Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Hongkong, Macau, South Korea and Thailand.

BANK CERTIFICATION - I used my BPI payroll account which is also a savings account. It's easy to request the certification with a fee of 100php to be debited on your account. The current balance was only stated on the certification. My current balance is 35,xxx.xx only.

ITR OR FORM 2316 - Issued last March 2012 of my present company.

CERTIFICATE OF EMPLOYMENT - I've been working more than two(2) years (present company). My COE is very detailed, when I requested my COE the HR asked me for the approved leaves for my travel, my passport number, dates of my travel and address of the embassy. What was written on my COE, aside from those details, also includes my annual compensation, position to the company and date hired.

PASSPORT - Aside from passport, you also need to submit a photocopy of the first page.

My sister's profile:

We have almost the same profile except for the COE because she works on different company, that only stated her hired date and position, anyways she also works there for more than 2 years.

There you go, make sure you have the complete requirements when submitting/applying for Visa. We applied last August 30, been there in less than an hour. As long as you have the complete requirements the process would be easy. The process takes a week, tentative release date of visa is on September 6.

I come back to the embassy, gave the voucher(sheet of paper) and they will give you a number for the queue. It only took me 30 minutes to wait for the release of our passport and voila I received my stamp sticker visa passport! So happy!!!

How to go to Korean Embassy:

Address:
122 Upper McKinley Road,
McKinley Town Center, Fort Bonifacio
Taguig City 1634, Philippines

You can get off to Guadalupe Station, go to PUJ Station going to PATEROS/FTI and look for the PUJ with signage "FTI - C5", tell the driver to drop you off at the embassy.

You can also get off to Ayala Station, then ride the Fort buses going to "Market Market", then ride again PUJ with signage C5/FTI,  tell the driver to drop you off at the embassy.

It that won't do then take a cab ^_^

Good luck to all the applicants!