I’m flabbergasted. There’s actually an international point system vacation club - Buena Viva Exeter. That is, all you have to do is buy points depending on the number of years you expect to be traveling, the nights you generally spend in a hotel, how much you spend per night in each hotel, the number of people you generally travel with and voila – you’ll get to avail of the widest possible range of holidays in five different continents! They even have a Holiday Calculator to help you answer those questions. Amazing.

Their services pretty much includes anything else you will need when traveling - from efficient bookings and travel insurance, to flights, ferry crossings, car hire, airport parking and even cruises. To cap it off, you not only get to unwind in top class international resorts, your points will even be re-allocated to you each year until 2047!

Dang. I ought to be saving up for cool packages and memberships like this and save myself from the hassle of worrying over my next destination for the next X years.

I love food and two of my favorites are pizza and pasta. Consequently, I am also a fan of Italian restaurants.

My friend Dof, who lives in San Diego, knows how fond I am of pizza and pasta. Dof boasted that he tasted the best Italian pizza and pasta in Trattoria Acqua, one of the restaurants in La Jolla. They actually have a website and I found out that it is included in the “Top 10 Italian Dining destinations in America” by USA Today magazine, and received the “Italian Gold Award” by Southern California’’s Restaurant Writers Association consistently from 2001-2006. Definitely a must not miss Italian restaurant.

Since I live far, he promised me that if I do visit them, he’ll buy me dinner at that restaurant. For now, I am content in just sharing my friend’s new discovery to my blog readers. In case you’re near there and would like to have a taste of authentic home style Italian food in a Mediterranean setting, Trattoria Acqua is located at 1298 Prospect Street in La Jolla, California.

When travelling, whether out of town or just somewhere near, one of my biggest worries is packing my things. Generally, I carry at least two bags and one paper bag, plus several unused plastics for my dirty clothes.

Then I discovered the Tote Bags by port authority clothing. For less than 4 USD, I was able to buy a hyacinth colored, durable, polyester tote bag! Its compact size is simply perfect for carrying all my essentials, plus some. The tote bag is actually becoming one of my favorites. Nowadays, I get to go to places without having my hands full, literally, with bags.

Louise, an architecture student and one of my friend’s sisters, recently visited Barcelona, Spain with some of her batch mates for an educational tour. It’s inevitable that they ended up there, really, because Barcelona is noted for its great architectural richness. They of course checked in a Barcelona hotel with easy access to all major attractions of the city like the Ramblas, Plaza Catalunya and the Gothic quarter.

According to my friend, Angelica, the sister of Louise, they took several pictures during their trip especially during their stroll along the broad avenues and monumental fountains. Knowing how much I love beautiful places, Angelica promised to show me the pictures as soon as they’re printed. I’ve been planning to go there as well, but I’m in a cash shortage. So I was really ecstatic to find out that those financially challenged people can opt to avail of cheaper accommodation in Barcelona like university residences and youth hostels. Maybe I’ll give it a try…