#travel-essentials

This has been an overdue post and I am glad to finally write it. I have been wanting to share my visa experience but I honestly do not know why the German embassy decided to give me a longer visa validity. I also haven't found official rules on granting multi-year visas. I read unofficial Schengen blogs saying that you need to have obtained and use

Going through Philippine Immigration can feel like going through a job interview. And some say it's a matter of luck because there are some super strict Immigration Officials and some who won't even ask a single question. It can be stressful when you do not know what to expect but it doesn't have to be if you're prepared and clear with your travel

It's been over a year since I started my digital nomad journey. It took me years to decide and finally submitted that resignation paper. For over 10 years, I worked in an office. It was a difficult decision to leave as it was my sense of identity and my stability. But the dream of traveling the world without worrying about limited vacation time was

A disclaimer before anything else. I'm no longer a solo traveler as I found my other half while traveling and we prefer to travel as a couple now. This write up was from my very first blog reinforest.wordpress.com from over 10 years ago. Back then solo female traveling was unusual especially for Filipinos who like traveling as a group.  While I'm n

How to become a digital nomad an quit your 9 to 5 job? Most digital nomads I met are from rich countries and this is still an uncommon path for us, Filipinos. But I'm here to tell you that it is doable for us. One of the most difficult process in becoming a digital nomad is leaving your comfortable life. So I'm here to share how I was able to quit

Who doesn't love to budget? I will search for hours to find the best value accommodation and the cheapest flights. I don't buy expensive clothes so my money goes to my travel funds. But travel insurance is something I won't compromise on! Before I started my long term and indefinite trip, I thoroughly researched for the most affordable travel insur

 This blog is an updated guide based on my recent experience with Philippine Immigration. Non-essential travel was allowed late October 2020 but Philippine Immigration remains very strict. Sadly, I still see several stories of people getting offloaded by our Immigration Officers. I have a separate post on tips on passing the Philippine Immigration

<Date> Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany 25/F Tower II, RCBC Plaza, 6819 Ayala Ave 1200 Makati City, Metro Manila Subject: Visit Visa Application for Unmarried Couple Dear Madam/ Sir, 1st paragraph: Introduce yourself (provide full name as written in passport), purpose of letter, name of partner, requested number of days with dates,

What is BlockFi? BlockFi is a platform where you earn interest by lending your BTC, other cryptocurrencies, even gold and US dollars. I know there's a lot of sketchy platforms in the crypto space but we have tried and tested BlockFi, it's one of the few crypto lending platforms that we trust. It is backed by the Winklevoss twins (most would be fami

The visit visa for unmarried couples that I applied for in November 2020 was a new visa category created in response to the Love is Not Tourism campaign. This allowed binational couples with a German partner to reunite in their home country despite travel restrictions. UPDATE 2022: The post below is for first time applicants but I still applied the

 Update: TransferWise has renamed its company to Wise.   Sending money abroad, remittance and even withdrawing money abroad using our Philippine local bank costs a lot! Thankfully, revolutionary FinTech companies like Wise [formerly TransferWise] is changing the game. This gives us, Filipinos, easy access to USD, EUR and other major currencies. Thi

Scam: Delhi is shutdown due to the election We took the a flight from Bangkok and arrived at the Delhi International Airport. From there, it was a breeze to take the metro to New Delhi and it only costs Rs. 50 for the ride. As soon as we got out of the airport, it was a struggle getting a ride to our guesthouse. Only auto rickshaws and rickshaws