2013 - FAVORITES {Happy New Year!}

2013 was a very ecstatic year. Lots of things happened, and I visited three countries (well, 2.. Hong Kong is a SAR of China) As every month ends, I always post a Favourites. But since a year will end, I figured to assemble all my favorite and most memorable moments of the whole year. Here they are:

- Hong Kong, 2013 - A prominent trip to Disneyland. Couldn't remember much (this post was posted like 4-6 months after the trip), but there was also a heck of a lot of night market trips. 

- Stockholm: The Vasa Museum - A ship sank on it's first voyage in the 1600's and was rebuilt (did I use a correct word to describe it?) with a really careful eye for detail. 

- Stockholm's City Hall - A quiet Sunday walk (almost) ended with a visit to Stockholm's City Hall. For me, it is one of the most iconic Swedish buildings ever.

- (Eats) Tim Tams from Australia! - I just love their dark chocolate ones :)

- The Stockholm City Museum - A class trip to a very educational and interactive museum showcasing the history of Stockholm. 

- Gamla Stan (Stockholm's Old Town) - An area with awesome building architecture, (some of my friends say that they have) good ice cream and a heck of a lot of museums to go to. 

- Munkedal, A Town Off Gothenburg - Sometimes all you need is good company, nature, and some potato and leek soup with fried bacon bits. 

- (Eats) All Star Sportsbar - Stockholm - The place where I started to get obsessed with sour cream / cool ranch dip. Try their mozzarella sticks.

- Bangkok, Thailand - A stop to get our Biometrics IC (Identification Card) for Sweden. Go to Terminal 21, probably my most favorite shopping mall, ever.

- Stockholm, Sweden - I've done numerous blog posts about Stockholm, and I live there. Go to Gamla Stan, and definitely check out the Vasa!! 

- Group Bonding @ Alabang Town Center - Blog post out on January 2! {shame that this was a spoiler}

*sigh*, this year was a blast. 2014 will come, and hopefully it'll be nice to us. Thank you for supporting my blog, everyone! This few months of blogging became kinda haggard with the charger and that....

I SHALL START TO POST MY ADVENTURES IN THE PHILIPPINES ON 2 JAN!
Starting with our unforgettable Group Bonding at the Alabang Town Center!

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GET READY FOR A BIG, GIGANTIC, HUGE AND REALLY FAT SURPRISE!

I just planned something extraordinarily awesome (in my opinion) that involves a bit more people. It will make a VERY BIG change to this blog.

Let's just say that the blog will be upgraded? I don't really know. I'm speaking my opinion here. Speaking of opinion, there will be a heck of a lot more opinions on this blog! *wink*

Just hold your horses for January 19 #jan19!

I should also post MORE teasers of this big surprise! Wait for those too!

Know More On Stockholm's Arlanda Express

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UPDATE: Blog Posts Resume On The 31st.

Sorry if you're bothered that I still don't have posts yet. I'm making them now, and all the free time I have is devoted to it, currently. I have a lot of posts for you people ;)

See you on the 31st, where a blog post comes out!

Spoil yourself. If you want to know what the blog post will be on the 31st, click here. ;) 

Like the page for exclusive blog updates and (sometimes), behind the scenes and extra travel information!

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MERRY CHRISTMAS!

First off, I'm really sorry that I haven't been posting in a while. My computer's experiencing some problems....

But still, I want to wish you and your family a merry, jolly and bliss-filled Christmas. It only comes once per year, so make the most out of it! 

I love y'all, and thank you for 8,200 views!.

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PHOTO CONTEST ENTRY! WE NEED YOUR HELP!

ATTENTION:

We need your help!

<If you helped liked this picture, THANK YOU! Unfortunately, we didn't win, we came in second. But the contest is over now! Thank you again for giving my uncle some support!>

My uncle is also a traveler, and a free trip would be an awesome Christmas gift, and one IS UP FOR GRABS!

Fortunately, he entered a contest from Jalaman's Adventures Facebook page, and he has the chance to win a free trip.

MECHANICS? Just go to your Facebook and like the photo. That's it. I'm not asking for anything more. (Although it would be very helpful if you share it to your friends and/or recommend)

PHOTO:

He's laying on a tree on the edge (literal, edge) of a cliff  1130 METERS ABOVE SEA LEVEL.

CLICK HERE TO GO TO PHOTO AND LIKE!!!

Don't know how to like a photo? 
This might be obvious on how to do, but here's the instructions.

1: Log on to Facebook.
2: Click the link above (that says Click Here To Go To Photo And Like!)
3: On the top right of the photo (well, almost to the top middle, right side), there's a small "Like" thing, beside Share and Comment. Click that.

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KLM Royal Dutch Airlines -- Stockholm to Amsterdam (Experiences + Eats)

The airline we took for the whole flight is KLM Royal Dutch.

First flight was a two hour long one, from Stockholm's Arlanda to Amsterdam's Schiphol airport. Thank God it wasn't a very turbulent flight.. I don't get motion sickness from planes, but I do get it from trains. <graphic>, I don't vomit though...

Upon boarding, we didn't get a personal entertainment system (I think that's what they call the small TV in front of you), understandable because it's just a short haul flight.

Unfortunately, the flight wasn't very "relaxing".... There was children onboard, and not those children who know to shut up when everyone's sleeping. There was a baby (I hope that's more specific) behind us, playing around with EVERYTHING.

EATS!

Whole Wheat Cucumber & Cheese Sandwich 

• I never knew that cucumber and cheese made a good combination for a sandwich. The sandwich was okay. I like the fact that they use whole wheat bread. Good for iron! 

Caramel Filled Chewy Cookie 

• Served as a snack to go with either tea, coffee (or what I took), Coke. It wasn't very sweet, but I like on how its chewy. I would take two if I could.

:)

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The Arlanda Express

- Information on the Arlanda Express -

Stockholm's Arlanda Airport is located away from Stockholm city itself. To get there, people need to take the Arlanda Express, a train going from Stockholm city to all of the Arlanda Airport terminals. The A. Express is really expensive, but if you're a true Stockholmer, you can use your SL card and use the Pendeltag (a with a circle on top) or the commuter train to go to Arlanda (change in T-Centralen)

Fares: Children until 17 years old travel free, youth (as they call it) from 18 to 25 cost SEK 130 (one way) or SEK 260 (return). Finally, adults travel for SEK 260 for a one way ticket and SEK 490 for a return ticket.

Exclusive photo of the inside cabin of the Arlanda Express on my blog's Facebook page.
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EATS: Espression Lavazza - Stockholm's Arlanda Airport

A quick snack before we board a 2 hour flight to Amsterdam (flight from Stockholm to Amsterdam experience will come out tomorrow!) was spent at Espression in Stockholm's Arlanda Airport.






I had the Chocolate Covered Chocolate Muffin (diabetes!). It was good, but I expected more!!

My mom had the Blueberry Muffin together with a Hot Chocolate.


I didn't write anything down, so this is a really short post.

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UPDATE| I'm At The Philippines Now!!

Ahh... the feeling you get when you go back to Asian soil. It just makes you giggle with excitement.

So I'm already at the Philippines, after an exhausting 21 hour flight from Stockholm to Amsterdam, Amsterdam to Taipei and Taipei to Manila.

The next few blog posts will be about my experiences (and more EATS!) on the airlines, and with the actual process of travelling...

So excited for the days to come! Be aware that everything I do may be not inclined with the actual date... I'm going to schedule them.

Merry advance Christmas to all!

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Philippine Slang

In celebration of our flight to the Philippines tomorrow, here's some basic Philippine slang or, salitang kalye (street-speak / lingo)

• Uno, Dos, Tres... Once you become accustomed to the Philippines, and you find yourself walking throughout its neighbourhood streets, buying something from a sari-sari store, you will question the prices. The shopkeeper would then tell you the price, commonly in Spanish. Ex. When you buy a candy costing PHP 2, the shopkeeper would most likely tell you that is costs "dos", not "dalawa" (Two in Filipino). 

• Yosi is Bad. In Philippine "sari-sari stores", you would be able to buy cigarettes, even if you're a minor. The people who actually smoke though, would commonly refer cigarettes as yosi. But remember, yosi also harms the people around you!! 

• Chibog, Kaon, Lafang... Ano Pa Ba? Filipinos have a really big variety of food, mixed with Asian cultures... If you hear a Filipino mentioning, chibog or lafang or whatever, they basically mean that they will eat or the mean something related to eating or food. In the context of... "May chibog dyan." = "There's food there"

I'm sure there's many more, but that's all the things I've found within 30 minutes of research.

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HAPPY LUCIA!!

• St. Lucy's Day (commonly shortened to "Lucia") is a church feast day . It is celebrated in honor of Lucia of Syracuse or Saint Lucy. 

• Lucia is always celebrated on the 13th of December. It is commonly celebrated in the areas of Scandinavia and in Italy. 

Watch this video: 

Video credits to Sweden (yes, it's their username)

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5 More Days! {More Iconic Philippine Things}

We're boarding a flight to the Philippines on the 16th, and I'm so excited!  Here's a list of more iconic things you (and I) will find in the Philippines.

• Jollibee. Probably the most iconic food chain in the country. It sells everything from fried chicken, to burgers, to pasta, to breakfast... All sorts of stuff. I do like their Breakfast Burger Steak though (it's just basically a breakfast burger patty covered in gravy plus garlic rice).

• Street Food / Street Food Vendors. You will see tons of people cycling with carts of nuts, or "fish-balls" around Manila, or even your own neighbourhood. Prices? Very, very cheap. Don't forget to try kwek-kwek (quail eggs dipped in batter before being deep-fried)! Fish-balls aren't really "ball" shaped though. 

• Tricycles. I think tricycles are those bicycles with three wheels... But if you refer to them here in the Philippines, they mean a method of transportation, perfect when going short distances. They're made by affixing a side-car (to accommodate passengers) with a wheel plus a motorcycle.

• Sari-Sari Stores. Roughly translated, "sari-sari" means "variety". These kind of stores are just basically small spaces (it wouldn't be a surprise if they're even just on a house window) on a house, made for selling a variety of things to the neighbourhood. There are no big chains of these, and these are just mostly for neighbourhood convenience. The owners of these kind of stores are independent (mostly). 

A Typical Outside of a Sari-Sari Store

Picture from Wikipedia

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What I Expect When I Go Back To The Philippines?

This blog post will be a short "journal entry".

So were boarding a flight on the 16th (I forgot the exact date) to go back to the Philippines for Christmas. There's so many things I expect.

• The Weather. Goodness. From a snowy wonderland here in Stockholm to a humid, tropical place near the equator. I feel that I'll sense this even in my first hour after landing. That's a 30 degree (Celsius) difference!

• The Food. (Extreme Emphasis on Rice)  As a Filipino, I really do enjoy eating rice. But the past months of living in Stockholm, we're trying to eat healthier stuff, including stripping our rice from 1 to 3 portions of rice (breakfast, lunch and dinner) per day to 1 to 2 portions of rice per week. And we try to eat brown rice here, unlike white rice in the Philippines. But don't get me wrong, rice is awesome.

• The People. There are about 100 MILLION people living in the Philippines now, and there are about 9 Million living in Sweden. Take note that Sweden is also larger than the Philippines area wise.  

Merry (Advance) Christmas by the way :)

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EATS: Chopsticks Restaurant

Nothing like a nice buffet to finish off a rather cold Saturday. 

The Chopsticks Restaurant is an Asian-inspired (mainly buffet) restaurant in Stockholm. It is located around Centralstation and the city center. 

We had dinner here last night and we got the buffet! 

TIP: If you're going to a buffet, take a small (additional emphasis on SMALL) sample of the things you would like to try. Try all of them if you wish, but take a SMALL SAMPLE. Then if you like some stuff, get more of those. Maximize the variety, and don't just stick with 1 thing to eat. That's why it's a buffet: for you to sample everything (and to eat lots). 

PLATE 1: Clockwise from top: Beef (?) noodles, deep-fried shrimp, chicken, fish fillet and a dumpling.

WORST PHOTO QUALITY AWARD goes to me.

NOM NOM NOM! Everything on this plate was great, but the noodles.... I can't explain how I don't like them though... The shrimp and the dumplings were the best! The chicken was fine, but if you're going to eat the chicken in this restaurant, don't be surprised if the whole tray is finished within two minutes... Just saying. 

PLATE 2: Sushi Platter! 

Slightly improved photo.

My favorite was the salmon and the crabstick sushi. I quite like the seaweed (?) wrapped one too... The cucumber inside it gives it a little kick. The rest were "eh", not quite up to par with the others. 

The next plates were mainly just more of the shrimp and the dumplings and the chicken. Then I had dessert, 3 medium scoops of raspberry ice-cream from their ice-cream bar. 

They also had a selection of uncooked meat and vegetables, where you can pick your favorites and let the chef cook it for you live. I didn't chose that option though, I wanted my food right away. 

Price wise, I think it's quite steep. SEK 820 (US$ 126) for a buffet for four.... 

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We're going to the Philippines for Christmas! SO EXCITED!!!

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MY FIRST SNOWFALL!

After five (seemingly short) months in Stockholm, I got to experience my FIRST NATURAL SNOWFALL EVER!!!!

I have never experienced natural snow before, mainly because my home country is near the equator and has temperatures ranging from 29 to 36 Celsius. 

This might be something small for some, but it is a momentous occasion for me. 

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Swedish Traditions

Here's four traditions you might come across in Sweden:

1: Crayfish Parties. You might get invited to one when you have friends here. I don't personally like boiled crayfish, because you need to do so much stuff (like take away the shell/whatever, etc.) before you can eat just a certain amount of meat in one crayfish. 

Crayfish {photo from Wikipedia}

2: Midsummer. In mid-June school is out. It is an occasion of large gatherings. Many Swedes take advantage of this time to fulfil their social obligations. Swedes even celebrate "Midsummer Eve", always taking place on a Friday between the 19th to the 25th of June. It is advised to spend Midsummer's Eve at a countryside. 

3: Sour Herrring. This dish is made by small Baltic herring, which are then salted and fermented. Sour herring has a strong, pungent smell of rotting fish. The traditional way of eating sour herring is with a piece of thin bread, butter the bread, place the herring, put something like an "almond-shaped potato" and some chopped onions before eating. 

4: Sweden's National Day. On the 6th of June (a day before my birthday), the King and the Queen take part in a ceremony in Skansen (Click here to see that blog post). In 2005, the Swedish parliament voted to make this date a public  holiday. 

Source: http://sweden.se/collection/celebrating-the-swedish-way-a-year-of-traditions/ 

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RANT: Where's My Snow?

I am really looking forward to my first snowfall, 'cause I haven't seen snow before. Natural snow, that is.

This time in Stockholm today last year (well that was confusing), there has been snow. This year, there aren't

I think it snowed in the south of Stockholm (I think in Farsta), but it hasn't appeared yet here near the city central.

My dad tells me that snow is made by negative temperatures mixed with the moisture from the air. He tells me there's not enough moisture to result in snow.

This might be crazy or irrelevant, but I think global warming and climate change has an effect to this... Don't you think?

***

Are These Things Uniquely from Stockholm?

Click Here to Know More About Contributing 

:)

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EATS: Swedish (?) Chocolate

Sidenote: The title has a question mark on it because I'm not 100% sure that everything here is purely Swedish.


Food wise, Sweden has lots of stuff to offer. From microwavable meatballs to the ice cream you get in Gamla Stan, one thing unique (to me) is their chocolate.

My definition of "unique" is things that I've never seen or heard before, so if this is in your country, and not exactly unique to Sweden, pardon.

First is Milch-Nuss! This is a chocolate bar with chopped hazelnuts mixed in to it. Me and my friends thought it would be a good bargain to buy, 'cause it costed SEK 5. (~90 US cents). It was very "eh", and there weren't that much hazelnuts in to it. 

One of the most iconic chocolates made in Sweden would probably be Marabou. Trust me, it's everywhere. Marabou comes in a whole range of flavors, and in this blog post, we chose Marabou and chunks of Daim chocolate. 

I LOVE DAIM!

This is probably one of the best things I have ever tasted. Daim's hard caramel is to die for. I could literally finish a whole separate bar of Daim in two minutes, even though it's hard to bite. The separate Marabou was good too, but I think that since the caramel didn't melt easily, it had a more obvious flavor.

{Sidenote: A separate bar of Daim and the original milk-chocolate Marabou deserve their own post!}

Previous Post: Espresso House -- Sabbatsberg

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Leave me a comment or an e-mail {euansuarezblog@gmail.com} or a message in my Facebook page if you have any suggestions for Christmas posts. I would really appreciate them! 

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*CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT CONTRIBUTING*

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EATS: Hot Beverages at Espresso House, Sabbatsberg

Before I start this blog post, I just wanted to thank Giulia, Patricia, Daniele and Gloria for spreading the word about my blog!

Whether you've stayed in Stockholm for a long time, have just visited once, or will just visit, I assure you will Espresso House all around you. I wouldn't be surprised if they have one Espresso House per two kilometers.

Fortunately, we live in a place near a park, a hospital, a supermarket, a train station and an Espresso House. We've visited this particular branch a couple of times, and I couldn't blog about it because I always forget my phone.

Espresso House's White Hot Chocolate

My sister and I ordered the White Hot Chocolate, my dad got a Latte and my mom got a normal Hot Chocolate. 

My drink tasted okay, but not very good. The thing that concerns me is that did they really use white chocolate or milk? I couldn't really taste the difference.... 

Besides hot beverages, Espresso House also offers a good variety of sandwiches, cookies and other sweet stuff and smoothies. 

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Remember that this DECEMBER is going to be a hectic blogging month! Going to the PHILIPPINES for Christmas!  

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