Hello friends! I am slowly writing this on the eve of New Year's Eve (most prob will finish this tomorrow in time for NYE), I can already hear fireworks outside.

Days prior this, I was afraid I won't have the energy to post my usual year-ender (essay writing since my Multiply blogging days, hehe). First, I was just too lazy LOL. I have so many travel backlogs, and I can't seem to skip on all of them for this! Secondly, maybe because I don't think I will easily get over 2017, it's as if I don't want this year to end!

Day 3 in Japan was undoubtedly filled with fails. The positive person that I am, I was trying to make it look okay in front of my Tokyo travel buddy Deegee.

First was getting lost in Yokohama. I went down the wrong station, which entailed suuuuper loooong walk to our destination. I was so stubborn that I said to myself, malalakad na yan! But it's so embarrassingly far pa pala, haha!

As I went from merely a travel buddy to a travel organizer during the past years, I learned more and more on how to strategize how one should create an itinerary--thanks to so many trial and error.

I used to just research the must-visit places, and then copy-paste all these interesting Googled information in my Word document before arranging them to fill up all the days on my trip--complete with time and number of hours we should stay on one point. I am a bit of a "just wing it!" person not in terms of just going with the flow and not listing places I wanna go, but more of just relying on asking people for directions and mode of transpo on the day of the travel. But all these mistakes I made along the way, wasted money on taxi fares because I didn't know they don't have trains in Jeju to go around the city, or wasted time in Japan because I didn't know that some places are just too far IRL, made me learn my lesson. Be prepared, yes, but also be a little bit more forgiving for your travel mistakes.

I can't seem to pick just one memory that I think is the best for me during my recent Japan trip. Every moment stood out, they glow like a beautiful autumn day in Shinjuku Gyoen Park (naks ang poetiiic!). I am so so excited to finally start with this blog series which I feel is super duper long overdue. I usually just take 1-2 weeks to finish my travel post series para fresh pa ang memories, but this time, I was swamped with work and other responsibilities so I had to set aside my blog ka-oc-han. Now that Christmas is approaching and the only thing left in my calendar are the Christmas parties... I can finally start with you Japan.

There are things I can't help but associate in certain places. Like coffee when I go to Davao, and shopping whenever I'm in Japan (haha!). When it comes to Cebu, it's always good food!

The second leg of my recent Visayas trip was in the beautiful, sunny south of the Philippines. Cebu is the first capital of the country, and actually Cebu City is our oldest city! I like going here because they have the best of both worlds: a lively city life and a well-preserved natural environment. Cebu is also very rich in history! On my first time in this province, there's so much old houses, monuments, and churches that we visited. Later on, I still have so much to see like the newer Sirao Garden and Temple of Leah. But always, it is not a Cebu trip if I don't get to try newly discovered local restos, cafes, bakeries, and bars!

With my food crawl buddies Pax and Kristine! We are all Sun Cellular ambassadors, and they sent us to Cebu to cover the annual Cebu Food Crawl... Yey!

My maleta and my legs squeezed inside the tiny tricycle on my way to Tagbilaran's seaport:

Last Saturday was very Korean-themed for me.. and hindi sadya! Aside from scheduling our Korean Christmas Party on that day, I also got an invite for the opening of the new branch of Nature Republic here in Manila. I learned that Ava was also invited to the launch, so we decided to drop by together at the Venice Piazza Grand Canal Mall in Fort to check it out before going to the party.

My favorite local juice brand  Locally Blended Juice Drinks was a star during the recent ASEAN summit here in the country!

Beyond the ceremonious meetings and business conferences, Locally lightened up and freshened up the recently concluded 31st Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Summit in Manila. How cool is that!

Yesterday, for our first ever Korean Christmas Party, I went in a very girly, very pink Barbie dress! Although I am more of a midi skirt and athleisure kind of girl, it's fun to dress up once in a while especially when people don't expect it! Yesterday's occasion felt like the perfect chance to wear the dress I got from Plains and Prints' recent collaboration with my childhood favorite doll!

If I have to pick just one Christmas that's the best for me, it's the time my whole family was in the States to celebrate white Christmas with our relatives there. Core memory level 100. That's about four years ago already, but I look back to bits and pieces of the good times we had sooo clearly as if I am recalling something that just happened a few weeks ago.

Disneyland with the family, years delayed (from our childhood) but still as magical as I expected it to be:

I went to Bohol around two years ago for a media event. Everything's laid out for us, so we just followed the itinerary of the brand. One of the memorable activities I was able to tick from my "Bohol must list" is the bike zipline. It was part of the challenges we had to accomplish, and since I wanted my team to win, I did it even though it was raining so hard when it was my turn!

Last night, I realized when and where I had my first UBER ride ever. Ruth reminded me it was with her! This was during one of UBER's first events in the country in partnership with Zap Crawl in Greenhills. I had to search my blog post on this event just to check!!

So here's my first ever UBER driver Kuya Sonny!!!

One of my best friends just came home from Korea! Ava was with the Korea Tourism Organization's 2nd batch of Korea trip for winter so we weren't able to see each other for around a week (even during Bloggers United, huhu!). In perfect timing, we had events yesterday around Fort / BGC area so we decided to meetup in SM Aura first and eat our favorite Sushi Nori at their food court!

Few more days till the year ends, and for sure you are already planning and scheming that 2018 is going to be awesome! My game plan? To "See The World" more!

If, like me, you also want to travel more next year, then I encourage you to book your flights via AirAsia. Why? They have an ongoing campaign to raise one million pesos to provide sponsorship program for many children as direct recipients across the country. For every AirAsia seats booked or sold in the Philippines from December 1 to 31, 2017, Php 5 will be automatically donated to World Vision's child sponsorship program! More reasons to book those tickets now.

For me, the hardest na bigyan ng gifts are the men in my life. There's my dad, my titos, and my best friend Paul. If you're also stumped with choices, I discovered these classic and enduring McJim Classic Leather products that are high-quality and super maaappreciate ng men of your life kasi sobrang useful. Here are some of these finely crafted leather accessories that you can give to your lolo, dad, guy friends, husband, etc:

My recent Korea trip with KTO is one of the shortest but packed trip I've been to this year. It's also one of the most memorable, experiencing Seoul again but this time with one of my closest blog friends Pax. I really appreciate these biglaan moments! I also finally saw Korea glimmering with reds and golds in its full autumn glory, something I've been Pinteresting since 2 years ago. Dreams really do come true! 

On our last day, we checked out of our hotel as soon as we went out so we don't have to go back again when we run for our night flight. Sched and our guides are all very efficient. It was my first time to see our hotel's reception area during the day, and it's so aesthetically pleasing. It's like entering a popular retro bar, I can almost imagine classic jazz and blues playing as our background music!

Before I begin my post on our last day in Seoul, I will try my very best to answer these frequently asked questions I recently got in my blog post comments: When's the best time to go for autumn? What are the specific dates I went for a spring trip so I can see cherry blossoms?