January 2017 – Bellion Travels

USA – Empire State VS Rockefeller

Tim and I purchased a CityPASS booklet and in that booklet included tickets to the Empire State and Rockefeller Observation Deck. We were a bit hesitant on which one to go to because we expected to see an equivalent view of the city. However, there is a difference. In this blog, I will state the Pros & Cons and accordingly you select which building you’d be interested in visiting.

Although the Empire State being an iconic building and all, we personally liked the Rockefeller. Below are my opinions of both skyscrapers.

Empire State:

Pros:

Iconic & Historical New York City Tower
Main Deck 86^th Floor & the Top Highest Deck is 102^nd floor
Empire State has an Exhibit on the 80^th floor
Taller than Rockefeller

Cons:

Queue is long
You’ll have to pay extra for the Top Deck – The Ticket Prices are: Main is $34 and Top Deck + Main costs $54.
Top Deck is a small area. So if you are claustrophobic I do not recommend the 102^nd

Funny Incident: While waiting for the lift to get to the 102^nd floor, the female guide asked us where we’re from. So this is how our conversation went

Female Guide: Where are you from?

Me: Dubai

Female Guide: OH WOW! AMAZING! Dubai has the tallest tower in the world. Have you been there?

Me: Yes. I actually work for the developer and I’m in the tower almost every day.

Female Guide: What’s the highest floor you’ve visited?

Me: HAHAHAHA 151^st

Female Guide: OMG! What are you doing here? *Laughing Hysterically*

Rockefeller:

Pros:

An amazing view of the Empire State
No long queue
$34 for the observation deck
Might run into Jimmy Fallon but we didn’t

Cons:

Located on the 70^th Floor
Not as iconic as the Empire State

January 28, 2017January 28, 2017

Nissreen4 Comments

USA- Love & Hate Relationship with the Concrete Jungle

Love & Hate Relationship with the Concrete Jungle

While listening to Charlie Puth on the plane, I got interrupted by the air-hostess announcement asking the passengers to buckle up as we will be landing to JFK shortly.

So I thought well WUHU NEW YORK HERE WE COME … my view of New York City was over the expectation so frankly speaking I wasn’t impressed by the concrete jungle. Sorry to everyone who loves New York City but that’s how I feel. Now I might sound a bit irritating but it’s just my point of view. First, sadly the airport is not well maintained and the immigration line was a chaos.

As soon as we got out, we hopped into a van to get to our hotel located at the Upper West Side of Manhattan and on our way we passed by the Bronx and Harlem which to me looked very interesting because it’s not a part of New York that they show in Hollywood movies. The people of Harlem have the passion for arts and music. I personally did not like the Bronx, I felt a negative vibe. Of course I’m not tough enough to be able to live there but shout out to anyone who did and who are living there.

Fortunately, and Unfortunately we arrived to NYC on Fashion Week which means the hotel rates were like triple their standard prices. Tim helped me try to look for Gigi Hadid at the fashion district and I was following her and her sister’s updates on Instagram. Anyway we didn’t manage to see her. Being half Palestinian, I’m proud that there’s a famous Palestinian celebrity who accomplished this much fame in the western world. GO GIGI

This blog is just me typing whatever comes to my mind and about my view of the city. I was deeply upset to see how people live in New York and how lots of people struggle to be able to live. I enjoyed watching the people pass by and there’s more to that city than just Manhattan.

If I ever want to live in New York City, I’d pick Brooklyn. Yes, it is industrial and all but for some reason my heart has chosen it. I liked the people, the area and the feel of it.

Besides the fact that New York City is filled with homeless, aroma of pee and lots of crime. The city still has its positives such as it’s a cosmopolitan city, subway connection is reliable, lots of fascinating restaurants to try, BROAD WAY, museums, LIBRARY, BROAD WAY AGAIN, its fashion, historical touristic attraction and last but not least BROAD WAY.

Tim and I encountered two incidents in NYC, once at the Bronx and the other time somewhere between Harlem and the Upper Westside. We were on our way back to the hotel and took the wrong train and ended up in the Bronx. We had to get out of the subway and walk 20 minutes to the other side to get on the right train so while walking I made eye contact with one of the guys and he pulled out a gun. Thankfully nothing happened we just continued walking to the subway that had blood all over the floor. The other incident was when my childhood friend Marwah, Tim and I were having dinner at an Ethiopian restaurant and a guy who was on drugs just randomly walked in shouting and then smashed the window behind Tim and kept hitting my side of the window with a wooden board. Marwah wasn’t shocked and said things like that happens a lot. She moved to NYC after living in UAE for 20 years. Anyway so the restaurant called the cops and we had to give a statement since we knew how the attacker looked like.

I have mix feelings of LOVE & HATE for New York City but would I visit again. Yes, I would but for a short period of time and maybe visit the New York state itself rather than just the city.

January 26, 2017January 26, 2017

Nissreen1 Comment

Philippines – Island Hopping in El Nido

El Nido is by far the most beautiful place we’ve visited in Palawan. Since there are no local flights that arrives there, we had to take a bumpy 6 hours’ van journey from Puerto Princesa. Yes, it was extremely tiring. Mohammad and I fell asleep the whole journey however Tim watched the Dare Devil series on his tablet. As soon as we arrived, we got on a tricycle straight to our hostel which is located 2 minutes away from the beach.

We stayed in El Nido for 2 days only so here goes our adventure summarised in one blog post.

Day 1:

We checked out the beach side that’s next to our hostel and decided to explore the area. Tim and I found a reasonably priced massage centre so we of course went in to get pampered while my brother Mohammad continued exploring the neighbourhood.

As soon as we were done, Mohammad told us about this area called Barangay Corong Corong which was a 15 minutes’ journey by tricycle from our area called Maligaya. That area has a strip of resorts and amazing hotels by the beach. We just walked along and found a restaurant with amazing view of two islands. Anyway on our way back to the tricycle, one of the resorts had a night club on the beach and there was a party going on since none of us are party people, we decided to head back to our beach and chill at the Jamaican bar.

We ordered mojitos and nachos but after some time we all got annoyed at the DJ. He continuously kept saying ‘check mic, mic check’ so we left the bar and went to an Arabic restaurant instead. Yup, like we don’t have enough Arabic culture in UAE. So we spent the night smoking grape mint shisha.

Day 2:

There are several types of Island Hopping and according to the islands we were interested to visit, they were all under Type A. At around 8 in the morning, our tour guide picked us up from the hostel and we followed him to the beach where the boat was waiting. Our group consisted for 4 tour guides, 3 Spanish friends and their maids, 1 American guy and a family.

Type A Island Hopping is a tour around 5 islands that will be mentioned below. They are the ‘MUST VISIT’ destinations in Palawan. I won’t be describing much of the islands, I will let the images do it for you.

Island #1 Small Lagoon

As soon as we got there, the tour guide said we could either swim around or rent a kayak. So we all looked at each other and jumped into the water.

Island #2 Big Lagoon

We didn’t swim but we really admired the beauty of the Lagoon

Island # 3 Secret Lagoon – Super Secret No Pictures So Go See for Yourself LOL

You will need your wet suit shoes, actually you will need it the whole time in Palawan. There are a lot of corals and you will be stepping on a lot of them at the secret lagoon. If you can’t swim, you will need a life jacket because its deep. The water is dark and you won’t be able to see what’s underneath you.

Island # 4 Shimizu Island

We didn’t do much. We just relaxed and got sun kissed while the tour guides caught fish and prepared lunch for us. Yup, food fresh and was live BBQ.

Island # 5 Seven Commandos Beach

Best island tow swim and drink coconuts. We stayed at the island an extra hour because the American guy was missing. After sending groups of guides to help locate him, they found him sleeping on top of a tree LOL

As soon as we arrived back to our shore, Tim and I went for a massage. Mohammad met us later and we all went to this awesome burger place near the hostel called Lucky Alofa. I’m not kidding, it was the best burger we had, it looked and tasted juice and ahhh the sauce was so heavenly. We were so hungry, we forgot to take pictures.

When we got back to the hostel, we packed our bags to get ready for our 2AM trip back to Puerto Princesa. We had to catch an early flight back to Manila and it was a 6 hours bumpy drive. We stopped a couple of times to pee by the road but since I’m a female, I peed behind the van while it’s pitch black and random cars passing with their bright lights on. WHAT AN EXPERIENCE.

Anyway we managed to reach there early so we got on an early flight. Awh Palawan was such an amazing adventure.

Also guys, if you are looking for a budgeted place to stay, our hostel is called Melting Pot, El Nido. The location is perfect and not far from the beach and restaurants. Check it out.

Tim and I officially declare Palawan as our island to be hehe

January 21, 2017January 22, 2017

Nissreen5 Comments

Pending Blogs

15 pending blogs to post. I’ve got my last blog of the Philippines which will be about El Nido and Island Hopping. In addition, I’ve got pending blogs from our second trip to the UK and our adventurous trip in NYC and Tim’s 28th Birthday.

Besides the blogging about travel, we’ve got blogs pending about our trips around UAE. Please bare with us its all coming soon … we just packed our bags to head to Ras al Khaimah tomorrow, we will be staying at COVE where I can sit and edit pictures to able to post some blogs.

BLOG SOON

January 20, 2017

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Philippines – Fun times with Familia in Manila

People think Manila is another typical city but Naaaahhh you don’t know my Manila. I love it there and so does Tim. Yes, it does depend on the area you visit but there are wonderful areas in Manila to see.

Visiting the capital means hang outs and fun times with my cousins. Gosh! It was such a family affair to see all my cousins and their kids. We are like the brady brunch but cousins LOL, if that made sense. Lets say a Full House but Fuller.

Tim and I visited Manila accompanied by my brother ‘Mohammad’ who visited the Philippines after 19 years to spend some time with the FAMILIA GRANDE.

Here are the places we spent time together with the pinsans (tagalog word for cousins)

East Wood:

It was the perfect place for dining and shopping for any international brands. Tim bought t-shirts from a Japanese store and we grabbed coffee from Costa.

Tiendasitas:

The place has a selection of Filipino restaurants with the traditional/ cultural ambience and live band and of course the PET VILLAGE. So many cute dogs to play with.

Bonifacio Global City:

Beautiful area of Manila and extremely posh. We visited my cousin’s condo and most of the cousins met and had a great time playing games and chit chatting.

We also went to an area called Ortigas for a Karaoke night.

There are so many things to do in Manila but for us its more of catching up with the cousins and hanging out.

I SIMPLY LOVE MY MANILA AND CAN’T WAIT TO GO BACK

January 14, 2017January 14, 2017

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BellionTravels Update

Today’s Blog isn’t about Travel. Here’s the thing, I’ve been so caught up lately with lots of things:

I had family and friends visiting from abroad.
Took 5 days of sick leave due to a painful neck surgery to remove a lump.
Because of the sick leave, I had lots of pending work to finish.
I’m currently working with a lovable graphic designer named Sarah. She will be designing the blog’s logo and help me brand it.
I’m also taking up online classes to be knowledgeable of the today’s Tech and Social Media world. And so far I have a degree in WordPress Web Build, Creative Travel Writing and Business Blogging. In addition, I attended a workshop about Blogging, the event was held by Emirates Literature Foundation in Dubai World Trade Centre. Currently I’m studying Travel Photography and Social Media.
I’m considering Vlogging so I’m also working with my awesome youngest brother Omar to assist me with video editing.

I enjoy blogging, it’s a fun activity to do but it also can be stressful. There are days where I have panic attacks because of time management. Work takes 10 hours of my day and that excludes the 1 hour commute each way. Plus, I need personal time for my hobbies so all of that led me to prepare a temporary schedule.

So my lovely readers, I’ll be posting blogs on Thursdays and Saturdays and the remaining days I’ll either be studying, working on the blog design & content and joining activities.

I guess things will work out efficiently.

Catch up with yall soon

January 12, 2017January 13, 2017

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Philippines – Trip to Laguna and Antipolo Windmills

My Tita* Marina and her husband Tito* Toni took us to Laguna and Antipolo Windmills with Tita Ester and her husband Tito Ernie.

*Tita is the Filipino word for Aunt and Tito means Uncle.

Hahhahaha I just realised how that sentence above is long, just so I can introduce you to my family.

Anyway we (referring to my Filipino familia) are originally from a place called Illocos Norte which is known for windmills so my Illocano family said since they can’t take us up north to see the windmills better visit antipolo instead which is closer to their houses.

Although it was a long drive to the windmills, the scenery was stunning. Surrounded by all the greenery and nature. We visited a small museum that displayed images on how a windmill works.

Anyway we didn’t stay long so we continued our trip to a province nearby called Laguna. We wanted to go to Pagsanjan Fall* but the tour guide was ripping us off. So here’s the thing, we paid around PhP 1000 for Tagaytay for a whole boat but in Laguna they were charging us PhP 1000 for each person so HELL WITH THAT.

*Pagsanjan Fall: A famous waterfall located in Laguna and is a tourist destination.

We were all starving so we went to a restaurant near the city gate that was built by the Spaniards. I sincerely apologise but I don’t remember the name of the place. It was really hot that day and I felt ill. The waiter at the restaurants gave me a bag of ice to place it on my head to be able to cool down.

Honestly, there are lots of places to visit in Laguna and so many adventurous things to do but I just wanted a nice quality time with my family and enjoy their company so unfortunately I cannot recommend anything about Laguna but all I know they are known for ‘Hot Springs’. Add Laguna to your Philippines list. You won’t regret it.

January 7, 2017

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UAE – Our trip to Tilal Liwa

Tim and I took a day off to be able to spend a night at the hotel located in the middle of no where, a place called Liwa near to Madinat (City) Zayed and close to the boarders of Saudi Arabia.

We stayed at a hotel called Tilal Liwa, it looked like an Arabian palace, the pool was located in the middle of the hotel but with a spectacular view of the Arabian desert. After swimming for hours and of course getting sun kissed, we decided to book quad bikes to explore the desert. Little did we know what was going to happen. Tim had an accident. His quad bike flipped up in the air.

I told my husband to wait for me till I get back with the emergency team from the hotel, so I went to get the first aid team and got back to the site not finding TIM so obviously I thought I lost my way and started crying thinking I will never find my husband in the Sahara. But then he found us, YES!! HE GOT BACK TO THE QUAD BIKE INJURED AND ALL because he thought I won’t be able to find my way back. OMG! I had the scare of my life.

Anyway our mini vacation continued having dinner in the desert, swimming and reading a book. We are planning to visit the hotel another time because it was marvellously wonderful.

January 4, 2017July 16, 2017

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Month: January 2017

USA – Empire State VS Rockefeller

USA – Empire State VS Rockefeller

Like this:

USA- Love & Hate Relationship with the Concrete Jungle

Love & Hate Relationship with the Concrete Jungle

Like this:

Philippines – Island Hopping in El Nido

Philippines – Island Hopping in El Nido

Day 1: