The Incident in Paris that Touched our Lives

A lot has been said about Paris and what I am sharing about this beautiful place is the good feeling when my aircraft smoothly touches the tarmac of the Charles De Gaulle International Airport. It is a little over an hour flight from Copenhagen Airport (formerly Kastrup Airport) to CDG Airport in Paris.
  

I am not new to travelling when I decided to visit Paris. To my mind, coming here is an accomplishment that I consider a dream come true.  It is my longest stay in a city (next to Rome) on a 17-day tour of Europe.  Understandably, I make sure that I am not missing any of those well publicised famous attractions.

Avenue des Champs-Élysées  and Arc de Triomphe in Paris FRANCE Photo Credit: Freefoto

I already have a good impression of France right at the airport.

My taxi driver is such a humble, polite and patient human being. He is not in a rush on our way to Hotel Harvey close to Palais des Congres and Champs Elysees.

I recommend this hotel to my fellow budget-conscious traveller as it is cheaper than other hotels around with the same class and is a walking distance to Arc de Triomphe and other must-see places.

The Front Desk staff are so helpful and very professional. It doesn't matter how early in the day and late at night that I come to their rescue, there is always one who will make us really feel important. To think that I always make my reservation online, I do not have the slightest idea on how this will go.

Hotel Harvey is not even a 4-star hotel but the services that they are showing are far beyond my expectation. This hotel is just one of the many that offers excellent service. 

It's More Fun In The Philippines!

The new slogan of the Department of Tourism in its campaign to boost the number of foreign visitors to the country, has been met with both acclaim and derision.


The leakage of the slogan, “It’s more fun in the Philippines,” in online social networks way before its official launch was welcomed as free publicity for the country by Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez Jr.
Tourism officials, however, do not have the luxury of having fun lurking on Twitter or Facebook to gauge public reaction to the re-engineered marketing campaign.

They need to work double time to finish the construction of the Philippines’ new tourism portal.

As of last weekend, netizens who logged on to www.itsmorefuninthephilippines.com see on the site’s index page could only see a slideshow of George Tapan’s photographs of climbing the Banawe Rice Terraces(with the text “Getting upstairs. More fun in the Philippines”); swimming with a whale shark (“Status updates. More fun in the Philippines”) and riding a banca (“Commuting. More fun in the Philippines”).

A brief statement in part reads: “Wherever you go in the Philippines, it’s the Filipinos that will make your holiday unforgettable… In fact, Lonely Planet guidebook calls us ‘among the most easygoing and ebullient people anywhere.’ Find out for yourself why it’s more fun in the Philippines. And make the most out of your next vacation.”

The website should be finished soon for it to make the most out of the curiosity-driven frequency of page hits. In the meantime, critics who slam the new slogan as a rip-off of a six-decade-old Swiss tourism advertisement should give their lament a rest and re-channel their energies into bridging the disconnect between the slogan and many of the nation’s realities.

Instead of complaining because of the DOT’s use of a supposedly pre-loved line (we give Jimenez the benefit of the doubt, that the campaign is no copycat), why not accept it as a challenge to prove that it’s indeed more fun here than in Switzerland or any other place on earth?

For a change, some critics might consider refraining from spoiling the fun, which they do by their constant mimicking of the shrew. Then, the rest of the naggers may lighten up and stop flagellating self and neighbor with their sarcastic litany (“Traffic. It’s more fun in the Philippines;” “Pollution. It’s more fun the Philippines;” “Robberies. It’s more fun in the Philippines;” “Bloody drinking and videoke sessions. It’s more fun in the Philippines.”)

Every Filipino knows in their heart of hearts that it takes more than just a slogan to vanquish the poverty and corruption that plague the land. Wasting time and energy fighting over the battle catchphrase does not help.

Source: Inquirer News

Jeff of Winnipeg, Manitoba CANADA

7. Featured Traveller 

Jefferson Cortez

Pharmaceutical Quality Control/Microbiologist/
Chemist

Winnipeg, Manitoba, CANADA
 

"The whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot on one's own as a foreign land." 

Meet Jeff,  a very interesting person and traveller. He likes beaches so much, and as he was saying, they are his places of solitude. He can be alone in a beach oblivious about time. Jeff can be idle for hours watching the waves hit the shore or waiting for the sun to set.

He loves outdoor, nature and sunset and the old architecture. He has explored most of the tourist destinations in the Philippines and continue to discover the rich habitat of his native country.

He has travelled  to  many parts of the Philippines like Alaminos (Pangasinan), Angeles City, Baguio City, Balicasag Island, Bantayan Island, Bohol. Bolinao (Pangasinan), Boracay Island, Burgos, Caramoan, Cebu City, City of Manila, Coron, Guimaras Island, Iloilo City, Lapulapu City, Lucban, Pagudpud, Panglao Island, Pasay City, Ilocos Norte, Province of Iloilo, Puerto Galera, Pundaquit, Quezon City, Sagada, Santa Maria, Santa Rosa, Taal, and Vigan.

As to his trip outside the Philippines, he has explored three countries in Asia:  Singapore, Japan, and Indonesia. Now, I will let Jeff talk about his travels.

This is his story...