If there's a will, there's definitely another way!

Yesterday, a very bad news welcomed me when I arrived at the office. A former colleague/friend who's also a w@wie informed me that a w@wie bride-to-be posted that all flights of ZestAir going to Marinduque were cancelled, starting October 28 onwards. We chose Bellarocca as our honeymoon destination and it is located in Marinduque. We booked ZestAir tickets going to Bellarocca for our honeymoon on December,obviously and unfortunately we are affected with ZestAir's flight cancellation. ZestAir is the only airline who has flights going to Marinduque, but now I don't know what will Marinduque do with their airport without any airlines in it ( Chartered planes are still available but it's super expensive). I've heard before that SeaAir has flights going to Marinduque, but they also stopped operations late last year.

Upon hearing the news, I immediately called ZestAir and it was confirmed, all flights are cancelled due to lack of operational requirements. The ZestAir staff also assured us that we can reroute, re-book, and refund our tickets anytime.After that, I called my travel agency, and informed them of what happened. Actually, they were not aware of it, so they called Bellarocca to know if  we could refund our down payment to them or not, but until now they are still waiting for their response.

After those calls, I just sat on my office chair,stared on nothing and wondered what's the next step to do. I am worried since we already paid a reservation fee to Bellarocca and I don't know if we could still refund our money from them. Several minutes later of being in a shock stage, I realize I need to research alternative ways on how to get there. Below are the  few things I gathered about Marinduque.

• Marinduque is a part of the MIMAROPA (Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan)  region in Luzon
• It is located at the South and West part of Quezon, East part of Mindoro and North of Romblon. That's why it is called Heart Of The Philippines.

I checked flights going to Mindoro and Romblon, but when I looked at the map, it looks like there will be more boat travel time going to Marinduque from this provinces. Based on the map, it is nearer if you take the Quezon route going to Marinduque. I researched further online for instructions on how to get to Marinduque from Romblon and Mindoro but I haven't found a complete one.So after  hours of contemplating, I decided to check the RORO route option.

I called Bellarocca and asked them the possible alternative routes, and of course as expected, they said the only alternative way aside from flying through ZestAir is to take the RORO. RORO means (Roll-On and Roll-Off) it is a combination of Land and Sea travel. On the first half, you will travel by riding a bus then the second half you will ride a ship, but wait there's more! :D the bus you rode earlier will be transferred inside the ship, so technically the bus is inside the ship (inside the cargo area of the boat) . All passengers will get out of the bus and will stay inside the ship until it reaches its destination. When the ship finally docks at its destination, the bus will be released from its cargo area and you will continue travelling by  bus. It really sounds a lot of travelling time, but for people who likes adventure it'll be a fun experience.

Below are the instructions from the Bellarocca staff on how to get to Marinduque by RORO:

1. From Manila, ride a bus going to Lucena, Quezon. The famous bus line going to Lucena is the JAC Liner.Their buses has a CR and Wi-Fi, which is a plus for techy persons like me. If you are from the Southern part of Manila, go to  JAC Liner Buendia terminal,but if you are from the Northern part of Manila go to  JAC Liner Kamuning/Kamias Terminal ( Near GMA/Cubao area). The travel time from Manila to Lucena is around 4 hours. When you reach Lucena, proceed to Talao-Talao port.
   
   Check JAC Liner website for their shipping schedules.
   
   Note: Call and ask them if you need reservations before riding their bus. I know JAC liner arranges buses going directly to Marinduque, but since December is still months away I haven't called them yet to inquire.
2. Next, From Lucena, Talao-Talao pier/port ride a RORO ship going to Marinduque, Cawit Port. There are several shipping lines going to Marinduque but the famous shipping line is the Montenegro Shipping Lines. The Bellarocca staff told me to be in Lucena port before 12:00 a.m. so that we could get the 12:00 a.m. ship ride goint to Cawit Port. Bellarocca only fetch visitors from Cawit port and the travel time from Lucena to Marinduque is around 3 hours.
   Check Montenegro shipping line website for their shipping schedules.
   
3. When you reach Cawit Port, a Bellarocca van is waiting for you outside. The travel time from Cawit port to Bellaroca port is around 45 minutes to 1 hour.
4. From Bellarocca port, you will ride again a rubber boat going to Bellaroca Island. This boat ride is free c/o Bellarocca.The travel time for this one is around 5-10 minutes only.

Wheww!! I already got tired of travelling while writing this blog hehe. To sum it all, it's approximately 8 hours and 10 minutes RORO travel time to Bellarocca. Supposedly, our flight schedule going to Bellarocca is Sunday morning, but since the flight was cancelled, we need start travelling to Marinduque by bus on Saturday afternoon around 5:00 p.m. so that we could get the Cawit port ship ride by 12:00 a.m. and reach Marinduque around 2:30 a.m, Sunday.

Haysss, I'll just pray for a safe and smooth travel going to Bellarocca and I hope Bellarocca will talk to several airlines so that there will flights again going to Marinduque.

Related Sources:
http://superhappytotravel.blogspot.com/2012/04/how-to-get-to-marinduque.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marinduque
http://www.marinduque.gov.ph/travelbasic.html
http://jacliner.com
http://montenegrolines.com.ph

1st prenup photo shoot: DONE!:)

Disclaimer: You will see a lot of exclamation marks while reading this post. It only shows how happy I am with how our prenup shoot turned out.

Last June 5 was our first prenup photo shoot, and it was a successful one! :) It was held at the Water Craft Ventures Shipping dock in Subic, beside Subic Bay Yacht Club ( It's a a private shipping company selling boats, yachts, speed boats etc.) and we owe it all to our Ninang Ghe for the free access (thanks Ninang we love you to bits!). It was our first time to ride a yacht for a whole day shoot and we felt like living the life of Manny Pacquiao. Our prenup photographer is Benjie Tiongco and my hmua is Uly Sariego. They are amazing! Benjie was really really good in his craft and Uly made me look like a star that day!:)

James and Kevin (James' cousin) arrived at our home around 5:30 a.m. The original plan was to wait for Ninang Ghe, because she will ride on our vehicle ( Thanks Kevin for lending us your sweet ride), but she called us up and told us that she will bring her own car together with his husband, Tito Jojo. After we fetched our suppliers, we'll just meet up at Shell Gasoline Station along NLEX.

We fetched Benjie and his assistant ( Sorry Kuya I forgot your name), around 6:00 a.m. at SM North, The Block. We waited another 10 minutes for Benjie's friend ( a photography enthusiast too) to arrive, but unfortunately he's still in Santolan MRT station, and that's still around 10-20 minutes minutes away from SM North. Since we are in a hurry, Benjie told me to leave him and proceed to Uly's waiting place.

Uly was very prompt. He's already in 7-11 near Jackman, Munoz around 5:30 a.m. Take note, he lives in Fairview .I didn't know he lives in Fairview, If only I knew it earlier I will told him to wait in SM North too. I was surprised to see him when he went out of 7-11, because I thought he was big! because his profile pic in his FB account says so, but no! he's so thin in person. I even told my mom " Mama, usog usog ka dito sakin medyo malaki si Uly." (Hehe bad me), but like I said, he's the other way around. Being the curious me,I can't help asking him what he did to be that thin hehe. He said, when he started dieting, he just ate fruits, vegetables and fish, take note, no rice and meat. But now, he enjoys eating any food he wants but in moderation. Upon hearing those words from him, it motivated me more to pursue my diet and exercise routine for the big day hehe. I am now doing the 1 rice a day challenge and Zumba workout 3-4 times a week, and so far it works for me :)

When everybody's complete, we took the NLEX- Mindanao Avenue route and met Ninang Ghe and Tito Jojo at the Shell Gasoline Station in NLEX. We followed them until we reached the Subic Bay Freeport Zone and arrived at the Water Craft Ventures Shipping dock area. We got there around 9:00 a.m., It took us around 3 hours to get there.

At first look, the place was not that pretty and enticing..it's just a normal shipping dock area. The prettier version of it is the Subic Yacht Club, just in front of us hehe. But when you walk around the venue and reach the end, you could see ships being made and furnished at the steel area. The place for me was perfect for our movie and casual theme so I told James not to worry, because Benjie will unleash all his creativity to make plain areas look unique and pretty...and so he did :D

We stayed on the Water Craft's yacht the whole day. We had our costume changes, make up and photo shoot there. While Uly is applying makeup on my face and James is getting ready with his outfit, Benjie walked around  the vicinity to scout for more prospective photo opp areas. I love Uly to bits! he achieved my desired look for our themes. All the people in the dock ( Benjie, my mom, James, Kevin, Ninang Ghe and Tito Jojo) were in awe and they all asked "Ann Ikaw ba yan?" , James even said " Sana han ganyan ka nalang lagi.." haha. After the final touches, we started the photo shoot on the yacht and later on went around the venue for other photo opps. Supposedly, we should have another prenup venue in Subic, but James got really tired and he told me, he never thought that a prenup shoot would take that long hehe.

Uly was always with me, retouching my makeup and fixing my hair during the photo shoot (except the last shoot because he got lost, he didn't know where we went hehe). Benjie had lots of posing ideas, that we felt we were celebrities that day.I even told myseld, "Ang hirap palang maging artista!" haha. I had a minor accident during the shoot, we had a scene wherein we need to run, but James forgot I am wearing high heels so he ran fast while holding my hand, so I tripped off and got a small bruise on my right leg. Benjie told me, he thought I sprained my ankle because I slide down and sat in a very weird twisted position, but Thank God he didn't let that happen :)

All in all, it was a fun but very tiring shoot. Thank you Ninang Ghe and Tito Jojo for the free access and for accompanying us to the venue, to Kevin for lending us his van and to my mom for the delicious snacks she made for us.To our suppliers, Benjie Tiongco and Uly Sariego, thank you so much for the wonderful and very memorable prenup shoot.Last but not the least, Thank you God for giving us a very good weather on our prenup shoot. Days before the shoot it was raining hard, but on our prenup day it was hot and sunny :)

Below our some pics from the prenup shoot and prenup teasers from Benjie :)

My mom and Ninang Ghe

(L-R) Uly, Kevin. Mom. Moi, Benjie and Hannie :)

Again, last shot for the happy group :)

The Prenup Teasers

Love it! <3 <3 <3

Exactly 6 months to go!

I had the chance to blog today while in the office, because our "BIG BOSS" is blabbing around and hearing his voice gives me a headache. So to shift my mind off, I decided to post a blog while hearing his voice :D

Today is exactly 6 months to go before our big day! I'm nervous, knowing that in a few months I'm going to leave home and miss my family but at the same time happy, because I'm going to spend the rest of my life with the man I'm going to marry. So for our progress, tomorrow will be our first prenup photo shoot with Benjie Tiongco and his team. We prepared  three themes based on our common interests. The first one will be a movie theme ( from one of our fave movies),second a casual beach theme ( a.k.a kulitan blues habang nasa tabing dagat hehe) and last but not the least the music inspired bohemian theme. We prepared three different outfits per theme, but my friends suggested to bring a fourth outfit just in case my photographer suggested to change. I am also going to bring lots of props and accessories to accentuate each theme.

Before I end this blog, I wanted to share my experience with my ex-prenup hmua. She was referred to me by a friend, saw her portfolio, and booked her last year. Now,six days before our long time scheduled prenup shoot she called and told me that she can't go to our prenup shoot anymore because the scheduled arrival of his dad ( which she hasn't seen for 16 years) was rescheduled to June 5 instead of the original plan of going home on June 7. She reassured that her friend will replace her instead. Upon hearing the replacement hmua, I still kept my cool because I know that she'll give me someone she trust. Two days after, she texted me again that her "replacement" friend backed out too because she didn't agree with the amount I booked with my original prenup hmua, so she told me she'll find one within the day. Upon hearing those words, I panicked. I don't want to spend my weekend thinking who will be my new prenup hmua, so that day I decided to research for myself.  I got angry with her because she gave me stress that day, a major stress. I

After several hours of researching, my friend Jen noticed and asked me my sad YM status so I told her the whole story. I'm very thankful for her help because she recommended me her prenup hmua, Uly Sariego. Uly is nice and very prompt in answering my questions. He even texted me earlier reminding me not to put conditioner on my hair tomorrow ( so that he could curl my hair better). I promise to post my prenup suppliers review after the shoot, when? I still have no definite date, but I promise I'll post my review with pics.I've been also praying for a good weather..hopefully tomorrow God will answer it :D

Hoping to get some good sleep tonight,coz tomorrow Subic here we come! :)