Philippines and Surf Goddess Bali Retreat

I need to be less ambitious with my travels next time

I flew into Manila, Philippines from LAX and took another flight to Cebu airport. For transportation I ordered a driver off the Grab app and got a ride to Travelbee Business Inn. You can pay the driver with cash and not add your credit card to the app. If you didn’t download the Grab app in advance, there is an office at Cebu airport where you can order a Grab driver as well. Grab drivers are much more budget friendly then taking a taxi.

At the hotel, I went out to get something to eat, but since I arrived on Holy Week nothing was open but Jolibee. As I was returning from Jolibee with my dinner and heading back to my hotel room the bellman laughed at me because I was so confident in the direction I was walking in, only to find out that I was walking into the hotel kitchen.

The hotel was budget friendly, had minimal necessities which met my needs, offered free drinking water, and the bellman was so kind that I wouldn't mind booking here again if I were to return. In both Philippines and Indonesia it is recommended to not brush your teeth and drink water from the faucet, so every hotel I booked had free drinking water.

The next morning I took a Grab to Cebu South Bus Terminal, paid a 20 peso fee for the car to enter the terminal, and bought a ticket to Moalboal for 250 peso. There was no waiting. I boarded the bus immediately and we departed within the next 10 minutes.

Traveling to and from Cebu City to Moalboal was very easy. It is a very common, well-organized route by locals and takes about 3-4 hours each way.

Once I arrived at the Moalboal bus stop I was mobbed by locals offering trike rides. I declined the offers because I wanted to go to the Moalboal Visitor Center, which turned out to be nothing but a tour booking office. So I returned to the bus stop and got on a trike to Marcosas Cottage Resort. On the way to the resort there was some kind of city or road fee for 25 peso to cross.

Marcosas Cottage Resort was my favorite place to stay.

My place had a small kitchen and the way it was decorated brought me back to that feeling from childhood, e.g., comfort and basic. The fact that internet could only be accessed from the hotel lobby made it even better, forcing me to stay off my phone, go to bed early and wake up early like I use to.

I highly recommend to not book any tours online or in advanced. There are many vendors around the area that offer common tourist activities, so I found a vendor and told them I wanted to do the canyoneering at Kawasan falls and they told me to show up tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. at the same place. You do not pay on the spot. You pay on the day of when they take you to the destination.

The next morning I was running a little late to arrive for the tour and didn’t exit the hotel lobby until at exactly 9 a.m. At that same moment the guide showed up on his motorcycle and whisked me away to the bus that was heading to Kawasan Falls.

When the driver dropped me off at the bus I met a bunch of girls and ended up chatting with an Egyptian girl that was also traveling solo, and we stuck together on the tour.

There’s an additional fee of 600 peso to take a zipline to the start of the tour or you take a free 45 minute walk to get there.

I was petrified the entire time because I didn’t know how deep the water would be. But once it was over, I felt like I needed to redeem myself and do this again.

Overall the experience wasn’t bad, but it could have been better. I didn’t feel rushed, but my guide was moving me along and didn’t allow me to stay in one spot for too long. So these are my tips for doing any popular activity in Cebu: 1) go early to avoid crowds, the earliest time they offer is 6 a.m., 2) pinch your nose and point your toes when cliff jumping!

The next day, I got a guide to take me snorkeling at Panagsama beach around 7 a.m. It was great. We saw turtles and sardines. My guide was great. He was a young man with excellent diving skills. His video recording skills were awesome and he had a good sense of humor. Really enjoyed snorkeling with a guide to help me with swimming, this is how I should always do it!

For snorkeling I’d also highly recommend going early, at 6 a.m. if possible because shortly after 7 a.m. the crowds began rolling in.

The day prior to departure, schedule a trike to go back to the Moalboal bus terminal so you won’t be waiting in the hotel lobby for an available driver.

Once I was back in Cebu City my next stay was Caza De Sierra. I will never book a room here ever again. The hosts are very kind and sweet, but the facility it self was very questionable. I think my driver was even concerned for me when he dropped me off. I ended up finding another nearby hotel more to my liking, and the owners at Caza De Sierra gave me a free ride to Felicity Island Hotel. The only thing I didn’t like about this place was the loud music playing early in the morning.

From Cebu City I had an overnight layover in Singapore to Indonesia so I booked a free Singapore city tour and slept at the airport.

BALI, INDONESIA

Transportation: Gojek

Hotel: D Sarian Seminyak (enjoyed this hotel)

Activities: Snorkeling tour at Nusa Penida booked online 1 day in advanced with Lembongan watersport

Review: The experience was great, food was delicious, got to see manta rays, they are so big and beautiful, and the boat ride alone was also fun! Guides were informative and they provided life vest and life buoy.

Lessons learned: get your own life buoy because I ended up with 8 people hanging on to 1 life buoy when I could have just got my own when looking at the manta rays. Use a life vest and life buoy because the waters are rough and the extra buoyancy is helpful.

Goddess surf retreat: great pampering experience, 1:1 personal assistance, availability of food, and unlimited massages

Snorkeling: Blue lagoon, Jemeluk bay

Rip Curl School of Surf: great informative instructors that taught you what to correct, what you are doing wrong and why, great attitudes, patient and catered to my needs, left me with that feeling you get when you experience a community that shares one common interest

Surfing locations: Sanur Beach surf, Kuta Beach surf

Memorable experiences: 1) I’m glad my instructor noticed I needed a challenge and gave me a shorter board, 2) I went to a Rip curl store and ended up talking to one of the staff instead. He was a young boy who was telling me how he anyways wanted to go snowboarding in the U.S. but it was so expensive. I told him to save his money because you have time and you are young, 3) Our driver at the retreat was HILArious! 4) The locals here are great; I can see why people like traveling here

Istanbul and Cappadocia, Turkiye

Skopje, Macedonia

Happy Holidays!

Johannesburg and Cape Town, South Africa

Soweto township in Johannesburg

Streets of Soweto

Kruger National Park

Early morning game drive

Bo-Kaap, Cape Town

Boulders Beach, Cape Town

Cape Peninsula

Experiences in South Africa

Design Tip: The 4 Commandments of Visual Communication

When it comes to creating effective visual communication there are a few basic guidelines I believe in. Not following these guidelines doesn’t necessarily mean a design is bad. You can break these rules and still create amazing work, such as the likes of Neville Brody and David Carson, however, there still exists some form of rhyme or reason in their work to make it look cohesive. Above all else I very much care about commandment number four.

1. Alignment: Thou shall not center or left align body text or content more than 25 words (this number is just an approximate). Centering or left aligning large amounts of text makes it harder to read. It’s best to keep these alignment choices for titles and subtitles only. If you decide to justify body text please be aware of rivers that run through your pages and make adjustments accordingly.
2. Rule of two: Thou shall not use more than two fonts. The more fonts you bring into your artwork, the more clutter you will create. I would advise to break this rule with discretion. The rule of two is also relevant to colors especially when designing logos.
3. Legibility: Thou shall not use thin fonts for body text. Thin fonts make content difficult to read, whether it is used on paper or the web. And just like alignment, it’s best to use thin fonts sparingly or limit to titles and subtitles only.
4. Function before form: Thou shall ensure form follows function. Ensuring that your design is functional should always come first before making aesthetically based design decisions. If people have a hard time understanding what you are trying to communicate, it doesn’t matter how beautiful your artwork is.

Greetings from South Africa

Little Notes

The First McDonalds Restaurant

Growing up I remember McDonald’s was just as exciting to go to as it is for adults to go to Costco. So when I came across an email promoting the movie “The Founder,” I thought nothing of it until the words San Bernardino caught my eye and I wondered, “what movie could possibly be made about my hometown?” Come to find out San Bernardino is the location of the first McDonald’s restaurant! Having discovered this I looked it up and found out that the restaurant is now an independently owned museum dedicated to McDonald’s memorabilia—and this of course meant I had to pay a visit to this historic landmark.

If you enjoy learning about history, this might be a place you’d like to see. Above are a few pictures of the mural that is painted on the wall of the building. There are a bunch of fun facts written on the mural, telling mini stories about events and things that occurred in San Bernardino County. What historical places exist in your hometown?

The Open Road

La Promenade Samuel De Champlain, Quebec City

Quebec City Bridge

Acadia National Park, Maine

Cape Elizabeth Lighthouse, Maine

Navajo Loop Trail, Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah

Peek-A-Boo Loop Trail, Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah

This summer I went on a few road trips that took me across the United States and through parts of Canada. I wandered into Quebec City, Acadia National Park, Portland in Maine, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Utah, and finally back to California.

I've been on road trips before but for some reason these travels left me appreciating the experience of traveling by car even more. I got to see a side of the U.S. that I would have never imaged—from the most stunning purple and pink sunsets that I've ever seen in Maine to the charming landscapes of Ohio—just watching the country go from dense green foliage to rich red canyons was an experience in itself.

The best thing about traveling by car is that it gives you the opportunity to see places you would have never seen if you simply hopped onto an airplane. Driving allows you to make unplanned stops and explore unknown destinations—so I'm looking forward to going on more journeys like these!

This is Boston

My time in the Boston area has come to an end. Although there were a lot of events that I couldn't attend (Patriots Superbowl celebration parade, Boston Marathon, the whole fall season) I want to be able to remember some of the things that I did do—so I created a short video of my everyday life, including places I walked to and parks I worked out at.

I've really enjoyed the people I've met and conversations I've had during my stay and those are the very things I will miss the most.

What I Like About Being Creative

I like that you can be creative in any aspect of your life and it doesn’t have to be relevant to art. You can find creative ways to run, creative ways to organize, and creative ways to do normal tasks with fun. Whether your creative thinking is good or bad, what matters most is that you are always thinking.

Lexus Laceup Running Series

I entered a contest a while back to design a race medal for Lexus Laceup Running Series, and to my surprise I won! The prizes included a performance t-shirt, a free race entry, and a feature in LA Magazine. While seeing my design come to life is quite rewarding, I was most excited about getting my free pair of Saucony shoes!

I like to run because it comes in handy for a number of reasons, especially for that one time I had to run through the airport to catch my flight and I remember thinking to myself, "so, this is why I run."

HUBweek at Harvard

I've embarked on a new journey in design and will be spending the next year or so in the Boston area studying human factors in information design. Everything I've been learning so far, has been absolutely mind-boggling (as well as reaffirming, from a psychological perspective, why design principles are the way they are). The level of technology and predictions for the future are way beyond anything I could have ever imaged (meanwhile all my tech friends are probably well aware of these things).

One of the events I attended here was hosted by Harvard University, during HUBweek, which centered around exploring the advances made in augmented and virtual reality. The exhibits ranged from using virtual reality for entertainment, gaming, training in sports, to practical uses in medicine, such as improving vision or replicating texture through vibrations (Tactai) for educational purposes. I tried a hand full of the exhibits, which were a lot of fun, and brought home a low-fidelity prototype of a virtual reality headset for myself to play with. 

It has only been a short time, but I get the feeling that being in Massachusetts will be a positive investment for the long-term. It also can't hurt to say, Bentley University, MSHFID, (the program I am in) was awarded by UX Magazine for excellence in academics in design experience.

Under the Sea in Grand Cayman Island

Smith Barcadere

Bobbing around at Coral Gardens

It's always a treat to be so close to crystal clear waters everyday. I wasn’t planning on taking another trip this year, but the opportunity happened to pop-up so I took advantage of it. Since I didn't get the chance to go snorkeling in Costa Rica, I was able to do just this at Grand Cayman Island. My activities included kayaking from Rum Point to see bioluminescence creatures, driving to the East End in search of secluded beaches, swimming with stingrays and snorkeling through the Coral Gardens and Barrier Reef. The only thing I wish I had done was stay another week—in love with beach life, boat rides, and the ocean…