TravelStream™ news feed for member ctflessen on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/ctflessen en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Mon, 31 Mar 2008 05:31:55 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ctflessen/2/1006269300/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ctflessen/2/1006269300/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ctflessen/2/1006269300/tpod.html Mon, 31 Mar 2008 05:31:55 -0400 Germany, 2001-2003

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Stuttgart, Germany

Finally, an end to my monster travel half-way around the globe!

I arrived at Stuttgart airport around 8 this morning, where Johannes picked me up. He is a friend of my thesis adviser, and I would be staying for a couple of days at his place (in Jettensburg, somewhere between Stuttgart and Tübingen) before moving into Tübingen-- both to acclimatise, and to give the student dormitory some time to finalise my accommodations.

We'll be making a courtesy call at the university (Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen), hopefully tomorrow. In the meantime, I'll just try to settle in and absorb the fact that I have just probably made the biggest step in my life-- I have uprooted myself from the warm tropical soils of the Philippines, and transplanted myself into an entirely different world here in Europe.
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Boracay Island, Aklan, Philippines

I remember some 8 years ago, whenever the name The Panoly Resort Hotel is mentioned, it usually conjured up images of spectacular sunsets on an idyllic white sand beach fronting a four-star hotel boasting of top class facilities and excellent services. So when my sister told me some two weeks ago that she booked us accommodations at the Panoly for our Boracay trip, the first thing I felt was "WOW!"...

Just imagine my surprise when we finally got here early this afternoon.

The spectacular sunset is still there... And the white sand beach front... The resort, however, is now but a shadow-- or even less-of its former glory. The facilities are quite shabby and ill-maintained: the pool looks very uninviting, the spa virtually non-existent, and the rooms are more than a bit worn out-- the wall paint on ours is about to peel off in some places! As for the services... well, let's just say they are very far from what one might expect of a supposedly four-star hotel/resort. For one thing, the resort boasted of five restaurants/bars but actually, only one is open to serve guests. At that, the food they served us for our late lunch did not impress me at all-- it made me wonder if there is a real cook around, or did the management just ask one of the bellboys to prepare the food?

Another thing is the seeming lack of professionalism among the hotel staff. The place is actually quite isolated from the rest of the tourist areas in Boracay. This at one point may have been part of its charm. However, there always comes a time when even the most reclusive guest would want to go to the more public (and chaotic) part of the island for a change of scenery-- in our case, it was the desperate need for alternative places to eat. Oh, there is no problem in terms of transport provisions-- the resort has shuttle services to and from town. The problem is with the attitude of the driver/s (I will not mention names). When we availed of the late afternoon shuttle to town, we asked when and where the shuttle going back to the resort will be. We were told the shuttle would be at D'Mall (a grocery store) around 10 p.m. We were there as early as 9:30 and waited for an hour. No shuttle came. We called the Panoly and were informed that the driver already went home some two hours earlier! That was that. We were left without any form of assistance. It took us another 30 minutes or so before we could get the taxi that finally got us back to the resort-- a drive that takes maximum 15 minutes.

I'm not usually the type of person who writes bitter things. But in this case, can anyone blame me? We paid good money for this trip here, so naturally we expected quality services and facilities. To say that we are disappointed is an understatement.
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Quezon City, Philippines

Finally, after more than a year and a half since our last visit, we are back again here to visit my folks :o)

Nothing much has really changed, except perhaps for Trinoma, the new supermall not too far away from here (about 20 minutes by car)-still the same congested roads and rush-hour traffic jams. Nonetheless, it is in a way also nice to be back-besides my family here, there are some things I did also miss very much (i.e. real mangoes and bagoong).



By the way, the hubby also celebrated his first birthday in the Philippines today-or for that matter, his first birthday ever outside of Norway ;o)
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