"Family-friendly Travel" AusPinay's Profile

Please browse through the pages and enjoy Australia and the world with us!
Check out also our website where I am the Web Administrator and Publisher!

The online publication aims to deliver NEWS and VIEWS that matter to the community particularly in the Australian and Philippine society in general. But we also share news, expert opinions and events that will benefit individuals and groups everywhere as we tackle issues and topics of importance to the world at large. We highlight the positive contributions of the working class especially! So visit us at AUSINFORMER.COM-website where I am the Web Administrator and Publisher! %s*

I am also the Editor of several websites and provides editing and promotional services for individuals and groups.

We just completed cruise to the South and North Islands of New Zealand is a testament to our love for this continent and its people! But, as usual, over the months, we revisit our fave places and find other things to do there! Also we keep on discovering new sights and pockets of spectacular scenes in this great continent of ours!

Upcoming cruise is on Diamond Princess, April 2012 from Singapore to Beijing via Thailand, Vietnam, China (Shanghai, HK, Beijing), Nagasaki, Japan, and Busan, Korea. We are excited and very grateful to be blessed with the abilities and resources to cruise this wonderful world! We also booked another cruise on CARNIVAL SPIRIT which is new to Australia and starting this October 2012. We are sailing to the South Pacific again for 9 nights going from 27November to 6 December 2012 to Noumea, Lifou in the Loyalty Islands, Poum and Isle of Pines, a favourite destination of the family. Stay tuned!

For the first cruise above, my family and I have been to Singapore and I will just be meeting up with my friends there, one is my co-Administrator of an OFW site- pinoyexpat.net and the others A Book Publisher I met in Sydney whom I am helping promote the book "The Path to Remittance" by Papias Generale Banados who has become a good friend as well. She works in Singapore and she wrote about her and her friends' experiences as Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW). I urge you to find that book and read it as it highlights the sacrifices people make for their families often in the hands of unscupulous recruiters and abusive employers. Email me for copies-marierea@tpg.com.au

Watch out also for my up-coming book titled "FAMILY FAVOURITES FROM OUR ISLANDS" a book on classic and contemporary Philippine Cuisine (by yours truly Maria Teresa Cura Rea).

Come visit us our lovely city and country and contact me also at maritesscurarea@gmail.comso I can keep you company in some of your sojourns to this great continent and the world at large!

We also love bushwalking, a fave family past time which is not only healthy but eco-friendly as well. We've also become cruising converts and have sailed to the South Pacific, Tasmania, Europe (East and West)/Mediterranean visiting more than 20 ports on Costa Victoria and Luminosa, and our recent one from March 20-31, 2011 to NZ. I also did a Food & wine festival cruise on Pacific Sun December 2010.

Lake Como, Italy (near Milan)

My family loves to do things together especially travel all over this great world. As a work at home mum I am very hands-on, I've been caring for my boys ever since they were born almost 24 hours a day until they've reached school age. Presently I juggle motherhood with being a monthly columnist for an ethnic community newspaper, managing our family owned software computer business (my hub's the managing director)and at the same time organising our regular trips to get the best value for our hard earned money!

Travelling as a family has lots of advantages but the greatest of all is the experience we all share which we hope our boys will remember for as long as they live instead of showering them with material things that will just fade in time!

As of now due to my sons' ages we DO NOT stay at hostels (most of them are fine), but usually at self-contained accommodations or decent two-three star hotels! NO BACKPACKING AS WELL! I make sure the usual comforts we get at our home are present too! When the kids are older we shall embark on more austere forms of holidaying- perhaps, like camping or backpacking! I can't wait!

We remember with very fond memoriesour month-long trip to Europe, going on two luxury cruises, with four course dinners, made up beds twice a day and lots of pamperings...BUT without breaking our bank! So stick around, found out how we did it! You can too! Click for our top European sights-http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/tt/b23cd/#TL

2009- A TESTING PERIOD THAT WE SURVIVED!

The year 2009 was both a testing and fantastic time for the family. My husband is now recovering from skin cancer surgery which happened several weeks before our Tasmania cruise on board SUN PRINCESS. It was discovered accidentally when I went to our GP to ask for antibiotics for my sore throat as I was suffering from the flu. I told Dave to have a check as well. Surprisingly for us, he showed his wound which was previously been sprayed by liquid nitrogen. As it wasn't healing, he thought he needed another spray. Our GP consulted another doctor and after that, he was advised to have the offending dried wound removed, right that day! It was the size of a fifty cent Aussie coin and was removed using local anesthetic. I watched the whole operation which you could imagine was overwhelming for us. Fortunately, the biopsy results showed it was not melanoma but nevertheless still carcinoma. Hopefully all the cancer was removed, so fingers crossed.

Thus, the cruise was a welcome respite from the worries of the past and we've realised how much we really need to enjoy life more with loved ones! Cheers and many thanks for all the concern!

We have become cruising converts starting from our fabulous RHAPSODY OF THE SEAS cruise last 2008 operated by Royal Caribbean International!

I recommend cruising for a relaxing and stress-free holidaying. We have been a bit tired of travelling on planes so we 've decided to go luxury this time and we have not looked back! Cruising is fantastic-all meals (unlimited) and entertainment plus you don't have to do anything to get your money's worth unlike our previous trips!

Being Sydneysiders, we naturally love to go all over our fabulous city and outside Sydney are also wonderful places waiting to be explored and that's what we've been doing all these years.

My eldest is now 17 years old and since he's 7 months we have been taking him and his now13 year old brother (both have been to more than 10 countries so far) to many interesting places which most families would not even plan to go to thinking they were expensive! We like to prove people wrong I guess!

You'll find out soon enough as I go through our travels! Just bear with me as I slowly unravel the "mysteries of low-cost family travels!"

For more photos of our Japan trip ( one of our most memorable family holidays ever), click here:

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Kids in the Sierra Madre Mtns enjoying our gifts!

First, let me tell you about my passion- our charity organisation- GLOBAL CITIZENS CARE MOVEMENT/Overseas Pinoys Care Movement. We just launched the FLIP FLOPS FOR A CAUSE project which gives footwear (new & preloved) like flip flops, toys, school supplies and food to poor kids and their families in the Philippines. So far, we've given 100 pairs of footwear and 80 pcs of stuffed toys and bags of other toys, food and school supplies to the Indigenous Filipinos in the Sierra Madre Mtns.Our latest was last 8th of April 2010. Please join and support our cause! Thanks!
We've helped 4 communities so far since our founding and will continue to do so in 2011 and beyond, fingers crossed through the support of our members coming from around 20 countries all over th world!. We gave footwear, toys, food,and school supplies to the Indigenous people of the Sierra Madre Mtns in Bulacan & Quezon, and to those typhoon victims and marginalised children at a government centre in two barangays in Binan, Laguna, Philippines.

Please look at this link , our group is at Facebook-
http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/photo.php?pid=3997371&o=all&op=1&view=all&subj=339097785760&aid=-1&id=578378160

VT NEWS:

MANY THANKS ALSO FOR BESTOWING ME AS AN HONOREE AT THE ROOKIE OF THE YEAR AWARDS for 2009, I am so grateful and it is highly unexpected. I promise to be more active here at vt!

Indeed I am an EXPERT in budget travelling with kids! I was once asked by an Aussie customs officer (a very inappropriate question may I add)" If you're just a housewife, how come you can afford to go overseas?

I do not have to explain how (it's none of her business really!) But to be honest, I do help manage our family-owned computer software business as my hubby is the Director, he is a programmer/analyst. Specifically, we NEVER use Microsoft, we are UNIX/LINUX specialists!

Do check out my Facebook pageMultiply and my latest mariecurarea.tumblr.com.

My travels when I was single (as a science and technology writer for a government news agency) and now as a mum, have been to- USA, CANADA, Fiji, New Zealand, Singapore, Hongkong, Indonesia, Philippines (many times of course being born there), etc..

MY FAVE PLACES aside from SYDNEY where we've been to so far:

South Island,New Zealand
Mykonos, Corfu & Santorini, Greece
Japan(Hakone and Tokyo)
Blarney Castle, Cork, Ireland
Vigo, Cadiz & Barcelona, Spain
Dubrovnik, Croatia
Venice, Italy
Fiji (Denarau and Mystery Island)
Isle of Pines, New Caledonia
Tagaytay Lake and Volcano, Philippines
Diamond Beach, NSW, Australia
Southern California, USA
Niagara Falls, Toronto, Canada
City of Chicago, USA
Pulau Seribo , Indonesia
Beijing, PROC

Please feel free to email me if you need assistance or info about these places. I don't promise to be an expert but I shall do my best to help you.%c*

Please see my bogs also at http://overseaspinoyscare.blogspot.com/ and google-http://overseaspinoyscare.blogspot.com/

Cheers and happy reading folks!

Global Citizens Care Movement logo

SOME GENERAL TIPS on BUDGET/LOW-COST FAMILY TRAVEL

1. If you can manage it, try to go on holidays/vacation before the peak season starts. Make sure though that your kids will not be disadvantaged. You can do this by planning the vacation dates towards the end of school terms.

2. Compare fares and accommodation using reputable web sites and show these to your travel agent. See if he/she can give you a better deal or equal what you got in the net without having to go back to those sites. Sometimes it is better travel agents do the work if you have multiple trips in one holiday or going to different countries/places. One site that we always use is expedia.com.au as air and hotel packages are offered here at discounted rates compared to travel agent prices. Just keep checking many sites as prices do go up and down, before and after the seasons change!

3. Follow the exchange rates of your currency. There are times when the Aussie dollar is stronger vis-a-vis the US dollar or other currencies so do your research. It is best to go when your local currency will have a greater exchange rate.

4. Always take some essentials with you when travelling so you don't waste precious travelling expenses for things you can easily take with you. Plus, if you are a family of four like us, you are allowed at least 80 kilos of luggage in the plane for all of you so you can take sachets of coffee, powdered milk, choc drink, even your kids' fave cereals in case you do not know the area where you're going at first. Little snacks, biscuits and small drinks in tetra packs are also good to take when travelling plus basic medicines like paracetamol, anitihistamines and puffers for allergies/asthma.

5. Before going to the holiday of your choice, research places of interest which offer free entry or free escorted tour. Many government-owned museums are free to the public so make sure you know which ones have these freebies and go there first.

In Canberra for instance, going to the Australian War Memorial and touring the Australian Parliament is free to the public.

6. Your kids need not necessarily see all the theme parks or zoos/aquariums in a particular country/place. Instead, National Parks/Reserve in many countries are usually free or have discounted rates to families so better go there and the everyone will enjoy for sure! It will be fun spotting native birds and other animals on your own.

7.Always take a small cooler bag with you and some disposable plates and cutleries when travelling domestic or abroad. After a few days, eating in restaurants can not only be expensive but tiring for the kids so having your own take away food or if you can cook your own meal, or barbecue in parks with barbecue facilities will also be equally appealing for the whole family. No need to worry kids will behave or annoy anyone, etc.

Katoomba Falls in the Blue Mtns, NSW

Having married late at the old age of 33, I did not dream of being a mum really but as fate would have it, I met my hubby here in Sydney.

(I have just recovered from hysterectomy after being diagnosed in 2007 with seven fibroids (cysts) which had me almost getting blood transfusions, heavy bleedings, low blood pressure, etc, even when we were in Fiji and USA. This operation still affects me as I now have more allergies than ever!

But,it is amazing how travelling can make me forget my ailments! I still have bruises in both my thighs (and still hurt mind ya!) from the five iron injections. I was told the bruises will stay for quite a while even for a year or so, I still got them till now, 2009!)

BACK TO MY STORY:

I was on my way to an ENVIRONMENT JOURNALISM Workshop in Jakarta when my contacts in Sydney sent me an invite to visit. I still attended the 10 day event sponsored by the UN and Antara News Agency, which brought me to several panoramic and eco-friendly places in Indonesia. Those gruelling 10 days saw me riding a helicopter at remote East Kalimantan jungles to inspect the logging reforestation there, meeting also Indonesia's richest man in the process. I snorkled the clear azure waters of Pulau Seribo Twin Island Marine Park, ate nasi goreng and tropical fruits almost every morning and enjoyed every minute of my stay in Indonesia.

Thankfully those days were during the "post Bali terrorism chaos."

My trip to Sydney was by far the most memorable one too. I couldn't believe my luck! To think that same year I had been to Beijing on a cultural exchange program on the invitation of the Chinese Embassy in Manila.

I spent just five days of the most interesting and historical sites in China- I can proudly say I climbed the GREAT WALL of CHiNA! My colleagues and I, all media people, were in awe at the wonders of the Forbidden City, the long queues (we lined up too, and tried very hard not to squeal with excitement like the schoolchildren lining up with us!) to view Chairman Mao's body, posed with other tourists (local and foreign) at Tiannamen Square and even brought a medallion as a souvenir from our authentic PEKING DUCK dinner compliments of the Chinese government!

A couple of articles interviewing Filipino scholars and also the then consul Ona of the Philippine Consulate made me decide to come back to Sydney the next year. Of course I was a keen tourist- soaking in the beach atmospheres at Bondi, Coogee and Manly, despite the utter cold, then being almost winter when I was here.

To cut the story short, now I am still able to indulge in my fave recreation of travelling, not just on my own but accompanied by my lovely family, a devoted and loving Aussie and my two handsome boys aged 10 and 14. Of course there are ups and downs, but I am confident my love for travelling and the journey we take with my family will be etched in my boys' minds for as long as they can remember! Their experiences with the family will be lasting than any other material thing- the latest computer games or the most modern game console!

I am sharing them with you wholeheartedly, so sit back, and enjoy the ride with me and my family!

one of my fave places, LAKE TEKAPO, NZ! AWESOME!

Our fave place, South Island, New Zealand

at tranquil Tivua Island, Fiji

One of my fave places, FIJI, pic taken at breathtakingly serene Tivua Island.

Costa Luminosa to Spain, Portugal, Ireland,etc

LATEST TRIPS:

Our two cruises for Europe and the Mediterranean have been awesome! We've become CRUISING CONVERTS as I earlier noted and urge everyone to give it a go as it is good value - you unpack and pack once and the ship takes you to the ports plus all you can eat buffets, 24 hour room service (usually), choices of many dining options, entertainment on board which are often top rated, so what more can you ask for?

We flew ETIHAD airways, voted world's best airline at a bargain price! They took care of us while we got stranded in Abu Dhabi due to the volcanic ash problems that cancelled flights to Europe for a few days! But, we still enjoyed touring Abu Dhabi and Dubai for free! It was a trip of a lifetime. Europe was amazing, got lots of great bargains, met friendly people and enriched our knowledge of the world at large! My boys are even more wordly than ever!

We loved especially the Greeks, the Spaniards , the Dutch and the English people! it was fun shopping in Athens and even in Venice and Milan, Italy. As a whole, the month-long trip made our family closer!

Our NZ cruise on Pacific Pearl was enjoyable and we love to come back again and again!Next stop- Singapore to Beijing on Diamond Princess, going sailing for 16 nights via Laem Chabang, Thailand, Ho Chi Minh, Shanghai, HK, Nagasaki, Busan and then Beijing where we stay for a couple of nights. I've climbed the Great Wall and visited most of the attractions in Beijing but this time around it will be heaven as my family's with me! Stay tuned! Happy sailing!