Ceddy's Random

Ceddy's Random - Vlogs

Wednesday, January 15, 2020

Taipei,Taiwan Trip | Travel Itinerary 4 Days and 3 Nights

January 15, 2020 0 Comments

At Taipei 101


Hey Folks, Ceddy here and I am back again for another travel review.

Planning is the KEY!...


It's been a long time since I planned this travel along with my Auntie. This trip was a D.I.Y, the reason I booked this as a D.I.Y,  is that it is much cheaper than buying a tour package. I was able to save a ton of money rather than buying a group tour package.

It took me 4 months to set the trip, (it's too long right? As my travel dates were unsure and my vacation leave at that time was pending approval) Finally, after my vacation leave was approved last September of 2019, I booked a ticket right away and I was able to find a seat sale from Air Asia, If it's not on sale, that would cost me 4x the price of two passengers, but I got it only for half of the price. (Including the travel tax and the food for round trip which includes the domestic and international). 

Surprisingly, the food that they were serving during the flight was good, and it was pretty cheap as well. 

It's my first time as well to travel along with a senior citizen, (yes, I bring my Auntie with me during my travel) and surprisingly, she never felt tired at all during our travel timings the fact that our domestic flight was delayed for more than 4 hours. She is even more excited than me as this is her first time traveling out of the country. How cool is that? :)


It took us 8 hours and 45 minutes including the domestic flight, layover, and international flight with Air Asia, excluding the delayed timings for more than 4 hours. To know more about my in-flight experience with Air Asia, you can check my in-flight review here.

Do It You're Self...Pretty Self Explanatory...


Since this is a Do It You're Self Tour, I managed to book the ticket starting from my flight, hotel bookings, airport transfers, and tourist spot package.

For my flight,  I booked my flight online at Air Asia's official website. I'm a member of their loyalty program Air Asia BIG Rewards (Flyer Reward Programme). I get discounts and more from them.

I booked a ticket including the following:

  • Food for a round trip (including the domestic and international), 
  • Mandatory travel insurance (Tune Protect) 
  • A choice of seat for two persons
Total expenses for the flight are 432.11 USD 

You can check the screenshot below for your reference:



After the long wee of hours of layover (6 hours and 10 mins.) and flight travel. We are now in Taipei! Yey!

Hello Taipei! The Land of Milk Tea and Meteor Garden!


 (Just kidding, 😜)

I am skipping the part when we're inside the plane, As I made another review. You can check it here.

Yey! We're here! at Taiwan International Airport

Unfortunately, things happen, but there is always a solution ...


And unfortunate things happened. Uber is not working by that time and we're not able to utilize the application. But the first thing I did was to rent a portable pocket wifi.

Upon arrival at the airport (after passing through the immigration lane),  Plenty of shops and kiosks that sell portable pocket wifi and SIM cards that come with data. I never managed to book a look online for some reason, but I was able to get one from another shop. 

The name of the shop is Unite Traveller 


I paid 500NTD (Equivalent to $16 US Dollars). It's worth it as the data is unlimited without capping and the signal is very strong (4G) that even in the furthest outskirts of Taipei has still good reception. For more information about getting a portable hotspot from their end, I will leave a link here. You can reach them out as well via LINE. 

After acquiring a portable hotspot, I eventually used the Uber App, but for some reason, there was no available car at that time. We reached Taipei around 1:40 in the morning. 

Good thing, there was an Airport Taxi (The yellow one).
I presented the hotel booking that I made. I present it to the woman who is assisting the taxi drivers on the lane. Though it was difficult for them to understand English (language barrier), I gave them the Chinese printed of my hotel booking, and without any problem, the woman advised the driver to drop us at our hotel. Our hotel is Diary of Ximending, located in Ximending District- The shopping district of Taipei. 

Things to remember...


Guys, My advice is if you are traveling to Taipei in the morning, better use the train as it can save you more. I paid 30 US Dollars for the taxi and the travel time was half an hour. So expensive but we don't have a choice as it's late in the evening.

So guys, My tip: If you are traveling out of the country, make sure to print a hard copy of your accommodation translated in the local language. Trust me, It would be easy for you and for the locals to know where you are going.


For my accommodation, I always check the best hotel rate. I opt to book at booking.com as they have a more competitive rate. I chose a hotel which offers a buffet breakfast and a room for two persons.

I was so blessed that I  found the best price for our hotel stay. 4 days and 3 nights for only 168 US Dollars.

If you are wondering if how does our hotel accommodation looks like. You can check the pictures below:

Diary of Ximending Hotel. Photo credits to Agoda




Twin Bed

The Shower

Guys, Please note that there is no bidet here

Just my Auntie, chilling out after day 1 of our tour


You can also watch my Taipei Vlog at the top of this article :)

The only thing that I didn't like about the room was that lacked a bidet. So after relieving yourself from the call of nature, you have to use toilet paper instead of water. 

Buffet Breakfast is included in the payment. The front office staff which included Filipinos and Chinese assisted us. They gave as a stub receipt for 4 days. We gave it to the attendant and we were able to eat during breakfast. Breakfast timings start from 8 AM.






The food consists of egg dishes like omelet egg, noodles, and some meat. Beverages such as orange juice and coffee are available as well
Please do note that this hotel is very strict when it comes to cleanliness and upon noticing, most of the attendants at the buffet area were senior citizens. Also, everyone should clean up after you are done eating, as this is a courtesy to the other guests who would like to use the table.



Overall, the hotel accommodation was superb as it was very accessible to the night market. The hotel is situated beside the famous Ximending Night Market. I was not even expecting that there was a night market just beside our building. How cool is that? :)


You can check the pictures below:

















And for my day-to-day itinerary trip. A friend of mine recommended this Filipina (who arranged tours in Taiwan). I contact her and she provides me a quotation for our day-to-day excursion.

Below is the itinerary that I made as she advised me to make a new one since immigration might ask for it.





Relatively Cheap and Bang for your Wallet...


I paid 25 US Dollars for a two-person two-day tour from Ms.Mel (Our tour guide) it is very cheap compared to others.  The tour package comes with a free meal and a very comfortable coaster to ride on. The meal is Filipino food too. I highly recommend this Filipina to everyone who is planning to visit Taiwan.



Some of the pictures below during our tour outskirts of metro Taipei (North Coast) :

The temperature during our visit was kinda bit high around 38 degrees Celcius. However, the place that we first visited was full of lush greenery, It was still manageable. The first stop was the Green Fantasy forest.







After having lunch, we went to Chung-She Flower Garden. It is likely similar to the Dubai Miracle Garden in the UAE. The entrance cost is 4 US dollars per person.













The next tourist spot we visited is the Rainbow Village. As you may know, Taiwan recently allowed same-sex marriage in the country last year 2019.














The last tourist spot we visited for a day was the GaoMei Wetlands- It is a wetland preservation area in Taichung, Taiwan. Various small crabs and amphibian creatures can be found here, adding some dozens of windmill that generates electricity in the region. A green energy resource.















To wrap it up...


This was just our first-day tour in Taipei provided by our Filipina tour guide. I recently made a vlog of our day trip to Taipei 101.
You can check the vlog at the top of this content. A playlist is enabled :)

This is a developing blog, and there will be another part 2 of this content :)

So to sum it up. Our expenses for everything are 68O US dollars. Relatively cheap compared to booking from a tour agency. 


So if you are planning to visit Taipei. Just take note of all of the information that I've provided. (And please, make sure to have a power bank 😊 )

If you are interested in taking a group or single package, Klook can easily help you without the hassle. Try their service offer or you can click this link to check the most reasonable and affordable tour package.

Thanks for reading my blog and see you in part 2 💕

--Ceddy


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Monday, January 13, 2020

McAfee Internet Security 2019- Quick Unboxing Review

January 13, 2020 0 Comments





Technology so far, so great...


We are in the advancement of technology, and We cannot deny the fact that technology is everywhere, You wake up in the morning by the alarm of your clock or your smartphone, and wash your clothes in the washer. One of the major mainstream to communicate with our family on the other side of the world is in a medium of the internet. Without the internet, our era would have gone down under and would forcefully use the traditional way, imagine sending mail to your loved ones in the form of snail mail which would take a week to receive? , pretty classic isn't it? However This 21st century, Technology has greatly affected our lives and has gone further.


The outcome: pros, and cons of the internet...


There are an advantage and disadvantages to everything.


Using the internet to communicate with your friends or families on the other side of the world means talking to their side in person. Very convenient and you won't miss any single moment.


Do you want to learn how to cook some Italian pasta but have nowhere to start? Just Google it or watch some cooking tutorials on YouTube.

Or is your boss in a hurry to finish those reports and need to be submitted before lunch?
You can do that in no time and send it right away via Outlook.

Or how about checking the latest promo flight offers to Boracay in the Philippines? Well, you gotta go and check out the promo fares via sky scanner.

Lazy to pay your bills? Let the internet do it for you, search your bank and register via online banking. Pay your bills in just a second.

Anything and everything is possible on the internet.


But of course, there are always disadvantages to all aspects. 


The Internet is a deep web of anything and prying eyes can take advantage of it. Hacking someone's account,  phishing someone's bank account over the internet.

Or an anonymous guy stalking your pictures and taking all of your information in a sort of illegal way that can lead to identity theft and will use your information to make it as a new person and will use your details to get a loan from a bank or a credit card under your name for example.

Or someone reached out via email offering some too-good-to-be-true offers (scam).

I am a small content creator and a writer and primarily, half of my day, I spend on the internet.
Writing new content and/or researching for a new topic.

It's a call and time to make the right decision...


It came to my idea that I have to write something about anti-virus for devices. And I am so blessed that I got a good offer and this anti-virus is on sale.

Previously, I was using Avast for my MacBook, But I noticed that my device tends to slow down even if it is scanning on selected folders. I don't have that many documents on my laptop since everything is being stored in the cloud and I am using an external hard drive.

Mac users also believe that Apple devices are not prone to viruses, regardless of everyone's statement, I still invested in having the best anti-virus.

Everyone should have one and it's a MUST...


This antivirus that I recently purchased is the MCAFEE INTERNET SECURITY 2019. (And it is 2020 now, but who cares? lol) 


The MCAFEE Internet Security has 10 licenses for 10 different devices, which can support different operating systems such as Windows, macOS, Android devices, and iOS devices.

For Windows users, ensure that you have up-to-date operating systems such as Windows 10, 8.1, and 7 (32-bit and 64-bit)


  • For macOS users, it should be OS X 10.11 and higher.
  • For Android users (smartphones and tablets) It should be Android 4.1 and higher
  • For iOS devices, it should be iOS 9 and higher.



Who is McAfee?


McAfee is a joint venture type of company formerly known as McAfee Associates Incorporated and Intel Security Group. It's an American global computer security software company headquartered in Santa Clara, California.

I think I have too much information now. (lol) So without further ado, this is my quick unboxing review of McAfee Internet Security 2019


At first, I thought I paid only for one license, but upon rechecking the packaging, I was surprised that it was for 10 devices. To be honest, I was planning to use it only for my MacBook.

The original price of the McAfee Internet Security was $27 (100 dirhams)  but since it went on sale, I got it only for $8 (29 dirhams)







The packaging is pretty straightforward, you get what you pay for and all of the information about the benefit is listed with a checklist.



4 versions are right for you. You choose.


Starting from the McAfee Antivirus up to the McAfee LiveSafe. I chose McAfee Internet Security (since this was the antivirus which is on sale at that time along with another antivirus which is Kaspersky Total Internet Security 2019)

McAfee Internet Security features are very well decent and it's in the Goldilocks zone. Meaning, you have everything in one. It comes with antivirus and defends from online threats such as malicious websites.

It can remove junk mail before it reaches your inbox from your email.

Protects your children with parental controls so that kids can safely browse the internet. And a password manager with the True Key app.

Apart from the mentioned features above. McAfee Mobile Security is also very useful. Upon retrieving the product key and incorporating the license into my McAfee account, I can utilize all the features such as :


  • Safe Web- It's a VPN (a virtual private network) so that you can browse anonymously and safely
  • Media Vault- to store your precious photos just in case your photos from your mobile got compromised.
  • Back-Up Contacts- to save and retrieve later your phone contacts
  • Anti Theft- to monitor and leave a "footprint" of your device so that you can easily track it just in case you lose your device. The other feature that I like the most is the capture feature. If someone attempts 3x to open your McAfee application, the app itself will trigger to capture an image discreetly and will notify you right away in your email.





Inside the carton consists of one small half A4 size documentation, showing the product key on another side of the document.



Another side of the documentation is the McAfee Product Key

It took me half an hour to install the McAfee Antivirus, and I tried to run a full scan.
Surprisingly, I didn't find my laptop to slow down and it works as normal as it.


As always, don't forget to comment and subscribe to my RSS Feeds if you love this informative content and quick unboxing review.

Thanks for reading!

XX

--Ceddy
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Friday, January 3, 2020

AIR ASIA A320-200 REVIEW | IN FLIGHT EXPERIENCE

January 03, 2020 0 Comments

AIR ASIA A320-200 REVIEW | IN-FLIGHT EXPERIENCE




Hello Everyone! I am back again for another airline review.

Recently, I traveled back to the Philippines, rested for a few weeks, and traveled again to Taipei, Taiwan along with my Auntie.

As you might know, I'm an avid fan of A320s ( I'm talking about planes).

So in this review, I will write a quick review of my recent flight with AIR ASIA from Iloilo via Manila to Taipei, Taiwan.


Air Asia A320 and A330 Fleets...


All fleets of Air Asia are composed of AIRBUS A320 and A330, Whether domestic or international flights.

We flew all the way from Iloilo Airport to Manila Domestic Airport and transferred via coach service to Terminal 2 of Ninoy Aquino International Airport. 


Check-in and everything...


Please take note that Airport transport is free of charge and don't need to pay for anything. Alternatively, Bus transport is always available 24/7.


Exclusive only for Air Asia Passenger


The check-in process was easy peasy, though the arrival of the aircraft from Iloilo City going back to Manila was late for more than 2 hours and 30 minutes, I actually complained to the Air Asia personnel and surprisingly, they decided to give me some snacks, and water due to long wait and inconvenience that may have caused. Our flight take-off should be around 3 in the afternoon but it was moved to some around 5:30 in the afternoon...

The good thing about traveling with the elderly (or you should say, senior citizen)? They prioritize them, And since I am with my Aunt, we are always on the first line.  You can say we are VIP now ;) (lol, just kidding)

what the...fudgee? 


Inside the Aircraft...

Since we are the first to board the aircraft, We're able to find our seats immediately. I paid extra for the seat selection as I am with my Auntie, The good thing about Air Asia is that the add-ons and seat selections are relatively cheap compared to its competitors.

And of course, You get what you pay for. Surprisingly, the seats were pitch black with an accent of red color on the headrest of each seat. I love the combination of the two colors and the seat looks so premium. 


Nothing fancy here, 

The premium feels




And expect the unexpected...


And we're here on the part, I AM SO DISSAPOINTED. On this part, The seat that I chose online was dirty and it was damaged. It seems like the foam of the seat was separated from the skeleton structure of the seat.   I chose that seat as it overlooks the wing of the plane. I complain about it right away. The cabin crew then advised me to wait for some time and they will find an alternative seat. I am so dissatisfied as the seat that they provided was near the lavatory and I cannot barely see the wing of the plane. It was a total disappointment as I paid for in the first place.


Seriously Air Asia?


And let me add this: Air Asia, could someone explain to me what just happened to the window seat?

Scary...


Bring your own entertainment device... 


For the first-time flyer, don't expect to have entertainment like an EBOX from Etihad Airways.
Air Asia is one of the most budgeted airlines that provides great fairs. Just bring your own entertainment device.

In front of the seat, there is a compartment that comes with a flight safety information guide, an in-flight magazine, a food menu, and a duty-free magazine. And bring your own power bank. It doesn't have any USB or power port to charge your devices.


For domestic: English / Tagalog and for international, it is English, and the language of the country that you wish to visit (Taiwan for example), is in Chinese.



Air Asia's In-flight Magazine

Duty-free magazine

If you have extra money from your debit or credit card, You can purchase an internet service right away. This feature is only applicable on International flights.



 Air Asia A320 has a Standard Seats. With a pitch of 28” and width of 16-17”,  My height is 160 cm (5'4'' ft.) So there's plenty of legroom and I can even stretch my feet. I like it!


Excuse me? May I go to the washroom?...

The Lavatory is... Well, of course, It's a lavatory :D. There's nothing much to be found here,  all the basic amenities are available like tissues, hand sanitizer, and hand wash. Nothing smelly at all.






Food is...Life!


The food is GREAT! I pre-booked a meal online for our domestic flight, going to Taipei and going back to Iloilo City. Though the food that they offer online is limited you can still buy on board as they have a ready menu.  I love the Inspi (RED) Burger. Due to curiosity, I did research about the Inspi (RED) logo, and later I found out that whoever purchases this burger, the money will be donated to people who are suffering from HIV/AIDS. For more information about Product Red, You can check this link.



And more food! Ah, this is food porn. Folks, those people who are reading at midnight, don't drool okay? (lol, just kidding... :D )




I like this! Tasty! 
I like this! Tasty! 


And this one!

So far, the best spaghetti that I've tasted!



Ah, so good!

Bonus:


Some pictures that I took during my entire travel from domestic to international.

Going back home after my tour from Taipei :)

Our arrival at Taoyuan International Airport. Seen here is the flag of Taiwan

Going back to Manila at Taoyuan International Airport. Seen here is China Airlines

At Iloilo International Airport


City of Manila, Philippines


Lovely Ladies of Air Asia <3

And that's a wrap!


So should I recommend Air Asia? 


I can say it's in between. I've seen some glitches during my flight with them and with immediate action, all those unforeseen things should have been avoided. The seat selection online versus your expectations, in reality, is totally different. Overall the service was good except for the delayed flight too.

If you are choosing a cheaper flight with great comfort and (food). Then this is the best Airline that you are looking for.

If you want to check the best airfare rates, head on to Skyscanner. It offers the best rates and comparison between airlines. I always book with them whenever I travel internationally or domestically. Try it and see for yourself. :) 


Thanks for reading my review. Don't forget to share this content and comment below!. You can visit my official YouTube channel for other travel vlogs. 

Cheers! XX

--Ceddy




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