First time I tried to have skincare delivered, usually I just go to Al Wahda Mall to buy whatever it is I need but at these prices?!! NO CONTEST!
As soon as I ordered online, I went to The Face Shop to check if it'll be cheaper to just buy at the store since I'll be paying additional 20 for shipping anyway and the wait was least 3-4 weeks if the items you want are not on stock. There were still leftover Eid sales so I was expecting at least 60-70% off but when I went there, everything was still way too pricey compared to what I ordered online.
So after 10 looong years (or IRL, 3 weeks), my order came! Kudos to the courier guy who had to extend his duty for another 3 hours just to deliver my order - Ambait mo kuya! You already!
I got 2 free masks along with everything so the whole order was basically a steal! When I shopped at TFS, I paid 175 already for a tube of sunscreen, Calendula moisturizing toner and collagen spray (despite the 60% off) but with BB Cream Girl, I paid only 228 for everything below, plus 20 for shipping! Also, I just realized that most of what I ordered were TFS goodies, I should've been more adventurous and tried 3W, Laneige and Innisfree ~ anyway, I'll definitely do so next time. Ipon muna ulet hihihi
E ano naman, I deserve it! CHAROT! #feelingmillenial HAHAHA Please lang note to self, spreadsheet is life! Budget budget pag may time!
Anyway, try niyo rin! I'm open again to Kpop feels ulit, nakapag move on nako sa wakas. My sister loves the 3W Collagen Whitening essence too, which was a big YAHOO for me so she won't make me pay for swiping her Olay moisturizer. HEHEHEHEEEE
Excited to try everything out so till next time ~~
Ok, so I'm feelin' good today :) because as you knowww *wink wink* so I'm doing another post on how to travel to Taiwan visa-free using the R.O.C Taiwan Travel Authorization Certificate ♥
YES, we Filipinos can now travel to Taiwan visa-free as long as we meet the following requirements: Basic Requirements To be eligible for an ROC Travel Authorization Certificate, the following three basic requirements must be met:
1.The applicant’s passport must have remaining validity of at least six months starting from the date of arrival in Taiwan. 2.The applicant must possess an onward/return air or boat ticket. 3.The applicant has never been employed as a blue-collar worker in Taiwan.
Additional Requirements 1. The applicant possesses at least one of the following documents issued by Australia, Canada, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, any of the Schengen countries, the United Kingdom, or the United States:
O Valid resident or permanent resident card or status O Valid entry visa (electronic visa must be printed out) O Resident card or visa that has expired less than 10 years prior to the date of arrival in Taiwan
2.The applicant possesses an entry visa or resident card issued by the ROC at any point in the past 10 years and has no record of immigration irregularities or law violations in Taiwan. However, holders of ROC entry visas bearing the remark FL (i.e., foreign laborer) or X (i.e., others), as well as holders of ROC resident cards with stated purpose of residence being foreign laborer (i.e., 外勞), are not eligible for an ROC Travel Authorization Certificate.
Since I was issued a single-entry visa to Japan last year, I'm eligible under the above (see highlighted area) so all I need to do is go to this website. Also, as most OFWs in UAE either has Schengen, UK or US visas, getting the TAC is a breeze!
Ok how to get one? See below:
1. Choose your language.
2. There will be 2 more reminders prior to application area, just read this and click on Next.
3. Fill up the fields below.
*Make sure that when prior to filling this up, your air tickets and accommodation/ hotel are booked.
4. Scroll down to the last fields and you'll see this:
I did the following:
a. Entry Permit
b. Country (Japan)
c. Number (Entered the Japan visa number found at the top right hand corner)
5. Click Next.
6. Last window will require you to review everything, make sure all information entered is correct. However, if you entered something wrong and already printed out the form, I read somewhere that you can re-do the process again and print out a new TAC.
7. Print out the form and present it at the airport upon check in, along with the visa you used. Print at least 3 copies just in case each immigration office you encounter needs a copy (I'll confirm this for myself after 3 weeks.)
Here's a sample copy of the certificate:
REMINDER:
An approved ROC Travel Authorization Certificate is valid for 90 days. Multiple entries within these 90 days are allowed. The holder of the ROC Travel Authorization Certificate may stay in Taiwan for 30 days, starting from the day after arrival. If the holder wishes to apply for another ROC Travel Authorization Certificate, he or she must do so seven days prior to the expiry of the current certificate.
In booking air tickets, I used Air Asia because they had the cheapest fare if you're travelling from Manila. Had a slip-up though, because I was not able to check the timings for my return flight when I booked through the app so TAKE NOTE. Or not if you're not a klutz like me :P HAHAHA
If you are, and you want my sage advice *wink wink* better to do it via their website (and using a PC) to make sure you can see all the information you need prior to clicking on payment or else rebooking fees will cost you an arm and a leg #gurangproblems I don't know why but all my cards were not working if I'm using their site so I used their app. Better make sure with your bank though, there might be restrictions set in.
Leaving you with the video below to get you all hyped up on Taiwan:
SUPER EXCITED!!! I deserve this! CHAROT!
See you there!
UPDATE: Make sure that all information entered is correct as this will be thoroughly scrutinized by airline check-in staff. If you have the wrong passport expiry date in (like me) they will require you to do the impossible (aka do the above again and have it printed out - NO PRINTERS IN AIRPORT T3 as I and another guest learned the hard way) so please be sure to triple-check it before your flight!
Scheduled my retake a few days ago in December because I was getting discouraged on the waiting time - results still pending after 11 days usually meant FAIL with a big F
But nooooooo! I got the surprise of my life when I logged in Facebook this morning and saw all those saying they got their results so I went to my AAPC account and sure enough I saw this ---
And this --
YAHOOOOO!!
So my SK visa brouhaha didn't destroy my mojo after all ~ just my paranoia talking :) Now I know that waking up in 2AM everyday for at least 2 weeks because I was feeling guilty of not being able to review the whole day (and weekends) because I was doing outpatient (hagardo versozaaaa) simultaneously with DMEs, authorizations and resubmission PLUS the fact that I was gaining 2KG back and being denied a visa WAS TOTALLY WORTH IT!!! Really, #lovewhatyoudo and your work will love you back ♥
PROUD TO SAY THAT MY ZOMBIE DAYS ARE OVER!! Well, at least till my next certification, or MBA, PhD kahit anopayannnn♥ hehehe feeling invincible today eh?
Anyway, congratulations to all those who passed their exams today, may we all be blessed with our careers and dreams and #goalsunlocked!
On a previous post, I mentioned that I wanted to share how I went about preparing my family's documents for the Eid holidays here in the UAE - and here it is finally!
Sorry, it took so long - I had a lot of things happening up until yesterday like my CPB exam, getting denied for an SK visa (HUHUHU), month-end submissions, GOT7, etc. etc. that I didn't have enough time, emotions nor brain cells left over to do the list. BUT NOWWW, I'm ready! Let's get it on!
Okay, the first thing I did, as I mentioned previously, was that I purchased the 399aed sale flights from Cebu Pacific Air. It's a budget airline from the Philippines and you have to be really alert on their flash sales (usually midnight local PH time) and subscribe to their newsletter or follow this blog to be updated the minute that things get interesting. You have to be patient though, as the website lags from too much traffic during these times.
I bought the ticket in December '16 but I only prepared their documents in June, which was a only a month prior to their flight. On their end, the documents that they needed to prepare were the following to present to immigration officials:
1. Passport (at least 6 months' validity)
2. Original UAE visa (pink copy)
3. NSO Authenticated Marriage certificate (for my parents)
4. NSO Authenticated Birth certificates (for my brother and me as proof of relationship)
5. Flight tickets
6. Hotel vouchers
7. 9 Day Itinerary
My mom is already 60+ so my visa agent told me no need to process an Affidavit of Support for her and my father's an OFW as well, so the only problem left was my brother. My brother's 27 and unemployed so it's likely that the immigration officer will have a problem with that. Setting aside that he's a med student and he has already travelled abroad (Japan) last year, I sent him all the documents I could think of to ensure that he won't be offloaded, except of course, the controversial Affidavit of Support.
VOCAB:
Affidavit of Support - that thing you need to bypass Philippine immigration going to UAE if you're sponsored by a resident.
Here's what I prepared for them, which I sent via courier along with their visas:
1. Residence Visa
2. Emirates ID
3. Passport Copy
4. Salary Certificate (signed and stamped by HR)
5. Printout of my latest OEC and OWWA membership
6. Invitation Letter
I made sure each of them has copies of all my documents in case they were evaluated individually. Good thing was, the officers didn't even look at their papers, only the UAE visas and their passports and they were able to go through smoothly!
Really, if you know you know in your heart and mind that you're really just travelling, there's nothing to be afraid of. Like with my SK visa denial, I don't take it too much to heart because I know that I would be going there only to travel and fangirl sooo - their loss, not mine. CHAROT! #antagalngsourgraping #moveonalready
Dubai Sports World
I loooove it!
Happy, honeymooning parentals♥
I'll share our itinerary in another post (again), sa uulitin! ♥
So I'm not going to cry about the visa denial, decided to plan my new itinerary straight away despite my scheduled mock exams and pending claims to be entered just to cheer my little blue self up.
Mabuhay ang mga dukha!
How to erase bitterness: Step 1: Request for refund - called Air Asia to request and was advised that 80% will be refunded since it's 1-2 months prior to departure date (at least all is not lost! HEHEHE) Step 2: SKYSCANNER! Step 3: Ended up with Air Asia again because it's not showing up on skyscanner. Should've waited in case they'll refund my prior booking by travel credit but I got the tickets for like 223 AED/person ONLY (Usually it's like 600/person) so pak! booked! Step 4: Watched a bit of Dara's battle trip again Step 5: Back to the books! Spent so much time making this post and I've yet to do my mock exams OMG
No more kpop feelz. Probably the same guy who denied my supervisor's visa as well - or maybe the Abu Dhabi embassy staff really doesn't accept visa applications - because all I heard are denials from this office compared to Dubai #sourgraping
All the more reason to get excited for Turkey in November.
Hayst. 6 months of planning down the drain.
Nevertheless, maybe I'll apply again in the future... or not. In the meantime, Europe is only a 6 hour flight away to keep me from sinking in despair.
For now, I'm taking a break from K-world to lessen the pain.
Goodnight peeps, wish me a 70% tomorrow ❤️
UPDATE: (Chismis alert) When the boyf went to collect the passports, he asked a fellow kabayan who was denied regarding their status. As per kabayan, he didn't understand why they got denied because their salary was like 1X,XXX and it was more than enough for a few days' stay. So said kabayan asked the consul and was told that the 3 months' bank statement should show credit activity only - not debits. Hence, the denial.
Anyway #moveonalready E, you get to go to Palawan, Taiwan and Turkey so kalas :) When a door closes nga, a window opens! You now get to go to 3 of your dream places instead of 2 kayaaaaa #BUCKETLIST!!!
Just lodged my visa application in the embassy, and I must say, it's a total distraction doing this the day before your exam T_T
Inshallahhh, claiming it as my birthday gift! Hoping me and the boyf gets approved --- ok gotta start thinking case analysis and CMS-1500s...
Visa approved visa approved visa approved *sighs* It will make for a fantastic birthday gift to meeee
Anyway, I'll try the visa.go.kr website on Monday before boyf goes to claim the passports. All will be well. If it's meant for us, it'll be approved.
Random observation: it was 9: 30 in the morning and the only people there were visa applicants (4), Korean nationals (2) who needed document attestations and the staff. Compared to the Philippine Embassy, there's a queue for a) passports b) OEC (scrapped, now we have OFW ID) c) Affidavit of Supports and a whole lot more chukchakcheriboomboom. Not to put our own embassy in a negative light, just seems that the government requires too much unneccessary paperwork before we can go on vacation, sponsor family & friends, etc. Good thing that we'd have the all-encompassing OFW ID soon to basically cut everything to the minimum - let's wait and see when it's fully implemented. Hopefully, starting with this, all government departments do their part and be a #PartnerforChange for a much better Philippines ❤
