As of this posting, I am currently here beside a charging station near the Gate 107 of NAIA Terminal 3 International Departures waiting for my Hong Kong flight at 3:30pm. I am feeling sleepy as I was awake I think since last night and was not able to sleep well at the airport back in Iloilo. Arriving here at Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 at 5:00 in the morning, it seemed that all I wanted to check was an area where I can lay down and rest.

Unfortunately, I have to be wary of my stuff as all of my bags are hand carried. That said, I was only able to sit down and rest my back on the seats. Sleepiness has been trying to catch up with me especially after eating my breakfast at Chowkings and I was not able to take at least a quick doze.

I then spent my time checking on the videos of the playtest on Humans and trying to digest every combat and play scenario that is optimized for gaining an advantage. Unfortunately, though its matchups aren’t that great as most opponents play unusual cards in their Modern deck. Well, it is still learning more than nothing.

It is still hours to go before the boarding time and I am hoping that the flight will go smoothly and I won’t have any problems entering Hong Kong, especially with immigration. As mentioned, I got to utilize my Travel Authority as a supporting document during the Philippine immigration interview process. They’d then surely know that I will be coming back to the country.

I am also supposed to start my video blogging this morning but then again the lack of sleep is having my mind clouded and less of ideas to think about. I cope with that by watching smartphone camera tips and tricks.

I have not yet again planned my things to do after I check in at the hostel, but most likely I will wait for Ramon’s contact after their trip to Lantau Island aboard the cable car of Ngong Ping 360.

That is a wrap. Until the next post.

It is barely a few weeks to go until the travel to the Grand Prix in Hong Kong this September and honestly up until now; I have not yet prepared or even planned my travel schedule and budget. That may be because I was used to that destination and it has already imprinted in my mind but it is safe to have notes on the things that you would do there along with the places to visit and its possible costs. By the way, the header image was taken last year at The Peak.

The good thing though is that I was able to pass through a few blog posts online with regards to traveling on a budget. The blog site, Travel Made Simple, has posted a few tips for travelers on a budget. I will just highlight a few that can be related to my current trip.

Pile of MTG Cards to be drafted in Day 2 of the GP

1. Making a Budget for the Major transportation – That would mean airfare ticket, bus travel from the airport to the hostel or bnb, etc. My booked plane ticket was a major bargain of a sale from Cebu Pacific so basically, that is already covered. The travel from the airport will probably via the A21 bus and I had purchased before an Octopus card that I will just reload again and swipe for the fare. The Peso to HKD conversion would probably my only problem as it is expected to be higher than last year.

2. Make a budget for the other transportation – Going to the tournament venue would just be via MTR and the convention center shuttle bus services so that won’t cost me much. As for the other destination after the GP, that would still be calculated via the distance from our hostel.

3. Make a budget for your accommodation – quoting, “Lodging can also be a big part of your budget depending on where you like to stay.” This is very true, even if I decided to stay in a cramped hostel room that would still cost me around P2000 per night which is a regular rate for a single occupant. Sigh. I will make sure to note my balance due to that hostel.

4. Make a budget for Food – While I might limit my food intakes during the tournament, the rest will cover the late night food trip destination with the perks. My breakfast and dinner option are the fast foods near the hostel, wherein they cost cheaper than that of the traditional restaurants there. Last time in our BnB stay, we cook our food in the kitchen and so we can estimate our budget on the ingredients.

Street food in Mongkok area.

5. Making a Budget for Activities – this one will take another huge cut in the overall budget. Going to tourist spots like Ocean Park and HK Disneyland will really cost you at the entrance and the amenities inside.

6. Making a Budget for GP Exclusive products – this one I have also highlighted because, in Grand Prix, they have guest artists of Magic cards which we can get our own copy signed and also buy their exclusive playmats. While my practice is buying on the last day as they usually sold it at a discount, which might change if I could not make it to Day 2.

The blog site also presented a travel budget example which mentioned the round-trip flights, nights of lodging, the entrance tickets for tourist spots, food budget, and public transportation ticket costs. They have also mentioned tracking your travel spending after the total budget cost has been made. I may allow a huge budget for this trip but it is safe to note the specific and forecasted cost of spending per day.

I will come up with a detailed travel schedule and cost once I coordinated my plans to my fellow MTG player Ramon and his family.

That is a wrap for now. Do note that making a realistic travel budget is an important part of planning your vacation and every detail of it.

Reference post: https://travel-made-simple.com/how-to-make-a-travel-budget/

I will be traveling in Manila this weekend for the yearly Magic: the Gathering Philippine Judge conference. This will be my first time to attend in which I have this on my bucket list finally achieved. I have planned to attend the conference in the past two years but had several constraints faced along the way. This time, the booking was done in advance and is complete.

This year’s Judge Conference is spearheaded by Ms. Aly Chrizelle and she had chosen the venue to be at Villa De Oro Resort in Tagaytay. The first day will be on Saturday at 9 am and we will have a shared van to take us to the place. My flight schedule is the first flight of Cebu Pacific on Saturday and will arrive 6:50 am. The pick-up point for the van is in Makati so that might take me a while to travel from NAIA Terminal 3. Good thing is that they have asked someone to pick me up at the airport. I had not visited Tagaytay for somewhat a long while so this trip has got me excited to check on the tourist attractions there. Here is a preview of the resort.

This will just be a weekend event and I will be back in Iloilo by Monday morning. I am hoping that this will be a productive and knowledgeable trip with regards to the topics related to judging events and card rules. Stay tuned as I might post a Day 1 recap on the topics and happenings during the MTG PH Judge conference.

Until the next blog post.

I haven’t done yet with my writeup on my Grand Prix Hong Kong tournament experience last year and here I am again announcing that I will be going back again this September of 2018. The confirmation was earlier than expected, but a big thanks to Piso fares for airline tickets

I was already planning beforehand since the announcement of the Grand Prix schedule for this year and luckily, I came upon Cebu Pacific’s Piso Fare sale last December after going home past midnight. I immediately checked the possible dates and booked the one with the lowest price possible. The total ticket price for the round trip was amounted to just P3k plus which is almost 50% off of the ticket I bought for last year’s HK trip. It was not all direct trip from Iloilo as I will be on connecting flight via Manila on the Thursday and will arrive in Hong Kong around 6pm that evening. Fortunately, the return trip is a direct flight so there would be little hassle for me and my baggage.

As for the Grand Prix tournament details, the format is Modern and so I started my preparations this month by first being familiar with the archetypes. The format is very well diverse as compared to Standard but it is a slightly changing metagame, with almost the same Tier 1 decks. That means I won’t be pressured to do regular play testing. Hoping the new organizers will be able to pull off a better event output and a cheaper registration fee than that of the previous one.

I have not decided yet of the side trips in the city but I am eyeing of going to Macau on a one-day trip. For the meantime, I was looking and browsing on travel blogs for reference and tips. Hoping my friends could also book the same schedule as mine.

Overall I am happy to be able to book my abroad trip this year as early as January and that I will have enough time to plan out my budget and day by day schedule.

That’s a wrap for now. Back to finishing my tournament report I guess.

Hong Kong is currently my most traveled place abroad. It was my third time to visit the country with the same main reason for joining the scheduled MtG Grand Prix event. This is actually my third Grand Prix HK that I have joined with the same Limited format, this time on the Ixalan set of Pirates, Dinosaurs, Vampires, exploration, and stuff. The event was dated to be held on October 27-29, 2017. I did not bring much except for a Standard deck which I would play for Friday’s GP Last-Chance trials for byes.

To be honest, I had not initially planned to travel there last year but upon after renewing my Philippine Passport, and with a lot of convincing from my friend and kumpare Jayr, I decided to go and started looking for promo airline tickets. I was then able to purchase one last May which cost me around 6K plus for round-trip tickets, Iloilo to Hong Kong vice versa.

Jayr was to travel with his family and brother and they will be renting an apartment on AirBnB and so I was opted to join. This was quite new as my previous accommodations were only at hostels in the urban areas in Tsim Sha Tsui. We also planned to purchase an Octopus card which we can use to pay for public transportation, like the bus traveling to and from the airport and for our MTR travel to the event venue. The card can also be used to pay for items bought from supermarkets and food from restaurants. I also purchased some HK dollar currency beforehand for pocket money needed for purchasing the said card and other stuff after arriving at the airport. Do take note to have at least 500 HKD with you, especially if you still have a balance to pay for your hotel reservation.

The flight from Iloilo was around 10:30 pm and arrived at past 1 am in the morning at the Hong Kong International Airport. Thankfully the whole trip was calm as there was no typhoon that time though I was not able to get enough sleep even with the leaned back of my chair. Arriving after the usual security checks, we were welcomed and greeted by Jayr’s mother-in-law and she brought food for us to chow down while we wait for the morning. I somewhat got sleepy after eating and so I positioned myself in a comfortable flat part of the square fountain in their waiting area for a quick nap.

It was already past 7 am when the booth for the Octopus card opened and we quickly lined up to purchase ours. The card costs at 100 HKD but it is preloaded with a 50 HKD amount which we can initially use for the bus fare from the airport. It can then be reloaded at convenience stores in train stations. We decided to just proceed to the Grand Prix venue at the Kowloonbay International Trade & Exhibition Centre since the check-in time at the apartment will still be at 3 pm that day.

After the breakfast at Mcdonalds located on the ground floor, we then went to the venue at the third floor, which was the same venue as the last GP HK I played, to check on the on-going tournaments and to register to the main event as well. There were a lot of players playing sealed and booster drafts and the artists’ signing booth were also crowded.

I immediately signed up for the Standard LCQ and there were only three players listed with me as the fourth player. The scheduled time was 12:30 pm which was almost an hour to go, so we went around to observe the players’ matches to get familiar more with Ixalan Limited.

To be continued…

Since I started serving in the government office, it seems to be that I always feel swamped with all the things that I needed to study and learn. With just a background on computers and web development, it was a new level for me. Sure I did a few reads before starting this work but as expected, it was insufficient. It felt like a huge meteor strike of ideas and concepts that impacted at the same time. I am trying to cope up but it should be done one step at a time, and that is the enemy. After office felt very exhausting and I still spend time thinking of solutions while getting familiar with the setup and terms. Those abbreviations are just too hard to memorize.

I just wish that this will be slightly mended once I start my study on urban planning with the diploma course on DURP or Diploma in Urban and Regional Planning. This is the first step required in my job description as PDO I, and it will be followed by a Masteral in Urban Planning. That would mean a lesser time for me to play in MtG tournaments, given that I am already short of time in updating our Standard decks or brewing archetypes.

Now, I am wishing for a long weekend holiday and the next one is on holy week. That would mean though that general cleaning should be done on my room at the HQ. No rest for the wicked as they say. *Sigh*