Short can be sweet…

… so sweet ♥♥♥

Yes, a short vacation is always sweet when you are with your lovely family and/or friends. 🙂

It’s the first day of November (hello, beautiful November!) as of this writing, it’s a holiday so I had time to write and hopefully wrap up my posts about our Busan trip. 😉 Let me share with you a few more things which made this trip sweet’er’. 😉

Starbucks

On the first two days of our trip as well as the third and last day, I had the chance to go to Starbucks (SB) with my friends. If you’ve been reading my blog, you’ll remember that I shared in my post here that I collect SB cards, so it is a must that I visit SB whenever and wherever possible. Thanks to my supportive friends I get to do it with so much joy! 😀

During this trip, I was able to get 4 new SB cards from different SB branches around Busan and I super love them all, very pretty designs and very meaningful as well. 🙂

This photo was taken on the last day, 16 October. I ordered something new, Gongju BoniBam Latte, yum! On day 2, I also tried Jeju organic green tea. So I’m really happy to try new SB drinks, such a sweet treat!

I also have a small collection of SB demitasses. So it was so tempting to buy this pretty set (photo below) but I restrained myself… Having set a working budget is really a good idea. It actually kept me from buying everything that I liked. Good job, Ryah! ;P

I not only tried new hot drinks but also excitedly tried some of these SB healthy drinks. I should have discovered this early on, I would likely try all variants, if I remember it right, there were almost 10 different variants. I bought these 3 on the 3rd day and had to drink within a couple of hours because I couldn’t hand-carry it and also didn’t risk checking them in. I tried the kale & apple drink first while at SB, while the last 2, I finished them just before I placed my hand-carry bag on the conveyor at the airport! hahaha They’re all so yummy! I should have hoarded!! Next time, I should remember to not only look for SB cards, but to try new drinks from Day 1 of the trip.

Lagom

Remember the Swedish word and proverb I shared with you a couple of weeks back on this post?

Lagom which literally means not too little, not too much.

On day 1, I saw these products, it caught my attention because of the brand name (and the minimalist packaging, very true to its name)! 😉 And I just couldn’t resist, I had to purchase a small cleanser tube and small toner bottle so I could try them, I got some freebies too. 🙂

I love these products, I’ll try to get a bigger size when I return next year, Godwilling. 🙂 This is such a sweet discovery. 😉

Me time

Gill’s fly out from Busan was earlier compared to my flight and Eia’s. So Gill left for the airport at around 12nn if I remembered it right. Eia and I had initially planned to watch one more movie in the afternoon of Day 3 but Eia had to work on some urgent matters, good thing we decided not to purchase another movie ticket the day we bought the first movie ticket. Eia and I went to Starbucks at around 1:30pm, it’s walking distance to the airport bus stop and also to Haeundae Beach. At 3pm, I left Eia alone at SB so she could focus on her work and I could explore the area a bit more. I really wanted to spend some time at the beach so I crossed and went to the beach area. Oh, how I love the beach, the cool breeze, the sound of the waves, I love everything about those little sweet moments to be one with nature. ♥♥♥

Photos with the Pyeongchang 2018 Olympics’ mascot. 🙂

Victorious or not-so?

Remember the travel challenge I took upon myself for this trip? Well, the challenges are to stay within the budget (a total of Php30,000 or around USD580) and to travel light.

This was taken a week before the trip when I haven’t packed my clothes because I didn’t want them to crumple or wrinkle too much. On the day of the trip, I decided to leave that small leather bag on the lower right corner, and opted to use just one day bag all throughout the trip, a roomier bag, my red Girbaud bag, which can accommodate my passport, wallet, cellphone, pen, umbrella, parka, ecobag, a small bottle of water, tissue pack, comb, mirror, lippies, hand sanitizer and a few more knickknacks. ;p

Here’s on the day of the trip, I only used my small luggage and just my red bag.

On the day of our return to Manila, I only had to use one additional foldable overnight bag, so in terms of travelling light – I am victorious, yey!!! 😀

For the other challenge, the target was to only spend a total of Php30,000. After doing my accounting, I spent a total of Php35,198.90. I exceeded Php5k plus, but Php5,483.25 was spent on pasalubong (small treats for family and friends). The excess was a sweet one because it’s for my loved ones. 😉 So I think, I am also victorious on this challenge, you agree, right? 😉

Sweet memories

In this short trip, more sweet memories were created amongst the three of us. Gillian and Eia are my friends for more than a decade already, our friendship is becoming sweeter and sweeter as time goes by. I love these ladies so much, truly grateful for them. I hope and pray to create more happy memories with them, here and just anywhere around the globe. 🙂