HIGH: "Let's meet in Hong Kong to do our audition video? It will be fun! Even if we don't make it, we will at least have Disneyland!"

LOW: "We went to the trouble of meeting here in HK to do this. The race always casts celebrities for Philippine teams. We won't stand a chance!"

HIGH: Got a callback less than 12 hours after submitting the audition video. "%*@^&#(#^$o!!! Do we really have a chance??"

LOW: They haven't responded. "Did we get cut?"

HIGH: "OMG we got an interview with the casting producer!!!"

LOW: It was a requirement to be together while doing it. I'm in Singapore, Tonix was in Europe.

HIGH: "YOU KNOW WHAT? LET'S MEET HALFWAY! I'LL BOOK A WEEKEND FLIGHT TO ISTANBUL!"

LOW: "Tonix, I couldn't get on my flight. *crying like a baby in Changi Airport*"

HIGH: "Oh wow, they'd interview us apart! They must have liked our profile!"

LOW: "I feel like we bombed that interview."

HIGH: "No, we didn't. I think it went well!"

LOW: "Are we not interesting enough? Are we not ~*internet famous*~ enough? Maybe we should have used the littlest of TV air time we have under our belts." (Tonix and I were both on AXN's Cash Cab Philippines. Here's a behind the scene story.)

HIGH: Former racer saying, "WOW! YOU GOT THAT FAR??? There's still time. Maybe there's still a chance."

No, we didn't get in the show. But we enjoyed the heck out of creating the audition video, and sige na nga, the overall rollercoaster ride of emotions felt... amazing. *winks*

Without further adieu, here is our audition video for The Amazing Race Asia Season 5. Up to this day, we still smile rewatching this, and we hope to get a few smiles from you too!



Key takeaway from this experience: "Damn, bakit kasi hindi tayo artista?" (Haha joke lang! We love our life!)

PHUKET, THAILAND-- Before May 2016, this is what Surin Beach looked like. As per what I heard from the locals and patrons of this beach, it painted me a picture of a beachfront that's similar to Boracay, where the hippest bars, restaurants, and clubs are lined up along the shoreline. Take your pick, choose where you want to spend your hard-earned cash for expensive food and cocktails.

How To Get There
Like my recent trip to Bangkok, I never got to learn how to commute in public vehicles such as buses or their version of jeepneys/multicabs. Partly because I couldn't find one that plies the same route, but mostly because of the convenience that Uber/Grab brings. Of course, you can always take a taxi too, but it will be priced a little bit more.

Surin Beach is located at the western part of Phuket, and conveniently in the middle of hotel clusters along the beach. The main highway you'll go through is the 4025. Just enter "Surin Beach" on your app, or tell the taxi driver and he would know. Coming from the east coast and at a 19-km ride, the fare was around 300 Baht.    

(Note: Uber was discontinued in Phuket. Use Grab instead.)

When I got there, the picture in my head was such a huge contrast to what I saw. There were no rooted buildings, no loud electronic music, and no fancy restaurants. It wasn't Boracay-like at all. It was Nacpan beach, but with a lot more people who are just there to bask under the sun.


Straight from the paved road onto the sand, I saw a couple getting their prenuptial photoshoot at the far left, some surfers catching the waves, and ladies getting their massage on makeshift massage mats for cheap. (Well, relatively cheap that is. Phuket is expensive!) Right away, I got approached by a local named Om. He offered to rent out one of his beach mats at 100 Baht for the whole day. He also held a cardboard with reasonably priced beverages written on it. With a good English he said, "I'll be walking around here. If you need a drink, please buy from me."

Om saying that was like a trigger. He then continued to tell the story of how he and a lot more people, who were once employed as staff for the now defunct establishments, now don't have jobs. And although the beach is considerably much more beautiful now, he's very concerned about how he'll feed his family of four. The guy has two kids to think about. He then explained that the Thai government wanted to return the beach to its original, virgin state, and there was nothing they could do. The establishments, including the popular Catch Beach Club, were all torn down on the last two weeks of April 2016.


As much as I empathized with him, walking on that beach even with the glaring sun was very therapeutic. It was nice hearing just the sound of the waves, and people, mostly kids, laughing as they played in the water. If you'll ask me to choose, I'd pick an undeveloped beach over a party beach any time.

One important thing to remember would be to BYOB (Bring Your Own Baon). There won't be any restaurants, but there will be mobile stores and people peddling drinks. Since I didn't come prepared, I had to be creative with my nourishment for the day. I eventually bought a total of two coconuts and one local beer from Om, bought a corn from a BBQ stand at the roadside, and lucked out on a chicken noodle soup cart. Weird food combination for the beach, but I really couldn't be choosy at that point.

Food Expenses
Coconut x 2                 = 120
Beer x 1                        = 70
Grilled Corn x 1           = 20
Chicken Noodle Soup = 50          
                                       260 Baht

Depending on how you see it, the food situation there would be something you'd either be pissed off, or be glad about. I choose the latter. (Plus again, 260 Baht for lunch and snacks is already relatively cheap for Phuket.)

If you haven't tried using Skyscanner to search for cheap flights, let me just say this one thing to you-- *How dare you?!
*The Office inside joke :p
Skyscanner was first introduced to me in 2013 by my friend, Sheng, who travels frequently. It was 2AM; we were at the McDonalds near Clarke Quay. (I was in SG for the holidays!) She gave me good advice on how to travel the way she does-- with checking for cheap fares to anywhere in the world as the first step. Starting that point on, this app has become a staple on my phone and I have always booked the cheapest flights with its help.

This tip, or as the millennials say, lifehack, was actually inspired by the logic behind Skiplagged, a competitor flight searching app. I first read about it last year, and at the time, the flights were mainly catering to USA skip-connections. To try to explain it simply, this app was taking advantage of the cheaper fares if you only ride from Point A to Point B, instead of using Point B as a layover to go to Point C. Now, why didn't I just search from Skiplagged then? Where does Skyscanner fit in?

Here's a more concrete example

Originating: Singapore
Destination: Phuket, Thailand

There's a long vacation next weekend, thus every flight search result is more expensive than usual.

Screenshots of round trip fare results from Skyscanner app

Flights from Skyscanner were priced a bit below S$350. There is one that's only S$280 but the timing would make me have to apply for an extra vacation day so that was automatically not an option.

Screenshots of round trip fare results using Skiplagged app

As good as the logic behind Skiplagged is, during my fare search, the prices were still priced higher than the fares offered by the results in Skyscanner. Take note as well of the duration, ranging from a 2-hr flight to a 25-hr flight, with layover in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Now, making a layover even on a short distance would have been okay with me if it means I can save money, but even with the skip-connections over KL, it would still be cheaper to avail of any fares offered by the Skyscanner search result.

Creative Skyscanner Search
Now we go to the purpose of this post, where I show you how a flight route that Skiplagged wanted me to do at S$473 for a return flight with a layover.

Flight 1: Singapore to Phuket - S$117.33

I got so excited booking this flight, that I actually forgot to screenshot the search result. Instead, here's a peek of the itinerary I have received after booking. Scored a relatively cheap one way direct flight for S$117.33, the cheapest outbound flight from Singapore during date of searching for fares.


Flight 2: Phuket to Kuala Lumpur - S$54

For the return flight, I searched a one way flight to Kuala Lumpur. It won't be a holiday in Malaysia to I was guessing the the fares would be cheaper. And ir was. With the lowest priced at S$54, I booked a night flight out of Phuket and onto KL.

Flight 3: Kuala Lumpur to Singapore - S$59.67

For the next leg, I took the fare priced at S$59.67. There was a cheaper option but this one will get me enough sleep at KL and get me to Singapore in time for work.



From the original round trip flight of S$320-350 from Skyscanner and S$473 from Skiplagged, the total cost of the fares from 3 flights was significantly lower.

GRAND TOTAL: S$ 231 

I documented the screenshots while booking all these flights on my battery-drained phone. Got too excited with the savings, so much, that I thought it would be worth making a post about. In hindsight, it is still an expense. Saying I was able to save is bullshit. But this is an expense I wanted to make, so keribels.

To be on the responsible side of ~*blogging*~, the best tip I can give is to plan ahead and book your flights earlier. It will save you a lot more cash. Make it secondary, knowing that an app can help you decide which flight to take based on prices and airline options. More often than not, it will help if you know you have a choice.

Visit Skyscanner.com to start your search!

On that note... OMG I'm going to Phuket this weekend! I am excited! #firsts