Romi Garduce is on his way to Indonesia to continue his quest of becoming the first Filipino to reach the 7 Summits – seven highest mountains in the seven continents.

Garduce, who became popular in 2006 when he reached the summit of Mt. Everest, continues his quest by climbing  4,884-meter Carstenz Pyramid in Indonesia. He is two summits behind before reaching the “7 Summits” record in mountaineering.

Here are the six summits that Romi Garduce has successfully climbed:

By December, Garduce will finish his record of reaching the 7 Summits by attempting to climb Vinson Massif, a 4,892-meter mountain situated at the Antarctic Peninsula in harsh below zero temperature.

You might be confused because there are 8 summits mentioned and actually 6 geographical continents on the earth. Yes there are 8 summits and 6 geographical continents. But why 6 continents only all we know is that we have 7 continents. Geographically speaking, Europe is just a peninsula of Eurasia continental platform and is not a geographical continent. The six geographic continents are: Africa, Antarctica, Australia, Eurasia, South America and North America. However, Europe is considered continent on a political perspective.

Why 8 peaks are listed above and not seven? We will better understand it by reading the History of 7 Summits Project.

For the meantime, while waiting for the update on Garduce’s quest, let’s take a look on the faces of Carstenz Pyramid (photo by JahodaPetr.com)

Carstensz Pyramid – Snow face

Carstensz Pyramid – Ice face

Carstensz Pyramid – Sun rise face

Carstensz Pyramid – Night face

Do you see yourself as a person who is always on the go? A person who can’t live a year without going out of town or out of the country? Or you consider vacation as a need not luxury? Perhaps, you’re starting to make your dream come true that every year you must be able to take a vacation, either local or international.

But you have the these considerations in your mind: your dream vacation, first of all, may be expensive, especially when you’re going out of the country; there might be hassles in booking for hotel, plane, resorts, etc.; don’t have idea where to go or simply the itinerary. And there’s a lot more running on your mind.

But what do you really want for your vacation? Of course, you will answer me, it must not be very expensive (or should be cheap but best), booking procedures on hotels, plane and resort must go smooth, traveling agency representative must have adequate knowledge about your planned vacation or trip.

Worry no more! Because Holiday Systems International (HSI) is here to give you the best vacation that you ever dreamed of. HSI is a leader in both vacation ownership service industry and travel services industry. HSI aims to give value to the vacation needs of all its clients.

When it comes to your vacation, HSI will help you from planning to accommodation to going back home. It’s a complete package, indeed. Nothing to worry with your dream vacation and you only have to do is to sit back and relax. Anyway, that’s the real essence of vacation, isn’t it?

For you to enjoy the services of HSI, you need to become their member first.

If you want to learn more about HSI, follow Holiday Systems Twitter. Enjoy your dream vacation with no hassle at all. Contact HSI now.

A study shows that a working man, whether be in office or in field, should spend a week or two of vacation to remove the toxins of stress from the body. The vacation should be a full-vacation. What I meant is that during those times, you should not be thinking anything about your work but set your mind 100% to your vacation. Another study shows that vacations are no longer a luxury, they are a necessity.

But what if the planning and execution of your vacation becomes stressful? Would you be able to enjoy it? Of course not! One stressful event before and during the vacation is choosing the place to stay with and the booking procedures that you need to do in the airport, hotels, restaurants, etc..

To avoid these stressful events before, during and, perhaps, even after your vacation, there’s a group or a club that helps its members enjoy their dream vacation. As in they provide nothing-to-worry-on-your-vacation services or support. The name of the group is Global Exchange Vacation Club. This organizations aims to give its members a stress-free vacation so the the latter’s family may be able to concentrate on building memories.

Being a member of Global Exchange Vacation, you can enjoy benefits not only hotel or accommodation reservation but also they can plan your trip or your entire vacation.

Let’s try to evaluate why becoming a member of Global Exchange Vacation is a plus by thinking of the following:

• We deserve quality vacations every year.
• We deserve more value for our vacation money.
• You don’t want to spend a lot of money and you wish to pay one fixed price for your travel including a luxurious accommodations.
• Ownership is better for your than renting.
• You want to achieve your dream vacations without hindering the other things in your live.

If your evaluation above is positive, then, I encourage you to join Global Exchange Vacation.

I got this idea of posting this blog from my former college classmate, currently working in Dubai, who made her post in her Facebook wall. Apparently, she’s in the middle of deciding where to spend her vacation. She mentioned four places in United Arab Emirates (UAE) and I presume these places are four of the best places to visit in the said country.

These four best UAE destinations are:

1. Aquaventure (Atlantis, The Palm)“The most popular water park in Dubai.”
2. Ferrari World Abu Dhabi “World’s largest indoor theme park.”
3. Dreamland Aqua Park “An oasis of palm trees and green turf in the desert of the Arabian Peninsula.”
4. Le Méridien Al Aqah Beach Resort “A paradise on the east coast of United Arab Emirates.”

So if you’re planning to visit United Arab Emirates, you may try one of the mentioned best destinations there.

Sprawling over 1,030 square meters on level 22 of the world’s tallest building, Burj Khalifa, at a height of over 442 meters and two levels below “at the top-Burj Khalifa” the tower’s observatory deck.  This is how you describe At.Mosphere, the world’s highest restaurant opened last Sunday in Dubai.

Burj Khalifa

When you visit the website of Atmosphere, you’ll see it’s not yet done, so you better frequent this site to see what’s on the way of this highest restaurant.

Philippines has been tagged as 6th best value destination for this year by the Lonely Planet.  This means you can visit our beloved country without breaking your bank.

Here are the Lonely Planet’s top 10 best value destinations for 2o11:

1. Bangladesh
2. Nicaragua
3. Washington, DC
4. Paris
5. Namibia

6. Philippines

7. Argentina
8. Naples
9. Ukraine
10. Syria

Before I post any thing about our stay in Sto. Domingo, Ilocos Sur, I would like to make a short and quick post about our come back here in Manila.

We left Sto. Domingo last night at 9PM and we rode in a Partas’ Deluxe Bus.  I guess this was my first time to ride in a Partas deluxe bus.  I enjoyed the comfort of the seats as they’re big and you gives you a feeling that you’re riding in a plane.  During the first three hours, the travel is smooth sailing not until we reached Sto. Tomas, La Union.  We stopped there and didn’t notice that we’re stucked for more or less an hour- we didn’t mind because we were sleeping that time.  And then I heard our driver speaking with someone on the phone and he said that he needed a mechanic because one of the engine part had blown up and needed repair.  So our conductor announced that we need to transfer to another bus.  ”Ok”, I said but some of our co-passengers were angry and blaming our driver and conductor that they should’ve checked the bus’s condition before traveling.  Some even get furious when they learned that they were being transferred to non-deluxe bus or regular air-conditioned bus only.  Some demanded for a refund.  We also asked for refund but opted not to insist when the conductor said that there would be no more.

For us, there’s no big deal of what we experienced with Partas today.  But we hope that Partas should be more cautious and ensure to check up the condition of the bus before traveling.  Also, we hope, next time, that a refund should be given to passengers who were transferred to lower class (from deluxe to regular aircon, for instance) in cases like this.