I hope you all had a fab weekend with your families and loved ones. Just last September 29th I was invited to attend a blogger's event here in Cebu about Thyroid Disorder Awareness.


At first, I was kind of hesitant to sign up since it's on a friday and I am taking care of Ami. But you know me, when there are events like this, I always try my best to sign up and cross my fingers that I could attend. And there I was, at Radissons and braving my ass off despite the 6pm event time.

Although I arrived late, I was glad the talk hasn't started yet and I found myself sitting with my co- women bloggers from Cebu. I was excited and eager to learn from the talk. Dr. Chrysanthus Herrera, Medical Science and Governement Affairs Manager of Merck, Inc. gave the opening remarks. 

Millions of Filipinos are affected by problems with their thyroid, yet very little awareness to the disease has been put. To raise awareness about this disease, Merck Inc. sponsored this event. 

Dr. April Melody Abcede, of the Philippine Society of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism gave an informative talk on what the thyroid is, as well as the symptoms of thyroid disease.

I felt so busy lately at home that I only get to sport a homey vibe kinda look. There are a lot of things I miss for sure since being a stay-at-home mom. Seeing all of my friends online having the time of their lives while travelling makes me want to join the trend.

Okay, I admit I am not really a busy "traveller." In fact, I only got to ride in an airplane once and never rode any boat (except for the small ferry boat that we rode going to and from an island close beside Cebu, Lapu-Lapu City).

Back in the days, I would think that going on a travel is scary. Going in a new place, packing my stuff, booking flights, and searching for hotels took a toll on me that I realized maybe next time. Maybe next time. Until that next time never came. 

I have always had travel bucket lists up on my planner for days. When I became a mom, the desire to travel and go places haunts me now more than ever. I want to travel or, make that - need to travel. 😀 When I finally get my passport, of course, which are in the plans.

I want to take my kids with me to places like Disneyland. Singapore and Japan are also among the places we are planning to visit. Fingers crossed. In God's perfect time.

I have always wanted to travel through an online travel agency but can't find the time to do so. And many of my blogger friends tell me its expensive or cost more if we book through the travel agency. And now I can  because I have with me Traveloka!

TRAVELOKA is an online travel agency. Which is cooler since I can search for flights and hotels from home.

Thanks to technology, travelling has been made easier. I don't need to go through all the hassle of searching for cheaper flights and hotel deals online. That's really great right? Most especially if you are a busy mom like me.

What I love about Traveloka is that you can download and install the app on your phone for free. You can download the app in Google Play Store for Android and App Store. I have installed the app and now I can easily access hotel and plane ticket deals.  Hurray !!! Here's how it looked like on my phone.

I love the feel, its very user-friendly and also like that they have a price alert feature so you can easily get notified when the fare changes. How cool is that?



For now, let me sort back my bucket list. Time to save up because on to the next destination I go!

How about you? Have you tried using Traveloka, too?

I would love to know! Share your experience in the comments section below.



                                     -xx-

The question still remains, how do I become a successful blogger? What will set my blog apart from the rest of the blogs? Is it the pictures that I am taking? Maybe. Is it the frequency of my posts? Maybe. My Popularity on social media? Maybe. I mean there are a lot of doubts and questions that really bother me when I started blogging. 

When I started blogging around 2009, I only blogged to rant. I blogged to document my joys. I blogged because I want to share something out of my personal experiences.

Being a blogger requires hard work, persistence to push ourselves, and believing in ourselves no matter what. Whether no one cares to read our post to whether I feel like sharing this story or not.

The key to successful blogging are these things (for me) :

SELF - CONFIDENCE. Yes! Believe in yourself. For me, blogging is an art. And Creativity takes courage. Develop that skill and continue to believe that you can do it. You can be a successful blogger.

CONSISTENCY. Post as much as frequently as possible. Readers will read blogs which are always updated. That is what keeps them coming. You can start by making blog series. I got this idea from other bloggers too. And really that is quite effective. The key here is to find blog series topics which are engaging and somewhat intriguing so you readers will keep on coming and provide that sense of excitement to come back.

PERSISTENCE. When I was starting out, I had zero followers. No one reads my post and my lay-out was bad. The key to this is to be persistent in visiting other bloggers webpages, giving sincere comments after reading their blog posts and putting your blog link. Asking for a follow was not bad as long as you maintain a healthy relationship with your blogger friends. This way your following will grow eventually and people will visit and read your blog. The tools I used before was the Google Friend Connect since they automatically adds our blog feeds to the person's blogger dashboard. That way fellow bloggers are updated of our posts. And may actually catch their attention to read our posts. Simple as that.

FINDING WAYS TO IMPROVE. Never settle. Always find ways to improve. Seek help from the internet on how to improve. Before my blog lay-out was very bad and I had no idea about HTML and editing my blog skins. Through the years, I have developed that skill. And i loved changing my layouts on my own. The key to blog layouts though is not to overdo it. Use only widgets which you think are useful and helpful for your blog. A mistake I have learnt over years in blogging.

CONNECT WITH OTHER BLOGGERS. As I have already mentioned, blogging would be boring if you blog alone. You need a community where you can grow. Start by joining or continue building a community of like minded bloggers. One is joining facebook groups and posting or sharing relevant blog posts or even your own blog posts.

SHARING USEFUL INFORMATION. Sharing is caring as everyone says. So share your content. Remember to share only information that will somehow be relevant to your readers. Share. Share. and Share. Timing is also relevant especially with the social media platforms nowadays. Schedule sharing optimally to make sure you catch the right individuals at the same time.

HONESTY. As much as possible be honest. You can never go wrong with this. Build an online reputation where your readers, advertisers and the like will trust.

TAKE GOOD PICTURES. And last but not the least take good pictures. Make an effort to provide your readers the visual learning as they say. Reading long blog posts can be boring so use engaging and great photos with your posts and your blog will go a long way!

Hope you learned some helpful tips as you go along with your blog. Blog about the things you love and love what you do and the rest will come along. Good Luck!