Up close and personal with South Africa, via a bespoke tour for someone else. And are you coming along on a Travelife to South Africa with us this November?

Last night I skipped a function and deliberately stayed home to finish a bespoke luxury trip to South Africa that I'm helping a reader arrange for her family.

In a way, it's quite fun to do as she left all the decision-making to me.

She seems to have a pretty wide berth as far as budgets are concerned, and she wanted best-of-breed experiences.

One of my favorite hotels in a never-endingly eventful Travelife...

So I could book the experiences, hotels and restaurants I wanted.

What a fun time I had, planning a Travelife for someone else, but in a way I would do for myself.

Scroll down to read more...

MY OWN SHORTLIST

I booked a lot of the hotels, restaurants and wineries I'd used on my own trip to South Africa last year, as I'd shortlisted those already for my own private holiday. 

So I knew these were good.

The perfect pannacotta at one of South Africa's best restaurants.
And among the best restaurants in the world.

So basically, I was planning my own holiday in South Africa all over again.

We'd picked all the best restaurants in South Africa for our trip, give or take a few, and so I'd booked this lady as well for these same world-class places.

FOLLOWING FOOTSTEPS

At La Colombe in South Africa

She and her family are eating in almost every restaurant we went to in South Africa, beginning from Day 1 to the last day of our two-week holiday.

It was enjoyable to remember this trip all over again.

How can you possibly not, when you're looking at the same photos and even the same routes?

ONLY THE BEST

This room was called the Armani Suite...

So I'm even writing down the exact room numbers of the nicer rooms in each of the hotels we stayed in, so they know which to ask for.

I'd done the same with the food.

At some restaurants, I know exactly what to order.

So on her itinerary, I'd placed little notes like: "The mussels in lemon grass and coriander are very good here," or "Don't miss the sticky buns at breakfast."

I almost wanted to add: "Bring some home for me, please."

Of course, this is almost impossible, although I do remember that we snuck a couple out from the breakfast table at one hotel and held on to our supply of sticky buns in South Africa for four whole days.

We finally ate these for breakfast on our way to the airport for a series of flights back home on the last day of our trip to South Africa.

The antique desk in one of my favorite hotels
on my South African holiday last year...

GOT TO GET MORE ROOIBOS TEA

But I will ask her to bring back some organic loose rooibos tea for me -- just in case my supply doesn't hold out until my next trip.

Fortunately, my next trip to South Africa may be sooner rather than later.

All this planning for a dream trip to South Africa part 2  -- a trip I would've planned for myself, and that I've literally slaved on for a couple of days now. for someone else -- has been great.

But last night I also realized I'm not going on it.

TRAVELIFE TO SOUTH AFRICA...

HERE WE COME...

I must admit it's a bittersweet feeling to get so up close and personal with South Africa again, and at the same time, not to be able to re-experience it myself.

So I'm now thinking of organizing a group together for a trip to this country I've grown to like a lot.

Come up Table Mountain with us, for a most amazing view....

It won't be too over the top, so more people can join us, but it'll definitely be a pretty nice Travelife kind of trip for about 10 days.

Call Meg or Kat at Travelife Magazine, if you wish to get on our mailing list for South Africa, tentatively set for the middle of November. This was the exact time we went last year and the weather was perfect.

Meg or Kat at Travelife Magazine

Tel 8138400/ 8922620 (office hours)

travelife@travelife.biz

In fact, come to think of it, almost everything about it was seamless and perfect in a so very never-endingly eventful Travelife way.

TRAVELIFE MAGAZINE on Facebook

Starting kids early on a Travelife and art

Travel and art are both great assets to any child.

Several weeks ago, I came across this wonderful summer activity for children that seemed perfectly suited to starting them early on a never-endingly eventful Travelife.

It was a summer art camp with a theme of a different country per session.

Talk about an early start to a Travelife here.

POSSIBLE JUNE-JULY SCHEDULE

FOR INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS

The organizers are also considering conducting this same art workshop in June and July for children studying in international schools.

However, they are only organizing this if a minimum number of enrollees is reached, so please reserve early if you are interested in the art workshops geared specifically towards the international school summer holidays.

"AROUND THE WORLD" SUMMER ART CAMP

This 10-day journey took children’s creativity soaring high while they also experienced great fun and were able to learn about the world.

They experimented with different art styles while focusing on a particular country in each session. Yesterday I saw some of their art works, and they're truly impressive.

The following artworks were created by a four-year-old.

One KIDZART session had RUSSIA as the theme.

One KIDZART session had AFRICA as the theme.

One KIDZART session had BRAZIL as the theme.

One KIDZART session had EGYPT as the theme.

CONTACT DETAILS

***

KIDZART SHAW MANDALUYONG BRANCH 

3F 500 Shaw Zentrum

500 Shaw Blvd., Mandaluyong  

Tel. 9259950 / 09178559644

*** 

KIDZART BGC TAGUIG BRANCH

Mezzanine Level

9th Ave. School

Active Fun Bldg.

9th Ave. cor 28th Street, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig 

Tel. 9259950 / 09277401394

info@kidzartphilippines

*** 

KIDZART VALLE VERDE, PASIG BRANCH

22 Cauliflower St. 

Valle Verde 5 Club House, Pasig City 

Tel. 3303484 / 09273607936

info@kidzartphilippines

***

 KIDZART TIMOG, QUEZON CITY BRANCH

414 Cedan Executive Bldg. 

Timog Ave. Cor. Tobias Street, Quezon City 

Tel. 3599560 / 09178195832

info@kidzartphilippines

ABOUT KIDZART 

Kidzart Philippines also has different programs offered throughout the year which includes classes in drawing, painting, fashion design, clay modeling and anime.

Founded in 1998, KidzArt is an international art enrichment franchise company that helps students of all ages explore their inner artistic potential.

Through classes, camps, workshops, school assemblies and birthday parties, KidzArt offers a diverse, multi-cultural, multi-media drawing and fine arts curriculum designed to inspire students throughout the world.

A "NO MISTAKES" PHILOSOPHY

KidzArt's "no mistakes" philosophy encourages children to try new things, explore their creativity and overcome their inhibitions or obstacles in order to grow and learn.

IMAGINE KIDZART STUDIO (KidzArt Philippines) is the Philippines’ franchise of KidzArt USA.

Driven by the same vision and philosophy, KidzArt Philippines aims to bring the same inspiration and love for art to the Filipino children through the proven KidzArt methodology and curriculum.

www.kidzartphilippines.com 

TRAVELIFE MAGAZINE on Facebook

Good Ilocano food at Victorino's in Quezon City

On Sunday night, in Manila living a Travelife, my cousin invited me to dinner.

So I met her at her home in Makati and rode with her and her sons across town to Quezon City to try a new restaurant called Victorino's that served delicious Ilocano food.

The minute we rolled up the driveway, my nephews exclaimed: "It looks like a house."

Scroll down to read more...

AN OLD-FASHIONED LIFE

It certainly did.

In fact, it had an uncanny resemblance to the beautiful houses in Pasay that I'd written about in this blog a few weeks ago.

This house had nice antiques, an old-fashioned atmosphere and colorful floor tiles -- just like those Pasay houses.

NEW THAT LOOKS LIKE OLD

Interestingly, the tiles of Victorino's are actually new.

They were made for this house, but they certainly looked old and worn-out -- which is exactly how you want them to look in a house like this.

I'd left the choice of restaurant to her and in the afternoon, she'd texted that she'd booked this Ilocano restaurant.

I immediately said okay. Everything I've had from Ilocos, so far, has been delicious and absolutely fattening.

The menu is quite eclectic, actually, as it also contained sandwiches and pastas. But we stuck to the Ilocano menu as the owners are true blue Ilocanos who know their food.

AN ILOCANO DELI

In fact, there's even an Ilocano deli by the cashier, where you can pick up all kinds of delicious Ilocos goodies like vegetable fritters, chorizo and bagnet in vaccum-sealed bags, and Ilocos vinegar.

CAKES FROM HENY SISON

In addition, Heny Sison has made all the cakes and sweet things.

On display, they had an old-fashioned chocolate cake, a red velvet cake, a mango cheesecake, and super sweet and terribly sinful caramelized yemas.

We had those yemas for part 1 of dessert, by the way, and they were so good. However, I think I got a sugar shock from it.

REAL COMFORT FOOD

For the meal itself, we ordered the seaweed salad, kare-kare (my request), crispy catfish, pako salad, and crispy tadyang.

To start, we also had a chorizo platter which had chorizo from Batac, Vigan and Cagayan.

Everything was good, but I especially liked the chorizo from Batac and the seaweed salad.

The crispy tadyang was also a revelation because it looked so dry and overcooked when it was served to us, that I initially refused to taste it.

My cousin said: "You just need some vinegar to soften it up."

True enough, I doused it with vinegar and it became soft and wonderful.

It was a delicious revelation in an enjoyable evening in my never-ending, and never-endingly eventful Travelife.

TRAVELIFE MAGAZINE on Facebook