Tampilkan postingan dengan label Rakso Travel. Tampilkan semua postingan
Tampilkan postingan dengan label Rakso Travel. Tampilkan semua postingan

Day 7 of Rakso Travel's Priceless Europe Tour


Apologies for the shameless mirror selfie. :p That's me inside our comfort room (yes,  at Leonardo Hotel Heidelberg-Walldorf. We're halfway done with the tour and my whole body is feeling the exhaustion from all the walking, sitting (inside the bus) and waking up early to move to our next destination.

Day 7 has got to be the busiest day of our tour which covers a visit to Rhine Falls (Switzerland), Titisee, Stuttgart and Heidelberg in Germany. We left Hotel Swiss Star around 8:30AM and arrived an hour later at the Rhine.


The Rhine Falls (Rheinfall in German) is the largest plain waterfall in Europe.

The 150m wide and 23m high (I expected something higher though) waterfall is located near the village of Neuhausen in Northern Switzerland. Entrance is free by the way so you can just come here and enjoy the view of the falls. If you have time and you're feeling a little adventurous then you may rent a canoe to get to the falls. Parang ang struggle pumunta don with the strong current no? Hehe.


An hour and a half later we finally arrived in Titisee, Germany.

Titisee-Neustadt is one of the famous regions in Germany with the view of lake Titisee and parts of the Black Forest. Titisee is famous for their cuckoo clocks and obviously the black forest cake. The cake is named not directly after the Black Forest (Schwarzwald) mountain range in southwestern Germany but rather from the specialty liquor of that region, known as Schwarzwälder Kirsch(wasser) and distilled from tart cherries. This is the ingredient, with its distinctive cherry pit flavor and alcoholic content, that gives the cake its flavor. ;)


I missed the cuckoo clock demonstration but was able to check out souvenir shops selling them. A German cuckoo clock costs around €250-300.


2 hours later we arrived in Stuttgart, Germany. This is the Königsbau-Passagen shopping mall, a Classicist building built in the mid 19th century.


We came here to visit the Mercedez-Benz and Porsche museums. Sadly they were closed that day.. and no one from both tour agencies in PH and Europe even bothered checking the schedule. :( Imagine mo yun? Traffic was so bad tapos pagdating close pala yung musem every monday? Tsk.


We ended up visiting the showroom instead. Lol.

What a waste of our previous time. Take Note: All museums in Stuttgart are closed every Monday! Instead of checking out Porsche, the group decided to just go back to our bus and proceed to our hotel in Heidelberg.


2.5 hours later we finally arrived at Leonardo Hotel Heidelberg-Walldorf.


This is by far the biggest hotel room we've stayed at during our tour. This room could accommodate 4 pax plus more if you'll get an extra bed. The overnight rate for Leonardo Hotel costs around €75 per night with breakfast.


This is also probably the oldest because it looks old and smells old too. Hehe.


Going back, the bathroom is clean and spacious too.

Despite looking like an old hotel, it was the best when it comes to serving food. We were so tired from the road trip and getting a steak for dinner was truly unexpected. Sorry if I forgot to take photos, I was too pissed by the fact that we wasted our time in Stuttgart and not in the mood to take photos of our beautiful dinner. LOL. Bumawi naman ako for breakfast. ;)

 

Nothing beats having bacon and eggs for breakfast. May bonus pang ham, roast beef and smoked salmon. Yummmm! ;)

 
Of course they also have a salad and cereal bar. :)


Let me tell you a secret. My friends from work love drinking hot tea (para kaming mga Titas of Manila) so every time we have breakfast I'd steal tea bags from the hotel and gave it to my friends as pasalubong. Hehehe.

Rakso Travel Experience


I just got back from an exhausting trip to Europe and as much as I'd like to blog about it may I just share first my experience of traveling with Rakso Travel? ;)


It all started with the annual Travel Tour Expo back in February 2015 when my mother decided to book me and my sister a trip to Europe with Rakso Travel.

My first encounter with Rakso Travel was back in September 2014 when I met a group of Koreans on a sponsored trip to Batanes by the Department of Tourism. I'm not exactly familiar with travel agencies because I'm more of a DIY traveler. If I ever mention other agencies then it would probably be related to processing visa applications, etc.

Fast forward to 2015, Mama suddenly paid the $500/pax deposit needed to join a European group tour. Bilis noh? Lucky me, lucky us. LOL. Thank you once again to my parents for spoiling us with this trip. This is a once in a lifetime experience so my sister and I are #BLESSED indeed.

Here's a sample copy of the tour we signed up for. Please take note that this is an old file from 2014, rates are different but itinerary remains the same.


For a bigger and clearer copy, click here.

The tour is obviously packed and loaded with sights but believe it or not we still missed some of them due to poor coordination and lack of communication between the local travel coordinator from Rakso and their European counterparts. Here are the pros and cons of our trip:


The tour costs around ₱180,000 per pax exclusive of the mandatory tip for drivers (€1.50/day) and tour guides (€2.50/day). The question is, did we get our money's worth? I think so? There may be hullabaloohs during our trip but the most important would be that we got home safe and sound. ;)


Here's a group photo after our Mt. Titlis tour in Engelberg, Switzerland.

How to Apply for Schengen Tourist Visa for Filipinos (1)

Thank you to the Embassy of Switzerland for the expedite processing of my Schengen tourist visa.

Who's traveling outside of Asia real soon? I AM! But with my sister this time around, chaperone lang ang peg. :) Remember the annual Travel Tour Expo held in SMX last February 2015? My mother went to the said event and she decided to get my sister a debut and graduation gift in a form of a travel package.



The Priceless Europe package is from Rakso Travel, click here for complete details.

Before paying the full amount for the tour package, we needed to apply for visa first. When going to Europe, travelers from the Philippines are required to obtain a Schengen visa to enter one of its member countries. You may apply at least 3 months before the planned trip.

As I've read in other blogs, it is suggested that you apply at the country of first entry. Based on our group itinerary, we are entering Europe via Italy. But our Rakso travel agent suggested and insisted that we submit applications at the Embassy of Switzerland because it is easier to book an appointment there compared to the Italian Embassy.

By the way, prior our application, I already had travel plans for Japan from March 9-20, 2015. At first I was quite hesitant to submit my passport, feeling ko kasi hindi siya lalabas in time for my flight but all went well naman after I submitted my papers together with a letter requesting for expedite processing and attached my roundtrip tickets as proof that I needed my passport on or before March 8, 2015.

Before compiling documents, make sure you sign up and make an appointment with TLScontact. TLScontact is the authorized tourist visa application center of the Embassy of Switzerland in Manila. They're located at Unit 7B New Solid Building, 357 Sen. Gil J Puyat Avenue Makati City, Philippines. After registration you need to compile the following documents in the order as they appear below:

  1. Visa application form, print in A4-sized paper, download here.
  2. Two recent passport-sized pictures; 3.5x4cm, must have collar and white background.
  3. Passport
  4. Photocopy of the passport which includes biographical and important reminders page and ALL the additional pages which contains visas and stamps (valid and expired).
  5. Old Passport
  6. Photocopy of the OLD passport which includes biographical and important reminders page and ALL the additional pages which contains visas and stamps.
  7. Travel Insurance - International travel insurance must have a coverage of at least €30,000 / $50,000 / ₱2.5M and must be valid for the entire duration of the intended stay including entry and exit from any Schengen countries. Click here for a list of accredited local insurance companies in the Philippines.
  8. Copy of roundtrip flight ticket reservation -- OPTIONAL
  9. Copy of accommodation/hotel reservation -- OPTIONAL
  10. Travel itinerary -- Travel Tip: Embassy of Switzerland strictly follows the itinerary provided so some of you might have noticed that our visa is valid only for 13 days. We were hoping to extend for 2-3 days but since itinerary was provided by travel agency, we had no choice but to stick with the group 'til the end of our trip. As per travel agency, we have an option to extend but we should've informed them in advanced so that they can fix our itinerary.
  11. Income Tax Return - BIR Form 2316 (employed) and 1702 (self-employed)
  12. Affidavit of Support -- For sponsored trips. In my case, sponsored by our generous parents. Thanks Mama and Papa. ♥♥♥
  13. Bank statements or certificates addressed to the Embassy of Switzerland (see sample of my certificate below)
  14. Bank Passbook -- They will not get your passbook, they just need to check and compare it with the bank statement you submitted. 
A photo posted by Czarina Maye (@czarinamaye) on
We submitted our documents to our travel agent last February 20, 2015 and she was able to secure us an appointment with TLScontact by the 27th.

What to expect during your appointment? Arrive at least 30 mins. earlier than your scheduled appointment. Our appointment was 10:30AM and the place is quite packed (probably because it was a Friday) with only 3 agents accepting/processing the documents, 1 manning the biometrics booth and 1 for the cashier. Since we were traveling with a group, our agent was the one who submitted our docs so all we needed was to wait for our turn to get our biometrics.

What to bring? Apart from the docs, prepare ₱4,546.00 per pax for the visa processing fee. That was the rate we paid last February 2015, it might change depending on the rate so please check first before going to TLScontact.

How long does it take to process a Schengen tourist visa application via the Embassy of Switzerland (TLScontact)? Minimum is 5 working days to 4 weeks. Mine took roughly around 4-5 working days so at least I was able to push my trip to Japan. :)

P.S. This application is for Filipinos currently based in the Philippines only. If you have any questions, just 'LIKE' my Facebook page and you may send me a PM there. Thanks! :)