Author: ajay

I like Italianni’s. My all-time favorite is their pasta pomodoro in spaghettini and the complimentary ciabatta bread with balsamic vinegar dip. Prices are a bit on the high side but the servings are ample.This is one resto chain I don’t go to everyday, but the few times I’ve been here, I haven’t been disappointed.

Once, I had just come from the graveyard shift and splurged on their Grand Platter at something like 500 pesos +++. It was the most I can do to assuage my sleeplessness and hungriness but it was worth it. Nothing like steak, sausage, fruits and a little bit of everything for brunch. The fresh OJ, most especially.

Am glad that this time around, Italianni’s is offering their “Small Price for a Big Lunch” promotion. Tried it last week and I absolutely liked the falling-off-to-the-bone goodness of their Costina Brasatta (Braised Ribs) which was paired with spaghetti aglio e olio and grilled vegetables.

The “Small Price for a Big Lunch” line-up cost from P295 for the fish & chicken dishes and P350 for the pork/beef platters.In these days of recession, P350 for lunch isn’t really small price but I must say it’s a modest expense for a chain like Italianni’s where average bill is at P500 per person

We want to try next the Manzo di Arrosto (Roasted Rib Eye). The price for this one is really good (and small) since it’s an honest-to-goodness imported steak for only P350. Too bad, this one’s only available in Italianni’s Trinoma, High Street, and Greenbelt.

On the night we were at Italianni’s somebody was having her birthday and we had all kinds of calorific desserts:

We shall be back again Viva Italianni’s!

Continuing this travel series, here’s a listing of some major airlines with no fatalities resulting from accidents and other causes, so far. Some of my favorite airlines are unfortunately not listed here Enclosed in parenthesis is the year the airline was established:

Air Macau (1994)
Dragonair (1985)
Emirates (1985)
EVA Air (1990)
Jetstar (2002)
Hawaiian Airlines (1941)
Qantas (1920)
Qatar Airways (1993)
Oman Air (1993)
Royal Brunei Airlines (1974)
Ryanair (1985)
Shanghai Airlines (1985)

A more complete list here

It’s been said: the chances of you dying in a plane accident are one in 11 million while the risk of you meeting a car accident on the way to the airport is about 1 in 5000. However, there are some people (like me) who just hate being in an airplane. I feel claustrophobic and dread the fact that am not in control, unlike when am driving. I actually cope better in a ship as I don’t ever get seasick, even when the ship appears like it’s tilting 45 degrees, LOL. Experienced this while in the Bay of Biscay over the Atlantic, which is notorious for its fierce storms.

A friend of mine has this crazy proposal for me to keep on riding ferris wheels so I can get used to the heady sensation of being on air. And then another said I should try taking a sleeping pill. During my last trip to Malaysia, I resorted to taking melatonin and just felt groggy but never got to sleep

The fear of flying is the biggest travel dampener ever

Here are a few identified causes of airline accidents:

Air traffic control error
bird strike
cargo hold/cabin fire
design flaw
sabotage/explosive device
fuel starvation
hijacking
lightning
pilot incapacitation

Here’s hoping the world will be a better place!

Am not sure though if the phrase “better place” qualifies for this piece of news:

stewardess moonlights a porn star

A few of my girl friends who are married to foreigners have told me, not once, but a number of times that they will adopt their husbands’ citizenship when the time comes, if only for the chance to change their passport.According to them, travelling between countries is a hassle when you’re holding the Philippine passport. Visa and immigration officers tend to give one a hard time, a sad fact of life that comes with being the citizen of the Third World whose enterprising countrymen can come up with anything - from fake LVs to fake documents. Yes, including what am talking about in this post.

I don’t know yet how I’ll decide when the time comes.Apart from that unfortunate incident with the US Embassy a few months back, I haven’t really felt discriminated in a port of entry or given the run-around. Also, travelling to the US and Europe doesn’t hold luster for me anymore, as I’ve done it when I was younger and my fear of flying sucks. Right now, I am just enamored with travelling in and around Asia. It’s good thing that being a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Filipinos can roam around most parts without need for a visa.

Also , Doubting Thomases among immigration and embassy personnel should rest easy with the implementation of the new machine-readable passport since late 2007, and a biometric one coming up soon. Technology these days has made it virtually impossible for anyone to manufacture passports in their own backyard, which should be a good thing for legitimate travellers like you and me

Luckily, I chanced upon the Henley Visa Restrictions Index which ranks countries according to the “travel freedom their citizens enjoy.” In the global ranking, Denmark topped the list, with 157 countries their residents can go to without need for a visa. The Philippines had a score of 50, ranking below Zimbabwe, and just the same as Ukraine. This means there are 50 countries we can go to without need for a visa. Partial list after the jump:

South America: Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru

North America: Costa Rica, Dominica, Haiti, Turks & Caicos Islands

Europe; Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia

Africa: Burundi, Kenya, Madagascar, Morocco, Mozambique, Seychelles, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia

ASEAN: Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam

Non-ASEAN: Hong Kong, Macau, Maldives, Mongolia, Nepal, Sri Lanka

Middle East: Iran, Israel

Note: I guess this is the disadvantage of having a PI passport. You’d want to travel unimpeded to Paris and Tuscany but your option is visa-free access to Azerbaijan instead. Ugh. UGH.

For health, passport, and visa requirements on your next trip, this KLM site is really helpful.

Okay, so an unsafe environment will probably make you think now about how to keep your precious laptop from disappearing in the hands of bad elements.

I still have to encounter companies offering laptop and cellphone insurance in this country. This is understandable, considering the high risk involved. What you can do is to probably include your gadgets as part of your home insurance, but it will probably be insured only in case of burglary in your home.

An anti-theft software that’s linked with your computer seems an easier option, and that is what I did, upon the hubby’s prodding recently. Purchase of the software will cost you an average of $40, but I think this is good enough for the peace of mind it will give you. My philosophy is that you will not completely blame yourself if your laptop gets lost and you did not do anything to prevent it. Besides, what is $40-$50 to protect a gadget that costs $2000 or so $$$$$, like those cases I cited in the earlier post.

We’re just in the process of trying it, but our preferred solution is the Undercover stolen Mac recovery tool from Orbicule. I like it because it has desirable features which a private human detective won’t be able to do in half the time.

As what the product advert says:

“Undercover will transmit pictures of the thief and his surroundings every 6 minutes, making it even easier to identify the current user.”

When all else fails, the software will mimic a hardware problem, forcing the person using the stolen laptop to bring it to an Apple reseller or a shop. Afterwards, the hijacked Mac will SCREAM that it has been “stolen!” or shout some other attention-getting phrase.

Pretty nifty, I should say.

For anti-theft software for other kinds of laptops, kindly Google it

As a theft victim myself, I couldn’t help but feel the pain of friends and acquaintances who’ve lost their precious gadgets recently.

One is my Plurk friend Pau who lost his laptop and high-end cameras at the rooftop parking lot of MC Home Depot, The Fort in a span of less than 10 minutes!

Last night, Plurk was abuzz again with news of another robbery. This time, somebody recounted how some rogue peeps broke into the trunk of a car and stole a MacBook Pro, MacBook Air and a Dell laptop amounting to more than P200,000 at the Podium parking lot in Ortigas.

Earlier in our photography class, my seatmate also recounted how she lost her camera collection in her parked car inside BF Homes Paranaque.

Another (and a reporter at that!) was victimized by somebody who engaged him in a conversation in Greenbelt. He lost his MacBook because he put down his bag to talk. His bag was gone in a split second.

The common thread in all these is that it’s almost suicidal to leave valuable items in any part of the car these days… no matter how inconspicuous they are. It seems that ruthless thieves are now targetting gadgets more expensive than cellphones. And they are doing so upscale places in Makati, Taguig and Ortigas.

One part of me thinks if this is in any way related to the elections, but laptops will always be in-demand among students and the like. (Yes, even if the advent of cheap netbooks has made owning a laptop easier)

An even more dangerous trend: unscrupulous persons are cannibalizing stolen items and selling them by parts, where they’re less likely to be traced. Browse the online marketplace and you’ll see some ads being ran about Macbook LCD screens for sale, and being peddled for $200 to $400.

Here’s my thoughts on the matter:

1. A laptop bag almost always screams “yes, this is a laptop. Come and get me.” I would really like to have those fashionable laptop bags, but a part of me says the bag should be as inconspicuous as possible to attract thieves LESS.

2. Consider asking around for insurance for your precious possessions. I think Canon Philippines has a promo now where every new purchase of a DLSR camera entitles one to protection in case of loss or theft from Malayan Insurance.

3. Consider installing anti-theft software. Okay, the subject of my next post.

4. Back up your files always. Because the second most painful part about losing your valuables are the files in it. We love Apple Time capsule because it is a wireless router and at the same time backs up your Mac automatically.

5. Talking to the police…. a waste of time and an exercise in futility. Am sorry to say this, and am not saying you shouldn’t ever put your incident on record, either. Am just frustrated with the fact that the police will only jot down the details and secretly consider you just a sorry statistic among the countless incidents of theft in Metro Manila. When my bag was snatched last year, the policeman who did so posted bail and was freed within 24 hours

Related posts:

The man who snatched my bag…. was a policeman!

Stolen laptops, car robberies in Ortigas, The Fort