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'Hotelcation' and More


My youngest daughter surprised me with the good news that she was allowed to go on Eid vacation for some days. She badly needed rest and relaxation for a work-life balance.

It was very hot here in the UAE when we got blissfully reunited at 2 PM.  It was Eid so most hotels nearby were either fully booked, or if not, their room rate boards showed AED800/day +/-. My frugal daughter stepped back when she saw 'towering' figures.

A I watched my Buninay eating halohalo in our meeting place, a restaurant serving Filipino foods, I held my tears back. She ordered 'mixed-with-everything' fried rice, grilled squid and kinilaw (raw fish with vinegar, chili and chopped onions).  Memories of her childhood flooded in my mind. How time flies! My then-baby-who-is-now-a-lady wanted to spoil me. Felt truly blessed beyond words.

We hopped to Seattle's Best in the mall near the mosque. While indulging myself with my favorite Cinnabon bites and strawberry smoothies, and my old friend sipping cappuccino (she did not eat her bread so she could bring it to her son -- oh Mama Mia!), my child was busy on her mobile phone. Later she informed me that she was able to do online hotel booking at AED400+/ for a week's stay.

"That's a good price in the heart of Dubai!"  I said. She smiled, "It's called 'diskarte', mom." 'Diskarte' is a Filipino word for 'strategy'.

Whenever I hear the word 'diskarte', Chinkee Tan's face comes to my mind. He said in a seminar which I helped to promote here in collaboration with an event organizer, "There are many intelligent and hard-working people but they do not get rich. What is lacking? Diskarte! Stategy!"  

I had a dream a month ago. It was me holding a baby whose face I could not recognize. Out of curiosity, I checked online on how to interpret that dream.

YourChineseAstrology has this --  'you will be rewarded and get something important to you in the near future.'  Well, we need diskarte or strategy to be rewarded and get something important to us in the future, be it near or far future. Chinkee Tan and my daughter are right.

DreamingandSleeping.com has another interpretation -- "If you are holding a baby in your dream, it reflects a period in your life when other people depended on you. This dream may refer to a period in your life when a big responsibility was in your hand. Maybe it was a period when you were responsible at work or when you got a child."

I think it is this feeling exactly. I miss the feeling of being strongly needed and depended on by my children, my parents, and younger brother. But this is life. We have a cycle. We are born, we see light, grow, get married, have a family of our own, raise our children and when our children grow, they spread their wings, and we must not stop them from exploring life, discovering their purpose on earth, and finding what would be the best for themselves.

Back to 'hotelcation', it is cheaper when you do online booking. Why? According to Matthew Kepnes of Lifehacker.com, "Hotels sell rooms to these booking sites at a discount, which is why you often see rates cheaper on these sites than on the hotel's website. The big booking companies then price in their costs, marketing and whatever else to come up with a base for their displayed price."

There are many online platforms for hotel booking but which one is best? Doing your homework in terms of research and data analysis, matters. Per TopTenReviews.com, the top ten best online hotel booking platforms for 2019 are the following, which they based on overall rating,  booking and fees, reservations plus rewards and membership --
  1. Hotels.com
  2. Orbitz.com
  3. Expedia.com
  4. Booking.com
  5. Travelocity.com
  6. Agoda.com
  7. GetCheapHotels.com
  8. Hotwire.com
  9. Priceline.com
  10. Onetravel.com
Many overseas Filipinos (OFs) here spoil themselves with a luxurious weekend or holiday lifestyle, grabbing jaw-dropping promotional offers via online booking sites with ties-up with some related rest-and-recreation companies. This is 'for a change' as normally they live in shared flats or villas. Filipinos are known for close family ties. Their very special friends are considered to be an extended family. They are happy to spend bonding moments with families and BFFs (best friends forever).

Influenced by social media, more and more people want to relax as they have different stressors and worries. Mike Basevic said,
Take the next 24 hours and just relax with the knowing that everything is okay. Let go of the stress and worry for one day, and see what happens.
My daughter wants me to just relax and enjoy life to the fullest. I do it the Richard Bach way --
I relax my body completely, relax my mind completely, and then imagine myself at a level where anything can happen.
We need to understand the need of our loved ones to relax completely. They want the right place and time to enjoy their R & R (rest and relaxation) to the fullest, more so when their regular work is related to intellectual activity. When the brains are very tired, so the body is.

I passionately make a wish that my daughter's 'hotelcation and more' break will help create amazing insights to give her a lot of happiness, joy, and delight she deserves to have in abundance.

As for me, yes, I 'imagine myself at a level where anything can happen' -- can positively, beautifully happen.

---

Photo credits:  Pixabay

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