Last week, I received an SMS from my compadre, a tour guide who’s based in Guimaras. He told me that he just gave a big discount to someone who claimed to be a “popular traveler blogger” and a “friend” of mine who visited and toured Guimaras last week.

Compadre: Comadre! How are you? Do you know J.H.P?  She went here yesterday and gave her a discount because she told me you are friends. She also told me that she’s a popular travel blogger.

ADAPHOBIC.COM is committed to a budget friendly traveling but never did an outrageous form of haggling as this blog commits to helping locals earn a decent living.

It’s so sad to hear that there are now people who pose to be my “friend” or a relative of mine just to have a travel or tour discount in the said tourist spot and even claiming to be a popular blogger. This blog is NEVER connected to any blogger or to anyone who voluntarily ask for travel discounts or deals to a company or any travel services.

If you believe that someone is trying to pose to be connected to me, please verify his/her identity this by sending me an email at adaphobic@gmail.com or Tweeting me at @adaphobic.

Update: I just found out that WHENINMANILA.com and AZRAELSMERRYLAND.blogspot.com was victimized by the same type of modus. However, in their case, fakers claimed that they were a representative or connected to them.

Most travel bloggers would write their year-end post in “Where I have been in 2012″ style. Kudos to you guys for achieving your goal for this year! But I decided to do something that’s off the hook.

I have been blogging at Adaphobic.com for 4 years now but it’ll be my first time to craft a year-end post. So instead of lionizing my 2012 trips, I decided to look back and bestow my year-end post to Best Posts and Photos of 2012.

Best Posts of 2012

Statistics are based on number of comments and page views at the time the post was published. Here are my blog’s best post of 2012 in no particular order:

What locals think about Filipinos: A night of solo backpacking in Singapore

Whenever we travel abroad or to a foreign country, locals or people who live there have different views about the Philippines or Filipinos. For Cambodians, they would think of Manny Pacquiao; Germans, cock fight tournament; Nepalese view Filipinos as great singer; while Indonesians would think of Christian Bautista; and French, The Philippines has the sweetest pineapple.

And so and so forth. But when I traveled to Singapore, I was delighted when locals I’ve met view Filipinos as Professionals and brilliant in certain fields. Read more…

It’s 4 days to go before Christmas! —  People find themselves together under the same roof; Christmas traffic, bad weather, and over crowded shopping malls and parking lots. That is why online shopping is the best way to shop for anything this season.

So, let me share you my Christmas gift ideas that provides serious shopping inspiration:

iView 792 TPC 7″
iView 792 TPC would be the best gift option for geeks, travelers, and students. It is so far the most affordable tablet bundled with cutting-edge features: 3G ready plus dual camera front and back. See the link above for full product specifications. PHP 8,995.00

Nikon Coolpix L26
Coolpix L26 is one of Nikon’s most powerful point and shoot cameras at a very affordable price. With its 16.1 effective Megapixels, this camera is even better than a 10 or 12 Megapixels digital SLR camera.

This is a great deal and an ideal gift for your godchildren, loved ones, or friends who aspires to be a photographer. Price: PHP 4,266.00 or a 3-month installment plan with 0% interest, PHP 1,422.00 a month.

The Body Shop Shea Butter gift set

One of the Body Shop’s best-selling item is the Shea body butter and body scrub set. So, if you have a teenage goddaughter or a meticulous friend, let them start here.

In the box: Shea Shower Gel 250ml, Shea Body Butter 50ml, Shea Body Scrub 50ml, Shea Soap 100g, and Mini Ultra-Fine Bath Lily for only PHP 1,325.25 (small set). Read more…

The entrance of low fare air flights in the Philippine market has changed the way people travel. Promo fares from major airlines has brought the budget conscious Filipinos to travel more without hurting their pockets. And it’s recently common to see Facebook updates of a friend that says “Promo Fare – hurry get one now before it runs out.”

This has been good news to travel junkies, bloggers, photographers, and travelphiles. This tribe has gained a number of followers and admirers, with their travel stories becoming helpful sources of information and inspiration to people.

The Now Group Inc, a digital agency specializing in App development, has created FLIGHT SEARCH PH, a Free App that caters to every travel-minded people who want to compare airfares and flight schedules, without switching from one carrier website to another. With this app you can easily check flight schedules, and simplify the process of comparing airfares between different carriers.

Simply put it, it‘s a time saving App that gives travelers more options on their flights without the hassle.

About Flight Search PH

Flight Search PH is a FREE Android App, with a user-friendly User Interface, that lets you search flights
and compare fares from different airline carriers in the Philippines. Do Live Search and get current prices
without the hassle of visiting different websites one by one. You can download it on Google Play. Just search
“Flight Search PH”

Currently supports:

• Cebu Pacific (cebupacificair.com)
• Philippine Airlines (philippineairlines.com)
• Airphil Express (airphilexpress.com)

Flight Search PH App Screenshots

Note: 

• This app is not affiliated with any airline.
• Airfare may change at any time. Price may be different by the time you purchase your ticket.
• Prices indicated are from the respective airline’s website.
• Philippine Airlines prices are inclusive of taxes and other fees.
• Cebu Pacific & Airphil Express prices do not include taxes and other fees.

Read more…

You might have seen this Infographic before from my previous about one of the top reasons why people travel to London. To be honest, I bought some previous seasons of FRIENDS, an American TV program, after seeing the Infographic on how most people learn English. FRIENDS was very amusing, casts have neutral accent and enunciate words very well, plus the show itself was hilarious making it perfect for people to enjoy learning English.

How to learn English via Kaplan Blog

I have also downloaded some TV series and movies presented in the Infographic to see if they really did well to help people learn the language.  After seeing those, I became more confident in expressing myself in English. From there, I salute Kaplan for conducting such curious research which can serve as guide or reference for learners too. Read more…