STICKY AND SWEET

US Immigration Officer:  How long will you be staying here in the US?

Karol:  Just for a week

US IO:  What is the purpose of your visit?  And why only 1 week?

Karol:  My friend over there (points at Macy) is watching Madonna in Vegas and she made me... errr FORCED me... to come with her.

US IO:  What?  So you girls flew all the way here to watch Madonna!? Haha.

Karol:  I know right? *sigh*

For real.  Three weeks before that, Macy told Karol over the phone that she booked round trip tickets to LA.

Karol:  For free!?!?!

Macy:  Heller of course not! Pay when able! Haha!

Karol:  Sh*t, I have to tell my pay-rents.

So, when we saw each other at a party where Karol's parents were also present, we thought that's the best time to ask for their permission.  Macy went up to Karol's dad and told him "Tito, okay lang po ba pumunta kami sa US ni Karol?", to which Karol's Dad replied "Uhmmm...Hinde".  Hahaha!  Then Macy said "Ayy kaya lang may ticket na po kami".  What else can they do, right?

Macy believes that Madonna is her long lost mum ever since she was a kid so obviously she has been waiting for this concert all her life. And Karol being the ever supportive bff happily gave in to the offer.

Three weeks later and we're in California!  Yey!

The afternoon one day before Madonna's Sticky and Sweet concert, we left Cali and headed to Las Vegas.  We checked-in at our hotel in Vegas and it was already kinda late at night when we got settled, but we decided we'll still walk around anyway. 

IT'S RAINING AGNES B.

Agnès B. is a brand by French fashion designer Agnès Andrée Marguerite Troublé.  Not really our favorite but lately, it's been raining agnès b. for us!

On Macy's recent trip to London, she got this travel kit from Cathay Pacific.

Two weeks ago in Hong Kong, we munched on yummy agnès b. treats.

We bought matching agnès b. camera straps in pink to replace our old worn out ones.

Macy got this pass holder. (Perfect for the London Oyster card, the Hong Kong Octopus Card, or the Tokyo Suica card!)

Karol's boyfriend grabbed a couple of shirts from their store and qualified for this iPhone case promo.  Karol didn't let the good deal slip away!

And yes... it's pronounced as Anne-yes Be. =)

COSTA LUMINOSA CRUISE: BARCELONA (LEG 2)

Welcome to the second half of our Barcelona getaway. To give you a recap of our first leg, we started at the Agencia Estatal de Administration Tributaria, walked, Estatua de Colon, walked, Las Ramblas, walked, petiks mode, La Boqueria, walked, photos here and there, Font de Canaletes, walked, then finally H&M.

Allow us to show you how far we've walked this time.

In this second and final leg, we had a total of 8 stops.

 
And because we kind of wasted quite a significant amount of our time making unnecessary stops in the first leg, we promised ourselves to make use of our remaining hours in Barcelona wisely.

COSTA LUMINOSA CRUISE: BARCELONA (LEG 1)

After our well-spent day in Palma de Mallorca and our unfortunate Ajaccio incident, Barcelona was the last port of call of our Costa Luminosa cruise.

We knew there are lots of must-see places in Barcelona so it’s very important that we spend our precious 7 hours wisely.  Our priority was to see as much sites as we can in 7 hours.  No shopping, no unnecessary stops, no petiks or banjing moments...  Just pure culture!  We agreed that we’d maximize our short visit, starting it by disembarking as early as possible.

Okay maybe we wasted a few minutes taking photos in our cabin because Karol is wearing the same outfit as Chuppy, our wind-up pet penguin.  How could we not take photos of this? Haha.

Fine.  We lied.  We actually spent more than just 'a few minutes'.

Both of us were wearing light clothing and heeled shoes at that time (which was a relief because that means we will be walking at the same pace).  As we were about to leave the boat, the weather felt colder than expected so we hurriedly went back to our cabin to change.  Karol ended up wearing her flat tall boots instead of her 2-inch booties.

All aboard, the shuttle took us from the port to the city center. 

Barcelona Leg 1

Important sites in Barcelona aren't far apart enough from each other for one to take a taxi, but aren't close enough either to be effortlessly explored by foot (at least for us Filipinos who are not used to too much walking).  So it’s actually up to you how you want to go around the city.  As for us, we decided to walk so we could see the beautiful little details that make up Barcelona.

Allow us to show you how far we've walked.

COSTA LUMINOSA CRUISE: AJACCIO

Aside from Palma de Mallorca, Ajaccio in France is another one of the three stops for our Costa Luminosa Cruise.

We didn't know much about Ajaccio except the fact that it's in the island of Corsica.  We didn't know what to expect either, but after a few Google searches about the place, we saw these pics of Angelina Jolie and her daughter Shiloh spending one summer morning shopping in the island capital.  

photo from JustJared

Hmmm, this must be a soshal summer spot for celebs! Haha!