Bric's Bellagio Ultra-Light Spinner

After our Hong Kong trip, we figured it was time to update our luggage. You might think that luggage is not important, that you can basically get one of those run of the mill suitcases in the department store, and nobody would care. Well, you're wrong.

Your choice in luggage says a lot about you. It was a lesson we learned in a rather odd way.

During our Hong Kong trip, we brought an XL Samsonite soft-case luggage, an XL Echolac polycarbonate luggage, a Bric's carry-on, and a locally manufactured carry on. While going around Hong Kong, we brought along the carry-on with no name. The locals in the MTR were looking at us from head to toe after they realized that our carry-on was insignificant. These locals, by the way, were bringing around Rimowa carry-ons in the MTR! They weren't even going to the airport, they were going to work! I wanted to tell them, "Don't look at us like that, you guys are commuters! We don't even ride the MRT in the Philippines." Alas, it remained in my thought balloon.

Mommy and I vowed this incident was never ever going to happen again, and so our quest for the perfect luggage started.

Naturally, our first option was Rimowa. After all, the commuting snobs of Hong Kong all seemed to approve of the brand. I noticed also that in the international airport in Manila, there were a lot of Filipinos pushing around their Rimowa luggage.

After further research, and several visits to the Rimowa store in Greenbelt, apparently, there are fake Rimowas. Can you imagine spending PhP 60,000.00 on luggage, and people thinking that you're Rimowa probably cost only PhP 12,000.00. A word of caution, best to buy only from the store.

In hindsight, I realized that some of the Filipinos in the airport lugging Rimowa might have been using fake ones.

We almost resorted to, sigh, buying either a polycarbonate Delsey or Samsonite, much to Bianca's delight because Delsey had a pink series.

Good thing I stumbled into Bric's store in SM Aura - during a weekend sale to boot.

Now, we're no strangers to Bric's. In fact, one of our purchases from Duty Free in Manila was a Bric's tote for Mommy. Throw in Jessica Alba and Amal Clooney being spotted rolling Bric's luggage out from the airport, and we were sold.

Mommy was the first to  purchase the luggage. She bought an XL Bric's Bellagio in olive.

borrowed from bricstore.com

I didn't immediately buy one because I was having difficulty choosing between getting a polycarbonate Bellagio or an XL Bric's Life Camo. The Life series is a combination of leather coated in PVC, so it gives a soft case feel to the luggage, but with the water resistance of a polycarbonate shell. 

borrowed from lyst.com

Kim on the other hand offered to buy the luggage for me as a birthday/Christmas/anniversary gift.

This evening, we went to the Bric's store in SM Aura so Kim can see the options. He preferred the Bellagio because of the polycarbonate shell, and even the staff at Bric's recommended that I get that model instead. 

Since Mommy and I cannot travel with the same colored bag, I ended up getting the XL Bric's Bellagio in navy.

borrowed from neimanmarcus.com

Blue Bellagio it is!

Our next trip is to Seoul-Pohang-Busan in March 2017. I'm excited!

Omakase Ayala Triangle, Ayala Beats@180

The One Serendra property managers attended the Ayala Beats@180 party in Ayala Triangle yesterday evening, 5 December 2014. It was a conglomerate-wide party, the gardens hosting to the different Ayala companies' employees. Employees from Globe, Honda Cars, Ayala Corporation, and Ayala Land, Inc. were in attendance last night. They gave us debit cards which we were to use for dinner in the restaurants in Ayala Triangle, all of which were exclusive to the attendees to the party. There were also food-booths in tents that sprouted in the gardens, that also accepted cash. It was set up like a fair, which was pretty reminiscent of the Ateneo HS fair that was resurrected during my time, and a little less rowdy compared to the annual UP Fair when I was in college.

The Serendra gang was pretty lucky because I prodded them to eat at around 5:45PM, and we were able to get seats in Omakase. A couple of minutes later, and there was a queue already to get in. I mean, can you imagine so many Ayala employees trying to eat dinner all at the same time. The restaurants were all full to the brim, they even had to set up dining tables in the lawn area in preparation of the number of people that were to be eating. In a way, I suppose, this was to be our Christmas party for the year, because prizes were raffled off from the  stage set up behind the fountain  of Tower One. Later on during the evening, the people were also treated to the lights and sounds show at the Ayala Triangle Gardens.

I'm a regular in Omakase, so I was quite surprised that I haven't posted pictures from it yet. Now, I only took pictures of my own food order, as we were a group of 7 property managers, and we ordered about 2-3 dishes each. Some of the One Serendra property managers enjoyed dinner in Omakase so much, they were thanking me profusely for suggesting to eat there. 

I ordered their Gyudon, which was quite hefty. 

I've grown quite fond of salads, lately, and tend to always order these whenever I dine out. I ordered the Omakase Salad, which is the restaurant's version of a Kani salad. Only difference is they use their own dressing on the salad.

It was an interesting evening. After dinner, I stayed on a bit with my co-managers to watch the lights and sounds show. Afterwards, walked on over to One Roxas Triangle, where I parked my car. 

Omakase has several branches already, and I've already tried eating in their branch in Il Terrazzo, along Tomas Morato, which is quite near my house. If you're interested in eating lunch or dinner in Omakase in Ayala Triangle Gardens,  the details are below:

Omakase - Ayala Triangle Gardens

Makati Ave, Bel-Air, Makati

contact number: 02.467.3150