My Most Expensive Day Trip in Switzerland

Switzerland’s trains are said to run like an atomic clock—miss a minute and you’re history. At Zürich Hauptbahnhof, I bought the coveted day pass, valid for twenty-four hours of seamless travel. It felt less like a ticket and more like a mortgage payment. More expensive than a Manila–Davao round-trip flight, but Switzerland has a way of reminding you that punctuality and precision don’t come cheap. You aren’t just paying for transportation; you’re paying tribute to a nation where even the scenery feels like it has been quality-controlled.

Meet the FIVB Men’s World stars’ biggest inspirations

(Watch the international tournament wrap up hot this weekend – only on Cignal TV that comes with your PLDT Home Fiber Unli All Plan 1399!)

For the star athletes playing at the FIVB Men’s Volleyball World Championship, a life of competition means immense sacrifice – especially when it comes to family life. The way to provide for their families is often through the rigorous and intense sports schedules far away from the ones they love most.

What gives them the strength to play at the highest level? More often than not, it's that same love that awaits them off the court. Their home – not a physical place, but a feeling – is wherever their family is.

Here, we list down some of these men’s volleyball idols wearing their hero hat both on and off the court. We also pay tribute to their partners, children, and more supporters cheering them on from the sidelines.

Create, connect, and conquer the awesome way with the Samsung Galaxy A series

In a world that never stops moving, your phones are more than just tools; they are companions for school, work, leisure, and everything in between. The Samsung Galaxy A series is designed to keep you on top of everything, with incredible features that allow you to create, connect, and conquer every day. Best of all, there is a Galaxy A phone for every style and budget, so anyone can live life the awesome way.

My 35th Birthday in Switzerland

Last year, I stumbled into Geneva like a man walking into a well-made watch—everything precise, everything ticking in harmony. Four days was all I had, just enough to taste the air and realise I hadn’t even scratched the surface. Switzerland isn’t just mountains and lakes; it’s a place where snow crowns the peaks like a blessing and the water is so clean it reflects your face with an unsettling honesty. The towns feel hand-painted, the streets lined with quiet perfection, and time here is not wasted—it is respected. Now I’m back, older by a year, hungrier for the country’s undercurrents. Zurich will be my base, but the real gift for my 35th birthday will be in the journeys outward—to the smaller places where trains whisper through valleys and life feels both deliberate and infinite.

Vietnam’s Middle Ground: Discovering Da Nang, Hoi An, and Everything Between

Ask the backpacker clutching a tattered Lonely Planet from the ’90s, or the influencer piloting a drone over rice paddies—they’ll both say they’ve “done Vietnam.” What they mean is they’ve braved Hanoi’s honking, hyperactive chaos or drowned in Saigon’s neon and motorcycle fumes. The middle? That blank space on their itinerary, the part between the clichés. Which, to me, is exactly the point.

Desert Adventure in Abu Dhabi: From Dune Bashing to Camel Rides

Where the Road Ends and the Sand Begins

After five days hemmed in by fluorescent lights, lanyards, and the numbing thrum of hotel air conditioning—what people now call a “conference”—we finally broke free into the vast, indifferent wilderness of the Arabian desert. It was not freedom in the romantic sense; we were driven there in air-conditioned SUVs along a highway engineered to resist the encroaching sand. But still, there was a sense of escape—of being loosed from the polished sterility of Abu Dhabi's glassy skyline into something far older, far less accommodating.

Paris in Four Days: A Journey Through the City of Light

There are cities you visit, and there are cities that absorb you. Paris is the latter. It is a place that exists in the collective imagination as much as it does in reality—romanticized, immortalized, stamped into postcards and film reels. Yet, no amount of expectation fully prepares you for its first embrace, the way it shifts from fable to something tactile, something lived. I arrived, weary from the long haul of travel, carrying the weight of distance, time zones crossed, and disrupted sleep. And yet, as the taxi moved through the city's arteries, the fatigue gave way to something else: a recognition, as if I had been here before, in a dream or another life.

Into the Heart of the Yucatán: A Journey Through Tulum, Chichen Itza, and Cancun

The hum of the Mexicana aircraft quieted as we descended into Tulum’s newly minted airport, a gateway that promised adventure in the depths of the Yucatán Peninsula. The landscape below was an expanse of emerald-green jungle, cut through by roads that led to ruins, cenotes, and the turquoise waters of the Caribbean. Stepping out onto the tarmac, the warm, humid air carried the scent of salt and earth—this was Mexico, untamed and full of stories waiting to be uncovered.

Hola, Mexico!

Now and then, the thrilling thought of visiting Mexico danced in my mind, especially with my shiny, multiple-entry visas for both Japan and the Schengen Area making travel feel like a breeze. So, when the chance popped up to connect with some colleagues from the international federation, I jumped at it without a second thought. This was a golden opportunity I simply couldn't let pass by!