Bea Alonzo recalls the day when John Lloyd Cruz came to her rescue in Dubai.
With the pandemic putting a damper on any travel plans for the time being, Bea Alonzo has settled for a trip down memory lane via her YouTube vlog.
Bea shows videos of her top ten favorite places in the world in a vlog dated May 29, 2021, and in her annotation, she tells stories about her travel experiences.
"I was browsing through my old photos, travel photos, and I couldn't help but miss traveling even more.
"I mean, parang nakaka-miss yung mga long flights na dine-dread natin before, di ba?
"I just miss meeting new people, being able to learn about different cultures, being able to try new cuisines.
"And I thought I should just do a video for you to share my past experiences, to share my past journeys. So I decided to create a video of my top 10 destinations,"said Bea the 33-year old actress.
Dubai, United Arab Emirates, is the actress's "second favorite" trip location, according to her.
And Bea's first trip to Dubai, perhaps between 2005 and 2007, as part of a large group to perform a concert, was simply unforgettable.
John Lloyd Cruz, Sarah Geronimo, Rachelle Ann Go, Erik Santos, and others were among their entourage.
Bea's mother, Mary Ann Ranollo, accompanied her, unaware that she had spent their entire vacation budget on a single shopping excursion to Dubai's Gold Souk, the world's largest and oldest gold market.
On the first day of the week-long excursion, it was all of Bea's talent fee from the show that went down the toilet.
"The first time we ever went to Dubai, parang we had this show with The Champions pa at that time.
"I was really jet-lagged, I was really tired. So sabi ko kay mama, hindi na ako sasama dun sa Gold Souk. She went with the group.
"Ako, natulog lang ako sa hotel. At this point, wala pa akong credit card nito.
"When my mom arrived at the hotel, ang dami na niyang dalang alahas. Sabi niya, 'Anak, isukat mo ito,' ganyan-ganyan.
"And then meron din siya for my brother, for my lola… So nagtanong ako, 'Asan na yung talent fee, Ma?' Nagastos niya na lahat sa Gold Souk."
Bea was fortunate in that she had someone to turn to who was eager to assist her: John Lloyd.
"So sa buong five days or one week namin sa Dubai, wala kaming pera. As in sumasama lang kami kay John Lloyd para magpalibre ng meals, ganyan.
"Binayaran naman namin siya pagdating sa Manila, so that's what happened," she added.
The encounter, Bea claims, taught her and her mother a vital lesson.
"After that, nag-apply na kami ng credit card and lesson learned ni mama, dapat sa first day, hindi mo muna ginagastos lahat ng pera mo."
BEA 'S FAVORITE DUBAI DESTINATIONS
Bea has visited Dubai numerous times, and the kindness of the Filipino community there is one of the many reasons she continues returning.
However, she was only able to properly explore the city in 2018, and the Dubai Desert Safari is highly recommended in her book.
"I love the Dubai Desert Safari. Actually, yun talaga complete experience.
"You can see the dunes, go on camel rides, yung food nila super sarap, henna painting, may shisha smoking, and at the end of the night, makikita mo para siyang may little show," Bea joyously exclaimed.
Bea also took in the sights from the Burj Khalifa's observatory, the world's highest structure.
Bea's schedule included, of course, shopping at the Dubai Mall.
Apart from shopping, she liked the tour of the aquatic theme park within the world's largest mall.
"I also love their shopping mall. The largest mall in the world, The Dubai Mall.
"And yung Dubai Mall, meron siyang malaking malaking aquarium and I was able to see a lot of different underwater creatures. I also loved that experience," she shared.
Her visit to the Burj Al-Arab was also a highlight of her trip.
She said, "It's the only seven-star hotel in the world and I was lucky to be invited by a friend to dine there."
Bea also paid a visit to Jumeriah Beach and the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi during her 2018 trip.
