Travel. Shoot. Have Fun.

Experience Singapore in a different take. Urban Landscape, City Lights, Modern Architecture, and more! Embark on a journey and appreciate the beauty of the city. Chill out with the city lights as your backdrop and watch the sunset slow down for the day. Peek through the lens of different cultures inside. Travel. Take photos. Have Fun. TARA!

Let’s go take photos. Run. Duck. Jump. Squat. Click and Snap. Whenever you feel like it, just shoot. In this type of photography, there are no rules. Take that picture.

Dates: April 6 – 9, 2012
Package Price: Php 26,500 (50 % downpayment would be required to reserve a slot. Payment details would be sent to interested participants via an email)

Deadline to register: March 16, 2012

Maximum number of Participants: 10 people 

Package inclusions:
Round trip Airfare (MNL-SIN), Travel Insurance. Accommodations for 2 Nights and 3 Days. Philippine Travel Tax. Terminal Fee, Travel guide and TARA! Travel Pack: Loot Bag, TARA! T-shirt, TARA! Baller ID, Travel Pass (EZ-Link), and complete itinerary and maps.  An orientation prior to the trip will also be organized.

Contact.
For inquiries, please contact tara.travel.tayo@gmail.com or send and SMS to +639178942147

Travel Airlines.
The travel airline provider will be Cebupac. We have coordinated with the company to get the best possible rate at the time of the travel. The rate we got includes a baggage allowance that normally is not included when you book your ticket on your own. Plus we are including the cost for the Philippine Travel Tax (Php 1620) and the Terminal Fee (Php 750) on the cost so you don’t have to worry about it. Just go to the airport, meet us, wait for our flight and we’ll take care of the rest.

Travel Pass.
Traveling has never been easy in Singapore because of Travel Passes like EZ-Link. EZ-Link makes it easy to travel from trains to buses with ease. We wanted participants to enjoy the ease of travel in Singapore so we will take care of acquiring EZ-Link passes for you.  Let’s travel the way locals do.

Accommodation.
Sleepy Sam’s would be the hotel of choice. It is a travel hotel with comfy rooms and free breakfast. Moreover, the hotel has no curfew and no lock-outs which is perfect for a photo safari as we might stay late at night to get those nightscape shots. We will let you choose from a private room, double bed room, triple bed room or mixed type dorm room for male and female. We will lodge, backpacking style.

Insurance.
Health and wealth is a primary concern of Tara!. We made sure we are insured. For that we coordinated with Chartis Philippines and have acquired of an Insurance package for each participants with the following benefits:

• Medical Expenses – reimburses expense due to sickness or accidents
• Medical Evacuation – arranges for the most appropriate means to evacuate you to another location for medical treatment or return you to the Philippines.
• Repatriation Expense – arranges and pays to return the mortal remains to the Philippines in case of death due to sickness or accident
• Personal Accident - provides up to Php 1,000,000 lump sum benefit for death or disablement due to accident suffered during the trip.
• Child Guard - arranges and pays for transportation and accommodation expense of an adult family member to take care of minor children who are traveling with you and accompany them in the event you are hospitalized during the trip.
• Compassionate Visit – arranges for the transportation and accommodation expense of an adult family member in case you are hospitalized for more than 5 days during the trip.
• Baggage Delay – reimburses purchase of necessary clothing and toiletries if checked-in baggage is delayed for more than 12 hours.
• Trip Cancellation – pays for the loss of travel fare/ and or accommodation expense in advance and not refundable in case the trip had to be cancelled due to death, serious injuries, sickness of the insured party  and unexpected outbreak of strike, riot or civil commotion at the planned destination occurring within 30 days before the scheduled departure date.
• Trip Termination – if after the trip you returned to the Philippines because of death, serious injuries, sickness.
• Baggage and Personal Effects – pays the actual baggage lost due to theft and pays for the repairs of baggage (with allowance for depreciation, wear and tear) damage while in the possession of the hotel staff or common carrier.
• Flight Delays - reimburses expense due to flight delays for more than 12 hours due to severe weather conditions, strike of airline personnel or equipment failure of aircraft.
• Loss of Travel Documents - reimburses costs of additional hotel, travel, and communication expenses necessary in obtaining replacement of lost passport or visa.
• Personal Liability Abroad – covers you against legal liability for bodily injury or property damage to third parties due to your negligence.
• Free 24 hours worldwide travel assistance -  there is a call in number worldwide in case of emergencies.

Travel pack.
The travel pack would be your souvenir for joining Tara!. This would include novelty items such as bag tags, T-shirt and baller IDs to identify you with the group. The travel loot bag would also include maps and other necessary information you will need for the trip.

TARA! SG Itinerary.
The TARA! Itinerary is designed with the purpose of finding new travel experience in a seemingly familiar landscape through the lens of photography. It is carefully and painstakingly crafted to find the best possible mix of different interests within the scope of time. Expect to take photos not only of Marina Bay Sands but other parts of Singapore that are not commonly explored by a common tourist. This is not pure landscape/cityscape photography, but this is a mix of those plus travel, street, food, culture and everything you can think in between. TARA! highlights individual value over general quantity. That’s how we roll.

Pre-trip orientation.
We want you to be ready. So for this we will meet you face to face prior to the trip to explain the itinerary and to accommodate questions you may have for the trip. This is an opportunity also for you to meet other participants before the trip and get to know them a bit. Traveling will be fun when you know who you will be traveling with.

What to Bring:
Valid Passport (6 months valid from date of arrival to Singapore), Camera gear (Any camera of choice, lenses, tripod and photo filters if any.), Clothes for 3 days 2 nights, money for food, and lots of enthusiasm.

Who we are.
TARA! is a group that primarily loves travel, photography, and people. The persons behind TARA! have organized and have been a part of photo safaris. TARA! aims to share what we love and what we do.

Your organizers are: Ryan Capulong and Omar Cruz.

Ryan is a traveller and a photographer. He loves to go to places and experience what the place has to offer. He has been travelling around the Philippines and often times organizes for fellow friends and photographers. He has been to places around the Philippines. He had done several road trips with friends from – Makati up to Apari and back, Makati to Sorsogon and back and Manila to Pagudpod and back. Yes he had literally travelled most of Luzon. He also frequents the Aurora and Quezon provinces for coastalscapes shots. Other places in the Philippines he has been includes: Mariveles Bataan, Mt. Pulag in Benguet, Mt. Maculot in Batangas, San Pablo, Laguna, Sampalok Lake in Laguna, Pagbilao Quezon, Baler, Dingalan and Diguisit in Aurora, Tuguegarao, Cagayan Valley, Camarines Sur, Cebu, Bohol and many others. He also has been outside the Philippines – Paris France, London UK, Scotland UK, various states in the U.S.A, South Korea (Seoul, Busan and Suwon), Singapore, Taiwan (Taipei and Keelung) and Malaysia. He travels a lot. And when he travels he brings his friends with him.

Photography wise, he is a serious photographer. He has been published in magazines in the UK (Digital Photographer UK and Photography for Beginners UK) and has also done some projects for the Department of Tourism advocacy for travel and tourism. For more of his works, you can go to: www.ryancapulong.com

Omar is an explorer by heart. Fascinated by the beauty of creation, the mystery of the unknown, and the thrill of the experience, he has always been cooking up places and trips here and there. He has been organizing local trips for friends for several years. Even before the creation of the now established travel companies, he’s been already doing it for the love of the travel. He has organized outdoor activities such as trips to Surf’s Up at La Union, hiking climbs at Mt. Manabo and Mt. Maculot, and several beach bumming trips at Batangas and Mindoro. He’s been joining other outdoor groups into scuba diving trips in Anilao, Batangas, hiking trips   up north and several usual mountains  down South Luzon.  He is also a backpacker.  He has been a little bold enough to do solo backpacking tour at one point in his life where he travelled to Singapore, Macau, Malaysia, and Thailand. Both adventures and misadventures just solidified his passion to explore. He is also a photographer and a serious hobbyist at that. During his travels, he is often seen carrying his cameras, and equipments with him, trading several articles of clothing for a lens and the like.

Frequently Asked Questions:

Q: If I want to join but would not avail of the entire package because I would like to book my own flight and my own accommodation, can I still join?
A: Yes, but we will have to meet the maximum number of participants first. Priority would be given to those who will book for the entire photo safari package.

Q: If I am booking together with friends, can we be in the same room?
A: Yes, you can choose between a private room, double room, triple bed room and a mixed type dorm room. Each room will vary on capacity.

Q: Does each room have a comfort room?
A: No. Most tourist hotel in Singapore has a comfort room that is shared by a number of rooms per floor. It is nice and clean though. If this will be a concern for you, we can opt to book you on a nearby posh type hotel but it will be quite expensive and will depend on the availability of rooms during the time of the trip.

Q: Why is food expense not included in the package?
A: Food expense is not included in the package because of food allergies and food  restrictions. Although we can arrange food for you, it is better that you choose the food you want to eat and eat based on your restrictions. Singapore is one of the food capitals of the world because of the diverse food choices it offers and we wanted you to partake of the experience in choosing among the buffet of food Singapore has to offer. Of course, the organizers will be there to suggest good food. Budget wise, a decent meal would be in the range of S$ 10 -12 per meal. Street foods like ice cream or barbecue  ranges from S$ 1 – 3.

Q:  If I decide to join and I made a deposit, and then later on change my mind can I refund my down payment?
A: Unfortunately,  No. The reason behind this is because the moment we receive your down payment, that is a go signal for us to commit the reservations for the plane tickets and accommodation on your behalf and as such, we have to pay our providers right away. So we urge you to carefully consider before you make a deposit and commit to the photo safari.

Q: Why organize for Singapore and not Hong Kong for example?
A: We have been in Singapore for about 4 or 5 times already. That being said, we know how to work around Singapore. We know the points of interest when it comes to photography as we are photographers ourselves. We know where to shoot street photography, landscapes, cityscapes and architecture. We will in the future explore other locations such as Hong Kong but we will ensure the organizers go there first and be familiar with the place before you do.