My very first AIRBNB experience

Howdy! Here's my review of Sue's flat #2 located in Gongdeok, Seoul :)

Booking her place was so easy. It had everything my family is looking for. It’s very accessible coming from the airport. Just take the direct train to Gongdeok Station. We easily located the building because it’s connected to the station via B2 level. The room was even better than the photos and also very clean. You can tell that they really thought about the layout because they maximized every inch of space and even had a built in refrigerator. It had everything I could ever need, except for a weighing scale. I think Sue can add that item in the future.

We used almost every item in the room. We cooked a lot and used the vacuum to clean. We used the washing machine too! Sue prepared 2 hairdryers which is ideal if you have more than one girl in your group. Everything was easy to use because of Sue’s detailed manuals. Sue prepared complete toiletries. Just bring your toothbrush and a big towel. The beds are very comfy, even the sofa bed!

We went to E-Mart just across the street to buy everything we needed from groceries to other items we wanted to take back to the Philippines, even a Happy Call pan which you can cook with even without cooking oil! Sue had a similar pan in the room so we looked for it at E-Mart.

If you like kimbap, you can never go hungry because there’s a 24 hour kimbap restaurant on the first level of the building. There are a few shops in Gongdeok station so if you need make-up or cosmetics, you can just look around there. There are also some bargain stores where my mom got some shoes and a bag. Gongdeok Market is also nearby where you can buy fresh seafood and veggies and other food items.

Check out time is at 11 am so we looked for coin lockers at Gongdeok station big enough to fit our luggage so we can still roam around Gongdeok. Sadly, there are only limited lockers and none were vacant. Sue was kind enough to allow us to place our bags in her car. Her husband met with us at the parking level and placed our bags inside. We went back to get our things at around 5pm.

The train from Gongdeok to the airport terminates at Geomam station (I think) and you have to get off and take the next train on the same platform. Sue’s flat is quite a long walk from Seoul station but everything else makes up for it and you can also use other lines to get there. I would definitely come back to Sue’s flat in my future trips to Seoul and recommend it to my family and friends. Thank you Sue and husband for giving my family the best accommodation out of all the 5 places I tried in Seoul during my trips in the previous years. It is my first Airbnb booking and I am very satisfied with the experience.

Ovulation Predictor Kit

I haven't blogged in a very long time because there's really nothing much to share but today I just wanna share positive vibes on the results of my recent ovulation tests. Here's a quick background of my TTC journey: I have been on fertility meds since March 2014 due to PCOS. I was on it for about 5 months and decided to stop because it just isn't working with my body. While on the meds, I would ovulate on some months, and not ovulate on other months so I really think that the meds aren't helping me much. Some women find it effective but for me, I think they just regulated my cycles but did nothing to help me get pregnant.

During the first cycle of my meds, I had a transvaginal ultrasound and found out that I was ovulating. The doctor didn't ask me to do the procedure each month since it worked the first time. However, being paranoid, I bought an Ovatel which predicts your ovulation period through viewing saliva samples on a small device similar to a microscope. It's very expensive for me and I never got a ferning pattern or a positive ovulation on it. I stopped testing with it because it just gets me depressed with all its negative results. 

Then I saw a video on Youtube and the girl talked about the OPKs bought from ebay helped her identify her days of ovulation which in turn resulted into pregnancy despite her PCOS. It's basically a test strip which you must dip in urine to check for your LH surge. I immediately bought a pack with 60 ovulation test strips with free 30 pregnancy tests at only Php445! I just had to pick it up from the post office and pay a Php50 tax on a parcel.

While on the meds, I didn't get any positive results from June-August 2014 using the test strips from ebay. I began to lose hope so I stopped my meds after my cycle in August. I started exercising daily but kept my normal diet. To my surprise, I ovulated on September 6 even without meds!!! You can just imagine how happy I was, I felt like I actually have a chance to get pregnant now! Sadly, we still didn't conceive that cycle. 

I didn't lose my positive vibe because now I know that I can ovulate even without meds. Yesterday, October 8, I got another positive ovulation at 12noon and at 9pm. And today, another positive at 12noon. I am feeling so positive that we are going to finally conceive this cycle. We have been married for a year and 9 months and have been seriously trying to get pregnant since the beginning of this year. 

We have waited for quite a long time but I know that some couples had to wait for years up to a decade. I just wanted to share my experience because I know that I'm not alone in this journey. I may or may not have a child of my own but knowing that God blessed me with a very loving, supportive and understanding husband is already a huge blessing that I will forever be grateful for.