13 days of fun and adventure

Our adventure trip started out with meeting the ASAP Mania family in Pasadena, California, where they were doing a special show for TFC subscribers in Pasadena, California. A total of 17,000 Filipinos from all over America converged at the well-known Rose Bowl stadium to see their favorite artists, whom they normally only see on TFC, live and all together on stage! It was overwhelming to see how many Filipinos still crave for a dose of their roots and culture although they have chosen America to be their home.

From the fun on the stage, we sought adventure in the nearby sea coast of Los Angeles. Dockweiler Beach is located very near the LAX airport and so they also have their own flying action going on, not planes though, but on hangliders! We just could not pass up the chance to take hangliding lessons and then get to do four solo flights all in one morning! Sure enough, after a mere 45-minute lesson we found ourselves soaring from our 25-feet flying slopes over a beautiful southern California beach. Now that’s the Sports Unlimited way to start a day!

After Pasadena and Los Angeles, Sports Unlimited flew to the home of E- Real Records in San Diego. We just have to say, E-Real Records owners Floyd Evangelista, Frank Ganan and Warren Nocon put out one of the biggest welcome mats we have ever received from a host! We traveled in style non-stop! Doing one thing after another and always on the move!

San Diego is tailor-made for the active lifestyle. We went indoor rock climbing and indoor karting, then played a softball game with the E-Real boys and admired San Diego’s vast landscape via a hot air balloon ride. Now this was unexpected. To our surprise, our sponsors arranged a special tour of the training camp of the San Diego Chargers (the professional football team of San Diego that plays in the NFL). We even got to put on the helmets and shoulder gear the players wear in the actual game! Now, how rare is that?

Another thrilling moment was when E-Real Records introduced us to a Fil-Am world champion skateboarder. Willie Santos, a San Diegan, gave us a tour of his popular skate shop. He even brought out one of his favorite skateboards and gave us a special exhibition at one of the many public skate parks around San Diego. Filipinos can excel anywhere you put them!

We even met a Filipino based in San Diego, who cooked and served three Presidents at the White House! After interviewing him, he graciously invited us to dinner and cooked some of his White House specialties!

For a lot of San Diegans, the beach is their backyard! We drove down to one of the most popular beaches in San Diego, La Jolla. We went surfing and bodyboarding. Now we can literally say we went surfin’ in the U.S.A.! We also chanced up on fabulous cars that happen to be going on in San Diego. Nothing but funky, pimped-out rides were on display! Exciting drag races! Sexy girls plus a big-bike trick exhibition that was just out of this world! The car show was totally entertaining!

To cap off one of the funniest and coolest weeks we’ve ever spent on the show, E-Real Records chartered a big beautiful catamaran complete with captain and crew, filled it with fabulous food, delicious drinks and mesmerizing music by E-Real Records’ most talented Fil-Am artist.

Ava recently relocated from San Diego to Manila to launch her singing career and is now regularly seen on ASAP. She was on board together with 6th Day, a group of four very talented male Fil-Am singers from the San Francisco Bay Area. They will arrive in Manila on Sept. 17 to do a series of shows for the Filipino audience.

From the West, we flew to the South to another coastal city: Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Not very many Filipinos here know of Myrtle Beach yet, but in the States and especially in the south, families come to Myrtle Beach to enjoy a great summer getaway.

Myrtle Beach is all about tee times, show times and fun times. Believe it or not, there are about 100 golf courses that surround this coastal city. There are also impressively-decorated putt-putt courses that line almost every major street. So if you are a golfer, you definitely need to discover Myrtle Beach.

Summers in Myrtle can get pretty hot. The solution? Getting into any one of the numerous wet-and-wild water theme parks that have skyscraper water slides!

Myrtle Beach at night reminds us of Las Vegas, with all the lights from the side by side beach shops, food stores and amusement parks that are on the busiest street in the summer. The amusement parks are open all-year round from morning until late at night. There still is nothing like an old-fashioned towering roller coaster ride to get your adrenaline juices flowing!

If you are more of the speed freak type, Myrtle Beach has something unique to offer you, too. A total Nascar experience! We had lunch at the decked-out Nascar Café completely decorated with authentic Nascar memorabilia – 3D racing plus lamp shades made from real racing helmets!

Myrtle Beach is both a relaxing and exciting coastal city with so much to offer to vacationers of all ages. We are definitely including Myrtle in our green light list.

Our Sports Unlimited US tour was nothing short of fun. Catch our summer adventure trip every Saturday on ABS-CBN. Travel to America via Sports Unlimited – your gateway and ticket to where you want to go!