Well, this is it. The flights have
been reserved and tickets bought. All I have to do is pack my bags and go. Well,
after I make an additional booking for the airport shuttle. Why do I have to
make this trip? This is not a vacation and I’ll be in and out in less than a week
not counting travel time. I’m going to be visiting my ailing mother in the
Philippines (more on this later) whom I haven’t seen since my father’s funeral.
Before all the airline bookings, I learned quite a few things.
I don’t travel very much. In fact the last
time was 11 years ago and before 9-11. Oh boy, have things changed and I’ve
been struck clueless. First I discovered that there is hardly if any ticket
price difference between using a travel agent, internet sites like Kayak or
Expedia, or an airlines’ website. It used to be you could get the discounted
bulk rates through a travel agent. Nowadays those prices are all over the web.
In the U.S, the law now requires that all advertised prices must include taxes
and fees, which I think is good so you know what your real total is. For
example, the ticket I bought cost $630 before taxes and fees and $1070 after. That
even includes a fuel surcharge fee. There is no similar law in the Philippines
however. When I was researching prices, I was able to find a much reduced one
way promo rate for one of the domestic airlines there. Much to my surprise, the
taxes and fees cost more than the promo rate. We’re not even talking about the
terminal fee that the airports require you to pay at the gate. You cannot
prepay that one.
I didn’t get the lowest possible
plane fare because I had to consider the logistics of my travel. The cheapest
fare required an overnight stay in Hawaii both coming and going and if you have
to stay in a hotel, that expense eliminates what you save on the plane fare.
Other lower fares involved long layovers – as much as 12 hours, between Manila
and my destination which is Zamboanga. So I had to find something with a
layover of about 4 hours. I’m just
hoping none of the flights are delayed so I don’t miss my connections.
Then there are these other optional
cost considerations: baggage fee other than what you carry on, seat choice fee,
travel insurance fee, excess baggage fee. It’s almost like getting a mortgage
with all these fees!
Buying the Los Angeles to Manila
ticket was no problem. I booked directly through the Korean Airlines website
which quoted the same price as Kayak.com and the travel agent I talked to.
Booking the domestic flight via the Cebu Pacific website was more problematic.
By the way, the reason why I did two separate bookings instead of having a
travel website figure it all out is because you can find cheaper domestic fares
that way and a flight time that may be more advantageous to your schedule. That
all looks good on paper and in perfect world without flight delays. So back to
the Cebu Pacific booking. I entered all the necessary information and
everything was okay until I tried paying for it with my U.S. credit card. Their
system was not able to process the transaction. I tried another credit card
with the same result and even tried paying in pesos with the credit card
company doing the conversion (the credit card company conversion was a few
dollars lesser). No cigar on any of my attempts. Meanwhile the credit card company alerted me for
possible fraudulent activities via email and I had to call them to let them
know that I indeed made those transactions. I really wanted to get that promo
rate before it sold out and since my brother lives in the Philippines, I asked
him a favor of booking the domestic flights for me. He was able to take care of that easily since
he was very familiar with the system there. Much thanks again Larry J. Oh, and he also
alerted me to the fact that the Ninoy Aquino International Airport now has
three terminals. I only knew of one last time I was there. Thanks to the
internet, I found out the layout of the three terminals and how to get from one
to the other. So that takes care of all the flying concerns. I haven’t even
started yet and boy, do my arms already feel tired (old bad joke).
The last time I traveled to the
Philippines, I didn’t have to concern myself about charging electronic items
because I didn’t have any. With at least a cellphone and a netbook I plan to
bring, and owing to my clueless nature, I thought I had to bring a transformer
or power converter too. Wrong on that count. I checked with the president of
our running club who travels a lot and he enlightened me to the fact that the
chargers that come with electronic devices nowadays have built in converters.
Indeed when I checked the very fine print on these chargers with a magnifying
lens, I saw that they could be used between 100 to 240 volts. That’s one less
thing to worry about and I don’t even have to bring plug adapters since the
Philippines uses the same two prong plugs that the U.S. does.
I think I might still have a dollar’s worth in Philippine pesos
lying around. And now it’s time to dig out my old suitcase, passport, and review
the TSA guidelines…
Public comments below, private comments: E-mail Me!
1 comment:
See you soon :)
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