Philippines Vacation 2016 – The First 3 Days (due to the International Date Line)

Oh boy, the jet lag and insomnia has thrown me for a loop! I've been trying to reestablish my equilibrium the past two weeks and it's still a work in progress. Normally, I would have written about this vacation already, but instead I barely got started. Well, for better or for worse, this is the first chapter.

My first real vacation since 1989 started with a day off from work which gave me a chance to recheck  what I had to bring to the Philippines. The downside was having to wait another 36 hours before flight time. China Southern Airlines was the airline I booked back in December and I got a pretty good price and what I thought was as little layover time as possible. Unfortunately, the airline changed the schedule of my return flight and rebooked me with an 11 hour layover in Guangzhou, China, instead of just 3 hours. Well I managed to change that to “just” a 7 hour layover, still long but more manageable. But of course things changed again, as I shall tell you later.

My outbound flight from L.A. to Guangzhou was scheduled for 11:30 p.m. I was picked up from home at about 6:30 p.m. by a company called Shuttle to LAX and what showed up was a private car - a brand new Honda Accord with only one other passenger. When we arrived in LAX, I found my way to the China Southern Airlines check in counters. I had already checked in online from home and reserved my seats both for the LAX to Guangzhou leg and the Guangzhou to Manila leg. All I had to do was check my baggage of presents and make sure that my mileage was going to be credited with the airlines’ Sky Pearl Club.

I proceeded to the assigned departure gate, walked around a bit, then sat down to connect to LAX’s free wi-fi. After waiting a couple of hours, we were informed that there was a flight delay and the airline was kind enough to pass out some buns and bottles of water. I didn’t partake since I was still full from dinner. When we finally boarded the plane, the usual announcements were done but I had to listen really closely because it was sometimes difficult to understand English spoken with a Chinese accent. I soon found out one of the reasons why I got a cheap ticket. Or maybe this is the trend nowadays. During my last trip 3 years ago on Korean Airlines, we were given a kit containing a toothbrush, toothpaste, disposable slippers, and an eyemask and had 3 meal services. China Southern didn’t have such a kit and only served food twice. On the long flight to Guangzhou, I watched some movies (Star Wars and some other forgettable one), listened to classical music, and tried to sleep without much success.

The final approach during landing at Guangzhou had a lot of cross wind but the pilot landed the plane beautifully and as smooth as butter. The plane didn’t even bounce. Due to the flight delay, we arrived in Guangzhou with only about 45 minutes to spare to catch my flight to Manila. Still, I managed to put in a 20 minute walking workout by finding the departure gate and walking back and forth. I really wanted to hit my minimum of 30 minutes but it was time to board. Wouldn’t you know it, but we had to wait on the tarmac for another flight delay of an hour due to bad weather. I could have walked some more if we had stayed in the terminal! I’ll have to make up for that 10 minutes some other time. One observation I have to mention about China Southern Airlines – on the flight from L.A to Guangzhou, I never saw a smile among the flight attendants the whole time until we stepped out of the plane. Maybe they were just tired. Smiles were more abundant among the crew from Guangzhou to Manila.

I left L.A. on Monday and arrived in Manila on Wednesday. There must have been a storm since it was raining steadily and the flight to Manila had a lot of turbulence. Nevertheless we touched down in Manila safely and passed through immigration, baggage pick up, and customs pretty quickly. My brother Larry had sent me a message a few days before to meet him at the letter X waiting area for arriving passengers. I asked a security guard for directions, found the area and soon enough saw Larry walking towards me. We walked back to where he parked the car and as we left the area, I experienced something that was going to be repeated time and again during my short vacation – Philippine traffic. My brother uses Waze to navigate and even with that, one still gets stuck several times. Despite Larry telling me where we were, I could no longer recognize anything. My former landmarks were gone and the former wide open spaces of those landmarks were now crowded with new buildings and highrises. Only when we entered the University of the Philippines did some things still look familiar since I spent my college years there. Prior to that, we stopped by a foreign exchange business in Cubao so I could exchange dollars into pesos. The teller initially made a mistake and indicated that I had given her $300 instead of $500. Good thing I noticed it before the transaction was finalized.

I breathed a sigh of relief when we finally arrived at Larry and Ninette's townhome in U.P. Professors Subdivision. My sister in law- Ninette came downstairs to meet me and later her mother- Pilaring and niece- Robynne. I also met Ninette’s and her sisters’ former au pair- Manang Liling, who now cooks for them, and their helper- Vangie. Since Ninette was working from home, and Robynne was studying for exams, and Pilaring was trying to recover from a fractured arm and a cough, I excused myself to explore the neighborhood and put in my workout for the day. Somehow, I made my way to Tandang Sora and walked down that street, made a left on Congressional Avenue until I reached Mindanao Avenue. All the while, I tried to walk on whatever sidewalk was available, which was already uneven in the first place. I still had to dodge cars, jeepneys, and tricycles because I had to step off the sidewalk several times due to vehicles being parked there. I thought I was just going out and back on that street but somehow got misdirected on the way back. Instead of making a right on Tandang Sora, I proceeded straight on Congressional Avenue. Thus, I couldn’t find the landmark I made a note of on my way out. 

Fortunately, I saw a sign saying U.P. Professors Subdivision and asked the security guard how to get to Jade Street. It turns out, that entrance happened to be Jade Street and my brother’s home was at the end of that short block.Was I glad to find my way back home because I still hadn’t bought a Philippine SIM card nor “load” for my cell phone and couldn’t call anyone for help. That was my next order of business: buying a SIM card and some load (prepaid credits). Every corner store seemed to sell those but the first store I went to cut the SIM card too small for my phone, so my brother ended up buying one and cutting it the right size (one card can be cut to regular, micro, or nano SIM size). Next I bought 100 pesos worth of load but despite following the instructions, couldn’t get the 4G data to work  (or any G for that matter) even though I could call and text. That would have to do for now.

(To be continued)

Los Angeles to Incheon to Manila

Having been picked up by an airport shuttle company at about 6:30 p.m., I had plenty of time to kill at LAX before my Korean Airlines flight to Incheon leaving at 11:30. I spent the time trying to connect to the free wi-fi and it took a while to figure it out because there were two available but only one that was working, and that was only after I had to see an ad in a browser. I got hungry after awhile since my last meal was about 3 p.m. so I went around looking for some food. After entering the departure areas, there were fewer choices where you can find a decent and reasonably priced meals. I ended up eating a hotdog and diet soda (I kept the chips for later). I must say, that was the most expensive hotdog snack I’ve ever eaten.

While in line to board the plane, a Korean woman asked me to keep an eye on her carryon baggage because she forgot to pick something up from the duty free shop. Well, that’s just something the TSA tells you exactly not to do - watch somebody else's baggage because it could be a bomb. Who knows if that woman would come back? But come back she did much to my relief.

A couple of hours before leaving, I posted on Facebook that if someone acted out during the flight, at least the Koreans on board would know taekwondo and if my assistance was required, I’m trained for the Management of Assaultive Behavior, which is a requirement of my job. Oh wait, that's only if psych patients acted out in the hospital. I guess the Korean kickers would have to do without me.

When we boarded the plane, I was relieved to see two other skinny people sitting in my row. At least we would have adequate room between us. After a brief introduction, I found out that the girl in the window seat was Japanese, the guy in the middle was Chinese, both half my age, and myself a Flip. You couldn’t get any more Asian in that row. William works at Abercrombie and Fitch while Atsuko, whose brother lives in L.A.  was returning home from vacation. Throughout the flight, there was one thing I noticed about the Japanese girl. She slept most of the 12 hour flight and didn’t eat any of the meals. I found her later at Incheon waiting for her connecting flight and teased her that the sleeps like a cat and eats like a bird. I discovered something else about the girl – she used to be a flight attendant for Korean Airlines but gave it up to study tax accounting.

To entertain myself inflight, what else would I watch but a couple of running movies. First was Fast Girls about British sprinters trying to qualify for the Olympics and then the classic Chariots of fire. In between, I took naps while listening to classical music. Wait a minute! I don’t do classical music! Well whatever works to get some rest, I guess.

            After deplaning at Incheon, I went looking for my departure gate for Manila, then having found that, I still had about 3 hours to kill so I started a walking workout at about 2 a.m. while pulling my carryon luggage. The main hallway of the terminal took about 10 minutes to cover end to end and with a couple of other long hallways which I went up and back several times, I completed a 45 minute brisk walk.

            Then it was time to leave for Manila. Unfortunately, I don’t recall very much about that leg of the trip other than the flight attendant telling me that the flight wasn’t full and to feel free to move to another seat. I then asked her if that included first class.

Darn, she said no! Well, so be it, onward to the Philippines in coach class. One thing I can say about the uniform of the flight attendants: they have a pointy scarf that if you are not careful, it can poke an eye out.

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Clueless About The Logistics of Air Travel To The Philippines

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…

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