Philippines Visit, Part 1

Before Anything
Itinerary printed?
Passport?
Greencard?
Philippine cellphone fully charged?
Philippine money ready?
Pasalubong?


It Begins
Checked in at San Francisco Airport at 8pm. I was hoping to get a seat in the exit row, but all those were taken. Instead, I got stuck in the last row right next to the bathrooms. Oh well.

PR105
Service is so very slow... It took the flight attendant at least 30 minutes to respond to requests. The bathrooms got pretty smelly halfway through the flight and there were no paper cups. Good thing I held on to the little plastic cup they served orange juice in. This is the longest flight I'll be in on this trip. Nothing was going to dampen m excitement to be back home. Not even a long, crappy flight like this one. Oh, what I would give to go business class again. :(

NAIA
Hot. Muggy. Thirty minutes later, I was all acclimated. It helped that I changed into shorts and a light t-shirt as soon as I can. After I checked into my connecting flight to Cebu, it was time to do the usual: get a new sim card, buy prepaid load, call family to let them know I'm in Manila, and get something to eat.

I usually have a few thousand pesos with me (left overs from previous trips). This was always enough to cover airport fees and buy the sim card, prepaid load and food. Holy smokes!!!! Water was Php50 now! More expensive than premium gas. Coffee was Php95. This is ridiculous! Sandwiches were crazy expensive. So I sat there enjoying one of the most expensive bottles of water in my entire life.