Tacloban To Tagbilaran

How to travel from Tacloban to Tagbilaran? Let me count the ways hahaha! If from Cebu to Tagbilaran has many options all the more if it's from Tacloban, right? The choices are literally via Land, Air or Sea!

Anyway, in the interest of time and ease, I flew Tacloban to Cebu to Tagbilaran! It went like this:
===> TAC-CEB ETD:1240H ETA:1325H CebGo (P1,693.88)
===> CEB-TAG ETD:1530H ETA:1600H PALex (P1,125.00)
Just a little more than 3 hours and not even worth 3,000 I already reached Tagbilaran!

How did it go? Well, very few passengers on both flights and kind of a little stressful due to delays, but I was able to connect just the same. Hotel limo left the airport thinking I did not arrive but he returned!

O di ba masaya?!

TACLOBAN TO CEBU
Let's start from the very beginning. This was lunch at a restaurant in front of Tacloban's DZR Airport.

This early and quick lunch was past 11AM since boarding time was supposed to be 1210H. No, those were not all just mine hahaha! That was lunch for me and the driver. Happiest na ako sa tinola na yan!

But boarding only commenced at 1250H, ten minutes past departure time!

Since I was boarded first, I reached my seat (2C) at exactly 1251H. These were seats in front of me.

You already know about front seats on Cebu Pacific's ATR72 planes, right? Those are the awkward 1C and 1D that face all other passengers. I took that pic to remind me that both were empty on this flight. In fact, Row 1 to Row 4 were all empty, except for 2C where My Royal Highness was seated. Maluwag!

Trivia: do you know why I was boarded first? That is because the only door used for boarding is at the very back of an ATR72 plane. So, for orderly embarkation, those seated front are asked to board first.

What's an ATR72 anyway? Ah what a very technical thing to explain! Basta, it's a small propeller plane like this, or like this. In the Philippines, only Cebu Pacific Air (CebGo) uses that kind of aircraft, so far.

Another trivia: how many seats does that "small airplane" have? 72, kaya sya tinawag na ATR72!

O, isa pang trivia: What is ATR? Ah, it is an airplane-making company that is a joint venture of French and Italian businesses. In French, that means Avions de Transport Régional, while in Italian, it means Aerei da Trasporto Regionale. So, ATR. In English, it'd be Regional Transport Airplanes. Ayay, RTA na!

Anyway, at 1:05PM, here was my plane, about to takeoff from Tacloban's DZR Airport Runway 18.

Part of my lowly brain was a bit worried I could miss my connecting flight (liwat sa amahan hehe). But a bigger part of the same lowly mind was cool & collected saying: "kaya yan" (aw, liwat sa inahan). Da!

Make my long story shorter, at 1:37PM the plane was already on ground at Mactan Cebu International Airport. And I readily told my royal self "sus oi, tan-awin mo, there is still quite a wide transit time until my 3:30PM flight on PAL to Tagbilaran"! So, I went to wait at the Mabuhay Lounge (eating Aroz Caldo)!

CEBU TO TAGBILARAN
Delayed too! Well, I was not that worried about delays on this leg of the journey - since my hotel would just be where it is whatever time I arrive, right? It's not as if iiwanan ako ni hotel, di ba? Hahaha! But of course, I was also concious that the hotel could cancel my reservation if I do not show up at a certain time, right? They usually do that at about 6 or 7PM, unless you ring them up, that you're gonna be late.

Actually, as far as the boarding gate was concerned, this was such a minor delay - something like just about 10 minutes or less. Reason given was: LATA. [You, my 'Air 101 Pupils' already know that, right?] That is Late Arrival of Turnaround Aircraft. Meaning, the airplane was late coming from another flight.

Look, at 3:50PM, the bus that ferried us from Gate 25B just arrived at plane-side! ETD was 1530H!

Whoa! I was pleasantly surprised we were riding a big Airbus for a short flight with few passengers!

Remember, this flight was just Cebu to Tagbilaran. And I counted: there were only 17 passengers that includes a baby, two children, plus my hotness! I amused myself saying "ah new kasi ang route na ito"!

Something weirdly cutely different: as we entered the plane, a stewardess handed us one each of this:

I smiled and said my thanks.., but deep in me, I was like protesting "ito lang, wala man lang pambara"?

Yet, another voice from within my bungisgis royal self was also saying: "magpasalamat ka namimigay pa ng tubig dito, eh doon sa pula at dilaw binibili ang mga 'yan, kung meron man"! Honga naman, ano? Besides, sa halagang P1,125, lilipad ka na on a jetplane, maghahanap ka pa ng libreng pagkain? Over!

Patuloy ang sermon ni 'aking konsyensya'... yes, I heard my self telling my self this: "hintayin mo, hindi magtatagal ang tubig na 'yan eh naka-sachet na"! Hahaha ano yan ketchup o toyomansi sa fastfood?!

Look here, I was front row of economy, but not of the plane. There's business class on this airbus!

I checked it out as we boarded the plane, this was RP-C8606, I automatically knew this is an A320-214 (Airbus 320 Series 200) that has a total of 12 Business and 144 Economy Class seats! That is why my seat number was 4F, since rows 1 to 3 are business class, eh pang-economy lang si aking kamahalan!

By the way, I observed intently.., and I noticed something was very peculiar about this plane/flight...

Although there were only 17 of us passengers, this plane was 'fully complemented'. That means every nook of the aircraft was fully stocked for a full load of passengers - meaning all the containers, carts, trays at the galleys were in place and full with contents - and there was even real airline meals loaded!

So I asked one of the stewardesses. Ayun naman pala.., after us, this plane was to fly its regular flight schedule from Tagbilaran to Incheon in Korea carrying a load of K tourists, done vacationing in Bohol!

She further told me that the return flight from Incheon to Tagbilaran would also be full, afterwhich and only then, would the aircraft go 'back home' to Cebu, whether there would be any passengers or none!

Interesting!

Something was wrong though. All of us 17 passengers were boarded half an hour ago and I could see that catering and baggage/cargo loading were also already done, yet we were still not moving! Bakit?

As if to answer me.., the pilot's voice came over the PA (Public Address) System, explaining that there was still a (red) plane at Tagbilaran Airport, that should have already left for Manila, but was delayed.., so we could not be cleared to depart from Cebu! Ha? What and why do we care about that red plane?!

Listen up my 'Air 101 Pupils'! Here is another good-to-know situation! Flight from CEB to TAG was not being cleared for takeoff by TAG tower, as there was still an AOG (aircraft-on-ground) at TAG Airport.

Questions: 1) Bakit si TAG ang mag-bibigay ng takeoff clearance, eh sa CEB naman kami te-takeoff? 2) Ano pakialam namin sa delayed AirAsia flight from TAG to MNL, eh ang flight namin is CEB to TAG?

Answer: Call it ludicrous, but this is a special condition that is more of an exception than a rule. There are airports that are still very small despite the 'traffic demand' or 'traffic requirement'. One of them is Tagbilaran. The issue is not even the building (napag-ka-kasya naman kahit siksikan) but the tarmac.

It is too small that only one Airbus can be accommodated at any given time. Flight schedules must be fixed so that no two such planes will be at TAG any time. What if that happens - example na-delay ang buwakang pulang eflayn? Well, the plane that is still in the air will have to stay on hold wherever it may be, until given permission to land (when the runway AND tarmac becomes free). Hold, pwede ba yun?

"Hold" isn't really literal as in hover or fly stationary, since wala pa naman commercial aircraft na kaya mag-ganun. The pilot is given a "holding pattern" (an area sa kalawakan) where he can make his plane paikot-ikot, tuyok-tuyok, libot-libot muna pansamantagal. We all already experienced that, right? Diba?

What if naubusan ng gas si naka-holding pattern? Aba eh, 'di naman pwedeng basta lulutang lang yun sa ere ng forever. Walang forever, di ba? Same if there's bad weather up there. Or just simply matrapik sa himpapawid (it happens)! So they agreed, that you don't takeoff from CEB, until TAG tower says so.

So, that agreement becomes a rule. Meaning? Before a pilot attempts to takeoff, especially at nearby airports, bound for Tagbilaran, they must first check with TAG Air Traffic Control (we call them ATC or tower) to ascertain if all of TAG will be clear to allow that landing. Otherwise, nganga ka muna like us!

That is a more practical thing to do, especially for very quick flights that take only a few minutes.

How quick is this CEB to TAG flight? Ah, check-out this picture I took of the plane's monitor..,

First line says Distance Traveled, and opposite that it says 0 (zero) since we haven't moved yet. When I took that pic (4:40PM), we had been sitting on the plane for 50 minutes, but we were not moving yet.

Second line says Distance to Destination and it says 72 kilometers only!

Third line says Time to Tagbilaran and opposite that is 12 minutes - if the aircraft would start moving anyway! Imagine what you can do in that span of time hehe! The fasten seat belt sign would of course never go off, so do not use the lavatory! Don't even call the crew, they probably won't stand up anyway!

Oh, so that is why they already give the bottle of water once you enter the plane - because they will not have any other chance to do so until after landing when the fasten seatbelt signs are switched off. Da!

Anyway, we took off at 1642H from Runway 04, banking sharply to the right for landing approach into Tagbilaran! I wonder how high the plane reached before starting to descend hehe! At least I saw this..,

That's the Mangrove Forest of Batasan Island in Tubigon Bohol. It's one of their tourist attractions that is steadily being overshadowed by a phenomenon where settlements in that and nearby islands seem to have sunk significant inches, that locals say occured after the strong 2013 earthquake. Nowadays, many places (paved roads, schools, plazas, residences etc) go waistdeep underwater during hightide.

Anyway too, during descent, people were curiously looking out the window, to see the Chocolate Hills.

I wasn't lucky this time as those hills were on the other side of the plane. But I captured some, I think!

Anyway again, let's fastforward - we landed, disembarked, walked to the airport terminal and saw this:

That is the plane I arrived on. I just disembarked from the stairs at portside and was initially surprised to see those two carts full of fine luggage. Halatang hindi sa mga Pinoy, walang carton boxes hahaha!

Of course I was sure those did not come from our flight, eh 17 lang kami, me mga baby pa! Therefore, those were bags waiting to be loaded. Ah yes, the stewardess told me this plane was goin Korea next.

So, goodbye airplane hello Tagbilaran!

I told my self "sige, titigan at piktyuran mabuti, dahil 'di na magtatagal, isasara na ang airport na 'to!

Yes, the new airport over at Panglao Island is fast becoming a reality. I heard it will still bear the IATA code TAG (for Tagbilaran), but am not sure if the ICAO Code RPVT will be retained. Parang hindi yata.

Exiting out of the arrival area, I called my hotel to confirm if the "limousine" indeed came to fetch me.

OMG it just left, driver thinking I didn't arrive or I went on my own! Good the resort told him to go back!

Just a bit more of waiting, my all-smiling limousine chauffeur came to "retrieve" me from the airport!

Going to my resort passes by the new airport under contruction. The driver said he knew a supervisor. Adding my "charm", we could have dropped by to take pics of this and that. Problem was: madilim na!

Not really that pitch-dark, since it was just about sunset. But, you know my phone... ayaw ng madilim!

Besides, it looked like construction work already stopped for the day and entrances were barricaded.

So I said "maybe I'll just come around some other time". And the driver told me to just tell him if I need help in securing permission and/or escort to enter and see/explore the airport construction site. O ha!

Thus, "day's end journey's end" (pasok pa rin sa sunset protocol)! I arrived at my final destination..,

That's Blue Ocean Bohol Beachfront Resort, Alona Beach, in the town of Panglao, on Panglao Island!

Hmm, I know you know what my next topic would be...

But let's do that in my next entry, shall we? We shall!