Philippine Travel Notes

Hah! The ' tight connection ' from domestic to international terminals may have been "a little bit unsettling" , but here I was, still 'gliding' hahaha! Lucky is my 'middle name'! At 1:37PM, check-in was a breeze! It had to be, counters were to close in 3 minutes! That (check-in counter closure) was the 'crucial moment' I have all along been trying to catch! Had I been 3 minutes slower, this story may have been totally different. Ta! The check-in lady told me to immediately do immigration clearance, and proceed to the gate, as boarding for this flight has already commenced. Gosh, one hour BETD? Well, no time for "pilosopo questions" . She said it's already boarding, so I ordered my royal highness to be at that gate ASAP. This time though, I was calmer and collected ! Calmer as in I was back to my usual inquisitive atrevida self! Like I still had the time (or is that audacity?) to watch that group at right. They were send...

As I said in the previous article , let us continue my travel, this time just transit ing at HCMC to get out of Vietnam, onwards to Phnom Penh, the capital city of Cambodia. Note: I keep saying Ho Chi Minh City or HCMC or Saigon, they're one-and-the-same! Saigon is the old name, Ho Chi Minh City is the new name, HCMC is the abbreviation. But the 3-letter IATA airport code did not change. It is still SGN . Anyway... My DAD~SGN flight was a bit late, so transfer activities didn't allow me enough time for my usual chechebureche (shooting pics here-and-there) as I transferred terminals ! Per ticket, ETD DAD was 1125H, but at DAD airport it became 1150H. That's already a 25-minute delay. When you have connecting flights, 25 minutes is already serious. Well, we sometimes just include in our prayers that "sana lang" there would be a tail wind to push the plane faster. I did just that (nagdasal) , for what else can I do, di ba? Ah, the winds-of-change...

All Aboard! Okay boarded. I was last in. Soon as I stepped into this plane, they closed the door! So I settled into my seat and appreciated the earth-toned, kind-of-airy surroundings. Hindi sya 'cheapeepai' tingnan like all budget airlines are - in bold reds or yelllows or oranges or blacks - na para kang nasa kids' play area, tadtad ng advertising stickers na na-aagnas na o di-kaya natutuklap na or both! Ganyan ang budget airlines, di ba? Here, interiors are respectably cool, parang PAL or other Full Service Carriers (FSCs). And look at the bulkhead (front wall), me round mistletoe pang nalalaman. Sosyalin ! Ahehe, Christmas Day kasi kahapon! Yep, all of Vietnam does celebrate Christmas , even if they are non-Christians. And Vietnam Air (VN) joins-in with refined elegance! Uncommon Seat Nomenclature! Let me just call it "uncommon" for it's not "unique", I think. Just a little different from many other airliners, especially ours in the ...