Philippine Travel Notes

We ended the previous story with " boarding ", so let's go fly! Pushback ! Only 1425H and we already felt that jerk, as the plane started to push away. Yey! I marked my photo for easy identification since my phone was facing the sun. This: Blue arrrow is the international terminal's name; red arrow is where this plane came from (where we boarded); and, yellow arrow is the domestic terminal. Not really big. Not so big an airport It's maybe as big (or as small) as Davao airport - sama na domestic at international, since as you can see halos magka-dugtong sila. Total building length, ~200 meters. But in terms of passenger traffic (2017), konti lang, about 1.3 million, comparable to BCD or CGY (TAC had 1.7M; ILO had 1.9M; DVO had 4+M), yet Vientiane is a capital. Not a purely government-owned airport BTW, that recent airport upgrade was with 'hefty help' from Japan. Even its operator today is L-JATS (Lao-Japan Airport Terminal Services), a p...

After Check-in, Go Up to Go In ! That's what we said in the previous story, right? Ah Pinoys are familiar with this kind of airport setup like DVO, ILO, CGY, etc. - where you go up a floor level after check-in. Look, the directional sign says Departure Lobby is up there. So ano itong nasa baba? Abaw, ambot ah! Maybe let's call it Check-in Hall (wala kasi siyang lobby eh) . Pwede! It differs from our airports though. In here, everything so far, is publicly accessible ! Yep, let's clarify that... everything downstairs (check-in counters etc.,) is open to the public. Anyone can go in/out down there , plus the 2 nd floor Departure Lobby up here ! In all these areas, walang blue-guard, white-guard, lady-guard, djagwar, gwardya, chief at kung anu-ano pa! Samantala, ang mga malls natin, ay, me jaguar every entrance! What is/are at this second floor anyway? Aw, restaurants and shops. Parang sa ILO at DVO nga, mas madami lang dito! I even saw stairs going to 3 rd ...

Wattay International Airport ; IATA: VTE ; ICAO: VLVT . Let us check-in and fly out! As said in my previous story, I got to this airport after only 16 minutes from city center. How far is this airport? Travel guides, official pages and/or information brochures usually say this airport is 3 kilometers away from the city center and is reachable in 15 to 20 minutes. Quick? I don't know where that 3kms reckons to/with, but as far as my ride was concerned, Ibis Hotel (few steps from KM Zero, Nam Phou Park) is about 6 kms, yet only 12mins ! Na! I ran twice faster than normal? How lucky (well, I usually am anyway hehe) ! Simple, No Frills Entry Entering international terminal's main door, check-in counters are but a few steps. Where I stood to take that picture was probably just 5 or 6 steps from the door. And, like at modern airports, no lining up for an x-ray machine to scan you and everything! That was already the 3 rd pogi point of this small airport! First, ...