Philippine Travel Notes

Let me just write this for my memory (and yours, my dear fellow Pinoy Travelers) . It is now 11SEP2026, and I saw this a few moments ago. Handcarry is BACK to 10kgs . Naantig ba ang puso? O baka naman naramdaman na ang paghina ng bookings due to that proudly pioneering nilang strictly 7kgs? Plus, the recent issues tulad ng violin. Di lang natin alam, because they will surely not say the real reason. Ehem! Eto yun o: I'll be honest, buksan nyo man ang puso at utak ko, pati na kaluluwa ko, there is not a bit of me wanting to say thank you. Bagkus, all of me is saying IT IS ABOUT TIME! I don't know why hehehe! Anyway apat na tulog pa including tonight! #TravelPhilippines

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, ...