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...

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, ...

Had a wonderful time roaming around T2 of Noi Bai International Airport , especially the plane-spotting thing. What makes Hanoi ideal for the activity is that there aren't so many flights to overwhelm or confuse you. Yet, not that few for you to get bored. First Impressions Anyway... so I was finally aboard Lao Airlines Flight QV312 from Hanoi to Vientiane! Once seated, I felt a bit uneasy moving-as-I-wished hehehe. Eh kasi naman, the first things that caught my sight were not 'da bes'! Kunwari yan, puti ba yan o brown, ha? Anyway, good that I did my plane-spotting thing earlier. I learned that, this aircraft is an Airbus A320-214 delivered direct from the factory to Lao Airlines in 01DEC2011. O di ba? Not very new, but not too old either. Iyan yan sya, on foreground, yung nasa gate, Aircraft Registry RDPL-34199 . We were already boarding when I took that pic! So, medyo relaaak na (ng konti) ang iyong Pinoy Traveler, kesehoda kung para bang nanglilimahid na an...