Philippine Travel Notes

Welcome back dear readers! Here's another series of interconnected trips I have (yes present-tense, because it is happening now)! Many bits to wonder & ponder about again. As usual, I am telling these to you, every end of each day! The notable notes, nice views, fun and funny things, even the rantworthy matters do not only happen at a destination or destinations. They start on our way there, all the way until we're back home, right? So, I'm trying to make this a "blow-by-blow" account. Well, day-by-day lang! Ang daming pasakalye 'no?! O sya sya sige, let's hear my story! This is another long "jump around", that will bring me to places in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. If I'm able to stick to "the plan", it'll go something like this: TAC-CEB connecting to CEB-MNL, where I'll sleep at Holiday Inn Express Manila Newport City (HIE Newport). I'm actually here now, as I write this ! Tomorrow, I'll b

Let's go to Vietnam, okay lang? Okay na, andito na ako as I write this eh! 😁 Ah eh.., this is still my Philippine Travel Notes blog, and as always, I will not regale you with sights and scenes of other countries to entice you in going there. Aba oy, loyal Pinoy pa rin ako. Sometimes, I just need to describe them (like now) for comparison purposes, with travel-things in our dear inang bayan! So, I flew from Tacloban to Ho Chi Minh, but it required 3 connecting flights with layover in Singapore. Look at the white arrows representing my flight routes - 1] Tacloban to Cebu on PAL, transit lang (hey I passed by T2 on a bright time of day!), 2] Cebu to Singapore on Air Asia (slept at Changi Airport T2, as usual, para libre!), then early this morning, 3] Singapore to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon yan!) on Scoot Air. There are new (and updated) 'learnings' I want to tell you! As for the yellow arrows, yun ang pabalik ko, 4 flights yun! But let's talk about them later - as c

Let's continue my stories on this trip out of the new Mactan-Cebu International Airport Terminal 2 . Not that there is anything to shout to the whole world about -especially since I prefer to tell only stories on Philippine travel. But I do have notes from here and there, that might be useful to dear Pinoy Travelers. Such as: aircraft used by Air Asia on their Cebu~Kuala Lumpur flights, are Philippine registered planes (just like those on their domestic flights), meaning owned by Philippines Air Asia , with IATA Code Z2 . This started with a curiosity why my flight number was "Z2 7110", not "AK 7110" - because I knew long ago that the two-letter IATA code of Air Asia, Inc. (a company based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) is AK. On top of that, my connecting flight from Kuala Lumpur Malaysia to Medan Indonesia also on Air Asia, had "QZ 125" as flight number, not "AK 125". Curious, I also searched that, and I learned that the airline is Ind

Here is a form I saw at the Customer Service Counter of Robinson's Tacloban... Because she was not busy, I tried 'educating' the sales lady manning that counter. I said 'maybe' their form should say "RELOC" (that means RE cord LOC ator) - it is an airline terminology that is also called "Computer Record", "Booking Record", "Booking Reference", "Booking Number" or many other names. BUT, not "relocation". Trust me, there is no such thing as "Relocation" or "Re-location" Number that any airline uses (or will use) in their booking systems and/or transaction terminologies all over this world. Ano yan, sumakay ka lang ng eroplano, "bakwit" na agad? Me pabahay (housing)? Re-location daw eh! In fact, "Relocation" or "Re-location" is quite a potentially misleading term/phrase for airline people to use, as it 'somehow' invites negative connotation on a pa

I went on a succession of domestic and international connecting flights - again! Wah! But I still liked it anyway. It was Tacloban-Cebu on PAL, Cebu-Singapore on TigerAir and Singapore-Penang on Jetstar! The exciting (and challenging) part was: I had company this time, yey! But he decided late to join me! Well when it comes to traveling, especially if by air, I'm not one who easily surrenders - when allowed. Like, the companion left me to 'curate' all bookings in the most economical way. Challenge accepted! Our flights from Tacloban to Penang went something like this... As you can see, we both departed on the same morning from Tacloban (just more than an hour apart); followed separate itineraries; yet reached Penang Island (Malaysia) in the evening, just 20mins apart! Coolness di ba? Yeah! Who says you need to be on the same flights forever anyway, right? Why and How did that happen? Ah, like this... for this travel to Penang and Langkawi Islands (Malaysia) I book

Wheh?! Let me quote the whole article: " No need to print plane tickets: DOJ says e-tickets will do by Ina Reformina, ABS-CBN News Posted at 09/11/2013 2:50 PM | Updated as of 09/12/2013 10:26 AM MANILA, Philippines - There's no need to print your plane tickets anymore. Passengers at all international ports of entry and exit in the country may present their electronic tickets using their smartphones and tablets. In a statement, Justice Secretary Leila De Lima said that the advisory from the Department of Justice (DOJ) and its attached agency, the Bureau of Immigration (BI), is effective immediately. "This is another step to improve access to basic government services. We shall continue to work with all stakeholders to inject common sense and process logic into our systems," De Lima said. The new policy is by virtue of Operations Order No. SBM-2013-003, entitled "Removing the Requirement of Presentation of the Printed Hard Copy of Return and/or Onward Passage

A friend sometime ago asked me about this and I wasn’t really sure of the answer so I said I will take note of that and ask my airline friends. But I haven’t yet got to asking when it also happened to me. Well, what a chance experience! I mean it was nice this happened to me so I now know the thing first-hand. I’m talking about those e-tickets issued by travel agencies. Here’s the story: On a recent off-site activity, client opted for the package where they take charge of my transport and accommodation. So I received an electronic ticket from them. It looked weird to me (since am not used to having this kind of e-ticket printout) but just the same, it was a ticket. It did contain the usual information we are used to seeing – plus a bit more, and in a different format! Days prior to the flight, I toyed at the idea of extending my stay in Davao so I could use a day or two to roam more of IGaCoS beyond the beach resorts. So I opened the Cebu Pacific website to retrieve my booking. It was

Let’s hear a foreigner-friend who sent me email… Dear PT, ...I know you discuss mostly air travel within the country, but I hope you can help me. Why do airliners always ask me for a return ticket? Sometimes they insist I buy a ticket to anywhere outside Philippines. I tell them I don't know, because it depends if I go home next week or the next month. Still they don't sell me a ticket to Philippines if I don't buy return or onward ticket. So, I just guess a date, buy return ticket that becomes useless cuz I leave on another date. Isn’t that robbery? My reply… Dear (friend), No it is not robbery. That's just how it is with international travel. Its not even an airline requirement. It is a government requirement that the airline must comply with. Otherwise if immigration finds out you don't have a return or onward ticket, the airline will be fined heftily. From friend again… Dear PT, …never did Immigration ask me for a return ticket the many times I left going to Phi

Ehem… for those of you my readers who can’t or won’t be able to understand anything below, its okay, don’t read. That means’s this is not for you… and there’s nothing to miss. Promise! Maiba naman… pipilitin kong isulat ito sa ating sariling wika sa dalawang kadahilanan – 1) para maintindihan ng marami dyan sa tabi-tabi, at 2) para di maintindihan ng mga banyaga dahil maraming mga nakakahiya akong napag-alaman na tatalakayin dito. Okay ha?! Simulan natin… Airline Ticket Office / Travel Agency Opo alam nating lahat, doon tayo bumibili ng ticket para makasakay ng eroplano. Madaling mahanap yan dahil meron mga naka-display na logo ng mga airlines. Kaso po, hindi lahat ng meron malalaking logo ng mga airlines na yan ay mga sariling ticket office nila. Karamihan nyan ay tinatawag na Travel Agency. Pinapayagan silang mag-benta ng ticket kahit hindi sila mga empleyado ng airline. Parang cellphone load kumbaga. Pwede ka po magpa-load dyan sa tindahan ng kapitbahay nyo pero hindi ito nangangahu

Others reading this might raise their eyebrows to the high clouds. But believe me, many a Filipino airline passenger confuse the names of these two things. Most of the time these are interchanged. Not that it causes anything untoward, but sometimes it does become a source of misunderstandings. And this is not between the rich and the poor, nor this is between the educated and the not so educated. Believe me, am writing personal experiences hehehe! Chagrin chagrin chagrin to some friends reading this. Guys, there is nothing to be ashamed about. It is just that we don’t often do the same things in our lives – like some would be frequently flying while others would be diving. And, what do I know about 5-doors or 3-doors or AUVs and SUVs – for me they’re all just vehicles I want to ride on as opposed to sedans. I think that analogy would make everyone be at ease. To those who think they know everything about these two important things on flying by air, just read on and smile. Or betterstil