Flight and Arrival

Our Phil trip was off to a good start! No waiting in the lines at the check in counter, and we were able to switch our seats to ones that are by the window. The flight was 45 minutes delayed though – but no worries bec the terminal had a decent food court and stores to browse around. When we finally boarded, our concerns about surviving a 16-hr flight were somewhat diminished. The plane was in tiptop shape, very clean and modern and the seats were quite comfortable. Also, we were able to hijack (editor's note: not the best airplane vocab) one empty seat across from our assigned seats so Claire and Rachel could spread out in the 3-seater. The entertainment was first rate too – movies, tv, music and games galore! We couldn’t decide which movies to watch first! Claire and I decided on 27 dresses, and Rachel saw Horton Hears a Who and fell asleep shortly after (The only thing the girls watched were romantic comedies. I'd like to make a point that my dad and I saw Vantage Point and I thought it was awesome). The only complaint we had was the food – even if I don’t count the accidental spilling of orange juice on me by one of the flight attendants (don’t worry – she felt really sorry). They served 2 main meals – one right after we took off and one just before landing – both meals were not good at all so Rachel hardly ate anything but the chocolate mousse dessert. They served peanuts for snack – my share was rudely eaten by my Chinese neighbor. They also had cup-of-noodles – which was better than the main meals they served (This is funny because it is true). Good thing we had lots of snacks as "baon"! For the Manila flight, they served fish sandwiches – how weird! Of course neither Robert nor Rachel ate it – and I didn’t particularly like it either.

The HKG (Hong Kong, in case that wasn't clear) airport was HUGE!!! It looked more like a mall, with very fancy stores, but they had very confusing signs and by the time we reached gate 34 (out of 80 gates), we only had 30 min to spare for the connecting flight. The Manila flight was a breeze, and we went through immigration and customs without any incidents. The customs officer kept asking questions and hinting that they taxed everything, and I kept answering I didn’t have anything worth taxing, and our electronics were at least 2 yrs old, and all for personal use. Tita Gina and Gin met us at the arrivals area, and we quickly saw Tito George and Tito Abe with the vans. The porters helped us load the baggages, and off to Lola Pu’s we went.

Boy did Lola prepare a spread! We were served Pancit Molo, shumai, cheese rolls, ensaymada, biko and lanzones (which Rachel loved). All were welcome treats especially since we didn’t enjoy the food on the plane – especially the hot soup! After some chit chat – off we went to the hotel – which was really pleasantly nice even for US standards (Albeit kind of small. It's not just the people, mama). There was an armed security guard at the front of the building and the owner met us when we arrived. Best of all, the hotel is 2 blocks from Lola’s house – so very convenient! Claire and Rachel shared the 2 twin room, and Renne, Robert and I shared the other room (which only has 1 full bed. I'm on the floor). We slept really well, but had to wake up from the sound of the traffic downstairs. (I slept until much later - my mom and dad went out for a walk at 6:30 in the morning. How crazy is that? Very.)

(Editor's Paragraph: I'm posting this the day after my mom wrote it because she got angry at Yahoo 360 yesterday. Blogspot is much better. I don't know if we'll be on time from now on, but she hasn't written anything for today and I had better sleep now because our flight tomorrow is at 6:45 AM. Goodnight all!)

Written by Joy Vinluan, edited by Robbie