Rex

So far, everything is going as planned and we’re now 10,700 meters above the Earth and 6,800 kilometers away from the island of Oahu. The temperature outside is -43°C and we’re traveling at over 900 kilometers an hour. The flight will take a little over 10 hours and I’m trying to enjoy every moment of it.

We left Iloilo this morning onboard the 6:30 Cebu Pacific flight. Me and my mother availed of the Go Lite promo to save 200 pesos on each of out tickets. It was a good idea to take this cool promo. I had a trolley bag and a backpack but both fell within the 7kg limit for handcarried luggage.

I forgot to ask for a window seat but I got one anyway. Too bad the skies over Iloilo were cloudy and I didn’t get to spot Mayon Volcano. Nevertheless, I got to identify Mt. Makiling and Mt. Arayat.

We disembarked at the new(ly used) NAIA Terminal 3. The place was big, but not so impressive. My standards are a little high with the still sleek Iloilo Airport. Haha!

One advice I could give to those on a tight budget is to avoid the yellow metered taxis waiting outside the arrival area. They are metered, but their meters are pricey! Flag down is 70 pesos good for the first 500 meters and every succeeding 300 meters will cost you 4 pesos. It might be a better idea to go up the departure level and take the regular taxis. Just make sure they will use their meter!

I feel like I need to mention the delicious and surprisingly cheap 22-peso cheesy tuna sandwhich and 15-peso ice cream we grabbed at Ministop for a quick breakfast. It was a relief after an expensive taxi ride.

By 1 PM we were at NAIA Terminal 2 for our 3:35 PM flight to Honolulu. I wondered why the terminal fee for international flights was 750 pesos and only 200 pesos for domestic flights. It’s just the same terminal! There were several ‘free’ wifi networks available but I could only connect to one and it was rather slow. I was disappointed because Mactan International Airport has much much better free wifi services running up to 3Mbps.

On the other hand, the service from Philippine Airlines has so far been excellent. There were lots of empty seats on our flight and we were very lucky to be seated in Mabuhay (business) Class. This is a first for me. I’ve had some fun tinkering with the on flight entertainment system as well as the extendible foot rest. The seat and the pillow provided are very comfy too. Most of all, the dinner they served was excellent.

Now I’m looking forward to breakfast. I think I shall be getting some sleep now to minimize the jet lag.

Tags: flight, Hawaii, travel