Leaving for London

April 6, 2017 Thursday Manila

We’re taking the PAL direct flight to London at 1:20 pm today. Just like in our previous travels, the days leading to our departure is super hectic, bilin dito, bilin duon, instructions dito, instructions duon, pirma dito, pirma duon, meeting dito, meeting duon, takbo dito, takbo duon. By the time we get to the house, we already have jet lags. And with our adrenaline levels super high, we always end up having just a few hours sleep prior to our trip. No rest.

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With the amount of traveling that I do each year, I think I can already qualify to be called a world class traveler. One would think by this time I’ve already developed a system in organizing my things. No.
I am the worst packer. If the spelling is different, like change it to F and U, maybe I would fare better. But packing with a P, I fail. I hate packing. Traveling to a cold country takes a lot of extra luggage space and more clothes to pack. More things to bring.

If your companion is a golfer who doesn’t want to play golf without his own clubs, then that’s another extra baggage. If there’s a connecting flight on a smaller plane, that’s extra pay for every additional baggage.

In this particular trip, my other half is joining the Golf Week for the second time. First was in October 2013. He rented a golf set then. Now, he and his buddies are bringing their own sets. #competitivegolf.
He first intended to share luggage with me so I limited my clothes on one side of my luggage. Since he has more clothes (one set of outfit each day of golfing), plus the bulky jackets and sweaters, he could not fit his stuff into my maleta so he paid British Airways an extra 60 pounds sterling for maleta. That’s a 5 off if you pay upon check in. Syempre maiwan na ang mga damit, wag lang ang golf set.

Some of his friends left a day earlier. They told him the wait at the airport was 5 hours. So today, we left our house at 8:45 am a bit too early for our 1:20 pm flight.

Traffic along EDSA was light to moderate.

The new fly-over from SLEX Resorts World to the airport is a blessing. Instead of the usual slow paced traffic and bottleneck that could take an hour, it was an easy 10 minutes drive from SLEX’s Resort World entrance to NAIA 2. This is one project during Pnoy’s term that is proving to be very useful.

Edmund got two carts and he was surprised to pay P150 / cart. Medyo mahal nga. He wanted to give the porters P300 tip. I told him not to. P50 is okay. He probably gave P100 each. It’s not that I don’t want to tip big, but this could take a precedent. Knowing our culture, hindi na tayo kikilos pag walang tip. Sisimangot na pag beinte or singkwenta lang ang tip. Eh kung tutuusin, malaki na ang singkwenta considering wala pang sampung minutong pag tulak ng mga maleta. Maraming nagbi-byahe na budgeted. Hindi nila kailangan magbigay ng malaking tip. O wag ng kumuha ng cart. Itulak na lang nila ang sarili nilang mga maleta para makatipid sila. Avoid bringing too many boxes and luggage to lessen dependence on extra help.

I don’t enter the security area unless my handbag is already inside the x-ray machine. Sometimes, the conveyor goes backwards so my bag comes out again. I don’t leave till I know my bag has passed thru the machine kasi someone could steal it. It happened to others, their bags disappeared.

The PAL Mabuhay lounge is full to the brim. Some passengers occupy more chairs by placing their bags on the chairs. They don’t notice that some passengers are standing and are looking to find seats. I am disappointed that people don’t care about other people. Simple acts of kindness won’t hurt. I don’t mind putting my bag on the floor no matter how expensive. It’s a bag that is expected to get dirty.

PAL lugaw is irresistible. Actually I am really fond of lugaw so every time I see lugaw, I couldn’t resist it. I just want it hot.

PAL added a new dish, noddle soup. A choice of beef, chicken, shrimps.
Oyen got beef noddle but she didn’t finish it. Instead of getting a bowl for myself, I just got her left over and requested for hot soup anyway I would only eat the soup, the veggies and the shrimps.

There’s an announcement that the PAL flight to Abu Dhabi is delayed. It’s leaving instead at 6 pm that evening. That’s a long wait. It’s only 12:30 noon. Look at all this travelers. No place to go, no chairs to sit on.