Friday May 1st was up well before the sun to catch my flight to Cebu, Philippines. When we made the booking an 8.25am flight seemed fine - I had forgotten to add on time for getting to the airport and the fact you need to be there around 2 hours before departure time.....don't think I'll be doing any more early morning flights again.
Clare and I had arranged to meet at the airport at 6.30am, which didn't quite go to plan. Clare's alarm didn't go off and ended up having to take a taxi from the city arriving minutes before check-in closed. I had managed to check in and had a cup of tea before she arrived. We were straight through security and customs then to the gate - all well. After an easy 2 hour flight we landed in Manila, had to collect our bags and check in at the domestic terminal. Sounds easy, well it was until we stood in line. It would have to be the slowest check-in lines known to man! Fingers crossed we make the flight which leaves in less than 30 minutes. If you read a headline about 2 ladies tearing through the airport you will know it was us.
Well its now 10 minutes to departure and we won't be on the plane. They over booked and told us we didn't have seats.....even though we booked in at 6.30am and our luggage tags say through to Cebu. Fat lot of use that is! As you can imagine we are far from pleased and loud words have been shared - doesn't help that they are as slow as ever working everything out. We were told they would change our flight free of charge - that didn't go over well with us given its their mistake we aren't on the plane. He did mention compensation being a return round trip flight but I won't believe that until I get it and to be honest I don't know if I'll want to fly on Cebu Pacific ever again. I knew there was a good reason to keep flying with the airline you have points with - you will always get looked after.
So we now have another 2 hours in Manila airport, I have a feeling the majority of the time will be spent hanging around the check-in counters. Not a great start to our stress free, relaxing holiday. We finally received our new boarding passes and two vouchers for free flights domestically within the Philippines. If, and a big if, I use my vouchers I think I'll be flying another airline to Manila. Thank goodness we're on a direct flight back to HK on Monday.
We had a short time to wait before boarding our flight to Cebu, which is around a 1 hour flight. On arrival I felt like we had been traveling for days and days. There was a hotel man at the bag counter, he advised us a car through him would be 300 Pesos, after the day we had we just went with it. Within 45 minutes of landing we were at our pink, yes pink Hotel (Hilton Resort and Spa) where the staff were literally falling over us to help us. A huge difference from the debacle we had experienced at Manila airport.
After dropping our bags in our room, taking a look at our view we were off to find a drink quick smart. One option was the hotel lobby bar or Manny O's, we went with Manny O's for the view and the happy hour drinks. Choose the local beer, San Miguel, with the free tapas and sat enjoying being on holiday away from airports! Was so relaxing and peaceful, until we nearly got blown away by the wind. We had the buffet dinner in the hotel restaurant, which was very good. Before calling it a night we decided to go exploring the hotel complex - found the gym then the games room. We had a game of air hockey then attempted to play ping pong. All very amusing for us, but I don't think the 2 people playing pool were as amused. We are hoping we wake tomorrow to sunshine and blue skies.
Saturday morning we had breakfast before hitting the beach. Things didn't go eggsactly as planned.....I'm still waiting for my poached egg and the orange juice was far from normal. April (the supervisor) keep saying she "profusely apologized", it was not her fault which we informed her. We had a few of hours at the beach before decided to go and have lunch at the restaurant. Because we wanted to maximize our sun time we went for quick and easy lunch (chicken Caesar salad and antipasto platter). You would think they were getting the ingredients from the middle of Arica, it really took that long! Then when it arrived, the cheese on the salad was moldy, nice, and the antipasto platter had old/bad lettuce surrounded by weird ingredients, most of them not on the menu. After informing our waiter she took the meals away, and I went looking for the supervisor. As luck would have it April was still on and the "profusely apologizing" began. We ordered new food and decided that a beer was needed to dull our pain. Shortly after being at the beach, I was left on my own. Clare's lunch decided not to stay with her. The rain then began so sun bathing was off and we were back to the room to read and watch TV.
Eventually we left the room for Manny O's where we had a drink on extremely uncomfortable seats, the cushions were wet from the earlier downpour. The seats got too much so we moved to the lobby bar for a cocktail before dinner. We had vowed and declared we wouldn't be eating at the restaurant tonight, however that went out the window with the weather. So off we went, and thankfully dinner was a million times better than lunch, lots of oysters which we gobbled down.
Sunday we woke to blue skies and sunshine, but unfortunately this didn't last long. By the time we had breakfast, with April ensuring we got everything we wanted, it was pouring down and in all directions. There goes our plan of being at the beach for the day. The hotel has a free shuttle to a couple of malls, so after a quick change we were off in the pink bus to a mall. The sites along the way was eye-opening. Hardly any houses, but many many shacks. Lots of little stores with a bench top selling hot food, fruit etc. Children playing basketball. Lots of colourful small van like vans (its hard to describe what they were like…be on the look out for the photos) driving people around, clearly the local buses. People driving all over the road.
On arrival at the mall we had to open our bags for the security to check, then was inside with a/c. We starting wondering around the mall, and at times going around in circles. There were a few shops we entered but before too long we were over it and decided to take a taxi back to the hotel. Thankfully Clare is like me in regards to shopping. We were back by midday and spent the rest of the day at the beach. Decided not to leave for lunch, and had it brought to us. We didn't want to waste time like yesterday.
We were going to venture out to another hotel for dinner, but around beer time we lost all motivation. Repeated last evenings events….nothing wrong with repeating a good thing! Good food again, and thankfully they had oysters.
Monday we seemed to wake early, headed straight to breakfast and then to the beach. It was a beautiful morning, the nicest since arriving. After lying down for what seemed like 5 minutes I was in the water to cool off - its going to be a hot day. Typical when its the day we are leaving. We snorkeled around for a bit, until Clare saw jellyfish and we were out quick smart! Had lunch at our loungers again and around 2pm headed back to the room to pack and head to the airport. We had learnt our lesson getting to the hotel, so went with a metered taxi to the airport. It was third of the price, oh well you live and learn. On arrival at the airport it took us a few minutes to work our how to check in, then joined the long lines of people. The line I choose wasn't moving due to the people at the check-in desk having many more kilos of luggage than they should, so I moved lines and thankfully we got served without too many hassles. We were promised a seat between us so were pleased as there isn't a great deal of room on the Cebu Pacific planes. After paying money to leave the country (we also had to pay to leave Manila) we were through immigration and security and enjoyed a beer before going to the gate. Finally boarded and a girl informs us she is sitting in the seat between us.....great. Clare and I just look at each other and roll our eyes. Bloody Cebu Pacific!
I hope this finds everyone well and happy. Next holiday at the end of May - no idea where so suggestions please.
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