South Korea Trip Day 1 (2015)

Annyeonghaseyo!!

Ever since GMA 7 started to air the phenomenon and iconic Korean Drama: Full House, this country went crazy! 

People love the romantic-comdey-drama antics of the korean dramas. Filipinos were touched with their very progressive plot, story flow and of course the beautiful and handsome perfect like actors and actresses that starred in those k-dramas. As for the younger Filipinos, the k-dramas are somewhat more appealing to them and it shows the progressive and unconventional type of entertainment rather than our traditional Pinoy teleseryes.

To the extent that the term "Korean Invasion" is widely coined because of the sudden flock of Koreans that stayed, studied, invested, and build a community here in the Philippines. 

Personally, I like Korean food, I love their K-dramas but that's about it. 

Reason Korean wave started.

Everybody loved her. From the older people to the young ones. Song Hye Kyo.

The song stuck in our brain that we want to forget.

K-Drama 

However, the developed country went thru a horrific war that led to millions of death and division of North and South Korea. 

Flash Back: Cold War.

The korean war started when North Korea invaded South Korea and ever since then it's a war between communist states (Soviet Union, China, and North Korea) and capitalist states (US, South Korea, UN,). Philippines help South Korea during the war and we sent troops to fight the communist North.

As a result of the war, The Korean country is divided forming South Korea (Capitalist) and North Korea (Communist)

This post covers our trip last 2015 to South Korea during spring time (cherry blossom)

We bought a very awesome deal last Feb 2015 during the Travel Expo at SMX convention in MOA. We come across the Korean travel agency "Signature Korea". In the back of my mind, we were so luck to avail such cheap package around P40,000 (all in - tax, airfare, food, transpo, tour, hotel, etc) however of course we don't know if what we paid for is worth it. Later you will find out.

We were so ecstatic about the cold weather and we grab our jackets, boots, scarves, and gloves from our closet and have it washed.

We start our super fun and exciting trip at Ninoy Aquino Terminal 1

The agonizing Terminal 1 got a face lift and it surely did made us comfortable.

Check out the new flight information display and walls!

A part of the check-in area is under construction at that time.

See the renovated check-in counters, ceilings, walls, and floor? it's nice and convenient 

Asiana Airlines

At 12:00 am check-in for the red eye flight was totally chaotic. Queue for Korean Air, Turkish Airline, Etihad got mixed up and it took a lot of ground personnel to fix the situation. Luckily for us, we were first in line. The check-in was rather slow and passive not what I expect for a 5 star airline (by skytrax) After few minutes we were on our way thru immigration (which is unbelievably fast and efficient). We headed straight to starbucks to have coffee and kill time.

Oman Air bound for Muscat

At that time, Terminal 1 is not fully refurbished yet and some areas of the terminal lack air-conditioning unit which became agonizingly hot (A lot of passengers are visibly sweating) but my last visit (October 2015) the terminal is fully functional and efficient a far cry from what it used to be.

Palawan Trip Part 1

This post covers my trip to Puerto Princess, Palawan last April 2014.

This cover a very long introduction due to significant events.

September 2013.

My friend and I are dying to have a quick beach getaway somewhere in the country as we haven't been to a beach for a long time. As I browse tripadvisor, Dos Palmas comes into the top list which has good reviews and we decided to book for a 3 day stay via online reservation.

Fast forward to February 2014. I was talking to my mom about my plan to travel to palawan and I mentioned where will we stay. I didn't know that the events (Where the actor Rico Yan died, and The terrorist group Abu Sayaf forcibly kidnapped civilians) took place in Dos Palmas. It made me paranoid and I decided to cancel the reservation and look for another beach side hotel. Luckily, Microtel Palawan popped out and based on the reviews and pictures in Trip Advisor, we decided to transfer.

We waited for the airlines to offer good deals and as we are getting hopeless, Philippine Airlines (PAL) suddenly offer a domestic promo at exactly 12 midnight and we booked a flight right away. I booked the 12:30 pm flight and print my itinerary and were good to go.

Days before our trip, I received an email informing me that we are bumped to a 5 pm flight. I immediately called their customer service and here's the conversation:

Agent: Good Afternoon, thank you for calling PAL how may i help you?...

Me: Yes, I received an email from you guys informing me that I am moved to a later flight? how is that possible? as far as I know, I booked the 12:30 flight. (Gave her my name, flight details, etc.)

Agent: (seems unprepared and I sense she's new) Yes Sir John, the trip has been cancelled etc. etc.

Me: Since there is no point arguing about the cancelled flight, I can not accept that I am being bumped to a later flight, May I know the earliest flight you have? 

Agent: Sir we have a 7 am flight.

Me: (I was expecting her to offer me the earlier flight but to no avail). Okay, now can you move me to that time? 

Agent: Sir, if you want the earlier flight you must pay po for rebooking fee.

My head started to spin and can't help to feel annoyed but still contained myself and talk to the agent with courtesy.

Me: Wait, why do I have to pay? at the first place I didn't rebooked myself for the later flight. secondly, you guys technically owe me because I booked for the earlier flight and not the last flight out of manila to puerto princessa.

Agent: Sige po sir, check ko po sa supervisor ko.

(Deep inside I was praying so hard and I even called all the Saints and Angels that i can call)

After few minutes...

Agent: Hi Sir John, we re-booked you to the earlier flight since ang airlines naman po ang at fault. kindly wait for the email for the revised itinerary.

(Dancing a little in my desk) 

Me: Okay Thank You very much for your assistance ____ (I forgot her name) 

After a few hours, I received my revised itinerary and called my friend immediately informing him what happened. Luckily, both of us know how to navigate this kind of situation and thus we are accommodated to the earliest flight.  

PAL is known also  as "Plane always late" but i think that is because of the congestion in NAIA. Anyhoo, we are so ecstatic about the trip and couldn't sleep the night before.

We agreed to meet at NAIA Terminal 3 (since it is operated by PAL Express) around 5 am. We were surprised that there are no queue for check in counters as Early flight tend to be really full. 

We were greeted by a young very nice check in agent (sorry forgot her name). We gave her our printed ticket and made a few chika to her. So when we were at the middle of our chika, we mentioned that we would like to seat at the 1st row since it's very spacious (you need to pay for additional fee for the 1st 3 rows) 

Agent: tap tap tap to the computer (smiling and making chika). She printed our boarding pass aaaannd TADAAAAA... 1A and 1B.

We were literally smiling like this

dreams do come true...

Okay. So, Where are we? oh yes. After we pay for the P200 terminal fee, we immediately went to the gate for boarding. 

tik tok tik tok...

6:30 am Thank you for waiting flight PR/2P (i forgot the flight number) is ready for boarding...

Okay this is it! Finally Palawan!! The Last Frontier!!

As we are standing in line, A PAL Express gate supervisor is asking the people if they would like to be moved to a later flight due to overbooking. 

Supervisor: Sir would you like to be moved to a later flight, There will be free meal (lunch) and compensation of P3,000...

Me and Friend: looking at each other and hesitating (since it will be around 3:30pm) 

even before we make a decision, the supervisor butted in.

Supervisor: Sir it will be P5,000 since we really need to load the passengers.

Me and Friend: with saying anymore we move our asses and step aside. 

Again

So why? We paid for the ticket at original price of P2,000 and got a profit of P3,000. So who am i to say now? After few hours, got our money and we were laughing so hard as we earned more than we actually paid for. =)

Our meal vouchers

The revised boarding pass after we are moved to a later flight.

Plane talk

December 17, 1903.

The Wright brothers invented the 1st successful airplane in that flew from South Carolina. Revolutionary, indeed. 

(image c/o of wikipedia)

From propeller engines to jet engines, from single decker to double decker. Cheers to Aviation!

February 1996

My first ride on an airplane was the queen of the skies the Boeing 747 of Philippine Airlines. I didn't know what it does or where we'll go but I'm sure it is far. The first sight was so memorable and I can still recall the exact moment when I saw the iconic hump on the 747. I was so ecstatic that i keep asking my mom when are we coming inside? 

Alas, we went inside. I was greeted by a Flight Attendant that is seemingly not a Filipino but rather of Indian descent. Curios. Truth be told, this was before the Asian Financial crisis when PAL is a major corporate failure and it had to shutdown and downsize. 

that was my first love affair with airplanes.