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Now This Is The Way To Fly To The Philipines

June 29, 2010 By Philly Leave a Comment

Interesting offer I received this morning from Cathay Pacific … one of my all time favorite trans-Pacific airlines:

View Details
U.S. to Hong Kong First Class*
Lay back in first-class with a round-trip plane ticket to Hong Kong for just $2,000 (regularly $25,940)! Fly from New York, Los Angeles or San Francisco in a seat that reclines to a full, 81"-long bed.

Wow!  that’s like almost $24,000 off!  Great deal.

But Dave, you say,aren’t you missing something here?  The flights are to Hong Kong, not the Philippines.

True that, but it’s easy and cheap to fly from Hong Kong to the Philippines and back.  Check out Cebu Pacific.  It’s pretty easy to find Hong Kong/Manila fares for about $100 USD.

Now, of course, maybe even $2200 or so is too much fare for your budget.  Or perhaps the time constraints on this offer are too strict.  No problem.  We here at PhilFAQS can still help you find the lowest fares.

One way is to visit one of our recommend providers, Ed Mabunga Travel International.  Ed and his family operate a full service travel agency out of the Salt Lake City area and I have personally used their services and been well satisfied.,  Ed “knows” Philippine travel and he knows what US travelers need, coming and going.  Several close friends and also my son have used Ed for their Philippines trips and they were all very happy with Ed’s services as well.  Recommended. (Note, I have no financial interest in this company nor do I receive remuneration for this recommendation or any airfares you may decide to purchase from them)

(note:  Not long ago several readers reported difficulty with reaching Ed via email.  I have been emailing Ed regularly and never had a problem …Ed’s email provider, though, seems to have difficulty in operating along with Yahoo Mail addresses, so perhaps this is part of the perceived problem?  I frequently have the problem here at PhilFAQS that people write me with a question and when I answer them their email box is full, or closed, or otherwise rejects me.  I don’t know, though, if this could be a factor in the reports I have received, as I said he always responds very quickly to me .. and if in doubt, use the toll free number: 1-888-MABUNGA-)

Way number two, and I always think intelligent people should shop and compare, is to contact another of my recommended suppliers, Travelph.com This company is located in Los Angeles and Manila and is owned and operated by an old friend, Manny Paez (also head on Manila Forwarders LLC).  I only recommend companies I would use myself, and TravelPH is the company who sold us the tickets to move to the Philippine sin the first place, back in 2006.  They are a full-service company, run by Filipino-Americans who know the markets and can usually help you find the lowest fares.  And they’re friendly and helpful and use the principles of geography smartly, you should always get an answer if you phone them, because if it’s middle of the nigh in LA, the Manila office should answer.  Again, I’ve used them personally and recommend them. (Note, I have no financial interest in this company nor do I receive remuneration for this recommendation or any airfares you may decide to purchase from them)

Or, for a third choice, you might want to look at something I do earn a small commission on, but still highly recommend.  It comes with not only a 60 money back guarantee, but a Double Your Money Back guarantee … now that is exceptional.  A fact-filled, informative eBook that tells you the secrets the airlines don’t want you to know about getting cheap fares … domestic or overseas.  It’s kind of a “revenge book”, written by an airline ticketing agent who was ‘downsized”, according to his boss, because he and some of his fellow agents were being too good to prospective customers … working too hard to make callers happy with better fares.  Don’t think a situation like that can happen? … well it does, and this is what a disgruntled employee can do to even up the score ;-).  From the author:

Here is my personal promise:
"Double Your Investment Guarantee"

I am so confident that my secret techniques can save you money that I guarantee you will save at least double what you paid for my guide within 60 days, or your money back, no questions asked.

The moment you begin reading over my information, your eyes will be opened to the deepest and darkest secrets of the airline companies. With these powerful secrets, you will finally be able to stop getting ripped off by the greedy airlines for good.

You have nothing to lose, get my guide today and save on your very next trip, guaranteed.

Good Luck

Henry Rustkirk signature

 

Instant Download Airline Cheap Fare Secrets PDF Guidebook

family vacation

Critical Update  May 2010:  Upon completing this guide, I have received threatening emails, with demands that this information not be brought to light. My site has also been "crawled" by airline computers looking for anything to use against me. Trust me when I say that I will fight to make this controversial information available to you as long as I am legally able to.

 

  Henry, I just wanted to let you know I really liked your guide. Using your search sequence, I was able to save over $80 on the flight I needed to Colorado the same day I bought your guide. I guess that more than paid for my purchase! Thanks for looking out for the little guy.

-John S. from Greenwood, Indiana  &
#160;               Learn More Now!

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Why I Left The Philippines

December 2, 2009 By Philly 38 Comments

Note:  this post has been corrected, significantly expanded and re-published.  Part of our on-going effort to make PhilFAQS.com your best source for answers to the frequently Asked Questions about Traveling to the Philippines, Retiring in the Philippines, or just plain living here in my second home, the Philippines.

Yes, that’s right, after living in continuously in Marilao, Bulacan, Republic of the Philippines since 31 October 2006, on 1 March 2009 I boarded a plane and left.  Somewhat of a surprise, eh?

Well it was almost a surprise to me, also, but don’t worry, it was all my decision, and for those who may be wondering, I’m back, same house, same place, just newly rejuvenated in the visa department.  There were several courses of action open to me and this was the one my wife and I chose to take.

You see when I entered the Philippines back in 2006 my wife and I took advantage of the basically 100% cost and hassle-free Balikbayan Privilege Program )often called the BB program or BB stamp).  (Balikbayan means literally to return to one’s homeland).  I’ve written before about the advantages of this program, here Do I need a Visa? as well as a few other places I am sure.

The chief disadvantage of this program is, it lasts for one year only.  So when I entered in 2006 my passport was stamped with a little entry that said BB, expires 1 November 2007.

(a lot of folks get confused with how the Philippine BI (Bureau of Immigration) counts days.  It’s actually quite simple … the day you arrive in the Philippines, no matter what time it is here locally, is a day “in country”.  The day you depart, again no matter what the local time, is a day not in the Philippines, so arriving on the 31st of a month and leaving on the first of the following month 1 year later is exactly a one year stay).

During that year you really have nothing whatsoever to do with the BI.  You are just here, legally, and able to go about as you please.  A very nice benefit for those of married to Philippine citizens or former Philippine citizens.

At the end of the BB period you have several choices.

  • You can apply for a permanent residency visa, based on the sponsorship of you Filipino/Former Filipino spouse,
  • You can leave the country not later than the date stamped in your passport.
  • You can convert your Balikbayan status to an ordinary tourist visa waiver status.

Converting to tourist visa waiver status at the end of my first, free BB year was what I chose to do, strictly because it was the course of action that “fit” best with what was going on in my life at the time.

Under current rules as a A Tourist Visa or Tourist Visa Waiver holder  you can stay 24 months in the Philippines, applying for and paying for an extension every 59 days (two months under BI counting rules).   You can extend your stay your stay every 2 months at any BI office for the first 16 months of stay.  After month 16 you are still eligible to extend but you can only do so at the BI main office in Intramuros, Manila.

If you have been following along, and counting, my 12 months of BB status and 16 months of tourist status was up 28 February.  1 March as the date stamped in my passport that indicated when I had to leave.

Shopping and Stair Ckimbing in Macau

My wife and I decided to take a trip outside the Philippines to get me back onto free BB status.

Checking around I found the best fare deal at the time with Cebu Pacific, mainly because I wanted to fly out of DMIA, the new/old USAF terminal at Clark.  I could have saved more by buying farther in advance, but a round trip for two Clark to Macau (the former Portuguese colony next door to Hong Kong, now a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of China) came up to an all-in price of PhP 13,400, about $275 USD at today’s rate.

I’ll go into the actual costs of extending tourist status another time, because it is different almost every extension period, but it’s very safe to say that the cost of extending 16 months easily comes up to more than an overnight trip to Hong Kong, Macau or Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia … again especially if you keep your eye on the calendar and plan ahead, buying a ticket when rates are good.

We found a nice looking hotel in Macau, the Best Western, Taipa, five minutes from the Macau airport for about $62 USD per night through my old friends, Asia Travel … I’ve been using them for years and I recommend them, they even answer emails ;-)   Everything done online in just a few minutes.  Took longer to print out the Cebu Pacific eTicket confirmation sheet (you’ll always need this to enter any airport) than to do anything else.

I chose Clark because it is close to our home here in Marilao, has parking at the door (long term is PhP 90 per day) and not crowded.  After we went into the terminal I realized how long it had been since I had flown out of the Philippines … we made a couple wrong turns, but everything was worked out easily, people were nice and helpful and no long lines.

(All the procedures and costs of leaving and returning are detailed in a bullet list at the end of this article)

Macau was a really interesting place.  It has really kept it’s European (Portuguese) flavor much strongly than Hong Kong.  There are certain similarities between former Spanish colonies and those that belonged to Portugal, but many more differences than similarities.  being so close, you might wonder why the Philippines wasn’t a Portuguese colony instead of Mexican/Spanish.  The answer to that one is, under international law the Philippines was supposed to be a Portuguese possession … in fact the Portuguese were poised to attack manila and make a war over the issue, but king Philip of Spain (yeah, the guy the Philippines is named after) married the right girl and also became the king of Portugal at exactly the right time and decided not to fight a war with himself … so the Philippines stayed under Spanish authority and new Espana (Mexican) rule and administration.

Because both Hong Kong and Macau are part of China’s SAR program, US passport or Filipino passport holders do not need visas in advance.  Money changing is pretty easy, you can use Portuguese Pataca, Hong Kong Dollars or Chinese Yuan, all of them are roughly 7 to 8 to the US Dollar.

Returning to the Macau airport at the end of our stay was even easier than getting there.  A taxi glided up to the hotel portico as we walked out the door and we were at the airport in less than 8 minutes.  Fare in either direction (always metered) is about $4 USD.

No lines, no waiting at the airport.  The Cebu Pacific counter agents were at first worried about my status.  Many airlines seem a little hesitant about the Balikbayan program, but their own official Timatic database regarding Passport and Visa requirements for Travel to the Philippines clearly states that spouses and children of former Filipinos are allowed to travel to the Philippines with the qualifying spouse with no requirement for onward travel or advance visa.

The airline can demand to see proof of marital status … after a couple minutes of hemming and hawing I asked the counter agent if she wanted to see our marriage certificate.  When I produced it … apparently they get  a lot of people who insist they take their word for it … she suddenly smiled, looked relieved and handed us our boarding passes.  All was well … when in doubt, show.

This is a good place to interject that many foreigners have told me that the Balikbayan program privilege can be granted to the foreigner spouse traveling on his or her own, so long as they can produce a certified marriage license/marriage contract.  It may well be that some people have had this experience, but don’t depend upon it happening.  The Balikbayan law, Republic Act 6768 (you really should read the whole Balikbayan law, it’s only a few paragraphs) clearly states that the law applies to “… the spouse and the children of the balikbayan who are not balikbayan in their own right traveling with the latter to the Philippines. …”. That seems rather explicit to me.  The law also states that:

“… Any person who shall willfully derive, obtain, receive or enjoy or cause another to derive, obtain, receive or enjoy the benefits and privileges under this Act without being entitled thereto shall be punished by a fine of not less than Twenty thousand pesos (P20,000.00) but not more than Forty thousand pesos (P40,000.00) or imprisonment of not less than two (2) years or more than four (4) years, or both at the discretion of the court. Any alien found guilty under this section shall be summarily deported upon completion of service of sentence and be permanently barred from reentering the country without the special permission of the President. …”

Frankly, for my own actions, I am going to comply with the law as it seems to be written (in my lay opinion) and not try to circumvent the intent of the law simply to try to get a free year.  When they start talking about jail and then deportation at the end of the jail term, the hair goes up on the back of my neck … no thanks.  I like playing poker, but not at those odds  Of course, as we say on-line, YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary), so roll the dice if you choose to.

Both the outbound flight and the return flight to Clark pushed back from the gate exactly on time and both arrived a full 20 minutes ahead of schedule.  A refreshing change from flying out of Manila.

Upon our return to Clark we walked up to a line at the Immigration counter with only one other person in front of us.  Mita handed the officer both our passports and said, “I request a Balikbayan stamp for my husband, please” while I dug into our bag for the marriage certificate.  The Immigration Officer stopped me by handing me my passport.  “No problem sir, since you both have the same surname we trust you, you are good for another year.”

Out the door, a short walk to the car, fire up the mighty Mitsubishi Motors diesel digester, show the guard our pre-paid parking receipt and we were out the gate of the parking lot before 5 pm, the time the flight was scheduled to land.

I won’t go into yet another discussion of the merits of the BB versus a permanent residency visa, there are advantages/disadvantages for both, but when I hear people agonize and complain about the trials and tribulations of leaving the country for a fresh visa I wonder what their real problem is.

This couldn’t have been an easier and more pleasant trip, and one thing about the BB program you have to agree with, no matter what method you chose for living here in the Philippines, the combination of totally free and not one single form to “fill up” has to count for something.

So now I am back and good until 3 March 2010.  No need to fear I’m leaving again any time soon.  Here are a few notes/reminders for anyone planning to follow in our footsteps.  The procedures are the same no matter which airport you leave from/return to:

  • Except for people with permanent residency iCard, every foreigner who stays in the Philippines more than 60 days requires an exit clearance document to leave.  You can get this at any BI office, (bring 3 each 2×2 ID photos, white background, no glasses).  The clearance  costs PhP 310 and is good for 60 days from date of issue.  It typically takes 3 working days to process, so plan ahead.
  • Bring with you to the airport A Ball Pen, your eTicket receipt (or “real” tickets), your passport, your clearance document and, of course, your spouse and your marriage certificate or contract… unless you are meeting up with her somewhere else).
  • First stop upon entering the terminal is the Travel Tax desk.  (at Clark make a sharp ‘U’ turn to the left, it is easy to miss).  All Filipinos are subject to this fee unless they also have a US Green Card or US Passport and have been in the Philippines less than one year.  Everyone gets tagged, yes, US citizens also, if you are “in country” more than a year.  PhP 1620 each.
  • Then check in with your airline and get your boarding pass.
  • Next comes Airport Security fee … International departures all pay PhP 550 each, no matter what passport you hold.
  • Once through the security ‘wicket” you’ll see Immigration up ahead, but don’t rush to the shortest line as we did.  You need a “Departure card”.  These are on the wall to the right at Clark.
  • Present your departure card, passport and clearance if needed to the Immigration officer.
  • Go through second (or third) security checkpoint
  • Board plane.
  • On the plane you will be given an arrival card to fill-up for Macau.
  • Upon arrival just proceed through immigration, handing over your passport and arrival card.  Typically no smiles, but no questions asked.
  • Watch closely, the Immigration Officer at Macau should slip your arrival card back into your passport.  Hang on to it because it is you departure card for leaving as well. (if you lose it, you can fill up another when you depart, saving it just saves you time.)
  • Enjoy your stay … be careful in the casinos ;-)
  • Coming back is basically the same process.  If you come from Macau you will be let in the terminal with your eTicket receipt.  No taxes or other fees to pay.
  • Go to the airline counter and recall what I wrote about above.  If they seem reluctant about boarding you just stay calm, remind them that you are returning under the Balikbayan privilege program, that accompanied spouses are authorized, and show them your marriage certification.  Should be no problem.
  • Get boarding pass
  • Pass through Immigration
  • Board plane.
  • On the plane back to the Philippines you will get an Arrival card.  this is a two-part form, one for immigration, one for customs.  Do not fill up the part of the card that says for returning OFW’s … unless you are one.
  • Upon arrival proceed direct to immigration, WITH YOuR SPOUSE, politely request that the officer stamp you foreign passport with a BB stamp (I know of a few guys/gals who never asked, and thus only got a regular 21 day Tourist Visa waiver stamp … they were pissed, but hey, the immigration officer isn’t a mind reader, you don’t ask specifically for what you want, you don’t get).
  • If asked, produce your proof of marriage to your Filipino/former Filipino spouse.
  • When handed your passport LOOK At THE STAMP before you leave the counter.  This whole trip was abut getting that stamp, remember?  Don’t grab your passport and rush off because you are thinking about getting home.  You can not get Balikbayan status “after the fact”: it is a benefit granted upon arrival only, so if you can’t read the stamp (it will be just a hand-written “BB” inside the standard arrival stamp), politely ask the officer to point it out to you.  After you leave the counter it will be too late.
  • Proceed directly to the Duty Free counter to by the passalubong that wouldn’t fit in your luggage.
  • Hand the customs man your arrival form
  • Go home and enjoy another free year in the Philippines.

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How Things Grow

October 12, 2009 By Philly Leave a Comment

More pics courtesy of Thomas Glenn

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Filed Under: Travel Reports

Tropical Depression Scenery

October 10, 2009 By Philly 1 Comment

Hi,

A little over a week ago the effects of a strong tropical depression heading for the coast of China manifested in my area as unusually large waves. Well, just up the beach from me about a quarter of a mile is the designated surfing area in La Union. For some reason there are not many surfing areas in the entire Philippines. Perhaps a surfer would know what characteristics create a surf suitable for riding and just several hundred feet away there are no rides available. This is a lovely area. It has been developed somewhat, just private housing, but there area still some areas where the jungle type vegetation goes from the highway to almost the high tide line. The property just adjacent to the one where I shot the photos was being offered at about $100 for a square meter. In my book that is CHEAP for beach side property. In the U.S. an area like this one would be overdeveloped with expensive condos, or tourist type facilities. But, the economy here just would not support a high paying clientele. So, these juicy properties just go to those looking for a nice area to build a home. In the immediate area there are several surfing oriented businesses, one mini resort and another by-the-day surfing establishment, with equipment rentals and instructors but they don’t seem to be doing a fantastic business.

Here are some photos.

Take care,

Tom

———–

Ed Note:  I’ll post this in two parts in deference to dial-up users.

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Fireworks MUCH More Impressive Than Man-made

September 25, 2009 By Philly Leave a Comment

Mayon MapMount Mayon is one of the world’s most perfectly formed volcanoes.  It was last active in a major way in 2001.   Mayon can put on a show … or more … at any time..

peaceful mayon Located about 170 miles south of Manila in south-central Luzon, Mayon normally   looks like this:

But when Mayon gets angry, things happen:Mayn at Evening

Mayon firey cascade The lava pours down like a fiery fountain:

Folks wanting to travel to or live in the Philippines probably shouldn’t cross the Philippines off their list just because I published this, but you do need to remember you are going to one of the most active countries in the Pacific Ring Of Fire and plan accordingly.

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Philippine Retirement — Who Are All Those Foreigners, Anyway?

September 20, 2009 By Philly 8 Comments

I came across this chart during my research for my Teaching English Online series.  It reflects a couple interesting things about the Philippines.

I guess the first thing that interests me, and should interest you if you are seriously thinking about moving to the Philippines is, look at the dates.  This was posted in one of the top, big budget newspapers in the country just a few days ago, and the most recent figures are from the second half of 2008 … thus, in some ways, a year out of date.  This is actually amazingly current for Philippine statistical information.  Do not expect to see any sort of real time or near real time information in the newspapers or on line.  Things just don’t happen that fast.  (this can be more than a little bit annoying when the information you are looking for is perhaps your bank account balance … I have online access to my bank accounts and so far it has always been correct, to the centavo, but don’t make a deposit and then expect it to show up the same day … those electrons take along time to flow I guess.

The Second thing of interest in this graphic is, look at the spread.  As an American, even making a conscious effort to suppress my “greatest country in the world” thoughts and discounting how many Koreans I see on a daily basis when I visit Zamabales, next door to HanJin’s huge new shipyards, I never would have guess that Korean visitors outnumber Americans.

Most “Norte Americanos” and European’s will be surprised at the proportions of Japanese and Chinese as well.

And Australians?  Wow.  Those fellows really get around.

Anyway,I thought the distribution of visitors was quite interesting, and those of us visitors/expats who use English as a primary language seem to be definitely in the minority … after all only one out of the top 5 visitor nations uses English as a primary language (yeah I know, Australia id number five, but the jury is still out them … I try to watch a lot of the programming on the Australian broadcasting channel and the announcers seem to speak English but some of the reality/drama shows I truly can’t follow.  I’m sure some of my down under mates will chime in, but seriously as an outsider I fear Australia is in serious danger of losing it’s grip on English … sorry to say.  Take up the slack, mates, please, we English speakers are definitely sinking…

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Live in the Philippines — In Baguio?

September 1, 2009 By Philly 5 Comments

Well I guess it was about time it happened.  After nearly three years in the Philippines I finally visited Baguio … one of the better known tourist attractions and home to quite a number of expats.  Why haven’t I been there before and why did I go there now, and what the heck is a Baguio, anyway?

Well the word Baguio is an old Tagalog/Filipino word for “storm”, and given the number of tropical depressions, tropical storms and typhoons we get here in Luzon every year, I guess the city of Baguio is as aptly named as any mountain town, almost constantly wreathed in clouds and mist from those of use who live down on the lowlands.

This map will give you a good idea of one reason I haven’t been to Baguio before … it is downright out of the way for me.


View Larger Map

Now of course to some folks, that’s part of Baguio’s charm.

That, and the fact that Baguio is the only real city of any size anywhere in the Philippines there air is substantially cooler.

At about 5,000 feet above sea level it certainly is cooler there … that’s why the original American colonial government picked Baguio as the "summer capital" of the Philippines.

There was no such thing as air conditioning as we know it in 1904, and especially with Governors General like William Howard Taft (known world-wide for his weight and girth), something had to be done for summer time.

Our mission to Baguio was to look at some potential real estate investments by someone who couldn’t come to the Philippines just yet but wanted to look seriously into making an investment now while values seemed good.

I’ll write more about the trip soon, but don’t worry, cooler or not cooler, I pretty well knew I didn’t want to live in Baguio before I went, and I saw nothing that changed my mind.

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A Big Step Forward

September 1, 2009 By Philly 1 Comment

Here’s some news I picked up over at Yugatech a few minutes ago.It may look a little too ‘techy’ for some, but believe me, if you travel in the Philippines and do any online banking you really need to look into this closely.

The basic problem is this: If you use a computer in an internet cafe to access your online banking account(s), there’s an excellent chance that your user ID and password will be ‘captured’ by so-called ‘key logging’ software. The same problem will plague you as well if you use your own machine, especially over a public Wi Fi connection.

Don’t be fooled by the many ‘experts’ who point out tricks like using Microsoft’s built in ‘soft keyboard’ or storing your password in a separate file and dropping it into the password field on your bank’s login screen via cut and paste. These solutions are not solutions at all.

Windows, Linux and Apple operating systems all work in a similar fashion. When you type a key, or click on a ‘soft’ key or paste key data, it goes into a location in the operating system known as the keyboard buffer. The system then processes the machine representation of the text that is in the buffer.

Capturing that data is trivially easy for nefarious software developers. As long as you user ID and password is static .. the same for one transaction after another … you are at risk, no matter how you put the data onto the screen (into the buffer). The only really secure method is to have a constantly changing pass word or security code, so that a password captured this minute will be no good a minute from now if a criminal tries to use it.

Hopefully other banks, both in the Philippines and in the US …where banking security is a joke .. will follow HSBC’s lead. For myself, I’m going to vote with my money and move my online activities to HSBC RSN (Real Soon Now)

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How to Pick your Seat

August 27, 2009 By Philly Leave a Comment

One of the things that doesn’t often cross people’s minds when until they get to their aircraft, already tired and stressed and not looking forward to a flight of perhaps 12 hours or more, is when on earth they are going to sit.

For those of you who have some experience, skip the next paragraph or three, I’ll have some decent info by the end of the post, trust me.

First, you may not have realized it but airline seats are numbered and assigned by a pattern. In almost all modern airliners the very first eat in the front left corner of the aircraft (where you normally enter and exit) is row 1, seat A. The seats are lettered acros the aircraft (as viewed from where you’d sit, looking forward) from A , the left side window seat, to some other letter designating the right-hand side window seat in that row.

The rows go from the very front, 1 to the very rear, as high as 68 or 70 in very large aircraft like 747′s. You don’t have to memorize all this info, like everything else on the internet, there’s a great source called, of all things, SeatGuru.com Seat Guru has most everything your heart could desire in their information and recommendations, except they don’t cover all the airlines that fly to the Philippines. They do cover some, like Northwest and Cathay Pacific, so take a look before you select your seat. The choices vary widely, even on the same airline. If you don’t know the type aircraft you’ll be on, and your ticket isn’t positive, go to the airline’s own website or call the airline direct and ask.

Browse through Cathay’s 747′s and Northwest’s. Notice how every seat on Cathay has a power plug for your laptop and not a single one on Northwest does. Fares themselves vary greatly, and making yourself comfortable on a long trip can often be determined by the airline you choose.

Notice that sometimes there’s no row 1 .. the space might be taken up by a closet or galley. Notice also that the letters often skip. If there is no seat where a letter should be, then the airline will often skip it in the sequence. Also, so far as I know, you will not see a seat with an “I” or and “O” letter .. too easy to confuse with the numerals 1 and 0.

If you like window seats as I do on shorter flights, you have more choices the larger the plane. However, when I travel trans-Pacific I don’t like being ‘stowed’ three deep at the end of the row and disturbing everyone else when I need to go to the CR or just stretch. Best bets on 747′s (the most likely choice of steed) is a ‘D’ or a ‘G’ seat near the middle of the cavin. The smoothest ride is over the wing and a ‘D’ seat will get out before a ‘G’ in a given row because ‘D’s are on the left (exit) side. ‘C’ and ‘H’ are good choices too, but there will always be at least one more pax (passenger) to climb over you on his/her way to the loo.

When I travel with my spouse or a companion I care to talk to, a like a little-used 747 quirk called the ‘twosomes’. On most airlines they start at about row 65. The left hand seats are ‘A’ (window) and the ‘C’ seats are aisle. On the right side it is the ‘H’ aisle and ‘K’ window. These are cozy, just two seats together, and the window seats have a huge amount of space next to them for storage during flight. You will also board first on most airlines, since they fill from the rear. Disadvantages: hard to see movie screens, noisy, and in turbulence the tail of the aircraft often moves about more. Plus, you boarded first, right? So everyone else on the aircraft gets off before you.

Talk to me more about your fav seats.

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Update on the Trip

August 19, 2009 By Philly Leave a Comment

I mentioned a couple of my favorite Philippines travel sources.  A few months back, Spouse and I had planned to go to the Philippines about this time for a vacation and family reunion. 

 Because we’ve been busy with our business (www.satviz.com) and because Spouse is waiting everyday to hear from the USCIS (formerly the INS) about her US citizenship application, we put the idea of the trip on the back burner.  Well a little over a week ago when I cranked this idea for a blog up and posted about travel sources, we made a hasty decision that Spouse would go.  All her sisters will be back there at the same time, something that may never happen again for years, and we knew how happy it would make Mom, so we decided to “do it” 

Spouse emailed Ed Mabunga and he came right back with a very decent price on travel from Denver via United and China Air.  We snapped it up, had tickets in hand in less than 72 hours and started packing.  

United started the rip out pleasantly with a really helpful check in fellow at DIA.  He pointed out that her Philippine passport …new last year … didn’t have a machine-readable bar code strip on the title page and pointed out that according to United’s info (I believe he got it here, United, for some reason, doesn’t want to let passengers look up their own info, but Northwest has this entry page to the Timatic system which is used by most ICAO carriers) and that entry to the Philippines without the code strip would be restricted after January 2007.  Good to kno2, although I hope to goodness we’re living there full time long before next winter. 

OK, bottom line, flights went well, luggage was checked from Denver through to Manila and arrived fine and all flights were on time … the Denver to Los Angeles segment actually left 4 minutes early. 

Spouse arrived at Manila a little more than 22 clock hours from the moment she left Denver.  Good service from United, China Air and Ed Mabunga, thanks to all of them for treating my mahal well, I miss her a lot, already. 

 

Popularity: unranked [?]

Filed Under: Airline Reviews, Travel Reports, Travel Reviews

Living in the Philippines — Bits and Bytes

August 3, 2009 By Philly 4 Comments

Here’s a couple quick items that didn’t seem to fit anywhere else.

Some of you know my good friend Tyler Cruz, a real-world Internet entrepreneur from Canada, recently came to visit the Philippines for the first time.  Tyler is of Filipino heritage but is 100% Canadian, and this was his first time out of Canada (except for a couple quick trips to conferences and trade shows in the U.S.).  When he first started planning the trip he asked me a few questions and I could tell he was a little nervous about making the trip and a little unsure of how he would adapt to the culture here.

imageTyler’s back in Canada and hard at work making money again, but I’m happy to report he quite enjoyed his trip here and is already giving thought to when he’ll be back next time.

Whenever I go somewhere and stay in a hotel, a report on the hotel is always a popular read here, so,since I don’t spend any more time in hotels than I can possibly help, here’s a nice report he did on some of the Philippine hotels he stayed in, mainly up here in the north on Luzon .. the “other Philippines” 

If you visit Tyler’s blog, be careful you don’t read anything about online success or making money no matter where you are living in the world … remember, opportunity only exists in every other country except the Philippines (or so a great many Filipinos tell me)

The second thing I wanted to mention is something that I have mentioned here often … learning English, teaching “conversational” English (not formal classroom instruction), the need for better English in the Philippines (especially the under thirty generation who sometimes seem very conflicted about English versus Philippine culture and pride issues, and how English presents a tremendous opportunity for those who are conversant enough to read this blog and carry on a normal conversation.

I’ve mentioned before UIS-based and other country-based organizations who are making a good living offering English lessons.  The simple formula for business success is, “find a hungry market and feed it.”

The Asian Discovery channel will air a great show on Saturday, 8 August (check your local listings)  about the need, nay the absolutely “craze” to learn English in China.  3 Billion people, hungry for, virtually lusting after what you already have.  If that isn’t an opportunity just begging to be served I have never seen one.

(and a special note for you Americans who love to get angry about how the “Chinese have stolen all the American jobs”, what revenge could be sweeter than having the Chinese effectively work for you … earning money to had over to you for tuition expenses … gotta love how what goes around, comes around.)

Anyway, if it is the show I am thinking of I have seen nit before and it is excellent.  Recommended.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Filed Under: Travel Reports

Live In The Philippines — Respect the Rumbles

July 10, 2009 By Philly Leave a Comment

FYI:

THE EMBASSY OF THE UNITED STATES IS TRANSMITTING THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION THROUGH THE EMBASSY WARDEN SYSTEM AS A PUBLIC SERVICE TO AMERICAN CITIZENS IN THE PHILIPPINES.  PLEASE DISSEMINATE THIS MESSAGE TO ALL U.S. CITIZENS IN YOUR ORGANIZATION OR NEIGHBORHOOD.  THANK YOU. (editors note … Filipinos are allowed to pay attention to this warning as well ;-) )

—————————————————–

Mayon Volcano

The U.S. Embassy informs American Citizens in the Philippines to avoid the summit area of the Mayon Volcano, located in the Province of Albay, approximately 300 kilometers (186.41 miles) southeast of Manila, on the island of Luzon.  The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) raised its alert status for the Mayon Volcano to Alert Level 2 indicating increasing volcanic activity.  This alert condition signifies a state of unrest which  could lead to ash explosions or eventually to hazardous magmatic eruption.  Thus, at Alert Level 2, Phivolcs strongly recommends that the 6 kilometers radius, called the "Permanent Danger Zone (PDZ)," around the volcano and the 7 kilometers extended danger Mt. Mayon zone on the southeast flank of the volcano are off limits due to the threat from sudden explosions and rockfalls from the upper slopes.  Active river channels and those areas perennially identified as lahar prone in the southeast sector should also be avoided, especially during bad weather conditions or when there is heavy and prolonged rainfall.

Updated information on volcanoes in the Philippines is available on the Web sites listed below. The Embassy encourages all Americans residing in or visiting areas near volcanoes to consult these websites frequently and to adhere to all safety instructions from Philippine authorities.

http://www.phivolcs.dost.gov.ph/

http://volcanoes.usgs.gov

American citizens with questions or concerns may telephone the Embassy at (63)(2) 301-2000.  In case of an emergency outside business hours, American citizens may reach the Embassy duty officer through the Embassy operator at (63)(2) 301-2000.  The U.S. Embassy is located at: 1201 Roxas Boulevard, Manila, Philippines. The Consular American Citizen Services (ACS) section’s fax number is (63)(2) 301-2017 and the ACS web page is at http://manila.usembassy.gov.

Americans living in or visiting the Philippines are encouraged to register with the Consular Section of the US Embassy in Manila.  The easiest way to do this is via the Internet, using a link on http://www.travel.state.gov or directly at https://travelregistration.state.gov.  Get more information on registration at http://manila.usembassy.gov.

THIS E-MAIL IS UNCLASSIFIED BASED ON THE DEFINITIONS PROVIDED IN E.O. 12958.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Filed Under: Travel Reports

Living in the Philippines — Your Relations Are Always Your Relations

July 7, 2009 By Philly Leave a Comment

Normally I don’t write much here about the wise world of Internet income and many of the people I know from the online world, but I figured today would be a nice exception, since it is certainly Philippine-related and there is some great ‘eye candy’ here.

tyler_face_pageTyler Cruz is a fellow I met on line some years back and I’ve followed his career for a while now.  He even was kind enough to let me guest blog a few times on his very successful blog about online entrepreneurship (He’s in the Kasey Kasem Top 40 for blogs about making money online and he’s been earning his living since high school days.  After high school he opted not to waste 4 years with schools that can’t teach what’s happening in today’s world and instead set up his own unique (and profitable) blog network.

All that is kewl and interesting and all that sort of stuff, but what’s the Philippine connection?  Well some my have caught on already, from the family name, Tyler is of Filipino heritage.  He was born in Canada and is 100% Canadian in the legal sense, but his dad comes from the Philippines, in fact in Bulacan, not very far from where the Unofficial Cook and I live.

Tyler has come to the Philippines for the first time , among other reasons, to meet his Lola .. his grandmother, who resides in Baliuag.  So far his trip seems to be going well, see the pictures and videos on his recent post about the trip, I’m glad he’s liking it here, but no matter how the trip turns out, it will be a success in one way … he met and spent some time with his grandmother.  I was very close to my maternal grandmother, but I never got to meet my father’s mother, and after all these years, there’s still a little empty spot in my heart for her … so good on you, Tyler.

I thought this article was particularly interesting and timely because I have been talking and answering comments quite a bit lately about opportunities in the Philippines.  Now Tyler lives in British Columbia, been there all his life, and I would never have suggested to him that he might want to live here … he’s in his 20’s, bought a home there, likely to be getting married and start a family some day soon … a successful, 100% North American ‘escapee’ from the Philippines.

But Tyler happened to mention to me during the last stages of his planning that he had been thinking and had rather suddenly realized that there was absolutely no reason he couldn’t live in the Philippines if he someday chose to.  (hey this guy didn’t build up his business by being dumb, you know ;-) )

He’s absolutely correct in that assumption, though.  Every single thing he does to work his business could be done here in the Philippines as we;; as in British Columbia.  Tyler’s good at what he does, don’t lose sight of that, but he’s also not a rocket scientist and his income streams.are not rocket science either.  Any high school graduate (or drop out, even) who can speak, read and write English well enough to open a bank account, buy a business license, drive a car or find and purchase a home … this means about 99% of the people who are reading this article … can do the same thing.

So if staying where you are in life is the right thing for you to do, fine, I wish you well, but don’t tell me you can’t move to the Philippines because ‘there are no jobs for foreigners’ … because in today’s world, you can just make your own and take it with you where ever you want to go.

Popularity: unranked [?]

Filed Under: Travel Reports Tagged With: , ,

Just Where _IS_ The Philippines, Anyway?

November 23, 2008 By Philly

Here’s a ‘blast from the past’.   I decided to repubish it becuase people still search all the time about the routes of flights to the Philippines, how far it is, etc.  Since our 16th place Americna schools spend much more tme teaching football and manipulating government entitlement programs than they ever do geography, peopl;e can make it all the way through high school and perhaps even college without learning that the shortest distance between two points on a gloge is a great circle … which from the US to the South Pacific regions takes planes far up across the sub-polar north.

Eevn if you knoe these things it’s an interesting graphic ;-)

One of the most fun things about blogging to me is the daily searches people make to find this blog.  yesterday I noted one that landed here at PhiFAQS … “Do airplanes going to the Philippines from Minneapolis fly East or West”?

An interesting question, really.  When you’ve flown back and forth across the Pacific as many times as I have the answer comes easily .. west, of course, it is about 8 or 9,000 miles farther from Minneapolis to Manila going around the world to the east as by taking Northwest’s usual route from Minneapolis to Manila, via japan.  But how is the average person going to know this off the top of their head?  Do schools even have globes anymore?  Probably not, since the globe has no relation to football, and in the rare schools that teach geography the teacher is going to be the football coach in the off season … at best.

One of the great people of the web, Karl L. Swartz, has long provided one of the web’s most useful tools … a great circle mapper and distance calculator.  Find it here: http://gc.kls2.com/

You just type in the places you want to go from and to .. in almost any combination and Karl’s tool will draw the map and calculate time and distance.  For the flight times in this demo map I used a pretty much standard ground speed for a Boeing 747 of 490 knots.

image

Minneapolis to Manila   6792 nm 13:52 Flight Time

London to Manila    5821 nm 11:53 Flight Time

Sydney to Manila   3371 nm  6:53 Flight Time

Hope to see you in the Philippines soon.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Filed Under: Travel Reports

Asia Travel – Hotels and Domestic Travel

September 19, 2008 By Philly Leave a Comment

This is a "blast from the past".  I’ve decided that each and every Saturday I’ll republish one of my popular older post.  Even though the site has many ways to look up data published years back, people aren’t always in a position to hunt around, so this will be yet another way to find things people are always looking for.

One of the first things you need to be concerned about if thinking of traveling to the Philippines is where to stay.  There are dozens (perhaps more) services who will book hotels for you.  As I come across good ones or not so good ones, I’ll point them out.

Asia Travel

Based in Singapore with offices in the Philippines, Hong Kong and about 8 other locations is one of the oldest and best.  I’ve been using them since the year 2000 and they haven’t let me down yet.

Asia Travel’s website is well organized (they have improved it tremendously over the past few years) and their server response time is quick.  They have a good "stock" of rooms, unlike some other services that only list 3 or 4 hotels in a city the size of Manila or Cebu.

A weakness of their site is the inability to sort the results by price, and like every Asian booking concern I have come across, they are woefully weak on instant, on-line booking … although they do color code their results so you can quickly see the hotels that will give instant reservations.

They have a US toll free number and a direct UK number so you don’t have to fool around with international dialing … and I have found they answer emails quite quickly as well.  An Asian-based firm who answers emails promptly and intelligently is indeed a good find.

Plan your stays wisely and always compare several suppliers, but don’t fail to get a quote from these guys.  Recommended.

Popularity: unranked [?]

Filed Under: Travel Reports, Travel Reviews

It's Dangerous in the Philippines, Isn't It?

July 26, 2008 By Philly Leave a Comment

Here’s a really scary incident, hardly even reported in the US … 20 something hours later I can only read about it on UK, Filipino and Australian sites.

A Qantas flight from London to Melbourne by way of Hong Kong somehow developed a huge hole in it’s side and made an emergency landing at Manila yesterday.

It’s really too soon to tell but the size of the hole and the pictures I see (there are many better pictures on various Philippine news sites, Google is your friend) leave room for any cause factor right now, from some kind of structural fault right up to an explosive device.  If it was intentional it is really scary since London and Hong Kong are probably two of the most security conscious airports on earth.  Heaven protect those of us who travel through the ‘zoo" the City of Los Angeles and the TSA laughingly call an International Terminal at LAX)

I wonder how long it will be before one of the news agencies spins this to try to make it look like something that occurred in the Philippines or because of the Philippines … when, in fact, it was damn lucky for the people on board that the Philippines was there with an airport to give them safe haven.

I read the news article with some amusement … the report breathless describing the jet "plunging" more than 20,000 feet in "an attempt to deal with the sudden depressurization".  Well it wasn’t an "attempt" to deal with the loss of cabin pressure, it was the standard procedure that every airline pilot practices at least twice a year .. one of the many emergencies pilot’s train on to keep passenger’s alive.  A controlled, by the book, rapid decent to get down to an altitude where the passengers can safely breath.  Off hand, since exactly zero injuries occurred I would judge Captain Bartels’s "attempt" was pretty successful, wouldn’t you?

With air travel such an important part of our daily lives, I wonder why it seems to be a requirement for every journalist (many of whom travel extensively and almost all of whom have graduated college, and thus ought to know better) to pass an exam to prove their ignorance of simple physics and aerodynamics before they are allowed to write for the public.

Aside from the possible foul play aspects, which gain, are not yet confirmed nor ruled out, the scary thing about this incident is something else safety-wise which the media is missing out on.

Had this incident happened somewhere out over the middle of the Pacific, rather than conveniently close to Manila, there would be a big problem.  Jet engines burn many times more fuel at low altitudes than at typical cruising altitudes.  passenger supplemental oxygen only lasts abut 15 or 20 minutes … the aircraft has to be now in ‘high fuel burn’ country and stay there until it can land, or people will die.  And airlines carry absolute minimum legal amounts of fuel these days to save costs. Low altitude, high rate of fuel consumption, no extra fuel on board to begin with …. get the picture?  How many life rafts does a 747 carry, anyway?

Popularity: 3% [?]

Filed Under: Travel Reports