15 Airlines I wish to try

Some day, I wish to travel on these airlines (dun ask mi why but I juz wanna, haha):

1) Aer Lingus

2) Air India (SIN-DEL-LHR)

3) Air New Zealand

4) Asiana Airlines

5) BMI & its baby

6) British Airways

7) Continental Airlines

8) Gulf Air

9) LAN Chile

10) Northwest Airlines (Before it fully becomes Delta Airlines)

11) Olympic Airways

12) Royal Jordanian Airlines

13) SriLankan Airlines

14) Thai Airways International

15) US Airways

The Ideal Travel Partner/s

Some people ask me whom they should travel with.

Here are some suggestions from my travel experiences:

The Independent Traveller

Travelling alone can be fun and at the same time lonely, but there are a plethora of different experiences that you will gain as compared to when you travel with a group of people.

The Good:

As an independent traveller, you plan your own journey and go to places you desire, without the need to argue over travel itinerares with travel mate/s. Also, it is much easier for you to make friends with locals and other tourists. This is because naturally, since you would feel lonely and would like a companion at times, they can be an option for you to socialise with; at the same time, they are also curious as to why you are travelling alone, so it makes interaction a smoother two-way traffic.

The Bad:

Of course there are the obvious dangers of travelling alone, being the easier targets of pickpockets and other petty crimes. Loneliness can set in too when sometimes you just want someone to share you experiences or hear your grumbles. Also, travelling alone can usually be costlier, e.g. booking a single room (unless you are contented with a hostel) and taking a taxi.

On a recent trip to Zhuhai, China, I met a stranger who was dressed in a religious suit (I guess she was a nun?) who tried to give me a talisman. Upon my first rejection, she continued to insist that I take it, on the pretext that it is free and it’s meant for protection. Again, I rejected her offer, knowing that free lunches are very rare in this world, and that this may be a prelude to more chargeable offers. Despite the rejection, she followed me for a short distance and suddenly, she held my wrist! Combining anger and instinct, I managed to shrug her off (I think she was scared off by me too, haha!).

Travelling In A Pair

Travelling in a pair eliminates loneliness and also allows one to discover more of his/her travel mate.

The Good:

“Two heads are better than one”, so when you face problems overseas, you won’t have to go through it alone. Travelling in a pair naturally allows one to discover more of his/her partner, and usually, it is through overseas trips that you discover more of the other party, instead of at home. Needless to say, too, when at times you may need help (say, forget to bring some equipment for the trip or you fall ill), he/she will be there to help. Travelling in pairs can allow you to make friends easily too, given the small number, and provided both of you are not engrossed in your own world of enjoyment.

The Bad:

When travelling with a partner (or partners for a matter of fact), conflicts can arise, be it a sudden disagreement in the places to visit or naturally, when you have to face each other for prolonged periods in the trip. And unless one or both parties is/are willing to compromise, if not, things can get ugly and relationship may be affected. Of course, travelling in pairs eliminates loneliness but it also lacks the fun and enjoyment that you get when you are in a group.

The Year 2007 recorded one of my most memorable trips to Melbourne, Australia, partly because it marks the turning point of an emotional downturn, and the pleasant weather with beautiful landscapes, in addition to a good travel partner. We planned an itinerary which we followed rather closely, but a sudden change in plan on one day in the trip created quite a misunderstanding, but which was resolved within hours. Apart from that, we had great fun visiting the attractions in the State of Victoria, and made many friends too thanks to a friend I know who was studying there. Post-trip, I was glad that we now know each other better and partly due to the similarity of interests in the things we do, the trip was great fun!

The Bigger Group

More people, more fun. But again, depending on destination and travel mates, things can go the right way or the wrong one depending on how the group dynamic works.

The Good:

If you can’t stand loneliness, and can’t face a partner for too long, than this may be ideal for you. Travelling in a group can be fun, especially when you can “talk cock, sing song and play mahjong” together. The more the merrier, they say, and you can play card games in the hotel room together, share a great variety of shopping tips and experiences together, look after each other etc.. Safety comes in number too, so when you have a big group, it’s generally safer for you. Bulk discounts sometimes come into effect here too, as it’s cheaper to book a hotel room for four as compared to a single room for yourself.

The Bad:

The airline will help you, but don’t always expect a seat together in all circumstance. Okay, this is mild, but my point is that the whole group may not always be together during the trip, and unless the many people in the group can come to a consensus on a common itinerary and follow it, else there are bound to be separations along the journey. Guys, you know it when you want to visit attractions/watch sports and the gals want to shop, and gals, you know it when you want to shop and don’t want the guys to go with you (except to carry you shopping luggage, =) ). When such things happen, the group exists as two or more separate groups, and conflicts can sometimes arise as well. Moreover, any unhappiness in an individual or a few people can affect the whole group, although the good thing is that you get to seek solace in other groupmates who are not affected. If you are an attention seeker, you can either find happiness in the group, or risk being neglected.

On a year-old trip to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, I concluded the trip with Wanzhen, Sarah and Alvin with enjoyment. At the start of the trip was a traffic jam at Tuas Checkpoint, and so our bus journey took slightly longer that expected (luckily we had on-board entertainment from the business class seats), and some of my group mates were grumbling, so at least now I know that it may be better to take the airplane with them the next time we travel together, both are equally cheap and good anyway. We did not thoroughly plan our trip beforehand, but Sarah and Alvin were good at directions and attractions in KL, so we weren’t afraid of getting lost. And usually as a person who likes to chart my own directions, ironically this time I really enjoyed having these two friends as my tour guides. On the second day, for a few hours, our group separated into two as Sarah and Alvin went their way and Wanzhen and I went our way, before meeting at a location to catch our train back. I’m glad everyone was on time, so things could proceed as planned. The last day, we arrived back in Singapore with smiles on our faces, having tasted cheaper and good food in KL, and seen the things we wanted to see.

Travelling With An Organisation

Depending on the size of the group and the intention of the trip, the experiences are pretty much the same as the above except that there is usually a common goal to be met when travelling with the organisation, such as on community service trips, and so everyone works towards it. Since the group that you go with usually include people you may see for the first time in your life, it takes a bit of effort and loads of compromise to make one another’s trip a memorable and fun-filled one.

In a nutshell, travelling can be fun as long as you have the right travel partner/s, have the proper plan and are willing to make compromises. Remember, after all, your travel mate/s and you most likely travel to enjoy, to relax and to see different cultures and sceneries. With this in mind, I certainly hope that those reading this journal will enjoy their next trip overseas!

A Reunion

After 7 long years, we finally met.

To be honest, they weren’t the people I was expecting to see during this short trip, but certainly they were friends whom I wanted to see. It was a small miscommunication in the snail mail.

We met in an overseas community service trip to Hainan in 2002, they were my students. We taught them English lessons and games, they brought us joy in classes. I’ll never forget the song that we sang together – Cecilia Cheung’s “Xing Yu Xin Yuan”, it was so touching and memorable.

Over the years, we kept in contact through overseas mail, though slow, it kept us bonded. We lost contact for a few years, but luckily, I still had their number. So I told them I was coming, and they were excited.

Here are some photos:

Good old days in the village

Dinner with Shi yu's family

Reunion with old friends - Shi Yu and Liang Lian

Although I wasn’t able to meet up with the whole class, or at least most of them, at least, I was able to meet up with Shi Yu and Liang Lian. I’m glad that they are still in contact with the rest of the class, and they shared with me how the other students/friends are going on with their lives now. I’m glad that they have moved on to greater heights, to better lives…

My worst trip ever

I’ve travelled alone to many places, but never have I felt so lonely before, really feel I’ve wasted this trip, really really regretted going. Fell sick on the day of my flight, luckily manage to reach back to sg safely.

On a happier note, it was a pleasant trip back to Hainan for a reunion with my friends on the first day of my trip, will post more photos of my trip in Hainan soon.

HK

Why does HK always leave such deep impressions in mi, both good and bad, :p

Best Airports

From the Airports that I have been to, here’s what I rank top 3 (in descending order):

1st: Hong Kong International Airport (HKG)
2nd: Singapore Changi Airport (SIN)
3rd: Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD)

Best Airport for Transit: Tokyo Narita Airport (NRT)

Best Airlines

From all the airlines I’ve taken, here are what I rank best:

Best Service:                                   Hong Kong Airlines, Finnair

Best Inflight Entertainment:              Qantas , Cathay Pacific Airways

Best Inflight Meal:                            Lufthansa , Cathay Pacific Airways (Dessert)

Best Seat Width:                              Qantas

Best Seat Comfort:                           United Express

Best Low-cost Airline:                      Cebu Pacific Air

An Enlightening Transit

I was bound for Hong Kong, but a decision for a short detour led to a journey of discoveries.

 

The Philippines

When The Philippines first came into my mind (and many people’s mind), the first thought was terrorism. Fuelled partly by the media’s portrayal of The Philippines (commonly in the news segment), terrorism, volcanic eruptions, possible earthquakes and poverty struck my mind.

Nevertheless, I was keen to change my perspective of her.

Manila

The day before my flight, Typhoon Fengshen (风神) paid a visit to Manila. The scene on Channel News Asia showed gusts of strong winds blowing river water up Roxas Boulevard in Manila, a leisurely place supposedly well-known for a a good view of the sunset and for a nice stroll to reflect on things. I still remembered clearly how may parents woke me up from bed at 10am just to watch the news. Then again, I wondered, how long can the typhoon stay at the place, and it was lucky enough it struck the day before my flight.

 

 

23 Jun ’08, the time has come, as I arrive at the airport, worried. My flight was full, apparently because some of the passengers who did not manage to board their flight the day before filled this flight instead. I was the last to board the plane, a Tiger Airways A320 aircraft (first A320 in its fleet too), and I was very lucky to get an empty seat beside my despite the filled plane, it was the only seat empty in the plane I guess, haha.    

 

9V-TAA (1st A320 for Tiger Airways)

 

 

 4 hrs later, I arrived in heavy winds and a drizzle… 

  

Manila Clark Airport

 

 

The scene at the airport was overwhelming. For a secondary airport located 2hrs away from the city, it was surprising how I exited the terminal building  greeted by a huge wave of humans pushing into the arrival hall to wait for their loved ones. Since I still had some time to get to the bus, I decided to get the SIM card for use in my 2 1/2 days in Manila. I approached the machine dispensing the cards, but payment was made instead to the salesgirl standing beside it. Conveniently, she opened up the machine and took a card for for me. Amazing. It makes one wonder what the machine was for – more like a storage shelf.

 

I met up with my friend, Czarina, at the bus terminus of the airport bus, in Manila. Traffic was bad, but it was fun. Upon arrival, I headed straight to my hotel via taxi. Again, the location of the hotel was right opposite the US Embassy, so I had to pray that nothing  bad happened to the US Embassy, at least during my short duration in Manila. I think I’m paranoid. Surpringly, despite the morning drizzle upon arrival and the bad weather the day before, it was all bright and sunny when I reached the city. After putting my things down in the hotel I headed to Rizal Park and then to Roxas Boulevard, famed for its beautiful boardwalk and sunset.

  

 

 

One day ago typhoon created a storm here… the next day the sun came back…  

 

Sunset at Roxas Boulevard Mi @ Roxas (pronounced 'Rohas') Boulevard

Manila actually has tonnes of mega malls, to my surprise, it’s much of a shopping paradise which is undiscoverd by most people in Singapore. Mall of Asia was my third stop (after Rizal Park), and if I remember correctly, this is the third largest mall in Asia. Mall of Asia is divided into 5 sections, one for food, one for entertainment and I can’t remember what the others were. Security guards were deployed to check bags at the entrace to each section, obviously for security reasons, but I wonder if they did a thorough job, I shan’t elaborate further on this though. Here, I bought a sunglass and had some dinner and a dessert.

 

Inside the Mall of Asia

 

 

Food at a reasonable price, tastes ok…  

Sisig (a.k.a. pig's face) and Adobong Kangkong and rice

 And dessert… 

Hala-halo ice-cream dessert

After dinner, I hopped on to one of The Philippines’ unique transportation – The Jeepney. It was a messy affair at first, having to scour through the many jeepney services available at the terminus for the right one to our destination, and when we finally get one, it was like ‘Crazy Taxi’ as our Jeepney honked constantly while meandering through the heavy traffic. Here’s what’s interesting as well – each Jeepney seemed to be operated by an individual, and in the case of our Jeepney, it was a family of three (man, wife and baby) at the front seat, the husband driving while the wife collected the money from passengers. Here, I should really thank Czarina, for without whom I probably would not know how to ride on the Jeepney without getting lost. Inside the Jeepney, seats are rather comfortable.

Inside the Jeepney, seats are rather comfortable

My friend arrived at her other home, and it was time for me to head back to my hotel. I got on a taxi, and it was nice of my friend to negotiate a reasonable fare for my journey and to ensure that the driver had proper instructions to head to my hotel, but unexpectedly (or expectedly), the taxi driver pulled over 20m ahead and asked for a higher price from me The situation wasn’t threatening, just that he was hungry for money as he sounded out how hard it was to make ends meet with that little amount of taxi fare. The newly negotiated fare was reasonable (I can’t remember how much), and since I’m travelling alone for the first time, it made sense to accept the offer. 20 minutes later, I arrived at my hotel. 

 

Batangas, Tagatay

Then, it was a brand new day the next day… 

 I had booked a tour from a travel agency (CTC) in Singapore (fyi, it’s not easy to find a travel agency in Singapore offering tours in The Philippines) and I spent the morning travelling through heavy peak hour traffic to get to a volcanic site, to see the Taal Volcano in Tagatay. The Taal Volcano is the world’s smallest volcano, and it is also an active one, with it’s last eruption occuring in 1977. En route, my tour guide and I (I was the only customer, haha) went to a place called Peoples’ Park In The Sky to catch a view of the volcano, but what we could see when we were there was only the morning fog. As we travelled down the mountain, it seemed that anywhere else had a better view of the volcano than Peoples’ Park In The Sky, as the view is clearer at lower grounds. Here are some pictures of my journey…     

 

Overloaded Jeepney, or did the kids juz wanna have fun?

 

My tour guide and I at Peoples' Park In The Sky

 

Lunch with a view of the world's smallest volcano, the Taal

 

I requested to get closer to Lake Taal, to climb the volcano. It was at a cost of 5000pesos (S$160), but my tour guide suggested it was not safe, not so much because of the active nature of the volcano, but the ferry there may be poorly maintained. Thus, I opted for the alternative to visit another attraction, the Chapel on the Hill…  

 

 

 

Garden landscape at the Chapel premises

An interesting flower

The Chapel on the Hill, sits on top of a hill, as the name suggests, and with its stunning view of agricultural activites below, and surrounded by mountains, it is no surprise why hundreds of couples decide to hold their wedding here each year. There are also chalets there for people to live in. The only backlash though, is that the premise is rumoured to be haunted (apparently a white figured lady appeared in a photo taken with university students).

 

Then, it was back to messy Manila…

I met Czarina in a drugstore in Manila, and we headed to a man-made attraction, the Fort Santiago, which was part of a remains from the Spanish rule of The Philippines. After which we headed to meet her friend at a shopping mall, had a MacDonald’s meal for a price cheaper than that in Singapore, and then headed to Greenbelts 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. Interestingly, as each number goes higher, so does the fashion class, and of course, the price.

A visit to Fort Santiago

Then, it was back to my hotel.

I’ve eyed the Starbucks outlet right beside my hotel ever since the day I arrived at the hotel, and I decided that tonite was the best nite to pay a visit to it, to write my post card while sipping freshly brewed coffee and to enjoy my last night in Manila. But before that, I was subjected to a rude shock in my hotel room after a bath. ‘Boomz! Boomz! Boomz!’, large sounds were heard coupled by vibrations, and my air-con shooked. Was it a bomb, or was it fireworks? The sound rocked my room about 4 times before returning it to peace. I dressed up, and immediately headed downstairs to the reception. The girl over the counter told me that it was a celebration of Manila Day. Strangely, I have not read about that in any travel book. Not to waste a single moment, I rushed out of my hotel with my camera at hand to snapshot the moments of joy, and of the fireworks!

Then, I headed to Starbucks.

As expected, the prices of coffee (about 170 pesos (S$5.50) for a tall) in the Manila Starbucks was lower than that in my home country, and of course, drinking the coffee with a smaller hole in my pocket made me happy. I made my self comfortable at the balcony of the second-storey in Starbucks, before starting to pen down my thoughts on a postcard. Not long after, Starbucks were filled with people, mainly students and eventually all seats were filled.A teenager then approached me, and asked if anyone was sitting beside me, and I said no. So as he sat down with his homework beside me, we chatted. I realised he was a student of a University in The Philippines majoring in Mechanical Engineering, but I wasn’t sure why the Mathematics homework that he had with him looked like something I’ve learned in Junior College back home. Does that go to show the difference in the education in the University level between the two countries we reside in? No offense intended though. I learned also that there were many South Koreans heading to The Philippines, be it for leisure or for studies, vis-a-vis the number of Singaporeans visitng his homeland, which was rather insignificant, according to him. It was nice to get to know people around the world and learn new things from them, as they learn things from you too.

My new-found friend at Starbucks

And so, the final day of my holidaying in The Philippines came…

25 Jun ’08, 10.30am – I was awakened by a phone call from Singapore from my Dad, “Hey Ronald, did you here that that typhoon is now in Hong Kong? Is your flight to Hong Kong affected? How are things in Manila?”. My flight to Hong Kong was in the late afternoon, and this wake-up call came at an excellent time considering I had set my alarm for an earlier time but could not wake up. And the typhoon, Fengshen, was interesting too. A day before I came to The Philippines, I had read that 4 days later it was bound for Hong Kong, although its chances are low, and 2.5 days later, I hear that it has arrived in Hong Kong, where I was bounded for later in the day. I seemed to be trailing the typhoon wherever it goes.

At 11.30am, I checked out of the hotel, left my bag at the counter and went walking around my hotel for the last hour before I caught my taxi to the airport. Plagued by traffic jam along the way to the airport, my decision to leave early was right. For those who are intending a ride on a taxi in Manila (or perhaps The Philippines), a word of advice to you is to have exact change! Most taxi drivers in Manila do not have change for you, and in my case, while the taxi driver was kind enough to ask the other taxi drivers at the airport for change, I eventually ended up given him a tip of about 250 pesos (S$8) as he did not have change. The sum was not great, but it was a lesson learnt.

I ended my journey to Manila (and Tagatay) at 4.40pm, as I headed on my flight to Hong Kong. Over a short 2.5 days, I have certainly learnt quite a bit about The Philippines, in particular Manila. People here are very friendly, and they offer help to you rather willingly. The cost of living here is reasonable, sometimes even low, as compared to more developed countries like Singapore. In terms of landscape, to me, Manila is very much a messy city, with people surrounding you everywhere you go, and vehicles sounding the horn ever so often. But anywhere outside this city is ‘heaven’, with mountainous landscapes and more friendly people, in addition to the much lower density of people, and the tranquility.

Finally, for anyone who intends a visit to The Philippines, I would say, know a local, or get a guide. While Manila is a city with a proper public transportation system, anywhere outside is troublesome to get to. The Philippines is an undiscovered gem, for women it is a shopping haven and to nature lovers, it’s the volcanoes. To the rest, the contrasting feature of the capital city and its surroundings is enought to get you excited when you actually see it. So if you are looking for somewhere affordable to go, The Philippines is one highly recommended place by me!

Mabuhay, Philippines!

Smiles from Cebu Pacific crew

Disclaimer: The author was not paid by the Philippine Toursim Board to promote The Philiipines.

Special Thanks to Czarina for accompanying me around Manila!

Cheers!