I spent 4 months in the Philippines between Nov. 2012 and Feb. 2013. I also visited for 10 days in October. So you might think that I'm fairly familiar with the difficulties of traveling to this place. But, as it was proven these last few days, you would be wrong... Warning: lots of whining below.
I was invited to the Philippines for Christmas. On Saturday I started my trip from Zurich with destination Manila, Philippines. The trip was supposed to be 17 hours, with two 1-hour transfers in Moscow and Hong Kong.
It started out bad: on my first flight with Russian airline Aeroflot I was on the stand-by list (they over-booked the flight), so it was not even sure that I can actually get on it. I got a boarding card without a seat number, but luckily I got a seat at the gate. Then the trip got worse and worse...
The flight started 1 hour late, so I was worrying the whole way to Moscow, wondering if I can reach the connecting flight. In Moscow the people headed for Hong Kong could skip to the front of the passport check queue and walk straight through the boarding gate onto the next plain. Because I was on the standby list, I got a seat in the very last row on the airplane. Unfortunately there was some kind of box behind that row and because of that the legroom was reduced by 10 cm!!! I could barely sit down. Worse still, if I wanted to let the back of the seat recline, the bottom part of the seat actually moved forward, so that would have been worse! And that on a 10 hours flight! Luckily, the flight attendant could find a better seat for me. I don't want to imagine how I would have felt in the original place for 10 hours.
Otherwise the Aeroflot flights were OK (even if they don't provide eye-mask, earplugs and toothbrush like Quatar Airways does - I brought my own) and I was smart enough to request a kosher meal - these are usually distributed first, there is more and better food in it. As an example see my breakfast on the photo: the omelette covered by aluminum foil can be seen on the box above it. It was better even if I didn't recognize what everything was (written only in Russian and Hebrew on the package).
Unfortunately the second flight also started late, this time about 90 min late (since it was snowing in Moscow, we had to wait for the de-icing truck). Again reason to worry about the next connection...
Otherwise the Aeroflot flights were OK (even if they don't provide eye-mask, earplugs and toothbrush like Quatar Airways does - I brought my own) and I was smart enough to request a kosher meal - these are usually distributed first, there is more and better food in it. As an example see my breakfast on the photo: the omelette covered by aluminum foil can be seen on the box above it. It was better even if I didn't recognize what everything was (written only in Russian and Hebrew on the package).
Unfortunately the second flight also started late, this time about 90 min late (since it was snowing in Moscow, we had to wait for the de-icing truck). Again reason to worry about the next connection...
Arrived to Hong Kong the next morning, only about 40 min late. The six of us (the passengers headed for Manila) were taken to the Philippine Airlines counter, where we were told that all the HK-Manila flights are full (again, over-booked)! So we can choose to wait for a direct flight with an empty seat (which might only happen AFTER Christmas - not really ideal for a Christmas invitation) or take an indirect connection through Xiamen, China. Naturally, we chose the second option. Later, at the boarding gate, they told us that 2 of us (me included) will NOT receive our bags! Our suitcases are still in Moscow, they didn't make the connection to the Moscow-HK flight :-(((
After a total of 24 hours of traveling, arrived to Manila at 8:30pm. Then had to go through the bureaucracy of reporting the lost bags: I was told they will be on the HK-Manila flight arriving at 1:30pm the next day.
After that, instead of resting, had to find a shopping center that is open after 10pm and QUICKLY buy some clothes for the next day, then reach the hotel through Manila traffic before I lose my reservation at midnight. Easier said than done: it's hard to find clothes in my size around here. Could only find a t-shirt and socks. Then get to the hotel, check-in, wash my only underwear, sleep a few hours and dry my underwear the next morning using the hairdryer.
Then find an ATM to get cash: went to several until I realized that my PostFinance card was not working, although it should have worked (it was working when I was here in October). Luckily I had Swiss Franks with me that I could exchange to pesos. 2 days later I found out that my bank decided to introduce the wonderful "service" of geoblocking (limiting the area of usage for safety reasons). Which would have been OK if they would have notified me about it! After all, I am paying 12 CHF per month especially to be able to withdraw cash anywhere in the world for free. Thank you, PostFinance!
Back to the airport to pick up my luggage: no, it didn't arrive. They said they have advice from HK that my bags were on the flight, so they don't know what was the problem, they will have to track the bags. I guess next time I should put GPS trackers in them… After a 2-hour bureaucratic procedure they managed to give me 25 USD of emergency allowance, which is a joke: just the t-shirt I bought the previous evening (the only one I could find in my size) was 37 USD.
Then go for more shopping: bought a new suitcase, clothes and toiletries. Luckily in Mall of Asia there was a shop selling souvenirs: they had big-size clothes for foreigners. Now I look like an advertisement for the Philippines: on my nationally colored shorts there is a map of the Philippines, on two of my t-shirts it says San Miguel beer, while on the third one can see the logo of the Red Horse beer. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find socks in my size and underwear that is only about two sizes below my size - but it will do for 2 weeks. However, it did take quite some time to find these things, finished shopping in the evening around 8.
The invitation was to Pangasinan province in the North. Originally the plan was to reach it by 8 in the evening, but I was just starting at 8. Took a bus from Mall of Asia (South of Manila) to the long-distance bus terminal Cubao: going through Christmas traffic in Manila took 2 hours. And Cubao is only in the middle of Manila! The other half of the city added another two hours to the trip.
Arrived to Pangasinan at 4am on Dec. 24 without the Christmas presents (except a few small ones that were in my hand luggage), but at least on time for the celebrations.
Since then I have been trying to find out something about my bags: the luggage counter is very hard to reach on the phone, they are always busy or not picking up. One time I got through, but the prepaid credit on my cell phone ran out before they could look up the status in their computer (12 min were not enough). I will keep trying…
In the meantime I also checked what do I need for filing a claim on my worldwide travel insurance: need to attach a PIR (Property Irregularity Report) that the airline should have issued on the spot, but of course they didn't. Now I am planning to go back to Manila one day earlier so that I can go to the airport and get this paper (as well as kick their butts so that they try to find my bags). However, even if I get my luggage back, I wonder if I will ever see the Swiss chocolates that were in those suitcases… After all, it's also Christmas in Russia and Swiss chocolates make excellent presents…
I just hope they can find my suitcases, even without the chocolates. Otherwise, even if the insurance eventually pays (which is of course not for sure as far as I know insurance companies), I would have to spend a lot of time buying back all the bits and pieces that I had in them. That would be the real loss. That and the stress...
But I'm trying to stay positive. After all, I'm healthy, it's wonderful weather here, the family is very welcoming (all ~30 members who I met so far ;-)), Christmas dinner was great (see photo), fireworks were great. As the Department of Tourism motto says: "It's more fun in the Philippines" :-)
In 3 days off to Hong Kong for a week...
