5D4N Getaway to Manila! 马尼拉首旅
June 23, 2017 (Friday late night)
It is 10.30pm. We are waiting impatiently for our ride to arrive. Not that our ride is late, but it is us who are a little too excited(?) and anxious about this upcoming trip.
We pre-booked our GrabTaxi ride to Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA), and the driver arrived promptly. It's about 20~25 minutes ride from our home to the airport.
We pre-booked our GrabTaxi ride to Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA), and the driver arrived promptly. It's about 20~25 minutes ride from our home to the airport.
Actually our flight departs at 2.15AM (the next day), but we wanted to arrive the airport early to avoid hassle. In fact, we arrived too early, so we had McDonald's while waiting for boarding. Basically that's it for the night.
Prelude
The reason we chose Manila as our family trip destination is because (1) it is near to Sabah (where we staying), (2) it is a country which we haven't been before. Plus, my mum recommended so since she has been there years ago.
We went during the Hari Raya festive season this year. So it is a short getaway.
Most of the times, we spent time visiting restaurants, food stalls and shopping malls. Probably to some you might feel not that exciting. It's okay, I understand :)
Hope you guys will enjoy the pictures taken from this trip and have fun reading! Follow me~ ^_^
June 24, 2017 (Saturday)
Departure
This time, something different, we are flying with Philippine low-cost airline - Cebu Pacific (a.k.a. Cebu Pacific Air), and it is our very first experience with it. It is to depart on 2:15AM, and the flight should take 2 hours to arrive Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3.
The very first thing I noticed is their seats; they are less-cushion than other airlines, for instance, AirAsia. The plane interior is clean and well-maintained, but just looks a little bit old.
The plane took off promptly.
Side track a bit. When we booked our flight tickets, we booked it with check-in luggage and in-flight meals. Funny thing is, it didn't cross our mind that having meals in the middle of the night, about 3AM, is something ridiculous. And yeah, so we had our "supper" and ended up couldn't catch much sleep on the plane.
Our plane arrived SUPER early, about half an hour before estimated time of arrival (ETA). Having said that, you might think "oh yeah, people usually got delayed by flight, but you guys arrived pretty on-time".
Noooo, that's not the case. We did arrived early, but the plane couldn't get a "parking" because of that. So we all caught inside the plane for the next dreadful 30~40 minutes (can you imagine?)
When we finally got off from the plane, there is a long hallway to go in order to reach the immigration counter. About a good 5 minutes walk, at least.
The time is 4:29AM in the morning. And I'm so sleepy zzzzzzzz
Once we came out from the international arrival hall, we headed to the telecommunication service counter to purchase data SIM. As far as I know, there are 2 major telecommunication service provider here in Philippines - Smart and Globe.
Since there was a long queue in front of Globe's counter, we chose Smart instead. They provide free prepaid SIM card (with no extra charge). Then we need to purchase prepaid value top-up/reload in order to use the service.
In fact, if you're planning to travel to Philippines, you could book your free tourist SIM ahead. For more info, check out the link here.
The local staffs weren't all fluent in English. So it's a bit hard to communicate and understand each other. What we did was, we reloaded P500, which is recommended for 7-day length of stay. This includes all day LTE surfing for 7 days up to 800MB per day at normal speed.
When all is set, we book our ride to hotel via Grab Car. The fare is P270. We thought it is fairly cheap and convenient using this APP, rather than getting an airport taxi.
-stay tuned for more!-
The very first thing I noticed is their seats; they are less-cushion than other airlines, for instance, AirAsia. The plane interior is clean and well-maintained, but just looks a little bit old.
The plane took off promptly.
Side track a bit. When we booked our flight tickets, we booked it with check-in luggage and in-flight meals. Funny thing is, it didn't cross our mind that having meals in the middle of the night, about 3AM, is something ridiculous. And yeah, so we had our "supper" and ended up couldn't catch much sleep on the plane.
Our plane arrived SUPER early, about half an hour before estimated time of arrival (ETA). Having said that, you might think "oh yeah, people usually got delayed by flight, but you guys arrived pretty on-time".
Noooo, that's not the case. We did arrived early, but the plane couldn't get a "parking" because of that. So we all caught inside the plane for the next dreadful 30~40 minutes (can you imagine?)
When we finally got off from the plane, there is a long hallway to go in order to reach the immigration counter. About a good 5 minutes walk, at least.
The time is 4:29AM in the morning. And I'm so sleepy zzzzzzzz
Once we came out from the international arrival hall, we headed to the telecommunication service counter to purchase data SIM. As far as I know, there are 2 major telecommunication service provider here in Philippines - Smart and Globe.
Since there was a long queue in front of Globe's counter, we chose Smart instead. They provide free prepaid SIM card (with no extra charge). Then we need to purchase prepaid value top-up/reload in order to use the service.
In fact, if you're planning to travel to Philippines, you could book your free tourist SIM ahead. For more info, check out the link here.
The local staffs weren't all fluent in English. So it's a bit hard to communicate and understand each other. What we did was, we reloaded P500, which is recommended for 7-day length of stay. This includes all day LTE surfing for 7 days up to 800MB per day at normal speed.
When all is set, we book our ride to hotel via Grab Car. The fare is P270. We thought it is fairly cheap and convenient using this APP, rather than getting an airport taxi.
-stay tuned for more!-
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