Date: December 19, 2022
After nearly 3 years of COVID-19, I was itching to fly international again. I hadn’t seen my girlfriend in so long that when Philippines announced in May 2022, that they would re-open the country to tourism, I began my planning. I finally decided that I would fly before Christmas to spend the New Year and celebrate both our birthdays together in January.
But when it came time to plan and book my tickets, I realized many carriers hadn’t resumed their pre-COVID schedules. Options for daily connections were mostly limited to Thai Airways, Malaysia Airlines, and Singapore Airlines — and their return ticket prices were very high. Understandably so. After all, I was flying right before Christmas to a majority Catholic country and this was the year end.
So in order to save money, I booked my onward journey on Thai Airways and then split my return ticket with flights on Air Asia and IndiGo, flying back to Bangalore after a few days spent in Bangkok.
Upon arriving in Bangalore airport, I did run into an issue with security. After clearing immigration, I had to pass my bags through the scanners and the security staff marked my bags for inspection. Since I packed my drone in my carry on bag, the security personnel informed me that I cannot carry drones in my carry on — only check-in luggage! I told them the reason why I place it in my carry on is because I wished to declare it with customs, because that’s what I used to do pre-COVID. The security officer then informed me: “oh, actually customs has moved downstairs and you have to declare goods before you check-in bags”.
The whole experience was frustrating as they had to call a Thai Airways staff member, who had to herself clear security just to get to us, talk to customs, deal with security personnel… long story short, I got fed up and told her I will just place my drone in my check-in luggage (which Thai Airways staff had to retrieve). A lot of time was wasted on this but oh well, lesson learnt!
Fortunately I had plenty of time as my flight was slightly delayed. After boarding, I just watched some comedy shows until meal was served.
After having my preferred drink when flying – gin and tonic – I tried to get some sleep.
Once I got to the transfers area, I couldn’t find my Manila flight on the digital display. I went to the Thai Airways customer service desk who informed me of my gate but told me the connecting flight was also delayed. So I decided to use my Priority Pass card to access a lounge so that I could eat breakfast and sit somewhere properly.
Unfortunately, I could not get a window seat on the flight to Manila. I was disappointed as I was looking forward to seeing the many islands while flying over the South China Sea/West Philippines Sea. But in the end it didn’t matter. Due to the sunlight glare being so high, the pilot switched on a blue tint on every window (this was a Boeing 787) that would have made shooting photos or videos hard.
After another gin and tonic, I slept for a bit.
As of this writing, Philippines still requires all visitors arriving into the country to be registered on etravel.gov.ph. It’s completely free, so be warned, some fake websites exist that charge money. Once registered with all your details of vaccination, flight details and arrival dates, you will be provided with a document that you need to print or show on your mobile device.
Many hadn’t registered on the eTravel website, and so they were made to do so, extending the times to clear the queues. I had mine printed out so all I had to was scan the QR code and then move on.
After clearing immigration, buying a local SIM and exchanging some money, I finally embraced my girlfriend after 3+ years of being apart.
As happy as I was to be back in Manila, I got to experience bad Manila traffic as soon as we left the airport. It took us more than 1 hour to get to my girlfriend’s place!
Here’s a short ‘vlog’ of my journey from Bangalore to Manila.
By the way… there won’t be many blog posts from my time in the Philippines. The purpose of this trip was to be with my girlfriend, so I was in Manila mostly. Being Christmas and the end of the year, travel anywhere would have been hectic and expensive.
When I wasn’t working, during my free time, I would cook or just check out some malls.
Also turns out, December and January are still not the best times to visit the Philippines. For much of my time in Manila, it was grey skies and it even rained a few times. Not too bad, but if you want nice sunny skies and see some great sunsets by Manila Bay, I would suggest visiting the Philippines from February until May.
The next few posts will mostly be about some places I went to in Manila and LiwLiwa beach in Zambales.
Next posts in this series:
Philippines: Divisoria’s 168 Shopping Mall and Tutuban Night Market
Philippines: Getting to Liwliwa Beach, Manila to San Felipe (Zambales) by bus
Philippines: Strolling around San Felipe town; visiting Subic Bay
Philippines: Back in Manila, in search of Indian food around Monumento
Philippines: Checking out Sidcor Local Sunday Market in Quezon City
Philippines: Checking out Mitsukoshi in Bonifacio Global City, Manila
Philippines: Skyscrapers of Bonifacio Global City and Manila’s First 3D Billboard
Philippines: Getting a glimpse of ITZY in Manila, and the shocking cost of fresh food
