The Travelling Feet

Who would have thought that even after all the preparations I did, I’d still end up like this? Late! Argh!

Ed and I agreed he should pick me up at my place at around 6am since the taxi’s normal route going to the airport passes by where I live. I woke up at 5 after a 1-hour nap. It was raining. By 5:30am (I think), Ed called me on my mobile phone and asked if I’m all ready. I told him that I was still taking a bath (yes, I bring my phone in our bathroom whenever I want to) and I’d just call him back when I’m done.

That was my mistake. I should have asked him to leave his house, hail a cab and wait for me once he reaches my place. The travel time from his house to mine was enough for me to get ready. Instead he left his place when I told him I just stepped out of the shower. He arrived at 6:15am. Since it was raining, the driver was careful in driving us to the airport.

The line outside the airport was long and I know we wouldn’t make it. I was about to go to that line when I saw Ed went straight to the entrance door and heard him call me. I didn’t know that was possible – to insert in the line He asked for the passengers to let us in first since we were already late for our flight and they gladly agreed. Still, we arrived 5 minutes after they closed the check-in counters. We tried to plead to the Cebu Pacific personnel to reconsider us since it was raining. I think there were 10 of us who were late. They wouldn’t budge. We were doomed.

blaming it all on the weather

Our only option was to become chance passengers on the next flight or book for a new flight. I immediately opened my laptop and checked the prices online. Either the cost was so expensive or the flight schedule won’t allow us to make it to our Clark to Bangkok trip. We decided to book as chance passengers and pay 3x the rate of our original plane fares. My Cebu to Manila ticket originally cost Php 1,359.68. But after the incident, I had to pay Php 5,656.00 for the rebooked ticket which covers the price difference of the original fare and the penalty fees. Ed had to pay 5k for his plane fare. Super Ouch!!!

The good thing was that Ed brought his credit card to pay for the plane tickets. If not for those plastic cards, we wouldn’t be able to travel. But we need to go on. So we swallowed the exorbitant amount just to be able to push through with the trip.

While waiting for the next flight to close its counters, Ed kept saying he won’t go to Siem Reap anymore and will just stay in Bangkok after loosing that amount of money. I had to convince him that we should still go to Siem Reap but he was half listening.

Then we impatiently waited for the the next flight to close its counters so that we can grab our chances on those seats where no one showed up for that scheduled flight. Even before they started calling out the names of the chance passengers, we were already behind the counters and Ed was quick to give our names. I was so relieved that we were the ones who were accommodated first. They tried to call a passenger’s name which was 1st on the list and since there was no response, we immediately told them that the person wasn’t there. So the person behind the counter got our names and processed our new flight schedule.

This was the first time I experienced this. Although it was a bad thing, to me, it was really a good learning experience. Not only did I learn how it’s like to suffer paying for something so outrageous because of being late but it also allowed me to experience how it is to book as a chance passenger. Although I had no plans of doing that again, at least when it does happen again, I’d be prepared. I just pity the guy whom I think was also on that list. A few minutes before they started calling out the names of the chance passengers, he asked if they were calling our names. We told him “No” so he walked away. When you happen to be a chance passenger, you have to be vigilant and if possible, stick your nose behind the check-in counters instead of being complacent since others would definitely get ahead of you.

It took some time before we finished checking in since they had to run the plastic cards. And after we got our tickets, we immediately heard our names being called to board already. Waaaaa. I think we were paged twice. After hurrying to pay for our terminal fees, and after the final xray, we  were running towards our boarding gate.

When we arrived in Manila, I happened to chat with this person while waiting for cabin doors to open. She said something like “Ganito talaga ang mga nala-late, nagmamadali makalabas.” I thought she was referring to us being late to board the plane so I kinda explained that “Na-late kasi kami kaya nasaraduhan kami sa counters kanina kaya nag chance passenger kami dito.” To my surprise, she said “Eh kami nga eh, 6:00 am dapat flight namin.” Whatda?!?!? Does that mean that the 6:00am flight got delayed and we were on board the flight for the supposedly 6am trip? I’m also not sure if Cebu Pacific Air joined the 6am and the 7:20am passengers in one plane. That may probably explain too why I never heard them announce back in Cebu that the 7:20am flight boarded already – that’s because they were still there waiting!?!?!

Upon hearing this, I didn’t know how to react. Was I supposed to be happy knowing that we arrived in Manila earlier than our original 7:20am flight? If it was indeed a blessing in the sky disguise, it was not funny. Not funny at all.

To  be continued…

P.S. This was not really an official connecting flight since we bought the tickets from Cebu to Clark and Clark to Bangkok separately but with the same airline companies – Cebu Pacific Air. The time interval on the two flights is 12 hours.

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This is a series of blog posts documenting my trip from Bangkok to Siem Reap and back in January of 2011. If you haven’t read the first posts, please check on the links below:

** Off to Bangkok and Siem Reap
#1 – The Accidental Trip to Bangkok and Siem Reap in 2011
#2 – Trip to Bangkok and Siem Reap: The Planning Stage
#3 – How to Create Your Bangkok to Siem Reap Itinerary
#4 – You are reading this now
#5 – En Route: Clark to Bangkok
#6 – Touchdown Bangkok!
#7 – Suvarnabhumi Airport a.k.a. Bangkok International Airport
#8 – Bangkok Train Station: Waiting for our Train Ride to Aranyaprathet
#9 – My First Taste of Authentic Thai Food

Unfinished Series from my 2008 Trip…
My First Train Ride From Bangkok to Aranyaprathet
Arriving at the Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok
My First Trip To Bangkok

You might also find this useful:
Modes of Transportation in Bangkok
Things to Consider When Planning Your Travel Itinerary
The Cheapest Way to Bangkok from Suvarnabhumi Airport

Last year, I vowed to myself that I should stop travelling to international destinations in the next coming months as I need to save up considering the fact that I just “retired” from my 5-year job in a BPO company. But when opportunity presented last October, the vows were completely forgotten and I gave in to the travel itch.

This was all Cebu Pacific Air’s fault!

Kidding aside, I’m really grateful for the promo fares that Cebu Pacific offer its passengers. If not for them, I wouldn’t be able to travel to both local and international destinations with those exhorbitant fares other airline companies charge.

My friend wanted to go to Bangkok to shop for clothing to sell back home and when I told them of the promo fare I saw online for Clark to Bangkok, she said they’d avail of the promo. She also convinced me and pleaded me to join them too and I was sold *sigh*. I told a travel buddy of mine about the trip and he agreed to join us too. The plan was for all of us to fly to Bangkok together. But after my buddy made me realize that I’m no longer restricted to the normal 2-days off work schedule since I now own my work time, what used to be a 4-day trip became a week-long trip instead. Fireworks were popping up my mind as I immediately formulated a plan to do a side trip to Siem Reap. (light bulb!)

So when I announced to my parents that I will be travelling to Bangkok last January 2011 my mom immediately blurted out “Na naman? Anong gagawin mo dun?” (Again? What are you going to do there?)

(Being Bicolanos, our parents required us to speak Tagalog inside the house so that we won’t forget that dialect. That’s why my other Cebuano friends find my way of speaking the Cebuano dialect weird. That’s because it’s a mixture of Bisaya, Tagalog and Bicolano.)

My reply was simple. “Mo-laag!” (will roam)

And when I also told them I’ll go back to Cambodia, my dad blurted out “Di ba delikado doon?” (Is it not dangerous to go there?). I guess he was referring to the landmines and the war and conflict that he had heard from years before.

I immediately reassured them that there’s nothing to be afraid of when going to Cambodia. Especially that I’m still around and nothing bad has happened to me when I last went there. I used Cambodia and not specifically Siem Reap since I know he doesn’t know where that one is

Parents. They’re always like that. Over-protective. But after explaining, they consented since they really can’t do anything to stop me from travelling. hehehe

exposed pictures of our balloon ride in Siem Reap in 2008, one of the reasons why I had to go back

Actually, this was my 3rd travel to Bangkok and my 2nd to Siem Reap. My first trip to Bangkok and Siem Reap happened last 2008. I love Siem Reap so much that I promised to go back to that quaint “not-so-little” town one day. And I never imagined that that one day would be this year. I was so excited. Finally I can take photos again of how wonderful that place is.

For my next blog posts, I’ll be documenting our detailed trip to Siem Reap and Bangkok, including the cheap places we stayed, the great food trips we devoured, the beautiful places we’ve seen and the exact money we spent for the entire trip. To give you an idea, I spent a total of Php 8,750.25 (~$197) for my trip to Bangkok and Siem Reap last January 18-25, 2011. That’s Php 4,296.00 (~$97) in Bangkok and Php 4,454.25 (~$100) in Siem Reap. This only includes food, transportation, accomodation and sight seeing in Bangkok and Siem Reap, not including the plane fares and bus fares from Cebu-Manila-Clark-Bangkok-Clark-Cebu and the travel tax and terminal fees in the Philippines

So do visit thetravellingfeet regularly as I’ll give you a blow-by-blow account of my 1st trip for the year 2011.

————————-

This is a series of blog posts documenting my trip from Bangkok to Siem Reap and back in January of 2011. If you haven’t read the first posts, please check on the links below:

** Off to Bangkok and Siem Reap
#1 – You are reading this now
#2 – Trip to Bangkok and Siem Reap: The Planning Stage
#3 – How to Create Your Bangkok to Siem Reap Itinerary
#4 – Arriving 5 Minutes Late on our Connecting Flight to Bangkok
#5 – En Route: Clark to Bangkok
#6 – Touchdown Bangkok!
#7 – Suvarnabhumi Airport a.k.a. Bangkok International Airport
#8 – Bangkok Train Station: Waiting for our Train Ride to Aranyaprathet
#9 – My First Taste of Authentic Thai Food

Unfinished Series from my 2008 Trip…
My First Train Ride From Bangkok to Aranyaprathet
Arriving at the Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok
My First Trip To Bangkok

You might also find this useful:
Modes of Transportation in Bangkok
Things to Consider When Planning Your Travel Itinerary
The Cheapest Way to Bangkok from Suvarnabhumi Airport

If you are from Cebu or anywhere in the Visayas and Mindanao region, there are two options you could take when going to Zambales to check out the famous Anawangin Cove, Nagsasa Cove and Capones Island.

#1) Through the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA)

Upon arriving in Manila, you need to take a bus that travels to Zambales. There should be a couple of buses but I only know of Victory Liner. The earliest trip is at 4:00 am at their Caloocan Terminal. Travel time is approximately 4 hours. Fare is Php 250.00/head.

Advantages:

- You will arrive in San Antonio, Zambales at approximately 8:00 – 9:00 am. This will give you ample time to buy what you need for your camping/day trip in their public market. This will also allow you to visit 2 destinations – Capones Island and a choice between Anawangin Cove or Nagsasa Cove.

- 1 bus ride from the Caloocan terminal to San Antonio, Zambales

It is advisable to visit Capones Island in the morning as the waves tend to get rough in the afternoon. So you can either do this on Day 1 of your trip or simply leave early from your camping site the next day to check out this island. In our case, we chose to visit Anawangin Cove first and we arrived there at around 10:30 in the morning and left for Nagsasa Cove at 3:00pm but was greeted with the scary boat trip going to Nagsasa Cove. We spent the night in Nagsasa Cove and left at around 9am the next day for Capones Island.

Disadvantage: You need to be in Manila in the evening, unless of course you book a flight that will arrive in Manila 2 hours before 4:00am. This means you either wait in the airport before you head off to the bus terminal for the 4am trip or you spend the night at some cheap hostel or stay at a friend’s house.

Though you can still book the first flight to Manila and arrive in Zambales after lunch, you or your boatman may have the tendency to cancel the trip if the waves are too big in the afternoon.

#2) Through the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport, also known as the Clark Airport

Cebu Pacific is most likely going to give away cheap fares for the Cebu to Clark route. This was the route we took when we went to Zambales. We only paid Php 114.00 for the round trip fares which was booked on 2010′s Independence Day promo

Advantage: The time it will take for you to sit in a bus and travel to Zambales will only last for approximately 2 hours.

Disadvantages:

- Cebu Pacific flights from Cebu to Clark are scheduled once daily. Your usual time of arrival in Clark will be around 6:30 pm onwards. This means you have to spend the night in Clark or Olongapo before you head to Zambales the next day. I would suggest you spend the night in Olongapo since the hostels there are cheaper. You can rent a room for 12 hours at P500, which is good for 2 heads.

- You will ride 2 buses to reach Zambales and this may be inconvenient for those who doesn’t like to transfer buses to reach their destinations.

Bus 1: Dau Bus Terminal in Mabalacat going to Olongapo (Travel time: ~1.5 hours) Fare: Php 130.00
There are vans that will take you to Olongapo at the same rate. The downside is you have to wait for the van to be filled before it leaves the terminal (in our case, we waited for more than 1 hour before the van left). You can also wait for the Victory Liner bus that will pass by the terminal and hop on one. Always ask around to know what time that bus will pass by the terminal.

vans going to Olongapo are waiting outside the DAU Bus Station

Bus 2: Olongapo to San Antonio, Zambales via Victory Liner (Travel time: ~1 hour) Fare: Php 59.00
These buses are the the ones coming from Caloocan so you have to be very quick in getting inside the bus since there will be a lot of people waiting for this trip too. I am not too sure though if there are also designated buses that leaves for Zambales from Olongapo via Victory Liner. Better contact the bus company to inquire.

a very cheap lodge is sitting above the Victory Liner Terminal in Olongapo

There may also be other bus liners that travel to Zambales from Olongapo but I have no knowledge what those are.

On going back, you can ride any bus from San Antonio to Olongapo and ask to be dropped off at the Victory Liner terminal or near it. Then immediately book a ticket going back to Manila since the last trip leaves at 6:10 pm. If you are exiting Clark Airport, it is best to leave San Antonio early and consider the ~1 hr travel time to Olongapo and another ~1.5 hours trip to Clark.

Bus Fares

Via Clark Aairport-DAU-Olongapo-San Antonio, Zambales
50.00 – Clark Airport to DAU Bus Station (airconditioned jeepney)
130.00 – DAU to Olongapo (bus or van)
59.00 – Olongapo to San Antonio (bus)

Via San Antonio-Olongapo-DAU-Clark Airport
59.00 – San Antonio to Olongapo (bus)
130.00 – Olongapo to DAU (bus or van) – fare is tentative since we didn’t take this route going back to Clark
7.00 – DAU to Terminal near SM Clark (ask the driver to be dropped off near 7-Eleven)
200.00 – SM Terminal to Clark Airport (rent of non airconditioned jeepney; fare is good for 1 head up to the jeepney’s maximum capacity)

jeepney to Clark Airport

Via Manila-San Antonio, Zambales
250.00 – Caloocan Terminal to San Antonio, Zambales (via SCTEX)

Via San Antonio-Olongapo-Manila
59.00 – San Antonio to Olongapo
240.00 – Olongapo to Pasay Terminal (via SCTEX)

These are bus rates as of February 18-21, 2011. These fares may be subject to change depending on the never ending price increases of transportation here in the Philippines.

So there. After considering what route to take on your Zambales trip, book that flight, plan your IT next and enjoy your adventure!