Tag: travel

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2006 October 21 Tagaytay

Drove to Tagaytay last weekend for a [very] late dinner. My co-driver (feeling WRC hehe), Billie, and I took the SLEX. Traffic was light so we were moving pretty fast and completely missed the Sta. Rosa exit. We took the next exit at Greenfields. From there, the road to Tagaytay was well-paved and had almost zero traffic but it was sooo dark. Once at Tagaytay proper, we again missed the turn we’re supposed to take. We were looking for the landmark McDonald’s but didn’t see it. We ended up somewhere in Nasugbu where we retraced our route, met up with Joel who drove out to meet us at the turn, and followed him to Ninoy’s place.

After a quick dinner we drove back to Makati. We were on a convoy with Tina and Rob in another car. The drive down from Tagaytay was pretty uneventful though we did pass by a road crew extricating a pickup that went off the railing. But that’s their event :D When we got to SLEX, it was pretty much deserted so I honked at the other car as a friendly “see you around”, opened up the throttle, and went ahead. Tina could’ve been the one to go ahead as she was on the mighty B16A and I was only on the GA16DNE but I guess she was being nice :)

The drive made me realize that I need auxiliary lights. It’s a glaring (hehe) deficiency with my current driving equipment as the roads, especially at Greenfield, were really dark.

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2006 June 7 to 10 Bangkok, Thailand

Just came back from Bangkok for meetings with a client and some partners (and partners-to-be). Actually, I was just there to accompany Migs and provide technical consultation.

We arrived wednesday and spent the time walking around a mall called MBK. It’s main attraction seems to be a HUGE mobile communications shopping area. While walking around, I noticed that there are MANY pretty Thai women (heck there are even some pretty Thai men!). Bangkok was nice already! Later in the evening, Migs interviewed a Thai who is interested in working with the company.

Thursday was all meetings. We met with the client, met with a partner, had lunch, met with another partner, then another. I mostly listened since technical issues didn’t come up. But it was still hectic and quite tiring. We ended late in the evening and simply crashed when we got back to the hotel.

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2006 May 25 to 29 Bohol

Some pics from my trip to Bohol on 2006 May 25 to 29. I was there to join the family for my sister’s birthday and my first nephew’s dedication. While there, I took the opportunity to dive at Balicasag Island (where, unfortunately, the divemaster’s assistant engaged in spear fishing grrr) and swim at Panglao Island. Pictures were taken using a Pentax Optio WPi.

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2006 May 6 to 8 Puerto Princesa, Palawan

Some classmates from MBA and I flew to Puerto Princesa, Palawan for the weekend. It was my first time to Puerto Princesa and my first out-of-town trip for the summer. Needless to say, I was pretty excited. So was everybody. Except for Val and I, they had already gone ahead on the 5th. Val and I were supposed to just catch up with them on the 6th.

Early in the morning of the 6th, I jumped out of bed and drove off to pick up Val. However, when I got to her place, I learned that due to last minute changes in her schedule she won’t be able to make it. It’s a bummer but there’s nothing that can be done about it. So, I went back home, picked up a few things I’ve left behind and then drove to Park ‘N Fly (nice service) where I parked. They then shuttled me to the airport terminal.

Upon checking in at the counter, I learned that the flight was delayed due to a temporary closureof the airport for some government thing. After a looong and boooring wait at the pre-departure area, it was finally boarding time. A short and thankfully uneventful flight later, I was in Puerto Princesa.

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Philippine Airlines

It’s been quite some time since I last flew with PAL. So on my recent trip to Bohol to attend my sister’s wedding, I decided to get PAL round-trip tickets mainly for convenience’s sake but also out of curiousity. Initially, this PAL experience seemed okay though my sister did complain she had to wait too long getting the tickets and on the flight the restroom stank.

It was on the return flight that I regretted my decision to fly PAL. The weather was bad so when we checked in, they said the flight will be delayed. But PAL didn’t announce on the PA, as Cebu Pacific did, that the flight was cancelled. We decided that the best course of action is to go to Cebu and catch a Cebu Pacific flight.

We went to the Cebu Pacific ticket office. But by then it was too late to catch the 3PM flight and we had to make do with the 5PM flight. Because we had little money left, there were no ATMs nearby, and they didn’t accept credit cards, we had to refund our PAL tickets to pay for the Cebu Pacific tickets. But the PAL office was full of irate customers they couldn’t appease. We definitely were not going to get the refund in time. Thankfully, the very nice staff at the Cebu Pacific ticket office agreed to just allow us to pay for the tickets once we get to Cebu where they do accept credit cards.

We grabbed a quick lunch and scooted off to Cebu via a fastcraft where we got the tickets at the Cebu Pacific ticket office and refunded from the, thankfully, empty PAL ticket office. On the way to the departure lounge, we saw an announcement: The PAL 5PM flight was delayed by an hour. At the end of the day, it wasn’t so bad as we eventually got back home albeit a bit late. But I’ll have to say my airline of choice is most definitely Cebu Pacific.