Traveling to the Philippines

The thought of a journey taking 19 hours and 45 minutes is bad enough, but the first two legs of the journey taking around 16 hours were via airports that do not have any smoking lounges. The entire airport is no smoking!

I arrived at Newcastle International Airport 3 hours before my flight was due. I had a coffee with my parents, handed my bags over at the drop off point, said farewell to my parents and went through security and into the main airport.

I believe this is an Airbus A320, but the pilot referred to it as an Airbus A319. I hate to think I was right and the pilot was wrong!

My first flight of the day was on an Airbus A320. The safety card in the airoplane said that it was for an A320, but the pilot announced “welcome on board the A319″. As we disembarked from Newcastle, the temperature was 4C.

Photo out the window of the Airbus A320 en route to Heathrow from Newcastle

The flight was just over an hour and we soon landed at Heathrow Airport in London where the temperature was 7C. After leaving the plane, I grabbed a bite to eat and waited for them to call the Gate number of my connecting flight. I had assumed that as I was landing at Terminal 5 and my next flight was leaving from Terminal 5, I would not have far to walk. Wrong! I had to get the airport train to the gate as Terminal 5 is absolutely massive. I have seen smaller villages, seriously.

As I sat at gate 65 waiting for it to open, the sun was setting behind Terminal 5 as a British Airways Boeing 747-400 prepared to disembark.

Sun setting behind Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport, London

Haze and heat from British Airways Boeing 747-400 at Heathrow Airport

This was now the flight I had been both looking forward to and dreading. I was looking forward to flying on the 747-400 as I have never been on one before, but I was not looking forward to not being able to smoke until I reached Hong Kong.

During the flight I was unable to get much sleep at all, maybe an hour or two at the most. I watched my iPod and used the free on board entertainment system (which I hate the idea of as it has brought down a healthy plane due to faulty wiring). I listened to some comedy and watched Citizen Kane. I feel very bad that I have a media degree, yet I have never seen citizen kane!

The flight went east north east from Heathrow, over europe, into Russian airspace, into Siberian airspace, then down into Chinese airspace, finally flying out over the sea and landing at Hong Kong airport where the temperature was a more mild 16C.

I rushed through the airport, got my boarding pass, went through security and found the gate I was leaving from. I cashed a £20 travelers cheque so that I could use the phone and get a drink. But, by the time I had found the currency exchange booth, changed my money and found the smoking lounge, it was time to board my final flight. I ended up boarding it without spending a single Hong Kong Dollar. Oh well, at least I will have it for next time I am there.

This final leg was with Cathay Pacific. I had assumed they would be a lower class than British Airways, but I was totally blown away by the quality of the plane. It had been well fitted and everything looked new. With the British Airways planes, they all still have ashtrays from way back in the 80′s when you could still smoke on planes. Seeing that always worries me as it makes me wonder, if they couldnt be bothered to remove the ashtrays and update the plane, what else haven’t they updated. While I am sure that this is not the case, appearances are everything. While Cathay Pacific and British Airways are part of the One World group (who I assume are simply codesharing partners), Cathay Pacific totally blow British Airways out of the water with both quality and service. Sorry British Airways, I always wanted to fly with you, but it’s clear you are not as good and high quality as you used to be.

This final flight was just 1 hour and 22 minutes. Before long we was landing in Manila where the temperature was an insane 37C even though it was 6pm and the sun had set! As the plane was on its final approach and very close to landing, the pilot started dipping the left wing. I assume they were not correctly lined up for the runway and were making minor adjustments. However, it was unnerving as we were so close to landing and the plane could have been getting buffeted by side winds. This can cause last minute adjustments to go horribly wrong as one wheel of the landing gear is slammed into the runway, usually resulting in a crash or touch and go. It’s rare that a 747 crashes as the pilots are some of the best in the world. The plane landed safely and was still realigning as it sped down the runway braking, Finally, we were taxing to our arrival gate.

With my passport and completed immigration paperwork in hand, I made my way through Immigration and Customs. At the other side, Ian was waiting for me, but I could not find her. I tried calling her but I could not hear her when she picked up. I walked to the other collection point, but again she was not there. Eventually I managed to contact her, she had been waiting at the first collection area and I must have missed her. She made her way to the second collection point and together we drove to the hotel.

I got a shower and a change and we went onto the hotel rooftop for a lovely meal. After the meal we went to a bar and had a few drinks before heading back to the hotel.

The next morning (due to an expensive incident), we moved to another hotel with a balcony.

View of Manila from the balcony of our Hotel room

I have just got my laptop and other technology setup (I have 4 mobile phones, one with a UK sim card, one with a Spanish sim card, one with a UK landline number and one with a Philippine sim card). I now need to knuckle down and get some work done to catch up.