On our way to Palawan

     For those of you who don't know, Palawan is to the Philippines as Hawaii is to the US. It is a popular vacation spot for expats and Filipinos alike and is a beautiful place. 

    We are going to the Daluyon Resort in Palawan for a long weekend: Friday afternoon, Saturday, and Sunday. We take a cab to the airport, and because it was a Friday morning, the Skyway (highway) was practically empty. 

     Security at the Manila Airport is slightly different than in the states. First off, there is a metal detector and bag scanner at the entrance. That gets you to the desks and baggage check area. There is another one after that leads to the food/terminal area. At that one, the males and females are split and there is a slight pat down  (they check legs and chest). The metal detectors and bag scanners aren't half as strict as in the states also. You can keep everything on, all you have to do is empty your pockets. The bag scanner is faster and shorter than in the states to keep the lines moving at a pretty good clip. 

     We grab a bite to eat and head downstairs to our gate, which is pretty much a few rows of chairs in front of a set of double doors. There is no serious separation between gates, for example, we were at gate 133, a little farther was gate 134 with its own set of chairs.  I am not sure if it was like this at all of the gates, but the double doors didn't lead to the plane, but a bus or two that drove to the plane. 

    Definitely the coolest thing about the flight there was the movie-like entrance to the plane. Unlike the tunnels that lead to the plane door, there are stairs leading up to it. Definitely a much cooler way to get into a plane because the jet engine is roaring in your ear, and it makes you feel like the president getting into Air Force 1. 

    We get into the plane, and we are in row 22 of 30 which is right behind the wing, but not too much to where that is all that you see when looking out the window. Things to note about the Filipino planes. There is minimal leg room, my window was greasy, and there is mist that comes out of the ceiling. The mist is probably a humidifier because the Philippines are so humid that they have to adjust the plane to accommodate the Filipinos.

No Leg Room

Mist (hard to see)

The plane flight was only about an hour. It quickly flew by as I was looking out the window the whole time. I'm not sure if it was because we were on a budget airline, but nothing was free, unless you count the mid-flight "game" which consisted of the flight attendants asking people to hold up certain things and giving bags to the quickest people.