Wednesday 9 March 2016

Cebu Philippines - Flying from Kuta Bali - What a long days

This is going to sound like a negative post, but really I am just stating the facts about my commute to the Philippines.

My luxury hotel in Kuta had told me when I checked in, that it was OK if I left my bags at the front desk and hung out around the pool for the day, because my flight is not until 6:45 PM that night.  However, that morning the guy who told me this was not there and the girl said this is not possible.  Check out time is noon, no exceptions.

She did give me a free taxi to the airport.

It is now just before 1 pm and I am at the Kuta Airport, and something I never imagined is the airport does not have air condition.  I am sitting and sweating like a mad man.  By 2 pm and I soaked in sweat, not exactly what I want for a 17 hour commute to Cebu.

Eventually enough time passes by that I can check in and get through security, and this part of the airport is a little cooler, but I am still sweating.

One thing I should mention, is when I checked in, I got both tickets, the one for Kuta to Singapore and the next, from Singapore to Cebu, but the check in girl had mentioned I had to get my bag in Singapore.  I should have clued into what she met.

6:45 pm is here and I am on the plane.  My luck has changed and I get the entire first row to myself and the air condition is working.  However, I probably smell like Bigfoot's balls, but who cares.  I am cool!

The flight went by fast and we are in Singapore.


I exit the plane and go find my bag, and then it hits me.  I am exiting the airport, and will have to check in again.  So, before I exit to get my bag, I ask someone if maybe my bag is actually going all the way because I have both tickets.  The person confirmed that my bag is not going all the way and my second ticket is garbage, I will need to recheck in with my bag.

The problem with this is, you cannot check in until 2 hours before your flight, and I have a 11 hour layover.  Waiting in this area of the airport sucks, because everything is behind security, such as food, sleeping area, etc.

I go over to the tigerair counter and see if I can get my ticket early or not.  It is 9:00 pm and he says, no come back at 11 pm.  2 hour wait isn't as bad as 9.

2 hours goes by and I walk back over, a new guy is there and says, come back at 1 am.

2 hours goes by again, and I walk back over.  A new girl is there and she says, sure.  As she is checking me in, she realizes why my bag did not go all the way through.  It is because I do not have a return ticket out of the Philippines, and the other didn't want the hassle of asking my to get one, so she just stopped by bag here.  Lesson learned!  I will still take the chance of not having a return ticket, and if they request it or something like this happens, I will just get one on the spot.

So, that is exactly what I had to do here.  They wouldn't let me through until I had a return ticket out of the Philippines.  Not an issue, I will book a cheap ticket with cancellation insurance.

This ends up being another adventure.  I don't have internet.  They tell me to go to the information center and get a free pass.

The information center gives me a free pass, but the password is type incorrectly.  This is another challenge explaining this to the information center, and eventually the person tries it themselves and says.  It is incorrect.  Fuck my Life!  Anyways, I am not logged in.

I find a flight, but the internet is so slow, it fails when paying twice. Uhhhhh!

I head over to the TigerAir desk and ask if I can book the ticket here, as it is through their airline.  I remember the good old days, when this was possible.  Nope, you must do it online!

I stand there for a minute and go, Fuck My Life! once more, but this time with feeling!

The guy says, oh wait, you can use my phone and call the booking center.  Cool!   He dials the number, "Sorry, we are only open from 7 am to 7 pm, click!"  Do I need to say it?

I tell him and he says, oh yeah, it is 1:30 am.

I decide to try my luck with the highspeed dailup internet, and oh my god! it works.  I have a ticket.  I almost jump up and down, but I am too lazy.

I finally get checked in, and go through security, on my mission to find the free sleeping area posted all over the Singapore website.

1 hour of walking and there is no such thing!  They are both closed for cleaning.  Yes, they clean the sleeping area at night.  I am not sure if you see the stupidy here or not.  I did, as I see people sleeping all over on the floor, on benches.

I googled the airport to see where the free movie room is, where lots of people find a good place to sleep.  I find it, and guess what.  Open 24 hour a day, 7 days a week, the sign shows.  However, another sign below shows, closed from 1 am to 4 am for cleaning.

There is no real place to sneak off to and sleep, so I decide just to wait it out, and drink some coffee.  Singapore airport, your website lies!

My next flight to Cebu is here and I am off.  I can't beleive I am still awake at 9 am, and I am not even that tired.

The flight itself went by rather fast, and I met another new friend.  Her name is Cynthia and she is from Cebu, but works as a house cleaner in Singapore.  I guessed her age of 22, but then she told me, no she is 31.  What do these people drink, to look so damn young?

We had some pretty cool conversations and she gave me her number to maybe meet up again in Cebu, but I lost that number somewhere between customs and security.



A short 15 minute taxi ride and I am in my hostel, ready for some needed rest.  Until tomorrow Cebu!

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