Day 0 - Transit to the Philippines
My trip to the Philippines was Auckland -> Singapore, then Singapore -> Cebu. The first leg of the trip went well, surprisingly they served “Supper” even though it was like 2am (NZ time) by that time. Supper was a bread roll, some meatballs and mashed potatoes with a Kapiti Ice cream for desert. This flight had wifi which was very exciting!
After supper they turned the lights down and I attempted to get some sleep - I got a little bit, but it was more difficult than I expected. I was in an isle seat, so there was frequently people walking past - although it was good not needing to get up for people who needed to use the bathroom.
We arrived in Singapore early, so I had over 4 hours on the ground. I initially worked out how to get from where I was to where I needed to be for the next leg of the trip. I had to take two “Sky Trains” to get to terminal 2 which is where the flight to Cebu was departing from. The Sky trains were unmanned little trains that go between the various terminals.
It doesn’t take long to notice that Singapore airport is absolutely massive! Obviously they have several terminals, but also each terminal is huge. Below some pictures that I took while at the airport.
After wondering around for a bit I grabbed something to eat (from McDonalds) and headed over to where my flight would be leaving form. It seemed fairly disorganised compared to NZ, there were two waiting areas connected together in this area, and I was in the line for the flight that I had to take, but at some point someone came around and told people heading to Cebu to get into the other line. Once we did that and our bags were scanned again, we moved fairly quickly into the waiting area.
In the waiting area once it was time to board the plane everyone stood up and got in line which was confusing. The person who was in charge of getting everyone on the plane told people to sit back down, and to come up in “group numbers”. When announcing the next group he would sometimes say which rows they covered but other times not. I eventually got in line and boarded the plane. It took a while before we could leave, and was a bumpy ride initially, but once we were up it settled down. Lunch was served on the plane, it was a meatball pasta and a fruit slice for desert. The rest of the flight was uneventful (no wifi in this one unless u pay), so watched a move.
Once in Cebu I had to go thru “Passport control“ where you had to have filled out an online form and present a QR code. After this it was off to find my checked in bag, and go thru customs. There appeared to be another form I needed to fill in but this wasn’t working, so I had to fill out a paper form. By the time I filled out the paper form the queue to get thru customs had gone so I went straight through. Interestingly no-one was interested in the form I filled out, and they didn’t bother scanning my bags.
I had been told to use an app called “Grab” (essentially their version of Uber) to get around and suggested to not use Taxi’s. As soon as I got out of the airport there were people there asking if I needed a Taxi, to which I replied no, that I was using Grab. I went to the ATM (it was located out side of the airport) and got some initial cash out, then ordered the Grab taxi and headed out to the Air BnB that I was staying at for the first few days of the trip. Some photos below from that ride from the airport to my Air BnB. The powerlines are very uniquely laid out!
After initially being dropped off at the wrong place I walked to the correct area and got myself checked into the appartment. I headed out to buy something for dinner (I got Jollibee’s) and some bottled water - the advice is to NOT drink any water from the taps and even to not use it to brush your teeth.
I headed back to the apartment and settled for the night - I was quite tired from travelling.
