We are well on our journey now – after a hassle free trip up to LHR with our trusty driver we were deposited at Terminal 4 and were able to walk right up to the check-in where everything went smoothly.
We elected to go straight through to the departure gates so after a brief stop in security, we found ourselves in the Duty Free area where, for a change, purchases were made.
Soon afterwards we are choosing a meal-deal and sit down for a mid afternoon snack. Now, when I say ‘deal’ – it’s no longer the Ā£4.75 it once was!
We make our way down to our departure gate 6 and before long we are crawling on to the plane, we get our seats and thankfully the 3rd seat becomes occupied by a relatively small person. Leg room a-plenty we settle down and investigate the in-flight entertainment system – which is all different to the Etihad/Emirates/Singapore offerings.
After some searching I come up with a couple of films to watch and settle in for the entertainment. Disappointingly the people in the row in front of us were all big fans of reclining their seats at any and all opportunities. Fortunately the crew were very much on the case when it came to serving drinks and meals and seat backs were moved forward accordingly.
Dinner for me was chicken and rice but was super tasty, I chose well. Sadly Jo found her meal uninspiring š
Back to the movies – and it seems that I dozed through the first one, watched half of the second one and then slept for the rest of the flight – jolly good!
All of a sudden they announce that we are landing in 40 minutes and what seemed like much less than 40 minutes, we were on the ground – Qatar cherry popped!
Initially the airport seemed relatively ordinary but when we got to the middle of it – it opens up into a gardened area on two levels with a spectacular waterfall, lots of greenage, all surrounded by the most expensive looking boutiques you ever saw – well, we wont be going in to those then!! I was quite keen on visiting Mr Ramseys Pizza place – Pizza at 02.00 my time? Why on earth not – still – we passed on by š
Now hunkered down near our departure gate for the second leg to Manilla, only another 3hrs to go – fortunately – very comfy seats have been found – excellent.
We get called for our flight and soon work out that the phrase ‘calling all passengers on zone 1 only’ actually means ‘calling all passengers’ when translated to PHP and for flights in to Manilla it’s always advisable to get on board sooner rather than later unless you are happy to have your overhead locker space taken up with other people’s shopping. I mean why only limit yourself to one piece of carry on baggage when you can take five!
We get settled in, introduce ourselves to our neighbour and commence the journey.
Several good film choices later and perhaps a little dozing and we commence our descent into MNL
Passport control was not too bad, the usual back and forth queuing to get through the relatively short queue for international passengers and then it’s down stairs for the baggage reclaim adventure.
After seeing half an hour we have three port of our four bags but have to wait the full hour for the last one! (When checking in at LHR, our baggage got separated according to it’s size, weight and fragility and in distinctly remember the guy who took our camera box telling us not to worry and that it would most certainly be there for us in MNL when we arrived as we walked away leaving it sitting there on the conveyor and seemingly going no where!)
I should have more faith!
Soon we meet our driver Ernie and we are away!
It’s now around midnight local time and I’m trying to get some sleep but I don’t think it worked, even though I was laying down with my eyes shut IĀ could tell where we were by the twists and turns we made as well as the frequency of the massive bumps and speed.
We arrived at the shoreside where one of the dive boats is waiting for us (in the dark!) and are greeted with several ‘welcome back’s and our (heavy) baggage is whisked on board and we soon follow.
A short trip around the corner and we have arrived!
It’s now almost two in the morning and now staff are there to greet us, our baggage is sent in various directions and we get to our room. Dive gear is hastily loaded into the crates provided and we collapse!