The hype about the Airbus A380 may have subsided, but it’s certainly not forgotten. Not by me anyway. After all that fanfare with Singapore Airlines’ A380, Emirates, the second airline set to receive the super jumbo is relatively quiet about is first commercial flight.

Searching for news about its maiden flight led me to ArabianBusiness.com’s article:

Emirates Airline will make its first commercial flight using the Airbus A380 super jumbo on October 1 this year on a direct flight to New York.

A search on the airline’s own e-booking website reveals that the 8.30am flight, EK201 from Dubai to New York, will be an A380. The earlier flight that day, and the same flight on the previous day, are still listed as Boeing 777-300ER flights.

Source: ArabianBusiness.com

Checking Emirate’s website, flight EK201 from Dubai International to John F. Kennedy International Airport will be an A380. It seems first class is already filled, or may be reserved as it’s marked at Unavailable. Seats are still available for Business and Economy.

Like Singapore Airlines, Emirates’ first class passengers will enjoy privacy in their own suites.

The new private suite is fully equipped with individual storage, a coat closet, vanity desk and personal mini bar. The extra-large seat reclines to become a fully flat bed, and the 23″ wide-screen LCD screen features over 600 channels of ice entertainment.

Source: Emirates’ Website

What the heck is ice entertainment?

The Emirates A380 will be configured to carry 489 passengers for Ultra Long Range flights (3 classes), 517 passengers for Long Range flights (3 class) and 600 passengers for Medium Range flights (2 class).

Popularity: 30% [?]

Donsol, Sorsogon about 540 kilometers from Manila. Like most provinces in the Bicol region, it can be reached by plane (via Legaspi) or by bus.

By Plane:
Philippine Airlines flies daily to Legaspi. PR277 from Manila departs at 7:00 am, arriving in Legaspi at 8:05 am. The flight back to Manila, PR278 leaves Legaspi at 8:45 am, arriving at 9:50 am.

Cebu Pacific has two flights to Legaspi. Flight 5J325 (M/W/F) departs Manila at 7:10 am, and arrives in Legaspi at 8:05 am. The flight back, 5J326 (M/W/F) leaves Legaspi at 8:35 am and gets to Manila by 9:30 am. Starting April 3, 2008, these two flights will be departing at a later time and will be operating daily (source: Cebu Pacific website). 5J325 will be flying daily, departing Manila at 8:25 am arriving 9:20 am. Likewise, 5J326 will also commence its daily flights, departing Legaspi at 9:50 am and arriving in Manila at 10:45 am.

Flight 5J327 flies daily leaving Manila at 12:45 am, arriving in Legaspi at 1:40 pm. The flight back, 5J328 leaves at 2:10 pm, arriving in Manila at 3:05 pm.

At the airport, you will be approached by people hawking private transfers to your resort. A van usually costs Php1,500 from Legaspi to Donsol. If you’re a big group, this is a good alternative. If you want to rough it, turn down the people offering you a van, and head out of the airport. There are always tricycles milling around. Ask the tricycle driver to take you to the transport terminal. The fare is Php50 since it’s a special trip.

At the terminal, look for the van headed for Donsol (it’s clearly marked, don’t worry). The van wouldn’t leave until it’s full. If you’re one of the first there, you can tell the barker to reserve your seat while you get a bite to eat or to buy snacks to munch on during the ride. The van ride to Donsol is about an hour and a half from Legaspi, through a very long and very winding road going up and down the mountains. Don’t worry, the road is smoothly paved. The van fare is Php60, and will be collected by before you leave the terminal.

When you reach the Donsol town proper, you can ask the van driver to drop you off at your resort for an additional fee. A fair amount would be Php20.

To get to the airport from Donsol, ride the van from the Donsol town proper. The same cost applies, but there’s a longer wait for passengers headed for Legaspi. The route back to the Legaspi terminal passes through the airport, so if you’ve no plans of sight seeing in Legaspi, just ask your driver to drop you off at the airport.

By Bus:
Several bus companies go to Legaspi and Sorsogon from Cubao or Pasay. Travel time from Manila to Legaspi is about 10 hours, and costs approximately Php450 one way. Philtranco has busses plying the Manila - Bicol route daily, with busses that go all the way to Donsol. Head on to Philtranco’s website for their schedule.

Getting out of Donsol

From Donsol, you can go further south to Sorsogon or take the ferry going to Masbate from Pilar. If you’re headed for Cebu, you can try the Pilar - Masbate - Cebu route. From Donsol, make your way to the town of Pilar. There are daily boats going to Masbate leaving at 5:00 am, 8:00 am, 12:00 noon and 4:00 pm. Fare costs Php360 one-way. From Masbate, vessel M/V Asia Indonesia goes to Cebu every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday at 6:00 pm. There are several classes in the boat: 2nd class (Php 480), Tourist Class (Php 883), Cabin (Php 1,390) and Presidential Suite (Php 1,719). All fares are per person and excludes taxes (about Php45).

If I remember correctly, travel time from Donsol to Pilar is 30 minutes, Pilar to Masbate is 2 hours and Masbate to Cebu is 10 hours.

Happy tripping!

Popularity: 41% [?]

I love my Gorillapod. When people see me using it, they all look at it in amazement and it always end up with them asking me where I bought it and for how much. I bought my Gorillapod locally, at the 5th Avenue store for Php1,400. I always say that it’s a great value for a great product. Honestly, I didn’t mind shelling out 1,400 for it.

Not surprisingly, it pains me to see this inside Cebu Pacific’s latest Smile, their inflight magazine on my flight back to Manila yesterday:

What the hell?

 
Labeled as the CEB Camera Flexi Tripod in Pouch, this technically isn’t THE Gorillapod, but looks surprisingly close to one.

I wonder how it would compare to the original though. Is it as sturdy? As flexible? As stable? Does it grip as well as the original Gorillapod? I made the huge mistake of being cheap and not buying it so I can compare the two. Anybody have Cebu Pacific’s version of the Gorillapod? I would love to hear your reviews about it!

Popularity: 34% [?]

1. Take note of the current number they’re serving and your own number. Hopefully, there would be about 80 people ahead of you so you’d have time to shop.
2. Go to the mall information kiosk and ask if there’s a travel agency in the building. Locate the agency and ask if they book flights with Cebu Pacific. If they answer negatively, ask if they accept bookings for Philippine Airlines or Air Philippines. If they do, request for a quotation. Brace yourself for the fare they will quote you. Thank the man for accommodating your request and resignedly walk back to the Cebu Pacific ticketing office, hoping that the queue has progressed significantly, but has not gone past your number yet.
3. Head back to the ticketing office laden with bags full of snacks and have an impromptu picnic.
4. Read the tattered remnants of Summit Publication magazines lying around. Indulge yourself with the luxury of having the time (and sufficient amount of boredom) and pore over past issues of Good Housekeeping, Smart Parenting, Preview and Smile. If you’re lucky, you just might chance upon a Cosmopolitan or two.
5. Have a chat with the person you dragged along with you to this ordeal about life, love and outhouses. Once you run out of things to talk about, rehash old stories and jokes you still laugh about. This helps you cling to the remaining threads of your sanity.
6. Once the conversation runs out, bring out the MP3 players. Lose yourself as you listen to Cher, Madonna and Kylie. Dancing optional.
7. Pull out one earphone or both, as you eavesdrop on an irate customer complaining to the manager/supervisor about the slow service. Take a good look at the service counters as he points out that while there are 11 counters, only 2 are manned.
8. Make a solemn vow to yourself to ease up on the credit card usage. If your cards aren’t maxed out all the time, you wouldn’t have to go through this experience ever again. Unless there are changes in your schedule and you’d have to have your flight re-booked. In that case, good luck and have fun going through this thing all over again.
9. Rejoice as the digital display turns to 131. Take the strip of paper marked with 134 out of your organizer and clutch it tightly in your hands. This is your cue to start praying that the people holding on to 131, 132 and 133 won’t take long or have already left.
10. Mentally kick yourself for neglecting to bring your camera so you can take snapshots of this unforgettable experience where you waited for four long hours, only to be served for less than 10 minutes. Thanks to this oversight, your only marker for the amount of time you spent in the ticketing office is your mobile phone’s call register and your ticket’s time stamp.

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The last time I went to the Cebu Pacific ticketing office to buy tickets, it was a Sunday. It was also the weekend before the payday, so there were hardly anybody around.

It was different last Friday. It was the day after payday and there were people waiting outside the office. We took a number at 4:05 pm, and it was almost 9 pm when our number was called.

I was as pissed and disappointed as the other people who waited for hours. Although unlike them, I just chose to pass the time reading, listening to music and laughing at absurd what-if situations. I know I can complain and raise my voice, but nothing would ever come out of it. Besides, I already have too many wrinkles.

Popularity: 57% [?]

Do you have your summer plans already? If not, Cebu Pacific has a tempting offer for their local and international destinations

Cebu Pacific (CEB), the airline business unit of JG Summit Holdings Inc., offers P888 seats one-way for its Asian routes and P8 seats one-way for all its domestic routes. The promotional seat sale will run from January 11 to 17, 2008 or until the allocated 200,000 seats are sold out.

CEB allocated more than 100,000 seats for its international seat sale that includes services from Manila to: Bangkok, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Macau, Taipei, Shanghai, Singapore, Xiamen. This is also available for non-stop services from Cebu to: Bangkok, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taipei and from Davao to Hong Kong and Singapore. This is good for travel from February 1 to May 31, 2008.

CEB also allocated more than 100,000 seats for its domestic destinations. This is good for travel from February 1 to March 12, 2008.

Source: Cebupacificair.com

I’m going to make sure I buy my tickets for Legaspi this time around. How about you, where are you going?

Popularity: 51% [?]