Playing the waiting game at the Centennial airport

I’m here at the Centennial terminal of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, waiting for my flight to be called. It’s been a while since I’ve been at Terminal 2. It’s actually quite nice here during daytime; not as gloomy as it is during the night.

The airport isn’t crowded today, and there are plenty of empty seats in the lounge. I have an hour until boarding, and I’m wondering what I’ll do after writing this blog post. I’m actually offline as I write this. I have not found this mythical free wi-fi people have been raving about in T2. I’ll go online to post this and the photo I took, so I can have more time to Plurk.

At the Centennial Airport
I have learned to ignore the stares I get when I’m on my knees taking photos of my dolls.

I’m going to spend the weekend in Hong Kong. Well, some parts of the weekend anyway. Remember when I blogged about using up my Mabuhay Miles before it expires? I was planning on using it up for a domestic flight, for a destination not served by Seair. Since I only have 8,000+ miles, I can only use it up for a round trip ticket to a very limited number of destinations within the Philippines. I had qualms about redeeming my miles for a domestic ticket, for the seats they’re allotting for redemption are limited, and often, these are the same seats allotted for zero fare flights. If I’m paying for the taxes, I might as well save my miles and buy the zero fare tickets.

Luckily, Mabuhay Miles announced their Great Mile Giveaway, wherein they’re cutting 50% off the miles needed for redemption on select international flights. For only 7,500 miles, I was able to redeem my expiring miles for a a round-trip ticket to Hong Kong. The taxes I had to pay amounted to US$120 or Php 5,896, based on the day’s conversion rate. I checked the fares for the date of my flight, and they cost US$208 — roughly Php 10,210.

It was a pretty good deal, I think. Of course, it does have its conditions. For the Manila-Hongkong and Hong Kong-Manila flights, only the afternoon flights out of Manila and the morning flights out of Hong Kong are qualified for redemption. That means you have less time to spend in HK. But nevermind that, I was antsy to use my miles, and I’m excited about finally visiting Hong Kong.

I am traveling alone again this weekend. I’m giddy with excitement (and lack of sleep), at the prospect of exploring a foreign city on my own. Since Hong Kong is a fairly expensive city to travel in and because I’m saving up for a much bigger trip, there will be strictly no shopping for me. As much as I want to check out the building with all the gorgeous clothes for dolls, I refrained from asking Kaoko for its location. I have a strict budget for this trip, and I plan on sticking to it.

To help me stay within my travel budget, I am Couchsurfing with a Hong Kong local. Though I’ve been a member of Couchsurfing.com since 2006, this will be the first time that I will be staying with a member. I’m a bit apprehensive about it, specially since I don’t know the person who will be hosting me, but at the same time I’m looking forward to it because staying with a local means I get to learn more about their way of life, while sharing my own culture with them. My CS host in Hong Kong also tours the surfers he hosts, to the places tourists hardly ever visit. Going off the well beaten track in Hong Kong. I can’t wait.


Posted

in

,

by

Comments

14 responses to “Playing the waiting game at the Centennial airport”

  1. Anna D. Avatar

    Dude have fuuuuuuuuuun! I didn’t know your flight’s today. XD Do indulge a little. HK is never HK if you don’t purchase at least one sinful item.

  2. nina Avatar

    ebil ebil! My indulgence will come in the form of a meal at the Modern Toilet Restaurant. Oh yes.

  3. dyanie Avatar

    Ninaaaa! have fun! enjoy HK!!!!!!!!!!!! ๐Ÿ™‚

  4. Cebu Pictures Avatar

    Your make me miss my home town Mauban Quezon.

    Anyway i have a message for you in your link page.

  5. Cebu Pictures Avatar

    I though i could comment on your link page so i will just leave it here.

    Just want to have exchange links with you.

    and enjoy viewing your pictures.

    Thanks

  6. dong ho Avatar

    enjoy your trip. eric told me about this trip last night while we were chatting. the shot of the two dolls is really cool. we’ll be waiting to see more photos of them there in hong kong.

  7. nina Avatar

    Dyanie: Thanks! I had fun ๐Ÿ˜€

    Dong Ho: Hong Kong posts coming up soon ๐Ÿ˜€

  8. ajay Avatar

    So Couchsurfing works! I’d like to try that coz I want to host peeps in the Philippines too:) Kudos to your self-control Nina. After all, what’s HK without shopping, hehe

  9. nina Avatar

    Yup, it does Ajay! ๐Ÿ˜€ There’s also Hospitalityclub.org which works the same way. I will post about my Couch Surfing experience later on.

    Re: Shopping
    Madali lang mag control if you don’t have money XD

  10. miss igorota Avatar

    what a cute photo! i get a lot of weird looks myself when i’m photographed by my many owners! hehe.

  11. Joey Avatar

    what camera did you use for the dolls? lens? very nice shot.

  12. nina Avatar

    Joey: I used a Canon Ixus 75 for this photo ๐Ÿ™‚

  13. emily Avatar
    emily

    hey there! i’m going alone to manila sept 19..help help…may luggage counter bah sa centennial 2? PAL flight ako..1st time ko to travel alone..and travel to manila…i need help badly..hehhee

    tweety_edr@yahoo.com
    email me..thanks!

  14. […] back from my trip to Hong Kong over the weekend. Since I always keep track of my expenses for every trip, the budget is always the […]

Leave a Reply to Hong Kong Budget | justwandering.orgCancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.