September 14 2005

Started today out early at 1:00 am, taking the flight from Diego Garcia to Singapore. My Flight from Diego Garcia left at 4:00am and I arrived in Singapore at 11:00am it took me another hour to clear Paya Lebar airport. My flight from Singapore to manila was scheduled at 1:00pm so that didn’t leave me much time. The shuttle driver took two other people besides myself as they were taking the same flight. When I checked in at the airport I was told that my ticket only allowed 30kg and I had 33, so I had to pay for excess baggage before they would give me my boarding pass. They also told me that my ticket from manila to Cebu was not a confirmed ticket and so they could not check my bags all the way to Cebu. So ok at that point I went to pay my excess baggage, but all I had on me was US currency. Well they allowed me to pay with that, except after the guy tried to make change he decided that he couldn’t break my money for me. He then sent me over to currency exchange so that I could exchange U.S. currency for sing dollars, and in turn I could pay for my excess baggage. All this just so I could get my boarding pass, keep in mind here that I arrived at the airport at 12:15 and that my flight was leaving at 1:00pm. Well I exchanged my money paid for the excess baggage and got my boarding pass. Ok now all I need to do is clear security. Fortunately there was no one in line so I cleared security in about 10 minutes, and ran walked my way to the gate where I had to go through a second security screening. What fun. Anyways I made the flight, and made my subsequent flight from manila to Cebu. My friend Jim Bacon was waiting outside the airport for me, with a taxi, which then took me to my hotel. We sat outside at an open restaurant across the street from the hotel and I ate what would be my dinner for the night. we talked for a while and Jim discussed with me some of the basics about the Philippines, such as what to expect and how to behave. After dinner we both retired to our rooms. All in all it has been a hectic day and I am looking forward to the sleep this night will bring me. I am showered and feel quite refreshed, though as I said ready for bed.