Cebu Pacific Latest Sale Alert 12/24/2011

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Going Home

Philippine Airlines- The Asia's First Shining Through

I would like to dedicate this post to my friend Jenelyn because she is my number one reader, char! Like me, she's been away from the Philippines for a couple of years already so I thought she might find this post interesting. 

After I quit my graveyard-shift job of more than two years, hubby bought tickets for me to visit our teenagers, I mean, twenty-agers.. to my beloved country, the PHILIPPINES!

I took the Philippine Airlines' Las Vegas-Manila-Davao flight with one stop-over in Vancouver, Canada. Hubby chose Las Vegas as my exit airport because the traffic is not bad, hotels are cheap and the parking area is free unlike Los Angeles and San Francisco, California.  I passed the security lane without hassle unlike my previous trip two years ago. Thank God.

While I was in Las Vegas airport I have talked to I think 5 Filipinos who were equally excited as me. Kinda weird to me because they were coming home to attend a wedding. Yup, all of them. Happy to know that they are coming home for a happy event, because you know, sometimes people had to come home to attend a burial or somebody in the family is very sick, something like that, right? And  also, they were all graveyard workers except the guy who seated next to me. I salute them for their endurance. I knew how hard it is to work graveyard shift.

By the way, the guy I mentioned was a businessman and I learned that he is the Biggest Loser  (Philippines) Gym Instructor Chinggay Andrada's hubby. He looked plain and simple to me. Actually, all Pinays that I have met there just dressed plain and simple, like me :)

I left Las Vegas September 6, 2011 and I safely landed an hour earlier  in Manila on September 8,2011 then waited for 6 hours for my Davao flight. By God's grace, I arrived in Davao around 10:50 in the morning, threw myself in a cab and gave the address to the driver where to go. I did not tell my kids I was coming to surprise them, as per hubby's suggestion.

And my teeners got surprised indeed :)

It was such a safe and smooth flight. Thank you God!

More posts coming re: Philippine Trip

Have a good one!

My First Train (AMTRAK) Ride Experience

I had a wonderful first train ride experience. It was nice and smooth. It was somewhat educational. And most of all, it was complimentary!

My daughter Jen and I resorted to ride a train going to Reno for an important appointment since hubby had to work that day.

I called the 1-800 numbers of AMTRAK for seats reservation but it was a hassle since it's only a machine that answers the call. Anyway, after many attempts, I was able to make reservations for two and decided to pay it on the train.

The Winnemucca station is very small. There were only five or six people waiting inside a shed. The wind was  blowing cold air, burr!  As soon as I hopped on the train, I remember riding an air conditioned bus back home. I was excited. A black lady came to orient us where to find the restrooms, lounge, dining place, etc. It was cool!

The train  left Winnemucca around 6:05am instead of its regular departure time at 5:30am. I was expecting that the ride must be bumpy and loud but I was wrong! It was very smooth and quiet.

I was sleepy but I did not sleep because I waited for the conductor to issue tickets and to get the fare. I saw the conductor who greeted me and my daughter in the station issuing ticket to the other passengers then he came to our seat, greeted us again then post  a ticket in the iron bar up in our head. We smiled back and thought he'd come back. He did not. I started to wonder.

The Chief Conductor, Ms. Janis Mader came instead. I have met her months ago when she came to the hotel one morning. AMTRAK Conductors have been staying in the sister hotel  like forever and I get to talk to the incoming conductor every morning to transfer the call to Ms. Mader's room or to whoever is the in-charge of the AMTRAK going to California. The sister hotel has nobody in graveyard shift so calls go to the hotel where I work. And our shuttle driver takes them to the AMTRAK station every morning.

Ms. Mader greeted us. She asked if everything was okay. She offered to tour us inside the train. At first we were kinda ashamed but we took her offer anyway. So she took us to every part of the train. I didn't know that every "compartment" of the train is called "car", haha! I like the lounge car because it is where you can enjoy the view, read a book or chitchat with other passengers. She took us to the dining car, to the sleepers,  and down to the lower part of the train where a nice man offered us something to drink which I declined but Jen got hot chocolate for free.

While we were walking, I attempted to ask Ms. Mader about the tickets but she just ignored me totally. She was too focused in telling us about the train.  

poses after sipping Jen's hot chocolate =)

sleeper for two

paused to pose

a souvenir pose inside a De luxe room (with bathroom)

what a narrow walk way!

an empty table  in the lounge

a door going to other car

a walk way going to fancy sleepers

a stair leading to the restroom

i

Jen- she didn't like the idea of taking her picture with people behind her =)

a souvenir photo of Jen's  hot chocolate cup

Ms. Mader is camera shy so my daughter did not take photo of us together. The tour stopped at the lounge. We stayed there for awhile after Ms. Mader left. I was hoping to see her again before we get to Reno to express my heartfelt thanks but I never get to see her again until we hopped off.

I bought a thank you card for her the following day and sent it through the shuttle driver.

This has been my first train experience here in US. It was nice and smooth. It was kind of educational  and it was amazing that we didn't pay a dime on this wonderful experience. Wasn't it cool?

Have a good one!

Cebu Pacific Half-y Trip Promo

Based on the seat alerts that I have been receiving every now and then from airline carrier Cebu Pacific, it seems like flying is now affordable in the Philippines may it International or Domestic destination. Many thanks to the airline wars! For this reason, many Filipino travelers benefit from it. Hmm. Talking about law of supply and demand.

Check this latest seat alert. 

Have a HALFy trip! 50% OFF all domestic destinations!

CEB offers P999 seats to all Korea routes, P1,499 to Brunei and Ho Chi Minh
The Philippines’ largest national flag carrier, Cebu Pacific (CEB) holds a 50% off seat sale on all our domestic destinations from now until February 12, 2011 or until seats last, for travel from April 1 to June 30, 2011.

This 50% off seat sale is available to any of our 33 domestic destinations. This includes Boracay (Caticlan), Coron (Busuanga), Cebu, Legazpi, Zamboanga, San Jose, Dumaguete, Puerto Princesa, Bacolod, Iloilo and Davao.

Grab the opportunity to travel this summer! Up for grabs with the same travel period are P1,499 ‘Go Lite’ seats from Manila to Brunei and to Ho Chi Minh. You can even connect from cities such as Davao to international destinations such as Vietnam on CEB’s very low fares!

Book early and catch the autumn season in South Korea! For travel from September 1 to November 30, 2011, you can avail of P999 ‘Go Lite’ seats from Manila and Cebu to Seoul (Incheon), and Manila and Cebu to Busan.

Grab great deals on Cebu Pacific Fun Tours where you can combine your lowest roundtrip airfare with the cheapest hotel accommodation in your desired destination. For CEB booking and inquiries, visit our website at www.cebupacificair.com.
 

Von voyage!

Cebu Pacific Seat Sale Alert : 50% on International Destinations

HALFy go lucky! Your chance to grab 50% off on all international destinations!

It's your lucky day! Your chance to grab 50% off the lowest fares to any of our 16 international destinations for travel starting April 1 to May 31, 2011. The Philippines’ largest national flag carrier, Cebu Pacific (CEB) will maintain zero fuel surcharges and putting up 120,000 seats for this 50% off seat sale from now until January 31, 2011 or until seats last.


This destinations are Kota Kinabalu, Taipei, Singapore, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Beijing, Macau, Hong Kong, Ho Chi Minh, Brunei, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Seoul, Jakarta, Busan and Osaka.


CEB remains the only Philippine carrier to offer fares without fuel surcharges. Visit our website at www.cebupacificair.com now!


Grab great deals on Cebu Pacific Fun Tours where you can combine your lowest roundtrip airfare with the cheapest hotel accommodation in your desired destination.

Source: cebupacific.com

Strolling Along the Lakeshore, South Lake Tahoe

We are now staying at  the Best Western Timber Cove  comfortably while waiting for the car to be fixed. Best Western is located near the shore of Lake Tahoe. Since we don't have a car, my teeners and I just contented taking a walk while enjoying the amazing view of  the pine trees, lake shore and the lake itself.

Sharing some photos we took while strolling:

Lake Tahoe is such an amazing place!

I hope you enjoy viewing at the photos.

Thanks for dropping-by.