Angeles City

[QUOTE=WestCoast1;2756300]Consider Siargao; way off the beaten path.[/QUOTE]Thanks, I will definitely do it.

Flew into Manila the other night. Blew thru immigration in less than 5 minutes. Flashed my One Health Pass QR code and was waved thru. It was so fast that I was at the luggage carousel waiting for 5 minutes for my bag. Beeway Travel driver was waiting me at the Burger King just to the right as you exit customs. BTW, the past three times I had filled out the customs form on the plane and there was no one to take the form! Just walked right on thru the non-Filipino lane with no Custom officer present.

FYI, As we walked to the parking lot I noticed the Genesis bus was parked at Bay 14 median. It was 9:30 pm. Not sure if it was just dropping off or picking up. Good news is it is running later than before.

Walking Street is more active now.

[QUOTE=Dg8787;2757021]BTW, the past three times I had filled out the customs form on the plane and there was no one to take the form! Just walked right on thru the non-Filipino lane with no Custom officer present.[/QUOTE]In my experience its 50%, the times that anyone is manning the Customs area. I just fold the form and put it in my pocket in case anyone asks for it past the Customs area, tossing at the hotel.

On another note. As AC seems to be the go-to place for point-shoot gogo girls, especially given the barfines are about 1/3 or 1/2 of Burgos / Makati. Should Clark be the airport of choice, not NAIA? That avoids the NAIA-AC travel excursion (costs money + time) completely.

[QUOTE=WestCoast1;2757104]In my experience its 50%, the times that anyone is manning the Customs area. I just fold the form and put it in my pocket in case anyone asks for it past the Customs area, tossing at the hotel..[/QUOTE]In my case they were collecting the forms. I guess it depends on who is there, taking a break or did not show up work. IMHO they should get rid stupid forms. All luggage goes through the X-Rays anyway.

[QUOTE=WestCoast1;2757104] Should Clark be the airport of choice, not NAIA? That avoids the NAIA-AC travel excursion (costs money + time) completely.[/QUOTE]Yes, it's still a very quiet airport. No lines to speak of, except the usual cattle class checkin / boarding lines. Security / immigration a breeze. Recent pic.

Heads up for the "open air" lounge which is very basic and only serves some sweet cookies / breads. Staff is nice enough though. Coffee choices are brewed or instant only.

There is an additional Plaza lounge open now as well, but it's pay access only (2480 PHP).

CRK would be my choice airport international and domestic. There were plenty of flights and they were adding more pre Covid. Now 80%+ flights have been eliminated and it doesn't seem to be coming back. CRK used have direct flights to many province cities prior to Covid. Now you have to travel to Manila as the hub for domestic flights.

[QUOTE=Dg8787;2757159]CRK would be my choice airport international and domestic. There were plenty of flights and they were adding more pre Covid. Now 80%+ flights have been eliminated and it doesn't seem to be coming back. CRK used have direct flights to many province cities prior to Covid. Now you have to travel to Manila as the hub for domestic flights.[/QUOTE]Certainly unfortunate timing on the construction and opening of the new terminal. I don't like the new location being harder for access to fun city.

But flights will return. MNL has the one long runway which will soon again be at capacity.

Depending on where you are going CEB is a reasonable staging point. In my upcoming provincial vax clinic tour it's cheaper and time effective to go via CEB, land in CRK and avoid the need for the MNL-Angeles car transport.

[QUOTE=WestCoast1;2757104]Should Clark be the airport of choice, not NAIA? That avoids the NAIA-AC travel excursion (costs money + time) completely.[/QUOTE]I depends on where you are going. Just flying in for a week or two's fun and spending most of that time in AC, then it's a no brainer. For longer trips, possibly spending minimal or even no time in AC, then I find NAIA better due to the number of connections at all times of the day.

I will admit that a provincial tour can turn into endless hub and spoke flights in and out of the major cities. For this I try to go through all of AC, Cebu and Manila so that I get time in all three without repeatedly back tracking.

[QUOTE=AsianPursuits;2757271]Certainly unfortunate timing on the construction and opening of the new terminal. I don't like the new location being harder for access to fun city.

But flights will return. MNL has the one long runway which will soon again be at capacity.

Depending on where you are going CEB is a reasonable staging point. [/QUOTE]I found many flights are going to Cebu directly. There are some including Turkish I flew makes a stop in Manila and in an hour or so continue to cebu. Frequency of Cebu to Angeles is not many. I found only two airlines fly and both were expensive and at odd times. Cheapest is to Manila. They were building another runway parallel to the present one I believe. But with 4 terminals now the traffic as well as congestion inside the airport has ceased. Immigration lines in Manila airport which was a nightmare before has eased. You are at the luggage carousel before the bags arrive. None of the taxi's turn on the meter even if you are in line for meter taxi. Maybe they do for locals. With the expressways now finished you are not in endless traffic jams. I believe they are connecting Roxas highway to north south expressway which will shorten the trip to Angeles. I liked fly the bus before. No hassles door to door from Ermita. For those who come in late there us a nice hotel near Trinoma with good breakfast. Walking distance to the mall and catch bus to Angeles. I stayed there one time because I was meeting a girl from Quezon City who was very nice although my go to area is Ermita.

Tropical Storm Nalgae (Paeng) passed over the Philippines Friday October 28th and Saturday October 29th. This storm never reached typhoon status but up to 100 deaths were reported across the Philippines.

The center of the storm passed just north of Angeles City. AC got intermittent heavy thunderstorms and there were a dozen or so brown outs lasting 10 to 30 minutes. There were fewer girls and guys in the bars Friday and Saturday.

Now it is Halloween Monday October 31st and AC is still having rain storms. Sometimes heavy rain. That is enough for Philippinos to stay home. My guess is that this Monday will be more dead than usual.

Random photos from SJ Archives.

[QUOTE=Sammon;2757317]I found many flights are going to Cebu directly..[/QUOTE]Mongers wanting to land directly into CRK currently have options of arriving from Dubai, Doha, Singapore, Seoul, Shanghai. (As of 1 Nov 2022).

Domestic flights are landing from Cebu, El Nido, Caticlan.

For my upcoming provincial tour some legs are a trade off between just going direct to MNL then a car to AC or going via CEB then to CRK as the flights do not through connect bags, so one flight arrives, you collect bags and check in again which I allow 3 hours in Cebu. So going via Cebu to avoid the 90 minute drive MNL. AC doesn't make sense. If I am in Cebu for a few days then it makes sense to catch the direct flight to CRK. A flight CEB-CRK is cheaper than a Beeway car MNL. AC.

The other consideration for mongers is actual arrival time. Which in itself may be vastly different to the schedule. The expressway seems more predictable these days.

[QUOTE=PuteNut;2757139]Yes, it's still a very quiet airport. No lines to speak of, except the usual cattle class checkin / boarding lines. Security / immigration a breeze. Recent pic.

Heads up for the "open air" lounge which is very basic and only serves some sweet cookies / breads. Staff is nice enough though. Coffee choices are brewed or instant only.

There is an additional Plaza lounge open now as well, but it's pay access only (2480 PHP).[/QUOTE]CRK is a great terminal from the outside but no services inside. The "lounge" is just an open cordoned off area with no real food, just a few drinks in the fridge. No separate Wifi. There is the PP lounge but ever since Priority Plus broke off with them can't use without the ridiculous fee. Not many food choices or other amenities. But still, avoiding MNL is worth it and I get cheap flights from SIN so it works for me.

[QUOTE=ExpatAmerican;2757402]SNIP Not many food choices or other amenities. But still, avoiding MNL is worth it and I get cheap flights from SIN so it works for me.[/QUOTE]Concur. Wherever you are coming from, it makes more sense to fly directly to CRK first, grab the next available taxi (who cares if its p300 for a short ride) to your hotel, grab some food at Phillies (or such), crash / sleep and burn off some jet-lag. Get up the next day and start vaxxing. Otherwise skip the sleep and start your own temporary vaxxing clinic.

If traveling out of AC by car / bus later, try to travel on a Sunday, as traffic is very light. I am very happy with Beeway's car service, they are easy to contact and communicate succinctly. $75 USD gets you from door to door in under 2 hours with a courteous professional driver, who knows exactly where he is dropping you off.

The Filipino travelers were busy ordering empanyadas and other sweet breads from the MaryGrace shop near the "lounge". Next to the Plaza pay-in lounge there is also a restaurant with very reasonable pricing (for an airport), so there are definately some (limited, I concur) options for the hungry. I tried neither since I could expect great dining onboard (flew one of the long haul flights).

All in all a very smooth and effortless airport, I like it!

[QUOTE=ExpatAmerican;2757402]CRK is a great terminal from the outside but no services inside. The "lounge" is just an open cordoned off area with no real food, just a few drinks in the fridge. No separate Wifi. There is the PP lounge but ever since Priority Plus broke off with them can't use without the ridiculous fee. Not many food choices or other amenities. But still, avoiding MNL is worth it and I get cheap flights from SIN so it works for me.[/QUOTE]

I think I messed up badly. I checked out of ABC Halloween afternoon on my way to Manila to meet some friends. On my way out I noticed so many hot and sexy girls coming in. The receptionist exclaimed "Mr. DG you are going to miss out on our huge Halloween Party!" I was never a fan of Halloween parties.

But next year I am going to get me table at Aqua with 4-5 hot babes and take them to my room as I please during the evening. Fuck them in their costumes and go back to the party. Maybe even pick up a FL or two!

Now I have all year to fantasize and plan this.

As ABC says YOLO.