#took the 5:35am bus home

[soysaurus]

skadoosh

[two-white-butterflies]

WAITING FOR A BUS

Pairings: Aemond Targaryen x Reader, Daemon Targaryen x Reader (MODERN)

Description: A new promotion at work prompts you to move into a small modest town with your boyfriend, Aemond Targaryen. There you meet a few friendly faces. It seems like life is going where it's supposed to. That is until you meet your new boss, Daemon Targaryen, who is your boyfriend's estranged uncle.

It doesn't help with the fact that you've been having dreams about him since birth.

masterlist | chapter twelve

You couldn't help but stay silent as Aemond began to start the car, not even a word was said between the both of you following Alicent's announcement. You were aware of the closeness he had with his mother, and you couldn't help but pity him in this situation.

The car began moving, already passing the silver gates of Daemon's estate. You turned your head in his direction, but his jaw remained clenched — mind drifting off to other thoughts. He rests his hand on the steering-wheel, occasionally giving you longing glances.

"I'm sorry for my family's craziness," he began while taking a left turn, exiting the gated-community that Daemon lived in. "We're always like this, but I should've given you a heads up." he added acting like everything was fine, but you see it in his eye. He was hurting.

"I had fun, pumpkin." you responded while leaning into the window, staring at the scenery in front of you. The town was relatively small, filled with a few shops and houses — but it was beautiful, almost like a dream. He takes a deep breath, thinking of the right words.

"I'll be moving to my mom's house tomorrow." he stated, as if he was a superior giving an order to a cadet. He didn't wait for your answer, he merely stated what he was going to do. "So soon?" you inquire with a small pout. The both of you recently moved in town, and he was leaving you on your own?

He hums, placing his right hand on your thigh. Shivers ran along your back, and you stared at him with bambi eyes. There were three things you liked about Aemond: his cockiness, his confidence, and his savior-complex. He took charge of you and you didn't have to remind him to love you.

"My mom has a few months to live. You can move in with us, but the house is outside of town — you'll have a hard time going to work." he laid out the terms for you. A sigh escapes your lips. There was no way in hell that you were living outside of town, and he knew it. "I'll go home in the weekends, or you could go to us in the weekends. It's really your choice." he explained already having a plan in mind.

You pause for a second, weighting out the possibilities. It would be nice to spend time with his family, but it would come at the expense of you being tired for work the next week. "I'll go to you, Alicent is living in borrowed time — I wouldn't want to steal even a second away." you smile and he reaches for your palms, pressing a kiss on the back of it.

"Thank you, baby." he hums while returning his focus on the road. He was blessed to have a loyal girlfriend at his side. One that understood him without any terms, but even an imaginative mind like Aemond's understood that there was going to be a point in this lifetime where you would remember everything. And he would have to plan an escape. "Anything for you, Aem." you answer while closing your eyes.

But at the meantime, he was going to savor heaven.

———

You woke up to the sound of your phone pinging. You mumble a few curses before scratching the sides of your eyes and reaching for the phone on the nightstand.

UNKNOWN NUMBER 5:34AM Hey (your name), this is Thomas... well I guess you call me Daemon. I got your number from Corlys.

(Your Name) 5:35AM nice! I was about to ask for ur number 😄

Mr. Daemon😈 5:35AM Are we still on for today?

Mrs. Superior Thinking 5:35AM ofc, been looking forward to it for the past few hours 😆

Mr. Daemon 😈 5:35AM Do you have a lift to school?

Mrs. Superior Thinking 5:36AM yeah, but aem is still sleeping. why?

Mr. Daemon 😈 5:35AM I can pick you up. Send me your addy.

Mrs. Superior Thinking 5:37AM addy? yeah, i can send it to you. it's (your address)

Mr. Daemon 😈 5:37AM It's an internet slang sweetheart, try to catch up with me.

Mrs. Superior Thinking 5:37AM haha 😅 whatever you say.

Mr. Daemon 😈 5:38AM I'll be there at 6:15

You read his message, reacting with a thumbs up. You curse mentally realizing that you didn't have enough time to get ready. You turned to your side, carefully shaking Aemond gently so that he'd be lucid enough to hear you but not lucid enough to wake up fully. "Aem, I have a ride for school, keep sleeping." you whisper, he replies with a small hum. You stare at him for a second, memorizing his face before getting ready for school.

"Who?" he mumbled while burying his face in his pillow. "It's your uncle." you answer, he nods his head. "Take care." he whispers and you press a kiss to his cheek, before staring at the time and sprinting off to the bathroom.

———

Daemon was so fucking clean. He was wearing a brown-suit that complimented his skin-tone wonderfully. His face was clear and he had seldom blemishes, and his hair was divine — there wasn't a single stand out of place. His hands were in his pockets, presumably keeping them warm. He stared at you with this incredulous smile that oozed with sex-appeal. Your eyes hurt, because you knew that you weren't supposed to look at him in this point of view.

"Sorry for keeping you waiting," you apologized while handing him a large cup of coffee. Your hair didn't want to agree with you today, which meant that you were hiding all that messiness underneath the ponytail. He stared at you with coffee in hand, eyes asking you about the contents of the cup.

"It's uhh black coffee, no creamer, no nothing." you explained and he nodded, taking a cautious sip. You felt slightly sorry for putting the coffee inside your pink-starbucks tumbler, but it was the only cup that you owned. It was hilarious to see a stoic man holding a pink cup filled with glitter and unicorn drawings. "Thank you." he smiled while opening the door for you — which was a first because Aemond always had you open your own door. He holds the roof of the car, protecting your head from getting hit.

All that you could feel in your stomach was butterflies. He was a bloody gentleman.

He entered the car shortly after, and you couldn't help but notice it's cleanliness. There were no crumbs or awful smell coming out. The car had no scent, which meant that you could smell him. He smelt different, he didn't smell like Dior Sauvage any longer (a scent that you found overrated) but instead he smelt like West Norway, sitting near the campfire above the snow and staring at the green-purple sky above. It was intoxicating, and the smell would leave a mark on you for years to come. His car was simple, an old Toyota that was well taken care of.

"You shouldn't have with the coffee." he humbles while taking another sip. It was dangerous to drink and drive, but you trusted him that much to keep you safe. Your eyebrows furrowed, lips turning into a small pout. "Do you not like it?" you lowered your head.

"I love it, it's actually my usual order — I don't know how you got it." he compliments and your frown deepens. How did you know? It was clockwork, it was automatic making that drink for him. "You seem like the kind." you avoid while staring at the window.

You suffered with motion sickness, and the only way to solve that 'sickness' was to stare at the window while the car was moving. "Do I?" he chuckles while moving the car a little faster, staring at his watch. "Yeah, I got the feeling." you smile while seeing the figure of the school-building. "We're already here?" you inquire, lifting your head by a few centimeters, he nods his head.

"I took a shortcut. Do you always take the long way?" he asks and you nod your head, trying to remember the right way so you could take it the next time. "Well, GPS doesn't work here." you add. "I'll give you a map tomorrow, do you know how to drive a car?" he questions and you shake your head.

"I get motion sick." you answer while biting your lower lip.

The car hardly stops at the red light. He was staring at you — he almost forgot where the breaks were. Fuck, why did he have to look at you like the entire world was in your eyes. Why did he have to be perfect all the damn time?

"My boyfriend drives me around. What about you, do you have a woman or man in your life?" you pry deep into his life, but his gaze remains transfixed into you. "Not really." he smiles avoiding the question. He couldn't love another after you. He met Laena in this life — she remembered everything, and the both of them didn't try to attempt anything else after that.

"No one's ever taken your breath away?" you turn your head in his direction, he chuckles. "There was — is a girl." he was quick to answer and you raised your eyebrows in pique. Who was this girl?

"But uhh, that's a different story." he finished while the car began to accelerate again.

next chapter>>

taglist: @namelesslosers @immyowndefender @ammo2022 @perihelioneclipse @gracielikegrapes@joliettes@thetrueblackheart @marytargaryen @ammo23

[angstyaches]

Space

From 🍄 anon after I basically begged for angsty requests:

hello flick, if you want to write hunger with little to no comfort,,,,, consider this,,,, shayne,,,, not letting himself eat back when he still lived with madeline and watson,,, and not telling charlie,,, because he doesn’t want to worry him,,,,

This is closer to a whump fic than a hurt/comfort fic, so be warned. Also, just a reminder, these OCs are 19-20ish at the time. Shayne gets a little comfort, just not the right kind.

CW: emotional whump, disordered eating, low self-esteem, hunger with pain and affecting cognitive function, little/no comfort, psychological abuse.

___

He woke for what seemed like the fiftieth time that night, groaning as he took in the appearance of his room. He sluggishly rolled over, frowning in the direction of the little clock that sat on top of his set of drawers.

5:35am. An acceptable time to give up on sleep.

He sat up slowly, trying to gauge how much he could move without making himself dizzy. He rubbed his eyes, the stray ends of sleep disappearing and leaving a stabbing pain in the pit of his stomach. He pressed a hand over the pain, frowning when he felt his stomach rumble under his palm.

Maybe that’s what had been keeping him from sleeping.

Are you hungry, Shayne?

A shiver ripped up his spine. He stood up, shaking his head to chase out the phantom voice; he couldn’t deal with the Madelyn in his head, especially not while she was also in the house with him.

He tried to remember what he’d eaten recently. He’d been shaky after school yesterday, and he’d tried to eat a cup of instant noodles, but he’d only managed a few mouthfuls before starting to feel nauseous, and the cup had ended up in the bin along with most of its contents. Before that, he’d had a granola bar for breakfast, and before that –

No, wait, the granola bar hadn’t been yesterday. It’d been the day before that. It was definitely that week, for sure…

He swallowed, wondering if he should have breakfast today. It was always a gamble; he never knew when Watson or Madelyn would expect him to work, and it was always much messier and more painful when he had food in his system.

Not to mention that food always came with a side helping of judgment in this house.

He took his time getting ready, though there was little to relish about the morning. He crossed the dark hallway to the bathroom, took his usual lukewarm shower and brushed his teeth, towel-dried his hair, put on the grey-and-navy uniform that would keep him relatively invisible for most of the day.

In this house, though, it was impossible to stay invisible.

Madelyn was in the hallway as he made his way downstairs with his backpack. His stomach dropped, her gaze making the hairs on his forearms prickle. He quickly tugged his sleeves down from his elbows to hide the goosebumps that sprung up.

“Morning, Mads.”

“Good morning,” she snapped, eyeing him up and down as he stood, silent, on the last step, gripping the handrail. She had piercing amber eyes and dark, silky hair that fell to her waist when loose. That morning, she’d twisted it into an elaborate structure at the nape of her neck.

Shayne shrugged his backpack a little higher on his shoulder. “Do… Do you need me for anything?”

She scoffed at that, eyes turning away from him. “If it were possible to prove yourself useful this morning, don’t you think I would have already informed you?”

He nodded. “Sure. Sorry.”

“Could you tell me what time you’ll be home after school today?”

Shayne swallowed, only hesitating for a second. “Five o’clock. As soon as the bus gets in…”

“You have no… plans?”

He shook his head. There was no way he’d let Charlie rope him into hanging out at the Mulberry house, not while he was feeling so weak and drained. Even worse, he’d probably be offered dinner if he showed up there.

At just the vague thought of food, his stomach shifted and let off a low growl. He quickly crossed his arms, shuffling his feet and clearing his throat at the same time. With her heightened senses, Madelyn surely heard it, but she didn’t react beyond narrowing her glare.

“Nothing?” she asked. “We’ve seen so little of you recently.”

Shayne shook his head and cleared his throat again. “Do you need me for something then?”

“Full of questions this morning, hmm?” Madelyn shook her head and took a step towards the kitchen. “Just be home when you say you’re going to be home. Otherwise, you know… I’ll have to send Watson out to find you again.”

A chill rolled down Shayne’s back as he watched her step out of his way. It was vague, but it was a threat, not just to him, but to Charlie and his parents. He bit into his cheek, hot streaks of anger flashing through his head and tightening the muscles in his chest.

Madelyn raised her eyebrows. She didn’t quite gesture towards the front door, but it felt like an instruction to leave. He stormed past her and out the front door, letting it slam behind himself in what instantly felt like the pettiest form of rebellion ever.

He spun around and lifted both his middle fingers towards the door; Madelyn had several supernatural abilities, but seeing through doors wasn’t one of them.

“Fuck you,” he mouthed silently, with enough force that he might as well have screamed it. He took several steps backwards before he turned to face the road, proceeding like a zombie beneath the rain-dampened trees.

His hands felt funny. He lifted them slightly and frowned when he found he couldn’t hold them steady. He crossed his arms over his chest and held himself, taking gulps of air into his lungs to try to calm himself.

But even when he managed to tame the fiery, hateful anger, he was still shaking. The centre of his stomach ached as waves of hunger weaved back and forth inside of him. As the rusted sign for the bus stop came into view, its edges seemed to blur, and the road tipped to the side.

Shayne freed one hand from under his own arm and pressed it to his mouth, wondering for a second if he was going to be sick. Instead, it was just a shallow burp that rolled up, churning his stomach and making it growl violently.

“Mm. Fuck,” he whispered to himself. He glanced down the empty road, checking that the bus wasn’t arriving just yet. He held a hand over his stomach, pushing against it and rubbing harshly, hoping to coax the growls out before he was surrounded by other students. He realised he’d forgotten to fill his water bottle before leaving the house, so he couldn’t even get some liquid into his stomach to shut it up. He’d need to remember to go to the water fountain before his first class.

As the bus crested the hill, he shoved his hands in his pockets, staring down at the ground. He always wondered what he looked like to the students looking out the bus windows. He’d never figured out how to hold himself in a way that seemed natural.

The bus driver didn’t even bother to look at him, which was normal. Shayne glared at a first-year student who was staring at him while whispering something to his friend. He was used to hearing himself being talked about, but that didn’t mean he enjoyed it. He already hated that he took up physical space; he could barely stand the idea that he also took up residence in people’s minds.

He walked until he reached the seat where Charlie was sitting, staring down at some loose sheets covered in notes while wearing in-ear headphones. He looked up after a few seconds, breaking into an easy smile.

Fuck. That smile. It usually pissed him off so much that he would just look away whenever it popped up on Charlie’s face, but for some reason, Shayne found it hard not to stare this morning.

“You want to sit?” Charlie asked, pulling out his headphones.

Shayne swallowed, unable to bring himself to nod. Charlie’s backpack was in the seat next to him. It would need to be moved if he was going to sit down.

You take up so much fucking space –

Without even waiting for an answer, Charlie pulled the backpack towards himself, propping it on his lap.

The hollow space inside of Shayne throbbed, ached.

You're like a black hole.

"Go ahead," Charlie urged him, nodding to the free seat.

Shayne swayed a bit, though he could pass it off as though the motion of the bus had caused it. He held in a groan and sat down next to Charlie. He shoved his backpack down between his feet. He was tempted to just let his head rest against the back of the seat in front of him. The bus had only been in motion for a few minutes, but he was already light-headed again.

A flutter of panic hit his chest as he realised Charlie had said something else, and he’d missed it.

“What?” he asked, slumping back in his seat.

“I said, ‘how are you?’” Charlie shrugged, still wearing that smile. “You okay?”

Shayne nodded briskly, glad that Charlie provided him with an adjective that he could lie and agree to. It saved him having to fabricate a lie himself.

“You?” he asked, feeling secure in the knowledge that anyone – including Charlie – could easily be distracted if they were coaxed into talking about themselves.

“Yeah, I’m…” Charlie sighed, glancing at his notes. “I’m half-dead this morning. Just hoping my coffee kicks in before second class, for the history test.”

As a fun kick to the ribs when he was already down, Shayne had forgotten about the test. He’d also likely forgotten every word of their history textbook. His found it hard to concentrate these days, and everything that passed in front of his face seemed to dissolve somewhere between his eyeballs and his brain.

“Hey, are you sure you’re feeling okay?”

Fuck. Charlie had wasted no time in swinging the focus back towards Shayne.

Shayne felt his heart start to pound, cold sweat breaking out on the back of his neck. He hated this. He wished he’d found somewhere else to sit. He missed the days when nobody gave a shit, nobody asked him questions like how he was or if he was feeling okay. He’d blacked out in art class the previous term, and nobody had even noticed; they’d all just assumed he’d put his head down to go to sleep.

And yet, Charlie… Charlie saw him.

He wondered what would happen if he told him the truth. If he said that he was scared and ashamed to eat anything, that he was so hungry his stomach hurt, that this was still so much better than the alternatives...

Shayne glared at the back of the seat in front of him, hating himself for even considering burdening Charlie with all of that. Charlie was staring, still waiting for him to say something, but he didn’t exactly look worried yet. One advantage of being a miserable bastard was that Shayne didn’t have to put up an exhausting, cheerful façade.

“Kind of tired,” he said finally.

“Okay." Charlie frowned. "Well, I’m going to read over my notes a few more times, but if you’re really tired, I’ve been told my shoulder makes a good pillow.”

Shayne blinked with genuine incomprehension. The words didn’t stick in his brain long enough for him to dissect them; all he could really focus on was trying to breathe in time with the hunger pangs fluctuating in his stomach. He could usually keep it relatively quiet that way, but being this close to Charlie was making him even more anxious than usual.

“What?” he mumbled.

Charlie’s eyelashes fluttered as he broke into another smile, his gaze flicking away from Shayne’s. “Um, you can sleep on my shoulder, if you want.”

Shayne scoffed under his breath.

“Or don’t,” Charlie laughed, turning his attention towards his notes. “Whatever.”

Shayne’s gaze wandered towards the paper in Charlie’s hands, skimming over the headings that he’d jotted down in his annoyingly pretty handwriting. The topics sounded vaguely familiar, like he remembered them from a movie he hadn’t watched since he was a toddler. Like he’d last heard them from the other side of a thick veil.

His stomach pinched, and he realised he was hugging his waist again in an attempt to ease the pain and muffle any unwanted noise. He swallowed harshly, glancing from Charlie’s notes to Charlie’s shoulder and remembering his offer.

It was so silly. And yet Shayne wriggled a little closer.

The fabric of Charlie’s jacket was cool, unpleasantly so, against his cheek at first, but he quickly got over it. His head instantly felt better, supported by something solid instead of trying to follow the turns of the bus. Shayne inhaled deeply as his stomach squeezed and his shoulders tensed against the pain. A low grumble began to surface, soft enough that he covered it up with a sigh.

“I know I sound like a broken record,” Charlie said, startling Shayne a bit, since he’d thought he’d gone back to revising. “But… you can tell me if something’s wrong.”

“I’m fine,” Shayne said. The words felt like shards in his throat. He didn’t know – wouldn’t realise for a while yet – why it was getting more and more difficult to bring himself to lie to Charlie.

Charlie nodded slowly. “Okay.”

Shayne closed his eyes and continued taking deep, delicate breaths.

[louisfeatharry]

okay so here’s the long ass story about how i got my ass from nyc to philly featuring @imlouisaf, @foliealou, and @1000-directions.

alternatively: how philly did us dirty

it starts wednesday when i jokingly talk to justine (imlouisaf) and rachel (foliealou) about making a road trip down to philadelphia and try and get last minute tickets to see harry. it spirals into “yes, we can totally do it!” and “here are the bus schedules!” and “okay, i have a price alert set up for stubhub.”

but you know murphy’s law? anything that can happen - will happen? yeah, fucking real as shit.

it starts off with me getting an uber from my house to the train station to catch a bus in midtown manhattan at 6pm to get to philly at 8:05pm.

3 ubers are cancelled on me, and i don’t end up getting an uber until 4:05pm, which - fine. my train is at 4:30, it takes like 25 minutes to get there, and nj transit is usually shit when it comes to being on time. so it’s fine, right? at this point, i’m expecting to make it to midtown east to drop off my stuff (a full-fledged backpack with 1d monopoly, clothes, and shit all in it) at justine’s apartment and maybe shower if i have time and i’m lucky.

my uber driver makes a wrong turn, adding 5 minutes to our ETA, there’s traffic. and so, i end up missing the 4:30 train, but it’s fine, because trains come like every 5 to 15 minutes, so i’ll just catch the 4:46pm train, right? wrong. because the 4:46pm train ends up being 10 minutes late. so fuck trying to get to midtown east at this point. i can’t even shower because i have no time (and the plumbing’s busted at my house). 

in the meantime, i finally buy a GA ticket from stubhub for a little over face value, but tickets were selling fast off stubhub and i didn’t wanna take my chances. so now i’m like committed 

so, justine and rachel check and apparently, i can leave my bag with greyhound. so okay, that’s fine and cool and dandy. but then i get to port authority to meet up with them for the bus, and customer service says i can’t leave my bag with them. GREAT, FABULOUS. then they direct me to brochure for a luggage service a few blocks away that can hold my backpack. (since it’s big enough that the venue will 100% not let me bring it in.) 

i go up this rickety ass elevator to the second floor of this small ass building, and guess what? NO LUGGAGE SERVICE. LIKE NOTHING. JUST ALL DANCE STUDIOS OR SOMETHING. my patience is dwindling, i’m legit 5 seconds away from a breakdown in the middle of manhattan. and i’m just like, “well, fuck, i’ll have to find a place in philly to store my shit.”

i get to the gate on time by some grace of god, and we get on the bus and i’m trying to charge my phone because i’m at 20% in the hours before a concert where cell service is absolute shit. i put my phone into what i thought was a clean sick bag, but i guess it had water at the bottom in it. (i would’ve actually cried if there was vomit in the bag, and i put my phone in vomit. i would’ve straight up cried.)

so, as a result, i’m calling greyhound and they have me on hold for 5 minutes before i’m in the tunnel and i have to hang up because no service. my phone isn’t charging - but now, my phone screen is flickering... just half of it... flickering dim... and i’m like, “WHY!” because i cannot afford to break my phone right now. i try not to think about it and just call and search on my phone for anywhere i can leave my bag.

i call tower theatre, and they tell me the box office is closed after the show starts so they can’t store my bag, and i’ll have to talk to security to see if they’d let me leave it somewhere. but there’s no way for me to know for sure until i get there, so that’s not an option. i call greyhound, and FINALLY the lady tells me i can leave it at the counter in philadelphia. so i’m like relieved, right? 

i’m on the bus for 2.5 hours, running on pure adrenaline and maybe 3 hours of sleep from the last 36 hours. i try to sleep on the bus, but i’m too wired to do so. i end up doing my makeup on the bus while justine and rachel try to find things to eat because guess what? we haven’t eaten dinner. but our bus is late, so we don’t get to the station until 8:30pm.

i go up to the counter and ask them if i can leave my bag, and the agent’s like, “yeah, it’s $10. cash only. i’ll just call baggage to come pick it up.” i don’t have $10 in cash, but justine does, and we hand it off. then the baggage guy comes, and he’s like “we don’t hold luggage after 8pm.” and honest to god, justine, rachel, and i all had matching looks of frustration, despair, and pure, pure panic. luckily, the agent sees the clear as fucking day distress on our faces and does us a solid saying she’ll take the bag anyways and leave a note for the people coming in later as long as we give the $10. we thank her profusely before quite literally running out the door to catch the septa train underground for 12 fucking stops all the way to the end of the line from the 11th st station.

so, eventually, we get to the venue at fucking 9:01pm, completely missing muna’s set. and we’re like, “let’s get our merch now since harry’s probably being dramatic as fuck with his curtain.” so we probably missed like the first verse of ‘ever since new york’ but it was worth it since we were in the GA seated section with a kick ass view and had half a row entirely to ourselves (read: to myself) to dance and go nuts. (amazing.)

[insert 10 paragraphs of me waxing poetic about harry]

after the show, we have a 11:25pm bus we can catch back to nyc. we already bought tickets, but we also bought backup tickets to the 3:35am bus. we end up meeting with steph (1000-directions) who offers to drive us to the bus station. except no one could apparently fucking drive last night, and we’re convinced we’ve missed our bus as we get to the station at 11:30. but BY SOME MIRACLE, the bus is delayed 30 to 45 minutes. but at least, i’m able to get my backpack from the counter, thank god. (and with our $10 returned!)

we’re able to grab food from some fried chicken place - in which some lady tried to get food for free, much to the chagrin of the owner who unceremoniously kicked her out. and then the owner, who we thought was cool and nice, ended up trying to invite justine and i back to his place for drinks and for a party - to which we immediately were like, “nope.” and took our food and RAN out of there. 

aaaaaand then we get back and we find out there’s been an accident that’s preventing the buses from getting to the station. (there was another group of people waiting for a bus to pittsburgh.) so we have to wait another hour and a half for the bus. 

we’re chilling and eating, i’m reading fic (a road trip fic, ironically), and my phone is ... questionably working. the screen is no longer flickering, but there’s some damage to the mechanism behind the power button since it’s gone sticky and tries to turn off my phone every fucking five minutes. and if i press the home button? screenshots. every. single. fucking. time. 

eventually, we get on the bus at like 1:20am. and some guy plops up right next to rachel, offering her juice and shit and being hella shady. our bus driver is a maniac on the road. i somehow sleep for 1 hour. we get to nyc at 3:20am. and then our uber driver is yelling on the phone to some guy, but he’s nice. except he stops at red lights and keeps trying to inch forward even though HE’S GOING TO INCH US THE FUCK INTO TRAFFIC. but after all is said and done, we get dropped off at justine’s apartment.

so, as a summary:

bus tickets to and from philly (plus all emotional distress involved): $45

last minute resale tickets to harry styles: $160

septa train tickets to go 12 stops: $2.50

pretzels and hummus to tide me over so i don’t pass out in the middle of harry’s show while being called an icon by the girl in front of us: $5

chicken fingers and fries (and being creeped out): $5

but, the experience of a lifetime to spontaneously travel 100 miles to go see harry styles perform kiwi twice with his tits and tummy out while surrounded by rainbow flags? absolutely fucking priceless. and i wouldn’t change a second of the shitshow for the world.

[mormonatdisney-blog]

Disney Day Two:

7/22/17

Thought of the Day: This may be the most magical place on earth... but I want to make it the most spiritual too!

How and Why? Well, I’ve been lacking in feeling spiritually secure for the past few months. Life got the best of me and I have failed to keep up with strengthening my testimony of Christ and the gospel. I figure now is a great time to recommit to being a better me by being a better disciple! I don’t have any homework because I am on a break from school until January, I don’t have any family to be a responsible chaperoning adult for, and I am employed in an apartment that I am paying the rent for her on the Disney property. I have the capacity to be in charge of my own life and how I want it to go! I intend to make the best of it. 

Recap of the day: -I woke up early and headed straight to the Patterson clubhouse at 9am to receive my Disney housing ID. The ladies at the desk were all very kind and the one who was helping me realized that I had missed the onboarding meeting yesterday due to me arriving late. Because of this, she scrambled to find the next meeting for me to crash... turns out, to get to it I had to catch a bus at a different housing complex, Chatham Square, at 9:35am. She told me to run...I was in heels. I fast walked. 

-The Onboarding meeting was pretty quick paced to me. We DCP’ers were herded to the Casting building by a super enthusiastic bus driver. We then were squished into the entrance  room (which was very pretty) and we were asked to pose for an official Disney Instagram post! My face is now out there on the internet somewhere for Disney marketing. We all essentially got our eligibility for hiring documents verified, had a background check performed, and our fingerprints taken. The humidity here is so high that many people’s fingerprints weren’t adequate for the fancy machine and only partial prints were collected. I was one of those people. #awkward

-Once I got home, it was to my chagrin that I learned that the house key that the security team gave me for my front door was for an entirely different apartment!!! I hadn’t bothered to attempt to unlock my apartment the night previous because a roommate let me in so I only learned about it that afternoon. Together, I and one of my roomies went over to the clubhouse and got me a new key. We also reported a serious amount of water damage to our carpet and wall which was molding. Gross. Maintenance came and brought us an industrial fan to dry it up, but took it away as soon as it was dry. I don’t know if they are going to come back and clean up the mold, or even peel back the carpet and baseboards to see how bad the damage is. I hope they do, if not I may have to take it up with someone and use my best stern voice. Mold is NOT OKAY. 

- I took the bus to Walmart today. The Walmart I was shuttled to along with my roommate IS THE BIGGEST WALMART I HAVE EVER SEEN. I was also shocked at first to see how utterly diverse the customer base was. People of every color were speaking many languages and English was heard in multiple accents. After being in a rural college town in the middle of Idaho, this experience was super cool. People, man. Humans are awesome. I had the realization that eeeeeveryone I was walking by, even though they came from differing backgrounds, were all children of God and were loved. This thought made me so happy to be here in Florida.

-After all of that, I came home, cooked dinner, unpacked more, skyped my absolutely lovely boyfriend and he read to me poetry he found on pinterest until I fell asleep. It was a good ending to my first day as a cast member. DCP Advice: -Bring your own pots and pans if you like to cook. One big pot, one little pot, and one frying pan are NOT enough for 5 girls.  -Maintenance has the possibility of being your best friends. They have been in here more then we have due to that water damage and our smoke alarm batteries dying. Keep their number handy. -Bring decorations. There is  A LOT of bare wall in these apartments. -Reusable bags for Walmart trips are a great idea. I am going to buy some asap.

[molosmojo]

When your wife comes to your rescue!

It was a great day at the Annual #GPTW Conference in Renaissance, Powai, yesterday. Post absorbing what was being said through the day, it was a little tiring journey back home in the evening. We finished our dinner and I got back to few pending tasks at work, finishing my day at around 10:30PM.

As a ritual, I massaged Paa's legs and shoulders before going off to bed...Wait... I didn't set an alarm for the morning. Paa reminded me and pushed myself out of bed to set an alarm for 4:37AM. All set to sleep!

I was deep in my sleep and suddenly I heard a voice "Mohammed, it's already 5:25AM"... And I was like what the hell happened to my alarm. I realized, I had set it for PM instead of AM!

But, thankfully, my wife's daily alarm did buzz and she was quick to see that I wasn't up as yet.

I had a 6:40AM flight to CJB and in my head, I was skeptical whether I would make it or not.

I took a quick shower, rushed out of the bathroom and booked an Uber first - it was 4 minutes away and I started dressing up. It was 5:35AM. I obviously didn't have any time left for a quick breakfast. Before moving out, Paa reminded of I had any cash on me and I asked him to quickly give me some. I moved out of the house by 5:40AM and straight went into the cab waiting at the building entrance.

My instruction to the driver "Bhai, I have screwed up my alarm and I have to reach the airport in 10 minutes...And, he got in the Schumacher avatar! I was at the International Airport at 5:55AM and went to the Kiosk to print my boarding pass. I was still skeptical about catching the flight since the security check was still pending. I cleared that too like a breeze and the proceeded to designated gate to be going straight into the airport bus.

Thankfully, I had chosen a seat much in advance and had a seat in the first row itself. It was 6:15AM and I was on my middle seat, hoping no one comes next to me on either of the sides...but the passengers did arrive...both of them too had somehow made it on time for the flight! Perhaps they too had someone rescuing them!

Chalo, I will let my wife know that Thanks to her, I got my flight today...Are you listening, wifey!?

[bunvoyagesarah]

Laos: Slow Boat, Luang Prabang, Vang Vieng, Vietiane

A lot of laughing out Lao(d).  

Slow Boat Wednesday, February 19 Nicole and I are supposed to be picked up from our Super Mom Guesthouse between 6am and 6:30am. We had our alarms set for about 5:40am and I go to the bathroom. While in the bathroom, I hear the dog across the street barking, just as it had done every time we came in or out of the house, so we both jump into action. Nicole was ready to go by the time I came out of the bathroom, and halfway downstairs. We get down there and no one is there.  We wait and wait and wait. I say to her, “Don’t you have to pee first thing when you wake up?” She finally goes back into pee. We consider texting the Super Mom to ask her what’s going on at about 6:35am. Just then, a guy pulls up in his car, I show him our receipt, which he doesn’t seem to care about.

We don’t have much idea what’s going on, but drive around the corner, thinking we’re at the bus stop to take us to the border and I say, “Well, jeez we could have just walked here.”  Really, we’re just picking up another girl, Jana from her hostel, who was equally as worried as we were that she had missed the transportation. Our driver picks up some phone call and then we do a drive by with a guy in a shuttle and our driver gets some cash from him.  Then we stop into a gas station for a gas and a 5-minute break. Our driver gets out and we start talking in the car, all equally as confused where the bus is that is supposed to take us to the border and wonder if we’re being kidnapped. Jana mentioned she saw people in the shuttle that she had recognized and wonders if maybe the shuttle was full. Once our driver returns, I ask him if he’s taking us to the bus, and he says no, he’ll take us all the way to the border. We’re all quiet happy with this, as we don’t have to move and can get comfy and sleep better in the air conditioned car.  

We arrive about two hours later at the border of Thailand and Laos at Chiang Kong, Thailand.  Our driver gives us some badges to put on, so the driver on the other side can spot us. He also gives us the exit paperwork for Thailand and entrance paperwork for Laos. We were pretty thankful for his guidance as a lot of other people coming in were extremely confused. We get our exit stamps and then he tells us to wait for this bus, which will leave in about 15 minutes, and he hands us a ticket for the bus, but would have been another fee if we hadn’t paid upfront. This bus takes us across the Friendship Bridge, a 10-minute journey that you can’t walk or bike across even if you wanted to. We get off the bus and wait in a line in Huay Xai, Laos immigration building. There’s a list of prices for the visa depending on your nationality, the U.S. is $35. I had over my passport and two pictures of my face and then he passes it down to his friend, where I pick it up at the next window.  Then we continue through immigration, pay some guy.  I had about $100 in U.S. money and the guy would not accept most of the bills because of a small pen mark, tear, or other small defect. He took the last $35 that was worthy. Upon exiting and waiting for everyone else, we were put on a tuk-tuk (another cost we didn’t have in incur) and driven to an office where they allowed us to buy lunch, exchange money, buy snacks, book their accommodation in Pakbeng, and buy sim cards, all while telling us they didn’t serve snacks on the slow boat (they did, and they took my Thai Baht). I found this extremely infuriating and felt like it was a total rip-off. I had read enough to know not to book their accommodation and that it was much cheaper to book it yourself. They seemed like they were being helpful, but the more they pushed us to book with them, the more mad I was for them trying to take advantage.

After 30-40minutes at this “office” they drove us in the tuk-tuks to the Huay Xai dock where a slow boat was waiting for us, mostly full already. Nicole, Jana, and I ended up in the very last row of the boat, which is considered the worst place to be because the motor is so loud.  We threw our bags in the massive pile with all the other bags in the motor room. And snuggled in for our seven-hour ride to Pakbeng.

The scenery was beautiful, and every time I looked up from my book, it was different.  I took a nap. And I was able to get a beer.  A bunch of the backpackers had started hanging out in the tail end of the boat with music. It was fun to hang out with them a bit.  Before I knew it, we had arrived in Pakbeng.

Jana’s phone had said our hostel was an hour walk away. Mine said it was about one kilometer, which it was.  We even took a shortcut up a hill. The three of us shared a room, albeit very sketchy, but it had a shower. We first went to an ATM that luckily worked for Nicole and I, as it did not work for a bunch of other people. Then we found a restaurant to eat in and bought a lot more snacks for the next day, including the best banana chocolate chip muffin I’ve ever had.

Thursday, February 20 This town is nothing but a stopover for the slow boats that come through the town, so we went back to our hostel. Our slow boat the next day was leaving at 10am, so we got up around 7:30am to watch the elephants bathing in the river across the way (a side perk that we learned about on arrival), eat breakfast, and order lunch sandwiches to-go. After paying and then walking down the street to get cold beers for the journey, I ran back to the hostel as I had left my kindle in the bed. Very thankful that I remembered it, as it would have been a very long day and year without it! We were some of the first group on the boat, and this day our bags went under the floor of the boat, therefore inaccessible. We sat with Jana behind us and discussed turning out seats (like airplane seats that were connected to each other but not attached to the floor) around so we could face each other. A few minutes later, some guys joined us, making a group of six. Nicole and I turned our chairs around 180 degrees, while Jana and Steven turned their chairs 90 degrees, and we had a nice little half-circle with Leon and Aaron.  

This day went a lot better, as we could actually hear ourselves talk. We played some card games and had a lot of snacks during the seven-hour ride. Nicole booked another dorm room for the two of us and Jana stayed at the same one (I still didn’t have a sim card).  We arrived about 10 kilometers away from Luang Prabang, which I had read was where we were meant to get off, ya know, so we can all pay these tuk-tuk drivers to drive us into the town that the boat could have dropped us off in.  

I had read that we should walk away from the dock and to the major road about 100meters away and the tuk-tuk would be able to negotiate for a tuk-tuk half the price. Nicole and Jana were all for this idea until they saw the 100 meters of road in front of them with no cars and turned around to pay with everyone else. I was determined and confident though. Everyone passed me in their tuk-tuks as I walked to the road, but as soon as I got there someone stopped in a tuk-tuk.  He was too much.  The next one came along and after haggling a bit, I got in. Another man and his wife were in the tuk-tuk and he spoke enough English to tell the driver where I was going. The driver drove right past my hostel though, so I figured we were dropping off the other people first. Then he stopped and wanted me out. He drove a little more and got me a little closer and I said he should take me to my hostel.  He did not, but he gave me the original price I had bargained for and I got out and walked the last 100meters.  I arrived, maybe 15 minutes after Nicole and Jana.  

Luang Prabang Jana was hanging out by the pool with another girl from our slow boat, Celene from Switzerland.  After hanging out for a little bit, we all went to get food together at a place Celene had found.  We were joined by a couple she knew, and then Tanja from Germany.  The food was amazing and so cheap, yet I’m not sure the restaurant has a name. After dinner we walked around the night market, which at this point, as pretty much the same stuff as all the other Asian markets.  It was more merchandise than food, but Nicole and I shared the largest cup of sugar cane juice ever for $1.  

We went to the bar nearby our hostel, Utopia. It was a very comfy, but massive bar with cushions and bean bags all over the floor to sit on. We all hung out there for a while, meeting up with the guys from our slow boat before we were all kicked out and headed home.  

Friday, February 21 The group had discussed all going to the waterfall together in the morning.  I had kind of wanted to sleep in for a day and relax, but sure enough, I was up in time to go. We walked out the street and quickly found a tuk-tuk for the six of us that would take us to the waterfall, butterfly garden, and Buffalo Grove Ice Cream for the same price as the our hostel would only take us to the waterfall.  

We piled into the tuk-tuk and drove about 40 minutes to the Kuang Si Waterfall while our driver waited for us. He collected money from us to pay the National Park fee.  The path to the waterfall went by a Moon Bear Sanctuary, which was unexpected but cool.  We passed the first lagoon and went to the top of the waterfall before coming down the other side and then going for a swim in the lagoon.  We all jumped off the big tree that says no jumping.  There was also a very cool swing at the top of the waterfall, hanging just over the water.  

We walked back found our driver playing cards for money with a bunch of other guys.  We could figure out what game they were playing though.  

Then we drove to the Butterfly Garden, where we got a little refresher on the life cycle of butterflies, saw them in all stages, and dunked our feet in the natural fish spa for a few minutes. We weren’t there long before going to get ice cream made of buffalo milk.  The couple that owns the place started it as a mid-life crisis and rents the buffaloes from locals to get the milk. They had some funky flavors like basil, lemongrass, and black sesame.  

The group went back into Luang Prabang and hung out for a bit, getting a late lunch at a nearby restaurant with lots of games and a pool table. A couple of us left to go rest after lunch, but met up again later at Utopia. After getting kicked out of Utopia again at 11pm, we went bowling, which is apparently where everyone goes because it was almost full when we arrived. We played one game and all found out Nicole is secretly a boss at bowling.  Then we took a tuk-tuk back around 2am and walked to the Night Market again to find very little open, but were able to get some sandwiches and crepes for late night food.  

Saturday, February 22 In the morning, I slept in, hung out, took my laundry up the street to be done by the corner shop.  I wandered around Luang Prabang looking in different shops, I bought a dress. And found a postcard for my collection.  I walked pasted a few temples and hung out by the pool for a bit.

We then all met up to cross the bamboo bridge, check out a jewelry shop on the other side of the bridge, and then walk up Phousi Hill to watch the sunset.  It was definitely crowded up there, but the sunset was beautiful. There was an older man sitting next to me and after hearing him describe the sunset to his blind wife, I thought “Man, that’s the sweetest thing ever.”

We grabbed dinner at a nice restaurant with 2-for-1 cocktails and in typical Asian fashion were all served at random times, so some of us were done before others had their food.  

Sunday, February 23 In the morning, the girls- Nicole, Jana, Celene, and I got up early to watch the offering to the monks.  It is supposed to be one of the best places to watch as there so many monks that come here.  I found out later, it’s a huge tourist thing, and the monks give most of the food they receive to the homeless kids because the food is inedible for whatever reason.

I went back to sleep, while Jana, Celene, and the guys left to head north. I walked to a silk museum, called Ock Pop Tok Living Craft Center where I got a private tour until a French-Canadian couple joined me.  We saw all the worms that make the silk, where all the looms are, and the store, where each item has a tag about the woman that made it, along with its very high price. You can also take a class there to dye or weave your own piece.  I also tried to go to the UXO Visitor’s Center, but unfortunately it was closed.  

I found out I had bed bugs again and after telling the front desk was able to use their dryer for free. It was all clean, so I put everything I owned in there, and even switched out the clothes I was wearing to put those clothes in.  I was in a mad dash as I was trying to let it be in there as long as possible, but I also had to pack it all back up to make my bus to Vang Vieng at 2pm.  I made it just in time, and was took everything off the table that I was sitting at and shoved it into my small backpack.  I kept thinking that I’ve got my phone, passport, computer and I’m good.

Sure enough, 30 minutes into the bus ride I turn to Nicole and tell her I left my journal and phone charger on the floor of the table where everything else had been sitting.  I was so disappointed for leaving them, and couldn’t do anything about it until arrived in Vang Vieng and I got wifi again. Nicole messaged the hostel to see if the front desk could pick them up.  We didn’t think anyone from the hostel would take them, especially the journal full of ticket stubs from the previous seven months.  We made a pit stop along the side of the road for everyone to go to the bathroom.  It was the most scenic bathroom stop I’ve been on.  We made a separate stop for some food and I got some noodle soup and ice cream.

Vang Vieng I arrived at the hostel, which I had also messed up the booking for, and booked two nights starting the next day, but they had no problem changing it for me. They let me borrow their phone.  The hostel in Luang Prabang didn’t even have the right phone number listed. Somehow I figured this out and finally got through to them and they said to email them, which was honestly easier.  I emailed them and never heard back. A guy in the hostel overheard me talking to the front desk and on the phone and said his friend was still at that the same hostel (it’s a popular route to go from Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng or vice versa).  He asked his friend to check if the stuff was still there in the common area or with the front desk. The friend, Ari would be coming to Vang Vieng the next evening.  

With nothing else I could do at this point but wait for Ari or the front desk to get back to me, I went to meet up with Nicole and some other friends we had made on the bus to Vang Vieng, Georgia, Cal, Jess, and Rebecca.  It was the most Americans I had been with since starting to travel.  We had a couple beers together, but I was still distracted and went home after a couple.

Monday, February 24 In the morning, I started WhatsApp messaging the hostel in Luang Prabang and calling them repeatedly, all while trying to respond to messages from Rebecca about renting a scooter and driving around Vang Vieng to the different lagoons and spots together.  I decided to try and enjoy the day. I rented the scooter for Nicole and me to drive around from my hostel and met her and the others at Rebecca’s hostel, we were all over the place.  

Our first stop was the Tham Xang (Elephant Cave), which was the furthest stop. We found a parking lot for our four scooters and then promptly asked to pay by some lady. There were two bridges in front of us and a man waving us over to come and pay to cross the bamboo bridge. We all knew there was a bridge we were going to have to pay for and figured this was it.  This was the stupidest thing we did all day. We could have just walked across the other less pretty bridge without paying and none of us would have cared. But alas, we paid about $2 and walked into the Elephant Cave and there was a little elephant on the wall made out of stalagmites and a huge Buddha.  

We are then led by our self-elected Laos tour guide to Tham Nam (Water Cave). We also had to pay to get into here, but it included everything we didn’t know we needed. We were like little lambs. We asked some people coming out of the cave and they said we didn’t need life jackets unless we really wanted one and couldn’t swim, but we did need the helmets with lights attached.  We put all our stuff in lockers, changed into our swimsuits, and got into our tubes, with our guide leading the way via the suspended ropes.  We head into the cave on our tubes with our lights on and start pulling ourselves along the rope.  It took us about 30 minutes to reach the end and we had to get out of our tubes and walk a couple times. At one point the rope ended and the guide just kept leading us back. We all agreed we would have just finished there, but somehow trusted this random guy that didn’t speak any English. When we left the cave, we took turns swinging out over the pool of water on this giant swing made out of an old tire. Then we ate lunch and dried off changing out of our swimsuits.  The guide wanted money from all of us, go figure.  

They had wifi here, so I was able to see that the hostel finally texted back and said my friend had my stuff, but didn’t give me any more information than that.  I wasn’t sure if this was Ari or another person and if they were on the morning bus or the 2pm bus that I had been on.  

Then we walked to the Tham Hoi (Snail Cave). Georgia (G) didn’t want to go in due to her fear of snails, but there was not one snail in there. The trail in the cave apparently goes about 5km to the other side of the mountain, but we only went back about 1km with this dog now as our guide. We all turned off our lights and sat in complete darkness with Nicole leading us in a meditation.  

We looped back around to where our scooters were parked and drove off to Tham Phu Kham (Blue Lagoon 1), where we drove over the bamboo bridge that we did indeed have to pay a toll to get over.  This is said to be the most touristy lagoon in the area.  It may have been because it was later in the afternoon, or that tourism was down overall, but I didn’t find that there were that many people there, and the six of us were more than half the people swimming.  We hung out here for an hour or so, getting smoothies, jumping out of this tree about 15 meters up, and jumping off a swing that would propel you into the water.  Cal did a flip off the tree into the water, which was cool.  

I wanted to go up to another one of the lagoons as I had read Blue Lagoon 3 was one of the best.  However, we didn’t have much time before sunset.  Rebecca’s friend had said this hike up Nam Xay Viewpoint was easy and mostly stairs.  Those of us in flip-flops thought, no problem.  It was not mostly stairs. We got to the top very tired and sweaty and had just done some light bouldering. However, the view was amazing.  There were a fair number of people there, but with a 360 view it was worth it. There were two motorcycles at the top, each with a Laotian flag for people to sit and take pictures on. Shortly, after the sunset, we headed down, not wanting to get stuck bouldering down in flip-flops in the dark. We scootered back over the bridge and Jess almost drove off the edge, which I’m still not really sure what she did to do that. We all went back to our respective hostels to shower.

As soon as I got back to the hostel, I had a message from Mattias, the guy from my hostel telling me his friend had my stuff and he was on the 2pm bus.  I texted Ari and he was about 15 minutes away from Vang Vieng.  I met him at the bus stop and awkwardly called out his name in front of the 12 or so passengers.  I was extremely thankful, but he said his backpack did all the work and I offered to buy him a beer later.  

I then hurried off to meet the gang for dinner at a nicer restaurant.  I finally got some congee that I had been looking for and it was delicious. Jess and I stayed talking for a bit and everyone else went for a beer at Milan Pizza. As we were leaving, I ran into Ari and Mattias from my hostel and ended up joining them for the rest of the night at a couple bars.

As I was walking home, some random Laotian dude was following me, so I crossed the street and pretended to be on my phone to let me get further ahead of me, but he kept looking back at me. As I turn the corner, some guy on a scooter comes by and stops right by me asking if I wanted a ride to my hostel, he seemed to be totally aware of the situation going on and I asked him if the guy does this all the time, to which he responded, “Only when he’s drunk.”  It was less than a 30 second ride, but far enough to escape the creepy drunk stalker.  

Tuesday, February 25 I didn’t do much in the morning, but sign-up for tubing through my hostel.  There was supposed to be three of us going plus the girl that works at the hostel, but she was sick and then the other girl also felt sick and her friend stayed behind with her. I got some roti from a street vendor down on the main road and then went to look for a dry sack and got a pretty good deal on one, after shopping around. I went back to the hostel hoping there was some activity going on before the tubing, but since the coordinator was sick, there was nothing. I got a sandwich from another street vendor with the girl that wasn’t sick and would have gone tubing with her friend.  

Finally, the tuk-tuk pulled up around 1pm. Sure enough, Georgia and her two friends, Harry and Jeff were there. Another two girls were picked up from the hostel next to mine. We went by an office and Leo and Franzi, both from Germany had to pay. Georgia hopped out and got some beers and soon enough, we were all drinking in the back of this tuk-tuk on the way to the drop-in spot.

It was only about 100meters of us in the water with our tubes before we pulled up to the first bar.  This was probably the most fun as they had some games we could all play like stack cup (flip cup but harder as you stack the cups, so it’s an ever growing tower to bounce the cup into) and beer pong. After a little while here, we floated down to the next bar. We were greeted with shots by the owner. There was sprinkler on the basketball course.  We didn’t stay here very long, but then skipped the third bar and went to the fourth. I don’t remember much of this bar, but floating a very long way down the river, throwing up in the river, which turns out to be an excellent place to vomit.  Our tuk-tuk driver was waiting to pick us up. I was way behind everyone, as I was just enjoying floating and not going too fast.  

We were all driven back to our hostels and showered and then next thing I know, I got a message from Franzi to meet for dinner on the other side of the town.  I got some water and food in me and felt much better. We went to a nearby bar which was giving away free drinks from 10-11pm to get people to come there. We played a game of beer pong until 10 and then enjoyed the free drinks.  My other friends, Mattias and Ari showed up, as well as Cas from my slow boat ride. It was so nice seeing all these familiar faces.  The group from yesterday, except for Georgia, had down their own thing, scootering around again. After most of my group went home, so did I, it had turned into a long day.

Vientiane Wednesday, February 26 There were buses almost every hour from Vang Vieng to Vientiane, so I slept in, but still caught a 10am bus, a tad hungover. We had a rest stop for 15 minutes and I got some grilled corn and grilled meat, as well as some lemon smoothie.  

I knew there wasn’t a lot to do in Vientiane, as it is the capital city, so it’s a lot of Business District, so I used the opportunity to rest and catch up on some things.  I watched some tv and booked a flight south. After a bit, I went out for a walk and to get some food.  I walked up to a monument, Patuxai. There was a sculpture behind it of four elephants made entirely out of pieces of chinaware, which was cool.  I also walked into a park and past the Presidential Palace.

Thursday, February 27 This would be only full day in Vientiane and I felt a little more energetic today.  I had breakfast at the hostel, and then walked to the COPE Visitor’s Center, which is a museum dedicated to the history of bombings in Laos and its related disabilities. I walked into Joma for lunch, a spot Keith recommended for a bagel and lox. On the way back to my hostel, I got a pedicure, knowing I’d be on a beach in the foreseeable future.  

At night, I went along the night market and enjoyed watching some ladies do Zumba by a rainbow fountain.  I enjoyed the sunset over the river with some food from one of the vendors at the market.  

Friday, February 28 I had asked the front desk the previous night the best way to get to the airport and they said they could arrange a tuk-tuk for me.  I asked them about the bus that was showing up as an option on google maps and they said, oh yeah, but then you need to leave extra time as it only comes once an hour. I asked how much the bus was and it was a third of the cost of the tuk-tuk! I walked to the bus stop in the morning, getting stopped twice if I wanted a tuk-tuk in the five minute walk. I arrived at the bus stop and it showed up a couple minutes early, so I was glad to be standing there.  I was the only one to be dropped off at the airport, but without any problems getting there, I was glad to not spend the extra money on a tuk-tuk. Next stop: Phuket, Thailand!

[jaosh-logbook]

LOGBOOK ENTRY#1 PALAWAN

7-5-18

5:35AM — We are on our bus to Clark International Airport and we almost left Gina behind because she was late. I mean what’s good Gina? There’s nothing new here hahaha! Things are getting pretty exciting, minus what happened with those three taxis with Ryan. We also got a discount from the Genesis Bus for being PAL customers! It’s surely is an adventure for us. This is the first time I saw the sun rise while I am inside a bus, this is amazing. Pale skies turned into blue eyes and the sun brought back the colors.

8:30AM — Early birds! We took over a bench and made it our own beds at the airport. We’re still waiting for Ferds because he’s got our hotdogs.

9:55AM — My heart is pounding like crazy at this moment. Besides my ID problem, Clark International Airport just had their last call for team Gina and I still have the nerve to type this down! I’m really nervous and anxious as fuck because we might miss our Palawan trip. Worse, I might not even join them because of my ticket problem.

10:03AM — We literally bolted through the security gates like crazy heads running for our lives! The marshals are pressuring us even more and we were throwing our things through the scanner. It was so funny what the fuck hahahaha! Once done, we ran to our vehicle to our plane. We looked like casts from the Amazing Race Philippines and did the walk of shame for being late to our seats.

10:20AM — Finally on our plane and the adrenaline rush was still pulsing through my body. I got more anxious as the plane got faster, this was the first time for me being concious to ride a plane. Lucky enough to be seated beside my best friend, whose left arm was crushed by yours truly. Sorry Dust haha!

10:40AM — At 44,000 feet, my long life dream to be with the clouds finally came true and I got the whole zoo on my stomach!

11:20AM — We were picked up by a driver who seems to be part of the Need for Speed cast for his driving skills. Busuanga, Palawan already looks fine as hell with these views and the cold weather! Nothing will top Palawan’s greetings with its rainfall. Manila rain can choke. Everything’s going North so far!

12:30PM — Finally arrived at Ryan’s home and the vibe is nothing but warm and welcoming. Food is great. Like reaaaaaally fucking great. View is amazing and the people are so nice. His mom prepared a house for us to stay in. Yes dude, a fucking house. We all took our naps and recharged our energy for another adventure!

10:16PM — Ryan’s mom cooked us the best first dinner at Palawan! All fish and veggies. Lerma is already shaking. We also did some short grocery at the bayan where we met some locals, aunties and friends of Ryan. It’s a small town and people know each other. They are so nice, they always tell us to enjoy our stay in Busuanga. We spent the night drinking mixed alcohol from a blender and playing cards. Okay well they played cards, I don’t know how to play. Someone also cried and poured his/her heart out but I will never tell who it is. It was the best way end our first night, I think this trip will be nothing but memorable and definitely one for the books. The logbook lmao.

7-6-18

8:07AM — We are on a boat to Calauit Safari to meet some MOTHER FUCKING GIRAFFES. My heart is too excited, I’ve always wanted a pet giraffe since I was little but my mom said giraffes are not domestic animals. Yeah, sure mom. My first island boat experience was a cleansing experience. I don’t know why I used the term cleansing. It’s not like I dipped my face in the water or anything, It just felt like the wind is washing something from my past.

8:50AM — I’VE PET AND FED THE GIRAFFES. My heart was so overwhelmed I was smiling from ear to ear. Two giraffes ate at my hand on the same time. Their tongues are kinda rough, long and it has the color of an aged eggplant. Another life-long dream came true, I love Palawan already!

10:21AM — We left Calauit Safari and we are now on our way to a beach to have our lunch. At the safari, we also saw some zebras, monkeys, snakes, turtles, crocodiles and even a porcupine. Our tour guide gave us a porcupine spike as a remembrance for our trip. I kept it behind my phone for luck lol

12:53PM — We had our lunch at a restaurant by the beach called Palatpat. Our food was made by Ryan’s family friend, we ate and dipped our feet at the beach. The view is amazing. It was so funny because from a distance you can see a storm approaching and we did not mind it at first. After a few minutes we took lots of pictures before a heavy storm locked us in our cottages. We were cold and stranded so we just watched our videos from the safari. And also, we discovered that Gina called the giraffes kangaroos hahahaha!

7-7-18

10:29AM — This view of the ocean is really breathtaking. It was drizzling a little bit and the raging waves said hello as we arrived on the dock. We were supposed to go to the famous Black Island, but sadly the current is too strong. I honestly thought it was passable, but tita said our boat might flip and I honestly don’t mind that lmao

11:40AM — We went to the Concepcion Falls instead where I ate a lot of crabs and did not get sick. I fucking love it here. Palawan got me eating crabs! We also met Merissa, who’s a 22-year-old backpacker from California doing her research. She joined us in our stay at the falls.

1:15PM — We took a refreshing swim. The water was cold but it was definitely rewarding. I felt as if the falls was cleansing me from something I was hoping to be free from. But I honestly don’t know what it is but I feel great. Oh and my friends are simply the best, they make this trip extra ordinary.

10:53PM — Sleeping beside your best friend is all fun until he becomes this big scared dweeb. Dustin was so afraid of our ghost stories he squeezes himself beside me and grabs my blanket. He’s not really brave when it comes to this stuff haha! So of course we made fun of him and took advantage. A weakness has been revealed!

7-8-18

5:30AM — Shit! Shit! Shit it’s 5:30AM and I’m already running from Ryan’s house to the church here in Busuanga. I cannot be late for church so I ran like I’m running for the marathon of my life! It was so far and I had no choice but to bolt.

7:37AM — Ferds and Ryan waited outside the church for me. I was surprised to see them there. We went to buy pandesal for breakfast, went to a basketball court and back to the dock. At the dock I saw a sleeping dog under the sun that reminded me of how my Bella loves to do that back home.

12:43PM — We are on a speed boat to an island for lunch, it’s a place called Alfaro. Seriously, I’m still shocked at the fact that you need to go to an island just for lunch hahahaha! Man I hope I live here. Alfaro is at the top of this small mountain and it has a pool that completes the relaxing-island vibe. I ordered squid for lunch of course and it was delicious as eff.

2:46PM — We then took a dip in the pool and enjoyed the every moment Alfaro has to offer. The view at the top takes you to a new level of comfort and peace. I looked far away and I saw a nice place that looked like a private mansion on an island. We all stared at it and dreamed to have our own island one day hahaha! Wish we can go there but I doubt it. They played a game in the pool where the three boys cheated hahaha! We then washed ourselves together in a bathroom and I’ve exchanged sandos with Dustin on our way home.

11:30PM — We drank alcohol again and this time I wanted to get sleepy drunk so that I could feel well rested by the morning. Is that weird? Anyways, we drank and played a corny version of never have I ever and Ferds was so funny with his shit. I then realized that I woke up today at 5:30 in the morning and was so tired from our activities. I then decided to sleep early and ditch my friends who are still chatting.

7-9-18

8:10AM — I woke up with a little hang over (lol at my plan to be well rested) so I decided to do some exercise and stretch out a little bit outside our home.

9:10AM — Today we are about to go hiking to the viewdeck of Busuanga and I’m sure as scared and excited for this activity. Another first for me!

10:16AM — After climbing, stepping on slippery rocks, holding on trees and a couple of mosquito bites, we finally reached the top before the rainfall. The view was covered by the rain and a thick fog, 0% visibility at its finest! We were drenched and frozen from the rain so we huddled in one corner at the viewdeck and waited for the storm to calm.

10:36AM — The rain stopped and the fog cleared, the view of Busuanga was uncovered right in-front of our eyes. It was so fulfilling to climb and witness this view! We took lots of pictures and videos. It was pure and genuine joy for me. I absorbed every moment at the top, just self-reflecting what I have done for the past years and pondering what I wanted to be free from. I whispered, “Come what may.” before leaving the place.

11:20AM — We are now going down from the viewdeck and I think it is much more difficult to go down than to go up. The way was slippery because of the rain and it became more steep. Dustin and Ryan both fell on their asses as we go down and I managed to go down with zero falls. A King, I know. Do we stan? Yes we do. lol hahahaha jk.

1:50PM — After preparing and having our lunch at Ryan’s house, we went to our home and took a shower. We also took our power nap before doing our laundry and preparing for our fishing activity.

2:22PM — So this is what it feels like to take naps with your best friends during the afternoon. I felt like a kid who took a mandatory nap with his best friends, getting energized for another adventure. Dustin can sure get extra sleepy and baby-ish at the same time tho, I’ll give you that. Ryan went missing.

6:05PM — We were peacefuly doing our laundry while waiting for Ryan’s arrival at his house. We planned to go fishing after our hike earlier, but it’s getting late and Ryan cannot be reached. Out of suprise, tita arrived with a van waiting outside. Suddenly everyone was in a rush, it turns out we were going to Busuanga Bay Lounge and Ryan did not inform us! WHO’S SHOOK? BITCH WE ALL ARE. WHERE’S RYAN? WHERE ARE WE GOING? WHAT ARE WE BRINGING? THIS IS NOT IN THE PLAN, WE WERE SUPPOSED TO GO FISHING HAHAHAHA

6:30PM — After panicking, running and preparing around the house, it started to rain and we are now on the van tracking Ryan’s whereabouts in the town. Finally the signal returned and we were able to contact him. We found him in a kubo with two of his friends eating lomi. It turns out Ryan was not informed too and the signal was to blame for no messages can come through. I forgot to mention that there was literally no signal in the island, you are lucky if you encounter a place with a good reception.

7:11PM — Busuanga Bay Lounge - okay so this place is hella expensive. Like waaaaay expensive. I was not prepared for this restaurant by the dock or in other words, I AM SHOOK. We’ve seen this place from the Alfaro view the other day, this was the mansion we were admiring from a far! It’s funny how we were just wishing to go here the other day and now we are actually here. Breathing! Me and my friends were exchanging looks and laughing because of the menu and its price range. We were laughing because we are not used to fine dining, for Pete’s sake we eat at Hepa Lane you guys. That’s our thing, our brand lmao

8:01PM — I had this deep talk with Dustin out of nowhere after dinner. We talked about our separate plans after college, our time together and some more stuff we don’t usually talk about. I like it when I have deep conversations with people, specially this douchebag, because it’s rare. I was not able to say some of the things that I want tho, but I hope he knows how much he means to me as brother, all of them. Food was amazing by the way. It was worth the price if you were wondering

7-10-18

1:35PM — We made fishing rods out of plastic bottles, nylon strings and hooks for our activity this afternoon. We are finally fishing! We went to the dock and I picked up a rod on the way. They said someone owns it so I was worried I will be in trouble for taking it, but I took it anyway to the dock with me. Pasaway.

2:16PM — We were on the same dock where we were supposed to depart for Black Island. I recognized the place because of the mini tower at the sea near the dock. The only thing different this time is that the sea level is low and I think the tower on the sea can be reached.

2:31PM — Dustin caught a fish! He got so excited after his first catch. A master of the sea? Does this have something to do about Dust being from Navotas? The Fishing Captial of the Philippines. I don’t know hahaha but he caught a real fish alright! He even got the gang more excited and energized! I did not hold back, I wanted to catch one too!

3:00PM — It started to rain really hard and the rain drops were hitting our skin like pebbles. The wind and the waves grew strong but our energy grew stronger, we did not leave the dock. We continued fishing and I have felt so alive in that moment. It was surreal! Fishing during the storm by the dock made me feel no fear, I was unstoppable.

3:15PM — I have no photos of this moment but we went to the mini tower I was talking about and went back to fishing again. It was still raining hard and the dock was slippery because of the moss, it was an exciting adventure for everyone! We’ve felt so happy we don’t mind getting injured lmao!

3:45PM — After the rain, we went back to the higher ground of the dock and walked back home. I returned the rod I have borrowed earlier to the same place. Dustin was carrying his catch and the others were all tired and happy from our fishing adventure.

5:00PM — We cleaned and piled ourselves on the couch and watched Master Chef at Ryan’s house. Tita arrived from work with these delicious pizzas and pastas from her friend. I was skeptic at first on the taste but Palawan keeps on delivering surprises! The pizzas and the pastas were amazing! The flavors are on point. Others should take notes! We rewarded ourselves for fishing today by eating a lot. Like a lot!

7:30PM — We were still full from our merienda but we have no choice but to eat dinner because tita cooked crabs! I fucking love it here. Happiness never ends, and when I say happiness I mean food! We then realized that it was our last dinner together in Busuanga for our trip at Ryan’s house and it was kinda sad to think about. We ate our feelings that night, we were introduced to the famous Coconut Cake. Let me just get real with everyone here. You have to eat this cake before you die. It’s so good I’m not even exaggerating anything here! I wish I could take this cake home and give my family a slice. They’re missing this back at home!

8:40PM — Still full but it did not end there. Tita and Ferds opened these freshly picked coconuts and we drank and ate it all. It was delicious, it made Gina and Dustin go number 2 hahahaha! Tita is just the sweetest and most genuine, she wants us to rest early for our early trip to Coron tomorrow. That’s when it hit us that it was our last night in Busuanga with tita.

7-11-18

7:05AM — Tita rented a van for us to ride to Coron. I was seated beside Dustin and I immediately fell asleep because we were up so early. We left Busuanga with my eyes open at 25%.

7:30AM — We arrived at our new place and we prepared for our tour. We were not yet allowed to check in so I changed my outfit at the lobby. After changing my shorts, I saw the cctv camera pointing exactly at me and I screamed and we all laughed hahahaha! That was so stupid but I have no regrets hahaha! To Jasmine’s Place of Coron, please don’t leak me online. No one wants to see me that looool

7:55AM — We chose to have breakfast in a mini carinderia where they serve surprisingly delicious and tasty breakfast. For P85.00 I got one longanisa, one egg, one hotdog with rice and a cup of coffee. That was my first breakfast in Coron.

9:05AM — We arrived at the dock where we boarded a boat for our island hopping tour. Our tour guides are locals who are very good at their job and are very kind. When the captain asked for a volunteer for a picture, I immediately raised my hand and took the chance. He was good at taking pictures, even better than some of my friends hahaha!

9:43AM — Our first destination was the Green Lagoon. It was definitely a beautiful moment. The rock formation is really unbelievable and this view just takes you out of the zone. We took lots of pictures on the boat and we dipped in the lagoon and experienced the refreshing salt water. We got that vitamin sea game now haha!

10:19AM — We are off to our next destination and Dustin placed his leg above mine like he always does. He does this when he is too comfortable with the people he is with. I’m gonna miss this little things about this goof.

11:07AM — We arrived at the famous CYC Beach and we were told to be careful as there are sighting of sea urchins and jelly fish. When I got off the boat, I jumped to the water and swam the fuck away in fear of steppin on a sea urchin. Ain’t nobody got time to go to a hospital today, that’s not happening haha!

11:19AM — We were playing with the sand and I said, “Guys gusto ko na malibing.” My friends were like, “Same.” hahahaha! They all dug a whole beach grave for me. How supportive.

11:22AM — While they were busy digging, me and Ryan saw some beach dogs nearby and we immediatley petted them. I never imagined that one day I’ll be at a beach with some dogs.

11:30AM — My friends are assholes! They left me burried as our captain called everyone back to the boat haha! I had to rise up from the dead alone and run on water naruto style to the boat.

11:55AM — Our captain and his team cooked a lot of dishes for us. They cooked fish, liempo, some sea weeds, steamed veggies, oysters, salted eggs with tomatoes and more! Surprisingly, everything taste so gooood! Like restaurant-quality good!! And the most impressing part is that they cooked everything in our boat while sailing. THIS IS THE LIFE, MAN!

12:20PM — I think I’m pregnant after eating a lot for lunch. Patay-gutom jael was satisfied, guys. We are sailing to Kayangan Lake and they said it’s far away from where we are so we’re sailing for some amount of time. The weather turned cloudy and the vibe is just peaceful and surreal. I closed my eyes and listened to the waves splashing our boat before falling asleep.

1:03PM — I know I have been talking about all of the sights and sceneries here in Palawan, but the one above Kayangan Lake is THE VIEW OF THE TRIP. It made me realize that I have been living and doing a lot of firsts again in the past few days. I know that the past 4 years of my life has been a roller coaster, this trip is like a big pat in my back saying “hey, you do you. you did great and you deserve the world.”

1:40PM — We had the entire lake for ourselves. The water is so clear and fresh it is as if the Pokémon, Celebi, lives here. We have to wear our life vests all the time because the lake was very deep. We swam further and floated, just staring at the sky and thinking. I know I sound like someone from a book, but don’t you crave for that experience? just floating, flowing and allowing everything as you pause from the world. It felt like that.

2:05PM — The lake was covered with fog as it started to rain. Kayangan Lake started to look like a place from the Jurrasic World, I was really hoping for a big monster to come out of that big stone formation in front of us and roar really loud. I think I’m imagining too much but I have always been this way and I think a lot of people should too.

2:55PM — We are now on the middle of the sea again. We were looking through the corals below us and I can see from a far that a heavy rain was headed towards us. Everything was slowly fading as it goes inside the fog and the rain. I was outside our boat when it reached us and that rain felt gooooood for some reason. I went inside and we sailed through the cold rain back to the dock.

3:45PM — We thank our captain and his team for doing such a great job. I wish I could do what they are doing someday. Meeting and exploring with new people everyday is something I’ve always wanted to do. At the dock, we bought refrigirator magnets as pasalubongs. And yeah we cheap like that.

4:05PM — So me and my friends decided to go to this famous hot spring in Coron to cleanse us from the sea water right after we landed at the dock. We went back to our hotel to get some money and we did not even change our clothes, we were too excited.

4:24PM —

[travelfoody]

[Click above for the video review.]

Flight: PR115

Route: SFO-MNL

Equipment: Airbus A34-300 (ex-IB)

Cabin: Business Class

Seat: 4H, 4K

Background

Even though I recently reviewed Philippine Airlines’ (PAL) business class on some of their intra-asia routes, it’s been a long time since I last flew PAL on a long haul flight. Actually if memory serves me, the last time was when I was 12 years old on PR104 from Manila to San Francisco. Needless to say, I was really looking forward to flying long haul with them again after all these years. I happened to come across a good fare between San Francisco and Hong Kong via Manila on PAL and booked it at the last minute.

During certain peak months, PAL operates 2 flights to Manila from San Francisco. Flight PR105 is on their newer Boeing 777-300ER fleet, while the flight we were on was flight PR115, which is operated by an ex-Iberia A340-300. PAL’s A340s are slated to be retired soon and are slowly being replaced by the A330 and A350, so the avgeek in me decided to try it out the product before it goes away.

Our flight was scheduled to depart at 12:45am, while the 777 flight was scheduled only 10 minutes before us at 12:35am. We arrived at the airport at 10:30pm to give ourselves enough time for check-in and security formalities, and we also wanted to checkout PAL’s Mabuhay Lounge at SFO.

Check-in

There was a long backup of cars as we approached the international terminal at SFO, as several trans-pacific flights were scheduled to depart all around the same time. Tip: If you don’t mind walking a little, you can get dropped off on the other end of the international terminal (G) to avoid the congestion. Since PAL scheduled two widebody planes to depart within 10 minutes of each other, you can imagine the economy class queue at the check-in counters were massive. The business class queue wasn’t too bad, though. We waited for about 5 minutes before we were helped by Nelda, a friendly check-in agent.

Nelda swiped our passports and printed our boarding passes all the way to Hong Kong. We were advised that flights from the US now arrive at NAIA Terminal 1 and we will need to approach the transfer desk and take a shuttle bus to Terminal 2 to catch our connection. She also asked if we had any check-in baggage, which we answered “no” to. She seemed baffled and asked us why we didn’t have anything to check.  I just answered that we travel light.

As some of you might know, a lot of Filipinos flying to the Philippines often bring  pasalubong or presents to their loved-ones back home. Filipinos are also known for having big (and extended) families in the Philippines, which means a lot of presents to bring home. Many Filipino passengers opt to bring two 20″ x 20″ x 20″ balikbayan boxes instead of luggage to check in order to maximize on weight and space.

With our boarding passes in hand, we headed for airport security which had a HUGE line. Thankfully since PAL now participates in the TSA-Precheck program. There was a separate line for Precheck and we didn’t have to wait long to get through.

The Lounge

After clearing security, we turned left and followed the signs to the Mabuhay Lounge which is one level above departures.

Upon arriving at the lounge, a friendly lounge attendant checked us in and allowed us entry into the… Standing Room Only lounge! The Mabuhay lounge is probably the smallest lounge we’ve been to at SFO. The lounge felt very claustrophobic and virtually all the seats were taken.

Since we couldn’t take a seat, we decided to check out their buffet spread to find some assorted sandwiches, BBQ chicken wings, meatballs, and smoked salmon on sliced baguette. There were also some chips, fruit cups, and chocolate cupcakes on the spread. To the side was a beverage cooler with a selection of canned sodas, juices, and a few bottled beers. The back wall of the food area was a self-serve bar with about a dozen liquor selection and a soup warmer, in which they were serving clam chowder at the time. There was also a microwave, a coffee pot, and instant cup noodles were available. The spread was decent enough compared to some US carrier lounges, but none of the food offerings looked appealing to me at the time so I just took a bottle water.

Eventually, a couple of seats opened up and we sat down for about an hour or so while waiting for boarding to be announced. We also bumped into one of my good friends and chatted a bit.

Some people say that PAL means “Plane Always Late”, and unfortunately both PAL flights this evening were delayed. Boarding was announced around 12:25am for a new departure time of 1:15am, while PR104 (the earlier flight on the 777) was delayed for about an hour at 1:30am.

Boarding

We started our walk to gate A4, which was only a 5 minute walk from the lounge.

I decided to take a few shots of the 2 PAL widebodies right next to each other before taking the escalator down to the gate area.

Boarding promptly started as we arrived at the gate. Business Class and Mabuhay Miles elite members had priority access and we were boarded by no other than Nelda, our friendly check-in agent. She even asked if we were able to find the lounge, and we nodded.

The Flight

The entered the plane via door 1L, and were greeted by Racquel, the purser on this flight. We were directed to cross the galley and turn right into the main business class cabin.

PAL has 34 business class seats on the A340-300, which are configured in a 2-2-2 configuration.

image courtesy of Philippine Airlines

We were seated in 4H and 4K, the last row of seats in the main business class cabin.

there is also a mini business class cabin with 2 additional rows of seats behind the galley.

Waiting at our seats were a full size pillow, duvet, amenity kit, slippers, and business class menu.

Sadly there isn’t much storage around the seat other than the seat pocket and the narrow side groove under the center arm rest. This plane being an ex-Iberia plane had an old IFE sytem installed, which was not operational. Instead, the crew distributed iPad Minis and some cheap flimsy headset to all business class passengers (I used my own). There were about a dozen or so new Hollywood movies, and a few classics. Local, Asian, and American TV shows, music, and a handful of games were also loaded onto the iPad. You can also stream the same media content via WiFi when connecting to the myPAL access point using your smartphone. Sadly, no in-flight internet access was available on this flight.

After stowing our carry ons and settling in, a male flight attendant offered us pre-departure beverages and hot towels.

A few minutes later, Athena the other flight attendant working our aisle introduced herself. She then took our drinks and meal orders and asked if we would like to be woken up for the pre-landing meal service, in which we answered yes to.

Boarding was complete around 1:15am and the doors were closed soon after. The Captain soon made his announcements on the PA system and gave us a flight time of 13 hours and 25 minutes to Manila. We left the gate promptly at 1:18am making our flight 33 minutes behind scheduled.

During taxi, Racquel the flight purser addressed us by name and introduced herself. She gave us an updated arrival time of about 6:20am local time and thanked us for flying with them. We had a long taxi to the end of runway 28R and took off at 1:58am. Since this was an A340, we had a long takeoff roll and gradual climb.

Supper Meal Service

The initial ascent was mostly smooth and 10 minutes after takeoff, the seatbelt sign was turned off and the cabin crew sprung into action. Athena came by with a tray of amuse bouche. Then a few minutes later, she returned with the champagne bottle and flutes and proceeded to hand pour the champagne at our tables.

About 15 minutes later, the meal service started with white linen being placed on our tables, and the table settings came soon after.

For starters, I ordered the cream of tomato soup with chickpeas. It was served piping hot, and it was delicious.

My companion ordered the smoked salmon salad with scallops. I had a few bites of it, and it was pretty good.

For my main entrée, I ordered the Filipino pork adobo with brown rice. The meat was surprisingly tender and the rice was cooked well. It was very flavorful, although I wished they gave me a little more meat.

Meanwhile, my companion ordered the alimango (crab) cakes with chili sauce and rice.

For dessert, we both had a cup of Häagen-Dazs ice cream. My companion and I were betting that the ice cream would be hard as a brick, as we’ve had on some flights. We were both proven wrong as the ice cream was perfectly scoopable.

The Lav and Bed

At this point, I was already exhausted so I visited the lavatory to freshen up before bed.

The business class lavatory was really nothing to write home about. It was small, though it had some basic amenities like a L’Occitane handwash, lotion, and mouthwash.

I went back to my seat and converted it into a bed. The bed was angled flat, but thankfully the angle was only slight and I didn’t slide down. The full size pillow had good support and the duvet was very good quality. It actually reminded me of Qatar Airways’ new duvet.

I slept for a good 7 hours and woke up with about 3 hours before landing in Manila. I took a peek outside to watch the sunrise.

Pre-landing (breakfast) Meal Service

2 hours before landing, the cabin lights were turned on and the meal service started.

The crew started with a hot towel service.

Then came the drink cart, in which we ordered apple and orange juice. I also picked up a few snacks from the snack basket near the galley.

Soon Athena came by to set our tables. Warm breads were also offered and I chose the banana nut bread.

The meal started with a choice of cheese and cold cuts or assorted fruits. We chose the fruits.

We were also offered tea or coffee, and I happily obliged.

For the main, I ordered the beef tenderloin kabobs with rice and egg (tapsilog).

My companion opted for the bangus (milkfish) with java rice and scrambled eggs (bansilog).

I’m not sure if I’m just biased since I’m Filipino, but I thought both of the meals were delicious and very filling.

Arrival

The Captain soon announced our initial descent into Manila and mentioned that there’s some congestion on the ground, so we would be in a holding pattern for another 20 minutes.

The cabin crew started their pre-arrival preparations and asked if we needed anything else. The iPads were also collected soon after.

Racquel came by again, addressed us by name, and thanked us for flying Philippine Airlines.

20 minutes later, were on our final approach and had a smooth landing in Manila.

We taxied for a few minutes before arriving at Terminal 1 (the old terminal building).

Deplaning only took a few minutes and we were in the terminal soon after.

Transit in Manila

Upon disembarking, we looked for the transit desk which is right before immigration.

We approached the desk and a friendly agent assisted us. We mentioned that we just arrived on PR115 and that were transiting to another Philippine Airlines flight.  The agent asked for our continuing boarding passes and asked us to take a seat.

We were soon escorted through transit security. Our luggage were x-rayed and we had to go through another metal detector, then we walked up some stairs up to the departure level. Our escort walked us over to the end of the concourse where we took another escalator down, and then another to the bus gates.

We boarded the bus and it was a good 5-10 minute ride over to NAIA Terminal 2.

We soon entered the terminal building and approached the transit desk right by the entrance for our gate assignments. We went up a flight of stairs, and we were back in the departure area. We walked over to the Mabuhay Lounge to enjoy a cup of PAL’s arroz caldo and get ready for our next flight.

The total transit time from NAIA Terminal 1  to terminal 2 was about 40 minutes, so give yourself enough time for transit formalities. I was actually dreading having to transit in Manila, but it wasn’t as bad as I was expecting. It actually felt more like transiting through London’s Heathrow Airport, just a lot less efficient.

  Thoughts

Overall I thought Philippine Airlines excelled in the soft product and catering department. The in-flight service was very good. The Philippine Airlines cabin crew weren’t as polished compared to crews from the likes of Singapore Airlines or Cathay Pacific, but the service was warm, attentive, and we felt that the crew were very eager to please. I loved that meal trays were not used for the meal service, and instead the dishes were placed on directly on the white linen.

The food quality and taste was also superb. I was happy to see that they had a Western, Asian, and Filipino selection for each of the meals. The portions could use some work, as the pork adobo I ordered on the first meal literally had only 3 small pieces of pork in it…pretty skimpy.

Now for the hard product:

Seat comfort, privacy, and storage on PAL’s aging Airbus A340 was pretty bad. While there was plenty of legroom to stretch out, the angled flat seat isn’t the best to sleep on especially for a 13 hour flight. There is almost zero privacy, except for a small divider in between the seats. The lack of storage area also meant we had to constantly get up to open the overhead bins to get our stuff. There were also no air vents on this plane. The installed IFE monitor and remote on the seat were both non-operational (as expected). The iPad solution was OK, but the cheap and flimsy headphones they gave out was probably the worst headphones I’ve used in business class.

As I mentioned above, PAL is retiring their A340s soon and replacing them with a much modern fleet, so seat comfort and in-flight amenities should get better soon. We actually had a much better hard product experience on the return flight on PAL’s Boeing 777-300ER (stay tuned for the trip report).

The full size pillow and thick duvet were very nice and made sleeping a lot more bearable on the angle flat seat. The L’Occitane amenity kit and slippers were also a nice touch…no pajamas though ;).

  Ground Experience:

I think this is where PAL needs work. The check-in experience was friendly, quick and non-eventful, except if you’re flying in economy and have to go through the very long queue. The Mabuhay Lounge at SFO is in dire need of an overhaul. The lounge felt cramped and needs a better seating arrangement. It was too crowded and there was literally nowhere to sit when we arrived. The bathrooms are all single stall and there were always people lined up by the food area to use the bathroom.

Food selection at the lounge was OK, but could use more hot food items considering PAL operates 2 flights at SFO every other day. And why serve clam chowder when you can serve PAL’s signature Arroz Caldo at the lounge?

PAL They should take a few cues from CX and check their lounge just down the hall.

Our flight was slightly delayed, but boarding procedures were efficient and we were able to board quickly.

Transfer in Manila took a while as MNL airport was scattered and inefficient. We were lucky we had 4 hours to connect in Manila so we weren’t worried, but I can imagine those with much shorter connection times would not be as as fortunate.

Bottom Line:

Would I fly PAL again? Absolutely! They have a long ways to go to catch up to their Asian and Middle Eastern competitors, but I can totally see the potential for them to excel in the business.  They were just upgraded by Skytrax to be a 4 star airline, so things are looking up. I’d like to personally thank Athena and Racquel for taking good care of us during the flight.

Keep it up, PAL, keep it up!

  (Note: As with all trip reports on travelingfoody.com, this flight was not subsidized by the airline. All flights and accommodations were paid for by us.)

Philippine Airlines Business Class San Francisco to Manila | Airbus A340-300 Flight: PR115 Route: SFO-MNL Equipment: Airbus A34-300 (ex-IB) Cabin: Business Class Seat: 4H, 4K Background…

[nicalaadventurera]

  Heya! I’m back again and this time would be about our 19 day trip to the United States of America! 🇺🇸✈️ If you followed my latest posts on Instagram then you would know what #LesVoyagesdeNica has been up to. Also, just last Wednesday, I posted the first of these USA trip blogs to come, just click here to check it out.

Our adventure began last May and after the stressful albeit exciting visa process for all 6 of us. We finally got to book our flights at China Airlines via cheapoair.com. Our flight itinerary is from Manila to Taipei, then Taipei to New York. It’ll be the longest flight we’ll take which topped our Israel trip and the longest number of days that topped our Asian trip.

*I will share the link of all the sites where you can purchase the tickets of our tour at the end of the blog*

Flight to Taipei

We went so early at the Terminal 1 of NAIA around 4am and the check in desk opens at around 7am while our flight is still at 10:35am. 😵 Terminal 1 is the oldest terminal in Ninoy Aquino International Airport. I kind of remember it during our Saudi Days where I would bawl everytime Papa left.

After we checked in, we had breakfast at the waiting area lounge, then waited for a bit and boarded to Taipei. It is my first time to ride with China Airlines and I tell you. It was quite enjoyable! Though I would say, most of the food they served were pork. 😔 I don’t eat pork so it was really envious to see your seatmates chowing down on their meal. But since we didn’t indicate any preference on the food during our booking, we had to make do of what we can eat.

Touchdown #Taiwan ✈️✈️✈️ 4 more hours till the next flight. #LesVoyagesdeNica

A post shared by Nica Gerona (@nicagerona) on May 14, 2017 at 10:23pm PDT

Medyo Ma Luo Ho 😂😭 #Taiwan #LesVoyagesdeNica

A post shared by Nica Gerona (@nicagerona) on May 14, 2017 at 10:54pm PDT

China Airlines served us one meal during our flight to Taiwan. Plus they have TV screens too which made the flight not too boring. We watched a couple of movies then dozed off. I wished I just slept, cause after a few minutes of sleeping in the pilot announced our arrival.

Taipei Airport 

I didn’t get to see much of Taipei Taoyuan International Airport as we were on a 4 hour connecting flight to New York. We had to see were our boarding gate was before we get to roam around. There was a lot to see at the airport and we got to try out free tastings, free car racing video games and so much more. There were tiny museums of dolls and knick knacks all around. I hope we get to come back here in Taiwan and see more of this country.

After gallivanting, we changed clothes because…hygiene. Hehe. Then boarded for our long haul flight.

During the flight the airlines served us two meal courses, two to three snacks. They gave us two options on the menu which was really good since it was either chicken or pork or beef. At least we’ll get to eat!

JFK New York > Hotel Pennsylvania 

We arrived at night in New York and it was cold! Thank goodness I had a sweater and scarf prepared but my legs were shaking! After passing through the Immigration and seeing JFK. I didn’t really expect that there was no wifi. 😞 I badly wanted to tweet. Hahaha.

JFK Arrival Area

We decided to take the subway and thankfully, the New York subway is almost open for 24 hours. I did Googled that on Taiwan, just tell me if I am wrong. Haha. We had to ask for directions as it was kind of a jungle to all of us. What is cool about JFK and like almost all airports we’ve been through is the train. They do have an Airtrain that you can freely use if you are on the airport and changing terminals.

We boarded the Airtrain going to Jamaica Station. Then bought the Metrocard tickets. Each Metrocard ticket can swipe for 4 people only. We bought two to swipe for 3 people each card. The thing about the Metrocard is that they are like loadable cards. You could load up to $100 and every swipe when you enter a station costs $2.75. When you exit, you don’t need to swipe. When we finally got that part our subway rides were smoother. Haha. It was truly different from every country we’ve been through.

From Jamaica Station you walk to Queens-Sutphin Blvd Station and there we boarded going to 34 St. Penn Station. There are signboards above the train telling you what the next station is, so you can chillax. 😂

In #NewYork… *cues in music* #LesVoyagesdeNica #USA

A post shared by Nica Gerona (@nicagerona) on May 15, 2017 at 9:22pm PDT

We walked to our hotel which was just in front of Madison’s Square Garden and checked in at around 2am. It was a three star hotel, which in my opinion was not so bad at all. It was near the different tourist sites and near to almost three subway stations and to the Amtrak station. Though the facilities were old looking, we didn’t really encounter any issues at all. We ate our early breakfast/super late dinner at a gyro cart across our hotel and slept.

Midnight strolling. #NewYork #LesVoyagesdeNica #USA

A post shared by Nica Gerona (@nicagerona) on May 15, 2017 at 10:37pm PDT

Amtrak Station > New York Water Taxi > Times Square > Central Park > Empire State Building

It was a jam packed adventure that day so we headed to the Amtrak station first at New York Penn Station. Be mindful of train station names as they are quite confusing. We bought our tickets to Birmingham and headed out to see more of New York.

We hopped on the subway at the station of W 34 St/7Av then went down on the South Ferry Station (Whitehall St Station). Out there we were met by New York Water Taxi agents. Initially, we wanted to go up the Statue of Liberty but we were told that we should have it booked a month ago. Bummer! Still we had other options.

We chose the New York Water Taxi hop on hop off all day access ride. We’ll be able to see the Brooklyn Bridge, Governor’s Island, Statue of Liberty and get off at Times Square. After buying the tickets we walked on to Pier 11. There we ate our breakfast from a gyro cart and hopped on the boat ride.

Brooklyn Bridge ❤️ #NewYork #USA #LesVoyagesdeNica

A post shared by Nica Gerona (@nicagerona) on May 16, 2017 at 9:05am PDT

She is beautiful. #NewYork #USA #LesVoyagesdeNica

A post shared by Nica Gerona (@nicagerona) on May 16, 2017 at 9:07am PDT

On our last stop we were told that there was a free bus ride going back to the city for passengers of the ferry. So we hopped on it again and we down to see Times Square.

In the sea of people… #LesVoyagesdeNica #NewYork #USA

A post shared by Nica Gerona (@nicagerona) on May 16, 2017 at 9:50am PDT

If you have heard the news, just a few days after an 18 year old girl died and few other civilians were injured from a car that rammed them through Times Square. 😞 I do pray for the families of the victims and that justice may be given to them all. 🙏🏼 I can only thank the Lord for His continuing protection.

After Times Square, we walked to the Central Park and along the way enjoyed New York’s concrete jungle. Get that? Haha. Sarreh.

A big secret garden 💚💚💚#USA #NewYork #LesVoyagesdeNica

A post shared by Nica Gerona (@nicagerona) on May 16, 2017 at 1:24pm PDT

It was a huge park. I would suggest that you try renting a bike to see all of it. We rented two bikes, one single and onw tandem bike. I rode the tandem with my brother, cause I don’t know how to bike. Seriously, I really don’t and I’m scared of falling over. 😁😬

It took us an hour of biking and it was a good heart pumping event. My brother and I truly enjoyed that. For around $7-18 you can enjoy Central Park and it’s lush green view. You may also opt to rent a carriage or sleep under the trees which my grandparents did.

After Central Park, we walked back to our Hotel and napped until around 8:00pm. Then all four of us headed out to see the New York City lights. We didn’t really expect to see Empire State Building, my dad really wanted to check out Times Square once again. But we wanted to see a new view so we headed to Empire State.

We got there and learned that we could go up. My dad said, “Let’s go see the top. We weren’t able to at the Statue of Liberty, we might as well do it here.” 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼 And so we did. We bought tickets up to the 86th floor only and it was around $34 for adults.

The 86th floor, open deck observatory. #NewYork #USA #LesVoyagesdeNica

A post shared by Nica Gerona (@nicagerona) on May 16, 2017 at 9:21pm PDT

After Empire State we headed home to rest for the night.

Bryant Park > Grand Central Station > New York Public Library > Coney Island > Chelsea Market

On this second day of touring, we headed out for a quick breakfast on Salt and Pepper which was beside our hotel and walked going to Grand Central passing along Bryant Park and the NYPL.

  It was quaint park that was a perfect place for coffee and quiet book reading. After a few strolling, we headed straight to see the Grand Central Station. All I could say was that it was so beautiful. 😍 Magnifico!

Such a grand place. #LesVoyagesdeNica #USA #NewYork

A post shared by Nica Gerona (@nicagerona) on May 17, 2017 at 7:07am PDT

After being bedazzled by the Grand Central Station we headed out to see the NYPL. I remembered seeing this on the movie the Day After Tomorrow. Hehe.

It's going to be a good day. #NewYork #USA #LesVoyagesdeNica

A post shared by Nica Gerona (@nicagerona) on May 17, 2017 at 7:06am PDT

It was free to roam around and see lots of books! It felt like Belle entering the Beast’s personal library. ❤️

We didn’t stay too long as we had another place to go by and this would take us about an hour of subway ride. We were heading to see Coney Island.

We went down the 5 Av Station beside the NYPL walked underground to the F Train to Coney Stillwell Station. We had to ask for directions so as not to board the wrong train.

Warm and sunny. #LesVoyagesdeNica #USA #NewYork

A post shared by Nica Gerona (@nicagerona) on May 17, 2017 at 10:37am PDT

Reaching there, we were probably the only ones in long sleeves as we all felt cold. Everyone was on their swimwear and here we are fully clothed. Hehe. But we enjoyed sightseeing and even had cold coffee cause despite the cold winds, the sun was beamingly hot. We headed home once again on a long train ride then walked back to our hotel and rested.

Around 4pm we walked to see Chelsea Market. I finally got to see the apartments that I use to see on movies and tv shows. Those small quiet street red bricked apartments are IG worthy. Hehe.

#LesVoyagesdeNica #USA #NewYork

A post shared by Nica Gerona (@nicagerona) on May 17, 2017 at 2:30pm PDT

We enjoyed seeing lots of food at the market and there were different delicacies to try. After feasting our eyes we then headed back via a subway ride to our hotel and bought our dinner at Salt Pepper. Afterwards we packed our stuff another long ride the next day heading to Alabama.

24 hour train ride to Alabama

We had our breakfast checked out before 11am then headed to the Penn station of Amtrak. It was really hard to carry 6 huge luggages on the escalator, but we managed.

We checked our luggages in the counter. Each passenger is allowed 2 baggages, strictly 50lbs each and two carry on bags. We had to remove the excess and put them on the baggages that had less weight.

Since we are going through Amtrak we waited on the waiting area for Amtrak passengers where wifi is free. We then boarded as soon as our train was announced.

It was a comfy ride and we brought food to eat at the train. They do have a cafe lounge where you can buy food and coffee. It was a bit expensive though. When you bring your own food you may only eat it at your seat. You cannot bring that on the cafe lounge.

The train is also equipped with free wifi so you won’t have to be bored and still stay in connection. They also have electrical sockets on board so you won’t have to worry with your battery going empty.

Heading off to #Alabama via the Amtrak's Crescent Line. I used to only read about Amtrak trains and now I'm riding on one. Thank you Lord! #LesVoyagesdeNica #USA

A post shared by Nica Gerona (@nicagerona) on May 18, 2017 at 11:32am PDT

After that long train ride, we finally met my aunt and her family, who I haven’t seen in 5 years. It was a tear-jerking moment for all of us. We stayed at their house and they welcomed us with a warm meal that we all enjoyed.

We ended the day through a grocery shopping in Walmart and other stores in Trussville. It was my first Walmart shopping ever and I really like it that it was wifi equipped. Now I understood why some van living explorers on Youtube park on Walmart overnight for the free wifi. Hehe 😜

Meet Yuna, she loves me almost immediately I called her name. ❤️ #Alabama #USA #LesVoyagesdeNica

A post shared by Nica Gerona (@nicagerona) on May 19, 2017 at 6:10pm PDT

The day 1-5 ends here first. Stay tune for a whole lot more of my US adventure!

Check out the links below:

Cheapoair Hotel Pennsylvania Amtrak New York Water Taxi Central Park Bike Rentals Empire State Building Observatory New York Public Library

Merci beaucoup et á bientôt! 

Special shout out to my IG photographer/brother, Nick for taking the awesome IG pics. 

Blogged: USA Trip (Day 1-5) Heya! I'm back again and this time would be about our 19 day trip to the United States of America!