Made it to Manila

Good morning or good evening. Hmmm not sure what time it is where you are. Quick update about the transfer from Tokyo to Manila. Jamie left his cell phone on the plane…. I know, this is something you would expect from me, but NOPE, it was him. We had an hour-and-a-half layover, “thank you sweet baby Jesus”! We were unable to go back to the plane so I hiked (for about 5 minutes speed-walking) to the “transfer” counter for Japan Airlines (JAL) as no one was able to assist at any other gate-ticket counter. After about 5 to 10 minutes of discussing the lost phone, JAL, call their people to go look on the plane. Meanwhile, I texted Pam, who stayed behind with Jamie and the carry-on luggage, to make sure Jamie checked his backpack and all pockets… again… no luck. Super grateful JAL staff were able to locate the phone and they brought to the ticket counter where I waited patiently. Then returned to our gate and made our way to Manila.

Once we got to Manila, 4 1/2 hours later at approximately 10 pm local time, deplaned, picked up our bags, went through Immagration, then customs and then needed to locate our bus to the hotel. Mind you, our flight was almost an hour behind. Tokyo airport was busy; Tony mentioned there were plane lined up as far as he could see. The trick to locate the bus is that you had to find it….after leaving immagration/customs, we had to walk out baggage claim, cross a busy roadway, enter a “tunnel” to go the lower level which is really a long ramp that curved! So we had 4 big bags on a cart going down a “ramp”, about 50 yards, to get to where all of the taxi’s were…. CRAZY TOWN! We didn’t see our driver, so I went on another trek to make sure we didn’t miss seeing the driver with a “Belmont Hotel” sign. Went back up the ramp, talked to a few people and they said it was down the ramp…. AHHHHHH! Once I got back to the group, found out that we needed to call since the plane was late. Phew!

Got to the hotel and their security was very interesting. You had to put all of your luggage through an x-ray matching and walk though a metal detector. K-9 unit and other police there. Very interesting, definitely not what I expected. Finally got to our room! BTW, hot and muggy here in Manila. I was ready to take a shower and get into my PJ’s. Jamie was first, then I took one. By the time I got out, he was snoring. I hit the bed. Not sure I was snoring, but I think I was… Maybe it was purring. We’ll never know.

Will post more about the Belmont hotel later. Until next time……