My husband and I went to check out the 22nd Philippine Travel Mart last September 2 held at SMX in Mall of Asia. We hoped to find similar travel promos like the tickets we scored during the the 21st Philippine Travel Mart held in Megatrade Hall in Megamall. We were then able to buy 16 AirPhil Express tickets which we used for our trips to Davao (with Jeff’s relatives) and Bohol last May. All for P270 (approx. $6) each, roundtrip.
Since most airline companies during the 22nd Philippine Travel Mart only offered promos for travel periods until end of the year, we really did not take interest anymore. We have plotted our family’s travel plans for the whole year as early as first quarter of this year. The last of which will be to Hongkong for our 10th wedding anniversary trip.
We were supposed to fly to Boracay last September 5 to celebrate Jeff’s 36th birthday. It was cancelled because our little guy was hospitalized for Dengue. Thank God that the loss for that trip was not so much for us. The tickets for Boracay that we bought only cost a total of P1,400 for the three of us (roundtrip). The perks of booking when airline companies offer their promos! We’re cheap this way. We really would rather spend for the island tours, pasalubong shopping, food and exploring the locale. As for the accommodation, it was the prize that I won last year from one of last year’s Philippine Travel Mart vendors.
We bought Zest Air tickets during the 22nd Philippine Travel Mart. We saved half of the regular fare. We tried booking online the previous week and the regular price for our travel dates costs more than ten grand for two tickets. We thought to wait it out and check out with the PTM. Good thing because it was an instant five grand plus savings!
It was our first time to travel via Zest Air. Our flight was rather early, slated at 4AM. Zest Air has limited schedule. Either we fly very early or after lunch. Thinking we will be able to accomplish with our business if we go early, we chose the earliest trip. We drove to Manila International Airport at 1:30AM. It was convenient that there was a parking area right smack across the airport and the fee was only P50 per day.
Manila International Airport Boarding Area
The Manila International Airport is clean and decent. Since it was an old airport, my expectation was rather low. The washroom was okay, save for the wayward step stools with handles I saw that were in the way. They were probably cleaning something. I also noticed that they were not as strict as I was not asked to take off my watch and have it go through the conveyor belt like the usual. I did not think it was necessary to take it off because the people in line ahead of me were wearing their watches.
Little Vin-Vin’s breakfast at P187
The only food stall in the boarding area that has tables and chairs is Little Vin-Vin. Since I was pretty famished, I was not going to settle for a Cinnabon. Jeff did though. It was P187 for fried rice, a few pieces of bacon and a sunny side up egg. Pricey for breakfast by our usual standard. That’s airport food for us, folks!
As opposed to a handful of Zest Air complaints I’ve read about, our flight departed on time. 4AM on the dot. The same went for our Davao to Manila flight, which was early as well, at 6:30 AM. We were able to sleep through the take off going to Davao, which was unusual for us. But as I mentioned in my previous post, the landing was a different story altogether. The same goes for our previous plane ride with AirPhil Express and Cebu Pacific. The only time I remember breezing through take off and landing was when we were aboard Philippine Airlines (PAL). I wonder now if it’s the aircraft or the pilots.
Aboard Zest Air aircraft and about to land Manila
