My first trip to the Philippines

[Tawi2]

That also happened to me earlier this year in Fuente outside Robinsons Jim,I gave a small boy 100 pesos(he had a cheeky grin,funny kid)suddenly I was swamped by a shedload of bairns

[James Hubbard]

What did they do to you?

Longest I've ever taken to get off the plane and into a taxi was about 45 minutes, it's not very pretty but it seems to work well enough.


Jim

the first time I went there ... all of the toilets were "temporarily out of service" (for the last 8 years) ...

the elevators were broke, so I needed to go up like, 4 flights of stairs carrying my baggage, which after 20 hours of journeying was quite bad! lolz,

the current airport now is nice coz i get to the domestic to go to cebu/dumaguete. ... which is N1C3! Jolibee, Mr Donut etc, but it's still got a long way to go!

[Sophie]

20 days till I make my way to Manchester Airport to take that long journey around the world to see my mahal! And now the nerves are kicking in.

I think it has been mentioned here before many times by various guys who went through what I am about to do, the moment leading up to meeting one another in person for the first time. Nervous as hell, but looking forward to it like a kid awaiting his birthday (wait, it will be my birthday )..

And so I plod along, trying to numb the nerves with overtime at work. Boy the next 20 days can't pass quick enough.

And still need to get some anti malaria tablets...

Wow, a little over 2 weeks and you'll be with your girl already
Hope the weather will be clear when you get there so you can both have a great time and explore philippines more

[JimOttley]

the first time I went there ... all of the toilets were "temporarily out of service" (for the last 8 years) ...

the elevators were broke, so I needed to go up like, 4 flights of stairs carrying my baggage, which after 20 hours of journeying was quite bad! lolz,

the current airport now is nice coz i get to the domestic to go to cebu/dumaguete. ... which is N1C3! Jolibee, Mr Donut etc, but it's still got a long way to go!

Ah I see only ever used the loo's in the upstairs lounges on the way out of the country and they've always been fine.

That reminds me Gary is right, always carry toilet paper wherever you go Northerner because it's a rare occasion that you will ever find any for free in a toilet anywhere.

You will even have trouble in nice restaurants, in fact don't expect very nice toilets anywhere even in the nice restaurants.


Jim

[JimOttley]

That also happened to me earlier this year in Fuente outside Robinsons Jim,I gave a small boy 100 pesos(he had a cheeky grin,funny kid)suddenly I was swamped by a shedload of bairns

Don't really know Cebu very well Tawi, only been there once, it happened to us at the Santo Nino Basilica next to Magellan's Cross, trouble is it was breaking my heart that I could not help them at the same time that I was getting really upset at the behaviour :(

Jim

[Northerner]

Wow, a little over 2 weeks and you'll be with your girl already
Hope the weather will be clear when you get there so you can both have a great time and explore philippines more

Thanks Sophie... I also hope the weather is good. Although if I have to spend a few days holed up in some room whilst a tropical storm heads over us.. Then at least I have company

[James Hubbard]

whilst a tropical storm heads over us.. Then at least I have company

Most Important Thing brother.

Remember that

[Northerner]

That also happened to me earlier this year in Fuente outside Robinsons Jim,I gave a small boy 100 pesos(he had a cheeky grin,funny kid)suddenly I was swamped by a shedload of bairns

I could do with the excercise

[Sophie]

Although if I have to spend a few days holed up in some room whilst a tropical storm heads over us.. Then at least I have company

Perfect time to cuddle up

[somebody]

Think most of the practical advice has been covered apart from be careful with your vauables. Touchy subject but distant family or friends may wish to borrow some items which you have spare..

On the first trip even though i had a new frangled camera phone and bought a new digital camera with me. We took far to few pictures sounds silly but the time will fly and before you know it your be back in rainy Manchester

Dont forget to be practical keep receipts, tickets stubs for plane, not really needed but just in case.. Ensure you get pictures together not hard normally has im sure sometimes your have family or friends around. If you get the chance back up them photos just in case camera is seperated from you

Also always nice to get a cheap disposal camera or if you have an old film camera although maybe harder to find in the uk than even just a few years back.
Leaving some pictures with your mahal and family is a lovely gift and saves time going to internet cafe and making some dodgy prints.

Also handy for application time

Dont forget to check out the duty free not sure about cebu but manila has a huge one a short drive from the Airport. Like no Duty free you will have seen, choclate, corn beef and coffe far more important to sales than beer or wine it seems A six pack of coffemate or corn beef goes far further with many families than booze.

Dont forget to buy pressies for all the family, if people dont get a pressie they will feel left out. But does not need to be much by Brit standards.

Budget your money, far nicer to send some of the family to the sari sari for a bottle of coke and some snacks or get a big tin of ice cream and sit with the family than go out every night. Get to know the family in there surroundings not in a Jolibees.

As you know dont assit going to the market or shops locally it will increase prices once you go home sometimes

Let a phill argue/haggle on your behalf, trust me it will get heated now and then.

[Northerner]

Think most of the practical advice has been covered apart from be careful with your vauables. Touchy subject but distant family or friends may wish to borrow some items which you have spare..

On the first trip even though i had a new frangled camera phone and bought a new digital camera with me. We took far to few pictures sounds silly but the time will fly and before you know it your be back in rainy Manchester

Dont forget to be practical keep receipts, tickets stubs for plane, not really needed but just in case.. Ensure you get pictures together not hard normally has im sure sometimes your have family or friends around. If you get the chance back up them photos just in case camera is seperated from you

Also always nice to get a cheap disposal camera or if you have an old film camera although maybe harder to find in the uk than even just a few years back.
Leaving some pictures with your mahal and family is a lovely gift and saves time going to internet cafe and making some dodgy prints.

Also handy for application time

Dont forget to check out the duty free not sure about cebu but manila has a huge one a short drive from the Airport. Like no Duty free you will have seen, choclate, corn beef and coffe far more important to sales than beer or wine it seems A six pack of coffemate or corn beef goes far further with many families than booze.

Dont forget to buy pressies for all the family, if people dont get a pressie they will feel left out. But does not need to be much by Brit standards.

Budget your money, far nicer to send some of the family to the sari sari for a bottle of coke and some snacks or get a big tin of ice cream and sit with the family than go out every night. Get to know the family in there surroundings not in a Jolibees.

As you know dont assit going to the market or shops locally it will increase prices once you go home sometimes

Let a phill argue/haggle on your behalf, trust me it will get heated now and then.

Thanks... Excellent advice Until today I never thought of letting Rizza do the haggling, but from now on I guess she is the boss

[bornatbirth]

let your gf handle the money and pay for everything,i always let my wife do before we married,she seemed to like it.

where are you changing your money?

i always found the local money changers in the malls the best but you still need to shop around,why not ask your gf to ask around to see who gives the best rate?

[Tawi2]

Best rate in Cebu I always find is in the money-changing booth downstairs in the foodhall in Robinsons fuente,just look for the queue of people clutching dollars or euros

[JimOttley]

Thanks... Excellent advice Until today I never thought of letting Rizza do the haggling, but from now on I guess she is the boss

Don't try to haggle yourself mate, in general they won't take it all that well but hopefully Rizza will be good at haggling

Ana can be sometimes, she's better at it when it's something she wants though after a few seconds looking at something she says "discount" and laughs works remarkably often even when I'm there


Jim

[Northerner]

where are you changing your money?

i always found the local money changers in the malls the best but you still need to shop around,why not ask your gf to ask around to see who gives the best rate?

I was thinking of changing my money over here before I go, with just a few pounds to get me by. Then I was planning to leave most of it with Rizzas' account so there would be no fluctuating charges each time we go to the ATM machine.

Or might keep a few hundred in my account so we have 2 ATM cards and some cash

[JimOttley]

let your gf handle the money and pay for everything,i always let my wife do before we married,she seemed to like it.

where are you changing your money?

i always found the local money changers in the malls the best but you still need to shop around,why not ask your gf to ask around to see who gives the best rate?

Agreed local money changers in the malls are usually about 2 peso off the quoted exchange rate.

A few years ago the rate seemed to get set at the start of the week and would remain constant, we had a really good money changer on the ground floor of the Condo tower block we lived in and that was they way they worked but at one point at least last year when the rate was plummeting badly it was being updated daily at all the money changers.


Jim

[GaryFifer]

Don't try to haggle yourself mate, in general they won't take it all that well but hopefully Rizza will be good at haggling

Ana can be sometimes, she's better at it when it's something she wants though after a few seconds looking at something she says "discount" and laughs works remarkably often even when I'm there


Jim

Ah, will we tell him how much for a taxi.

[Northerner]

Don't try to haggle yourself mate, in general they won't take it all that well but hopefully Rizza will be good at haggling

Ana can be sometimes, she's better at it when it's something she wants though after a few seconds looking at something she says "discount" and laughs works remarkably often even when I'm there


Jim

I never had the heart to haggle too much. One of my friends whose family are from India once told me how he did it... And so I tried.

There in Bangkok, I was with some stall holder trying to sell me a *genuine* Rolex watch. With every price he offered I said "lower!", until at the end I felt so sorry trying to get this guy down like a hardcore haggler. And just said "ok, ok.. What price you want?".. I haggle a little, try and get a T-shirt thrown in after buying 2, but I know they are still making a nice profit from me. And good on them

[JimOttley]

I was thinking of changing my money over here before I go, with just a few pounds to get me by. Then I was planning to leave most of it with Rizzas' account so there would be no fluctuating charges each time we go to the ATM machine.

Or might keep a few hundred in my account so we have 2 ATM cards and some cash

Change it here and it will cost you a fortune you will be lucky to get a number in the mid 60's just now.

Tricky as it's your first trip but I would still take some UK cash and change it there.


Jim

[bornatbirth]

get her to see the rates at the malls first before you change it here first,i have always got a far better rate at the malls there and never take any peso with me as my wife picks me.....then my money gets handed over to the boss(my wife) not keith and we go exchange it.

where are you thinking of exchanging it?

[GaryFifer]

[QUOTE=bornatbirth;180190]get her to see the rates at the malls first before you change it here first,i have always got a far better rate at the malls there and never take any peso with me as my wife picks me.....then my money gets handed over to the boss(my wife) not keith and we go exchange it.


Your wife runs the site not keith

[Northerner]

get her to see the rates at the malls first before you change it here first,i have always got a far better rate at the malls there and never take any peso with me as my wife picks me.....then my money gets handed over to the boss(my wife) not keith and we go exchange it.

where are you thinking of exchanging it?

Cool idea... I will

I keep a tab on the moneysupermarket website to see who is offering the best deal, and yep.. Right now it is not looking too good.

But what if I turned up in Cebu with £1000 in sterling? Going into a local exchange place with that? From what I have read I might go away with a few light notes...

[JimOttley]

Ah, will we tell him how much for a taxi.

I have GPS to check where they are taking me but I know the geography now

Rizza always pays for the taxi, that should be the rule

If they think they can get away with it the meter will not get switched on and they will be looking for 400-500 peso for even a short trip.

Short trip of a mile or two should only be 50 to 60 peso in Manila.

A six mile trip from Malate to Las Pinas is around 200 peso in Manila these days not sure about the other provinces.


Jim

[bornatbirth]

Your wife runs the site not keith

my wife is my boss but not the boss of this site

shes always telling me what to do have i been married to long?

[whiteraven]

i tend to take a lot of cash and change it in the local stores as others have said get a much better rate. i gave my lady my wallet and let her pay for everything, that earned me a lot of brownie points.

[RickyR]

Lots of good advice on here, but honestly don't let it scare you and make you paranoid. It's people just wanting to remind you to go in with your eyes open and a bit of caution. I think triple5's advice about people who take it all the wrong way and grow resentful is right, and something to be careful of. A good book if you've been to Thailand is "Private Dancer", but I'm sure you know already that Thai and Pinoy are completely different cultures.

[JimOttley]

Cool idea... I will

I keep a tab on the moneysupermarket website to see who is offering the best deal, and yep.. Right now it is not looking too good.

But what if I turned up in Cebu with £1000 in sterling? Going into a local exchange place with that? From what I have read I might go away with a few light notes...

Never change it all at once, apart from anything else you might not spend it all.

These days the rates not great so change maybe 200 quid at a time, the mall vendors are often in a little wooden cubicle with a glass front and you might not feel comfortable but they are almost always honest.

I've only ever suffered an attempted scam once at a money changierthat did not have a name on the front, looked respectable but wasn't, we got the Police on them and got our money back there and then had a police escort to a good money changer

The scam was hand over X they take it into the back shop come back and say it was X-100 I blew my top as did Ana


Jim

[GaryFifer]

Remember when you are in the plane, they give you a piece of paper, before landing explaining the reason for your trip. It's irksome after a long sleep, pens are given out by the stewardess, and writing in such a small space sucks.

Anyways, then you will need to stand in the que to get you passport/papers checked and you must have this crazy NBI paperwork.

[aposhark]

... All i can say is be on your guard, dont be a stupid tourist, and take nothing at face value...A life is cheap in the philippines , and people are desperate, as soon as they see a foreigner , to them its money money.. So be very aware, dont let your parts below the waist take over from your brain. i f you know what i mean

[bornatbirth]

Cool idea... I will

I keep a tab on the moneysupermarket website to see who is offering the best deal, and yep.. Right now it is not looking too good.

But what if I turned up in Cebu with £1000 in sterling? Going into a local exchange place with that? From what I have read I might go away with a few light notes...

i have exchanged that much before,just count it at the counter and you can count what they give you,they dont mind i never got sort changed

Rizza always pays for the taxi, that should be the rule

If they think they can get away with it the meter will not get switched on and they will be looking for 400-500 peso for even a short trip.

Short trip of a mile or two should only be 50 to 60 peso in Manila.

always let your gf to pay for the taxi and let her get in first...and always get the meter to start.