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Sunday, January 9, 2011

Airport Talk (a 3 a.m. Post at the Airport)

I'm bored and I'm too sleepy to read the book I brought and the airport is still quite empty so no people watching for me right now. Just another day at the airport.

I don't know how many hours I've spent at the airport in the past five years. It's been a lot and I find myself increasing lazy to travel except when my boys are with me. This will probably shock my family and friends, but I guess I've finally settled down and prefer to leave the nest only when it's very important.

And since I'm at the airport I thought I'd make a rundown of my favorite things in different Philippine airports:

1. NAIA Terminal 1 - not really a favorite, but there's a stall in there that sells really yummy siomai and it's quite easy to buy ice cream as pasalubong since it's already packed with dry ice.

2. NAIA Terminal 2 - I fly PAL more often because I don't like going to the ugly airport (harsh but true). I like the fact that it's full of sunlight during the day. I hope though that there would be more restaurants aside from Cafe France (used to be Delifrance), I like the tuna mayo sandwich there though.

3. NAIA Terminal 3 - I end up taking CebuPac when I couldn't get a PAL flight or when the PAL airfare is much more expensive. I love this terminal since they have a lot of restaurants you can choose from. My favorite hang-out place though is Kopi Roti and I always get a Jollibee hotdog before I head to the departure area. At the departure area also reminds me of Salt Lake City's departure area.

4. Iloilo International Airport - I didn't get to see the original airport at Iloilo, but I like the departure area the best. Similar to NAIA Terminal 2 it has full of sunlight and kinda reminds me of the Hongkong airport. I love the fact that the restaurants offer really affordable food and baked items.

5. Mactan International Airport - I always grab a bite before I leave Cebu and I've tried most of the restos there. I had a full meal the last time I was there at the coffee shop at the right end of the departure area and the breakfast meal wasn't so bad. They also indulged me by giving me hot water for my instant coffee baon. Lot of pasalubong shops but quite expensive compared to shops in the city.

6. Davao International Airport - Davao is my favorite city in the Philippines so I love their airport as well since they have free wifi. I bought one of my favorite bags at the airport and oftentimes get last minute pasalubong. Just don't get a last flight in since they sometimes ran out of cabs.

7. Bacolod-Silay Airport - I experienced the old Bacolod airport and I'm so glad that the province got a new airport! It was a shiny new airport when I went there. Not so big, but the cafes had a delicious selection of cakes.

8. Naga, Legaspi, Zamboanga, GenSan, Tacloban Airport - pretty much a traditional airport. I hope they get a new one or a renovation at the very least (for McArthur's return!). Naga and Legaspi had pasalubong stalls, Zamboanga only had one. What I love at the Legaspi airport is the majestic view of the Mayon Volcano.

9. Cagayan de Oro Airport - I know CDO is going to get a new airport soon, but what I love about the old airport is the pasalubong area where I always buy fresh Vandjep pastel.

10. Laoag Airport - it's been years since I've been to Laoag but I absolutely loved the airport's architecture. It looks totally different compared to all the other local airports I've been too and reminds me of Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta airport.

I do have photos of all these airports and hope to dig it up when I get home next weekend.

2 comments:

  1. Anonymous9:03 AM

    magkano po ice cream packed with dry ice sa naia terminal 1 ? salamat po.

    ReplyDelete
  2. @Anonymous I'm not sure how much it is now, but I remember it was at least 100% more expensive.

    ReplyDelete