I am writing this blog post on the last leg of my flight from Denver to the Philippines and I am excited to be out adventuring again. I had a fantastic visit in my home state of Colorado and it was great catching up with the US for awhile but I was ready to get back out there. As I write this, I have been travelling for about 18 hours now so for me it is two days in a row with only a few hours of sleep total but I am always amazed how I can keep going when I am travelling – like the energizer bunny and not feel too tired.
On the first leg of my flight, I sat next to wonderful woman who lives half the year in Denver and half the year in Greece which sounded like a wonderful idea. She had also just spent the summer sailing in Croatia where it is apparently beautiful but the food is boring (I would imagine it is tough to compete with Greek cuisine.) We exchanged contact information and she invited me to visit her in Greece which I have to admit is very tempting.
On the first leg of my flight, I sat next to wonderful woman who lives half the year in Denver and half the year in Greece which sounded like a wonderful idea. She had also just spent the summer sailing in Croatia where it is apparently beautiful but the food is boring (I would imagine it is tough to compete with Greek cuisine.) We exchanged contact information and she invited me to visit her in Greece which I have to admit is very tempting.
I chose the cheapest flight which meant a slightly longer trip (3 flights instead of 2) but I think it was worth it and I got great seats and wonderful seat companions every time so it worked out. I flew from Denver to Minneapolis, then to Tokyo, and finally to Manila. Ooh funny story about trying to check in at the airport – I couldn’t do auto-check in because my flight from Manila to Shanghai was on a different carrier and there is a rule that you have to have a return ticket or a ticket to another country for countries where you are issued a visa upon arrival. I didn’t know that because I haven’t done this before but that is good to know. I suppose they want to make sure that you aren’t going to just stay permanently in the place you are visiting ; )
On my second flight of the day I lucked out with my seatmate again! This time on the long leg of the flight, the plane was older and had no movie system. Thankfully for me, I was seated next to Charles, a techie guy who had brought his laptop full of movies and just happened to have a dual headphone jack with him. I watched several movies including And God Created Woman, a very beautiful movie.
I slept only a little and arrived in Manila at around midnight. After being greeted by my lovely hosts Carmel and Doy at the airport, I was taken to the hotel where I am so thankful to have a nice and comfortable bed to sleep in. It is so amazing how wonderfully decadent lying down to sleep in a nice bed can be after trying to sleep in a plane seat! I woke up feeling refreshed and ready to explore the unique city of metro-manila. Let the next adventure begin!
On my second flight of the day I lucked out with my seatmate again! This time on the long leg of the flight, the plane was older and had no movie system. Thankfully for me, I was seated next to Charles, a techie guy who had brought his laptop full of movies and just happened to have a dual headphone jack with him. I watched several movies including And God Created Woman, a very beautiful movie.
I slept only a little and arrived in Manila at around midnight. After being greeted by my lovely hosts Carmel and Doy at the airport, I was taken to the hotel where I am so thankful to have a nice and comfortable bed to sleep in. It is so amazing how wonderfully decadent lying down to sleep in a nice bed can be after trying to sleep in a plane seat! I woke up feeling refreshed and ready to explore the unique city of metro-manila. Let the next adventure begin!