Trekking to the Philippines

After a red eye departure from SFO, our little family minus louloudi, made our way to Manila. It was a 12.5 hour journey leaving in the middle of night that begun well enough by a kind Philippino grandmother offering her bulkhead row seat, so that Jen and I could sit together with Astrid. She became one of the many nearby passengers who Astrid engaged in smiling and giggling with. She slept and ate remarkably well for the journey, enough so that we decided to give her an A-, the minus only for her slight fussiness towards the end of the trip, when she couldn't sleep with the lights coming back on and crew hustling about doling out drinks and pseudo food. We did our best to shelter her from the light and noise with a make shift tent over the bassinet. 

Upon landing in Manila, we had to hurry to make it through immigration and transfer over to the domestic terminal. The Manila airport is sectioned into 4 domestic terminals and one international, but they are not connected via trams or walkways, so you must exit the airport, find a shuttle and hope your Intel of which terminal your flight was in was accurate. As we exited the airport, the crowds had gathered and the shuttle was not arriving per a the gate guard. Not wanting to miss our window, we hailed a taxi and scrambled a 25 minute drive through the busy streets of Manila to our terminal. The roads resembled our time in India, with nobody paying heed to lanes or speed, but just a mix of mopeds, carts, trucks, vans and these amazing hybrid motorbike taxis with tin roofs, aka tricycles, all squeezing their way forward. 

We made it to our terminal as the check in was closing and thankfully one passenger before us had packed one too many souvenirs and was shuffling items between several large suitcases to the dismay of the desk agent, and our great fortune. We breezed through security with our special baby pass, that gets you waved into all the VIP lanes typically reserved for first class, pregnant women and the elderly. I'll take that, thank you very much. 

We made it to the bustling joint gate/waiting room with a few minutes to spare and a hungry Jen scarfed down an Asade Moma while we walked out to the plane taxi area. Between the last few hours and our race through Manila, Astrid hadn't slept much and was a little over stimulated, so sadly she whined most of the next flight to the dismay of ourselves and some equally tired passengers. Being "that" traveling family is painful and sometimes it is simply unavoidable, as Astrid giggled at times, but was just exhausted, even for such a good little sport she was earlier. Most fellow passengers were good sports about it, but Astrid received her lowest travel rating of the day, a D- from Jen, but clearly a passing grade from me since this leg of the test was on the curve and few babies could have been keeping it together given the previous trip duration. 

Upon making it to Taglibaran, we entered the open air airport and grabbed a taxi to our resort. The next 30 minute ride was an eyeful through the city and a bumpy one with plenty of roads being washed away and/ or under construction. Astrid, poor sweet little baby, somehow managed to feed and sleep through the most turbulent part of our journey yet, a sign of just how tired she must have been. Thankfully we arrived at our resort which was a step into paradise. From our door in San Francisco, a 20 hour trip set us on the white sands and gorgeous palm tree resort of Momo Beach House. 

From there, we scrubbed the plane from our bodies, donned our finest beach bum wear and took in a delicious breakfast with fresh squeezed fruit juices that seemed heavenly. The little lady loved her new surroundings and enjoyed the gentle ocean breeze quite well. It calmed her tired face and we were all sound asleep within the hour.

 

As I write this, the ladies are still sound asleep and I'm enjoying my first frosty beverage while chatting with fellow travelers about their recommendations for the area. 

Paradise shall continue tomorrow, but first this little family has earned a day to kick back and soak away our worries.