HOW OUR HK TRIP ENDED

Hello! Hello! I am back... I've been missing a lot, I even forgot that I have a blog. Chos!

But yeah, ngayon lang nakahanap ng pagkakataon makapag blog ulit. But I won't be blogging about updates on our bedroom makeover project because sadly I need to prioritize something else pansamantala. We have not yet completed the project and the materials are not yet complete pero babalikan ko yun sa mga susunod na buwan. Ang dami kasing ganap sa buhay (wow ako na busy hahaha) and I am still recovering from sickness so hinay hinay lang muna ako.

So what am I going to share with you today?...



Yung kulang ko sa first travel namin abroad, feeling ko kasi hindi ako makaka move on dito kung di ko pa ito matatapos gawin. Alam kong two months ng paso itong kwento ko but I still feel the urge (urge tlaga..hahaha) to share this one to you all. I am trying to pick up the details of how our first out of the country trip ended. It is something I cannot ignore eh. If you are like me or us na first time mag travel abroad you might want to read this blog.

You see, not all travel blogs will tell you stories or tips pertaining to details on how their whole tour or travel ended. Like how they are able to come back home safe and sound. Well, you might say now... eh common sense na kasi yun diba... check out ka sa hotel, dalin mo sarili mo sa airport at mag check in ka on time to catch your flight back home. I'm sure if you are a frequent traveler sigurado akong sanay na sanay ka na. But how about those like me na first time lang makaka pag travel abroad? well sinubukan ko din mag ask sa mga nakapunta na dun pero di rin nila matandaan pano nga ba? hehehe Yung mga tanong na anong oras need pumunta ng airport, may kailangan pa bang bayaran, may exit interview pa ba ginagawa. Kasi hindi naman lahat pare parehas diba... so yun, those were the questions we have in mind at gusto lang din namin malaman beforehand sana.

So heads up, it is always better to read or review details on how to get in and out of the foreign country you are planning to go soon. Both entry and exit details ha because they are both equally important to tackle and be familiar with. Na focus ako sa paggawa ng itinerary. Yung paano pagbalik last minute ko nalang din inalam. Ayaw ko rin naman ma miss ang eroplano pauwi diba? hahaha... So ito na yun experience namin and tips ko sa inyo on how you can return home safely from abroad particularly if you are coming back home from Hong Kong. Don't worry, TRIED AND TESTED TO! Caps ko para mas maniwala ka. Hahaha

OUR LAST DAY IN HK

On our last day in HK, we took an early breakfast at Cafe de Coral. Brought ourselves back in our hotel room afterwards so we can do our final checking of our belongings. My husband called the front desk to inform that we will be checking out but then they told us to just return the keys at front desk officer so sinunod naman namin. We were surprised of how efficient their check out procedures were. No waiting time, wala ng "mam/sir, please have a seat for awhile (na umaabot ng lampas 30 minutes) ichecheck lang po namin yung room etc etc... walang ganun for the very first time hahaha.. The front desk officer ask for the receipt of our deposit and they immediately returned our 500 HKD right there and then.

While waiting for our service to arrive.

We were supposed to be picked up by our transfer service going to the airport by 8:30 AM. But they came 15 past 9 so we got a little anxious whether we still have ample time to catch our flight at 11:05. Good thing travel time from the hotel to HKIA was around 30 minutes. We arrived at 9:45 and headed directly at the check in counters.

While in our country, travelers are advised to be at the airport 3-4 hrs ahead of our schedule flying time (international flights). Sa HK nagawa pa din namin makarating sa boarding gate earlier than expected kahit sobrang late na kami nasundo. Ganun ka efficient ang travel system at movement ng mga tao sa HKIA.

So from Rambler in Tsing Yi, we arrived at HKIA after about 30 minutes via shuttle. 

Walkator para relax lang (pero mukha akong hindi relax tlaga)

We loaded off the bus and headed inside HKIA. Medyo kalma na din ako kasi nga may almost 2 hrs pa pero hindi rin pwede mag pa petiks petiks hehehe... 

AIRLINE CHECK IN

Upon entering HKIA we went directly to Check In counters. Matapos kong sumakay sa walkalator na yan makikita na agad yung Check in counters. We were greeted by one of the staff and asked for our boarding passes. Since we already have our E-tickets on hand and has no baggage to check in, we were instructed to go to immigration counters directly. 

The terminal looks more like a high end mall instead of an airport terminal sa totoo lang hahaha... So we've spent few more minutes finding the way down only to find out there were no available lifts pala. While escalators are located on the farthest east part of the terminal. Ano ba yun kailangan pa talaga namin itanong kay ate staff san yung way pababa hahaha... 

When you reached the basement of the terminal we saw the APM platform. (Automated People Mover). May driverless train sa loob ng airport terminal.. just wow! From there we asked the staff on which train we need to hop in and which gate to disembark. He ask for our boarding passes then give us a clear and precise instruction on what to do next. We are flying in a budget airline (Airasia) if I remember it correctly we disembark at the last stop. Anyways, gate differs, depending on what carrier you are flying in. So I won't put our gate here baka ma confuse ka pa. Rule of thumb! Pag nag aalinlangan, wag mahihiyang mag tanong (wala silang ritemed dun hahaha) pero they will provide you clear details on what to do next, just follow their instruction nga lang para sure na nasa tamang landas ka ha. Hehehe

So after we disembark from the APM, we walk through the escalator going up (mga apat na palapad dinata  yun ah, ang taas eh feeling ko walang humpay ang pag akyat gamit ang escalator hehe). Departure sign are all over the place naman so you won't get lost or maybe just simply follow the crowd going up since lahat naman eh pa departure and will be heading to the immigration and security screening.

And oh! by the way, we didn't pay for anything for our departure ni sinko wala. 

SECURITY SCREENING

Reminder! Wag masyadong magpadala sa sobrang excitement at pigilan mag selfie lalo na sa immigration area kung ayaw mong ma confiscate camera mo at ma interrogate ka pa. Cause of delay ng dahil sa selfie? naku.. wag na wag. Okay?! ehehe

We lined up at the immigration and showed our passport and boarding passes. Tiningnan lang ako saglit ni Sir tapos okay na hahaha wala ng tanong tanong.. It was a quick final checking at the immigration. Though for the screening I have to stand twice on the metal detectors. Ayaw ako palampasin eh, it keeps on beeping whenever I pass through it only to find out my necklace has a content of metal pala eh sa kanila ko din naman binili yun hahaha 

And oh by the way, our mineral bottles were confiscated. I forgot to remove it from our bag side pockets beforehand. Afterwhich they let us pass through up to the the exit.

We are an hour early from our schedule boarding time so we immediately looked for our designated gate only to hear that there were changes and so we had to go down again and transfer to different boarding gate.

Finally we reach our new boarding gate and from there we waited for another 30 minutes. While waiting we took time to relax at the bench and entertain one of HKIA tourism staff, may pa survey kasi. Pinaubaya ko na sya sa husband ko at binigyan naman nya kami ng souvenir hehe..

When the gates were opened we were asked to line up and show our boarding passes and passport again. They collected it for checking tska nilagyan ng stamp bago isauli samin. Ang daming checking ganap diba! At the gate, an airport shuttle bus was waiting for us to board and it brought us to another location within HKIA pa din, where our air carrier was stationed.

Ang layo din ng binyahe namin dito. Hindi ko alam kung ilang kilometro pero nasa loob pa din naman kami ng HKIA hahaha... 

And so we boarded our flight going back to PINAS :) Dito pde na mag selfie hahaha.. We decided to be the last one to board para maluwag na at lahat ay nakaupo na hehehe... Para wala lang hassle diba :) This is the last picture we've taken while our feet were still in a foreign land. It was such a memorable learning experience for us and we promised ourselves to do more travel soon. Pero siyempre ipon ipon din muna.

We had a good 2 hours flight going back home and we landed safe and sound at Naia Terminal 3. We look for our car and drive home with a smile in our hearts... and with that we are grateful ♥☺

Cheers for more travels!